Archive for November, 2009
Light at the end of the tunnel
Written By: - Date published: 6:56 am, November 16th, 2009 - 21 comments
We’ve been in the tunnel of love too long. (You youngsters can go look it up.) The media’s affair with our personable but apparently useless PM has been a trying time for we lefties. But I think there are glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel. Those glimmers come in the form of several […]
Open mike 16/11/09
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 16th, 2009 - 11 comments
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Over to you…
Failures of leadership: English, Hide, and Harawira
Written By: - Date published: 1:57 pm, November 15th, 2009 - 66 comments
I know this point/counterpoint series of posts on Hone Harawira maybe getting a bit tiresome but I have to disagree with the assertion in a couple of recent ones that Harawira has been treated more harshly Bill English and Rodney Hide or, by implication, than a Pakeha in his situation would have. And I think that those […]
Is there anybody out there…
Written By: - Date published: 11:12 am, November 15th, 2009 - 15 comments
OK, this has nothing to do with NZ politics, but I’m trying to stick to my resolution not to rant as usual on Sundays. Instead I’ll sometimes post on a random interesting topic – interesting to me that is, if it isn’t interesting to you there are plenty of other threads! This article fascinated me […]
Iwi tuaroa is Maori for spine
Written By: - Date published: 8:41 am, November 15th, 2009 - 15 comments
Throughout the mana enhancing relationship between the National and Maori parties, we haven’t yet seen a lot of give and take. Well, I guess that’s only half true – we’ve seen a lot of taking for granted by National and a lot of giving concessions by the Maori Party, but none of the other way […]
Open mike 15/11/09
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 15th, 2009 - 33 comments
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Over to you…
I don’t give a shit about Hone. But the lynch mob is interesting.
Written By: - Date published: 2:15 pm, November 14th, 2009 - 74 comments
Whatever argument there is between the hierarchy of the Maori Party and Hone really doesn’t concern me. While I’m sure Kelvin Davis is watching with considerable interest, Hone was elected by the voters up north for being exactly who he is. This isn’t a political row with the over-powering stench of political hypocrisy like recent […]
Still a trader at heart… gambling with Kiwi lives
Written By: - Date published: 1:38 pm, November 14th, 2009 - 12 comments
Here is one excellent article from Tracey Barnett in the Weekend Herald … Admit it: John Key’s most memorable moment in one year of office was seeing him on the stage of The David Letterman Show, smiling like somebody’s brother-in-law you’d forgotten you went to school with. … It’s as if we ordered a competent […]
Vote red, get fed
Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, November 14th, 2009 - 27 comments
Labour needs to stand up for its electorate, the worker. While National is gutting the infrastructure Labour set up in the last nine years it had in power, like KiwiSaver and the Cullen fund, Labour’s protests are little more than the weak cries of a lamb as it goes to slaughter. Labour needs vision, a way […]
Greens greenwashing for anti-environment govt
Written By: - Date published: 11:46 am, November 14th, 2009 - 11 comments
The Greens have announced the collapse of the cornerstone of their Memorandum of Understanding with National. With Gerry Brownlee as Minister for Energy, National hasn’t only failed to make progress on energy efficiency and conservation, it is taking illogical, retrograde steps. So why are the Greens continuing to provide greenwash for this government? I’m thinking about […]
National will lose the next election
Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, November 14th, 2009 - 76 comments
Here’s a prediction for you. National will lose the next election. The reason that they will lose is that they are running a hollow shell of a government. They haven’t had a plan to deal with the recession, they have just muddled through claiming the programmes that Labour left in place as their own. They […]
Open mike 14/11/09
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 14th, 2009 - 8 comments
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Over to you…
Planned outage
Written By: - Date published: 4:40 pm, November 13th, 2009 - 7 comments
At about 7pm on Saturday 14th there will be an outage while the server gets another upgrade to a new OS kernel. Your server should be down for 5-10 minutes, we will restart it at the conclusion of the maintenance window. Yeah right – last time it was a couple of hours because the server […]
Maori Party schism inevitable
Written By: - Date published: 3:22 pm, November 13th, 2009 - 39 comments
The Maori Party was never going to be a sustainable political vehicle. No political movement that tries to exist in defiance of the material conditions of its constituents can be, and the economic interests of the wealthy Maori elite and the Maori working class are simply incompatible. The Maori Party has to continually choose which […]
Council shafts Wellingtonians
Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, November 13th, 2009 - 32 comments
In 2006 Wellingtonians resoundingly rejected a proposal to build a Hilton on their waterfront (834 submissions out of a total 994 were against), and the plan was again resoundingly rejected last year by the Environment Court. In response, Kerry Prendergast and her Council have changed the District Plan to bypass the courts and ignore the community. So […]
Climate Change cowardice hurting NZ’s image abroad
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, November 13th, 2009 - 37 comments
One of the UK’s most influential newspapers, The Guardian, carries a stinging attack under the title New Zealand was a friend to Middle Earth, but it’s no friend of the earth. It damns us for our abject failure to live up to the clean, green image we sell ourselves on. Here are the main points: […]
More jobs and pay bad – JPMorgan
Written By: - Date published: 11:19 am, November 13th, 2009 - 7 comments
I was sent a press release from financiers JPMorgan in Australia. There’s a line in it that reveals much about how the capitalist class views the rest of us. “labour shortages and wage pressures probably will rear their heads again. This will, of course, be a concern for the RBA [Reserve Bank of Australia]” Let […]
Sciblogs
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, November 13th, 2009 - 4 comments
Welcome to a new NZ blog, Sciblogs. From the About: Sciblogs brings together the best science bloggers in the country on one website, creating a hub for scientific analysis and discussion and facilitating reader interaction. The website is for scientists who want to reach out to a general audience to explain their science and how […]
Harawira offensive & dumb. No excuses
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, November 13th, 2009 - 73 comments
Frankly, I don’t appreciate being called a white motherf**ker, by Buddy Mikaere and Hone Harawira. Before you start, that’s not to deny that Pakeha stole vast amounts of Maori resources despite the treaty signed between the Crown and iwi, and in spite of the Crown’s own laws. The thief – the Crown – and the victims – the […]
What stimulus spending?
Written By: - Date published: 8:17 am, November 13th, 2009 - 7 comments
According to Stuff Bill English is planning to pull back the stimulus spending. The problem is there hasn’t been any significant stimulus spending. So my question is what exactly is the government going to cut back on? Will they cancel the cycleway? Or are they going to take all of the budget lines they crammed […]
Political Jurisprudence
Written By: - Date published: 6:59 am, November 13th, 2009 - 55 comments
There’s no question that Hone Harawira’s comments were stupid, but I don’t believe they were racist. For a start, the white mofos reference began in Buddy Mikaere’s email to Harawira, so it’s not entirely inappropriate that those words were used in return. I quite often, when replying to emails or blog comments, use the words […]
Open mike 13/11/09
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 13th, 2009 - 73 comments
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Over to you…
Stupid stupid stupid
Written By: - Date published: 3:50 pm, November 12th, 2009 - 13 comments
Our government is stupid. Sorry, it’s the only conclusion I can draw. Our government is made up of confused, muddled thinkers incapable of planning further ahead than lunchtime. It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. National have decided to “scrap the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy and stop work on vehicle fuel efficiency […]
Poll shows Kiwis prefer MMP
Written By: - Date published: 12:54 pm, November 12th, 2009 - 25 comments
NZPA reports on a new poll from UMR which shows Kiwis don’t want to dump MMP for a less proportional electoral system. The survey used the proposed wording of the referendum and found 48 percent in favour of keeping MMP and only 40 percent in favour of changing the system. Interestingly, when people were told […]
Heads will roll!
Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, November 12th, 2009 - 4 comments
The Government has today announced a full inquiry into all instances of politicians calling for ‘heads to roll’ following the controversy over Mr Harawira suggesting Mr Goff should be shot. Mr Key said “It’s just not good enough that people have been going around literally threatening what is in reality very violent metaphoricals in a […]
The resistance
Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, November 12th, 2009 - 5 comments
A very well-produced youtube vid on National’s distortions over ACC The clever thing National has done is set up ACC as the agent of its own demise. With Business Roundtable member John Judge in charge ACC has become a propaganda wing for National’s anti-ACC rubbish. Judge and Nick Smith have created a false air of […]
Give the snip snap to the zip zap plastic fantastic? Yeah right!
Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, November 12th, 2009 - 23 comments
Brian Fallow has a great post over at Granny Herald this morning. “Emitters on bludger’s end of deal” deals with the way that the NACT government has been loading costs onto future voters and taxpayers. On superannuation: By siphoning off and investing around another 1 per cent of GDP while the babyboomers are still in […]
Wages fall, except for union members
Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, November 12th, 2009 - 42 comments
The Labour Cost Index tells us that most workers this year failed to get pay rises to match inflation in the past year. 52% got no increase. 4% got less than inflation (2%, represented by the green line on the graph). 1% even got pay cuts. That’s a dramatic change on a year ago. Well, so […]
Information from the uninformed
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, November 12th, 2009 - 3 comments
Thing that got me about Bill English’s propaganda ad was how god awful the original script was. Can you imagine the Deputy Prime Minister, the Southern Man of New Zealand politics, and former professional punching bag saying “It’s time to give the snip snap to the zip zap plastic fantastic?” Just gets worse. Here’s questions from […]
Open mike 12/11/09
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 12th, 2009 - 16 comments
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Over to you…
Socialism is Democracy
Written By: - Date published: 4:30 pm, November 11th, 2009 - 61 comments
This hilarious stoush between Moore and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer is worth a look too. Hat tip: The kids at the Workers Party.
- Israel orders patients, staff to ‘evacuate’ last two hospitals in northern Gaza siege
Asia Pacific Report Israel is forcing two hospitals in northern Gaza to evacuate under threat of attack as its ethnic cleansing campaign continues. Israeli forces have surrounded the Indonesian Hospital, where many staff and patients sought shelter after nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was destroyed in an Israeli raid last week, ...6 days ago - Pacific 2025: Vanuatu quake, Tongan and Kanaky shakeups, Trump questions set tone for coming year
Navigating the shared challenges of climate change, geostrategic tensions, political upheaval, disaster recovery and decolonisation plus a 50th birthday party, reports a BenarNews contributor’s analysis. COMMENTARY: By Tess Newton Cain Vanuatu’s devastating earthquake and dramatic political developments in Tonga and New Caledonia at the end of 2024 set the tone ...6 days ago
- From a colonial hill town to Idris Elba’s island masterplan: what do these Sierra Leone developmen...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milo Gough, Lecturer in History, University of Manchester An artist’s impression of Idris Elba’s planned eco-city, Sherbro Island City. Greenfield Planners Sdn Bhd / Sherbro Alliance Partners Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, is celebrated as a city founded to resettle freed slaves in ...6 days ago
- From a colonial hill town to Idris Elba’s island masterplan: what two Sierra Leone developments a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milo Gough, Lecturer in History, University of Manchester An artist’s impression of Idris Elba’s planned eco-city, Sherbro Island City. Greenfield Planners Sdn Bhd / Sherbro Alliance Partners Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, is celebrated as a city founded to resettle freed slaves in ...6 days ago
- ‘You’ll love it, but you’ll hate it’: Christian Cullen on becoming CTI’s most unlikely sta...
Summer reissue: Former All Black and recent Celebrity Treasure Island castaway Christian Cullen looks back on his life in TV. First published October 12, 2024. Every season of Celebrity Treasure Island brings with it a surprise breakout star, and often it’s the person you know the least about or have ...6 days ago - Mike Johnson elected speaker of US House as Trump’s Republicans unite behind him
Two Republican opponents switched their votes to support him after more than half an hour of negotiations. ...6 days ago - My emotion is my strength – Karen Chhour
“People comment a lot on how emotional I am.”The children’s minister says she’s always been an emotional person. It’s her way of coping with trauma.“Because if you bottle that up it turns into something quite nasty, right? It turns into anger, it turns into frustration, and you start to look ...6 days ago - Anne Salmond: Hunger Games in the Beehive
Comment: There are times when fiction anticipates life, and dystopian nightmares become real.Who would have thought that in New Zealand, a relatively wealthy country that was once proudly egalitarian, a version of The Hunger Games would play out?That a government would cut thousands of jobs, deny desperate families emergency food ...6 days ago
- The Secret Diary of .. New Year’s Resolutions
Christopher LuxonWell, what I’d say to you about my New Year’s resolutions is that this year is going to be better than the last, probably, I mean I should think there’s a good chance of that happening, an even chance, there’s a narrow window, the odds are against us but ...6 days ago
- ‘Grossly misleading to me and to the country’: the Lange-Douglas letters, unearthed
Summer reissue: The meltdown in the relationship between the key players in the fourth Labour government can be charted in an extraordinary exchange of correspondence. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and ...6 days ago
- How many goddamn words should I be saying to my baby?
Summer reissue: I read yet another study about toddlers, screen time and language development, and it sent me off the deep end. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to ...6 days ago
- What it takes to be an Olympian, and why you don’t have it
Summer reissue: This year Tori Peeters competed at the Paris Olympics in the javelin. Ten years ago, Madeleine Chapman thought she might be in the same position. She talks to Peeters about what it takes to go all the way – and mulls her own life decisions in the process. ...6 days ago
- Remembering Young George, the barber who cut Auckland’s hair forever
Summer reissue: He earned 5c for his first cut in 1955, and $35 for his last in March. Duncan Greive recalls the life of his late barber, ‘Young’ George Dyas, who never stopped snipping. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these ...6 days ago
- Daily crossword, Saturday 4 January
The post Daily crossword, Saturday 4 January appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 days ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Saturday 4 January
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Saturday 4 January appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 days ago
- From a colonial hill town to Idris Elba’s island masterplan, what can two Sierra Leone development...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milo Gough, Lecturer in History, University of Manchester An artist’s impression of Idris Elba’s planned eco-city, Sherbro Island City. Greenfield Planners Sdn Bhd / Sherbro Alliance Partners Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, is celebrated as a city founded to resettle freed slaves in ...6 days ago
- ‘Suspend Israel ties’ plea to global medical professionals – Auckland hospital protest vigil o...
Asia Pacific Report The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, has called on “medical professionals worldwide” to suspend ties with Israel in an act of solidarity with the more than “1000 colleagues of yours” killed in Gaza over the past 14 months. Countless ...6 days ago
- A politician for the people: Dame Tariana Turia, 1944-2025
The co-founder of Te Pāti Māori and architect of Whānau Ora will be remembered as a skilled political tactician who dedicated her life to the wellbeing of Māori, writes Miriama Aoake. Part of the hesitation of entering politics for any sane person is surely compromise. Compromise is essential in the ...7 days ago
- Honouring Kahurangi Tariana Turia:
...7 days ago - ‘She believed in people’ – Tributes from across political parties for Dame Tariana...
A stern but loving auntie, a woman of unshakeable principle, the very definition of a wāhine toa - those are just a few of the tributes flooding in for Dame Tariana Turia. ...7 days ago
- A year in The House: Law and order, deregulation and repeal
In its first year this Parliament has passed 46 new laws, with another 37 underway. We outline some of the government's major changes. ...7 days ago
- ‘Crime against journalism’: Gaza journalists slam PA’s Al Jazeera ban
By Maram Humaid in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Journalists gathered at Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital expressed outrage and confusion about the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) decision to shut down Al Jazeera’s office in the occupied West Bank. “Shutting down a major outlet like Al Jazeera is a crime against journalism,” said freelance ...7 days ago
- Katrina Mitchell-Kouttab: The Palestine tragedy – why it should matter to you and our world
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Katrina Mitchell-Kouttab As 2024 came to a close and we have stepped into a new year overshadowed by ongoing atrocities, have you stopped to consider how these events are reshaping your world? Did you notice how your future ...7 days ago
- Cook Islands ‘not qualified’ for UN membership, says prime minister
By Talaia Mika of the Cook Islands News The Cook Islands will not pursue membership in the United Nations and the Commonwealth due to its inability to meet the criteria for UN membership and existing relationship with New Zealand, which fulfils Commonwealth membership requirements. Prime Minister Mark Brown has clarified ...7 days ago
- Obit: Dame Tariana Turia has died
The former Labour Party MP and Te Pāti Māori co-founder was recognised for her commitment to Māori. ...7 days ago
- Division, abuse and rates pain: Local politics year in review
A rising tide of abuse, escalating costs and the clash between central and local government - Marika Hill looks back at local politics in 2024. ...1 week ago
- Dame Tariana Turia has died
The former politician suffered a stroke earlier this week. ...1 week ago
- ‘One of the most important species for science’: how the humble fruit fly transformed 4 fields o...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ary Hoffmann, Professor, School of BioSciences and Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne Drosophila melanogaster. Deep Scope/Shutterstock The common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), more correctly called the vinegar fly, is a frequent visitor to ripe fruit in households around the world, where ...1 week ago
- Genius or charlatan? The strange tale of a 19th-century polymath who left a trail of controversy acr...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Ludewig, Professor and Head of the School of Humanities, The University of Western Australia The Burra Burra Mine, 1847. Samuel Thomas Gill / State Library of NSW About 20 minutes’ drive north of Geraldton, on Australia’s west coast, lies a hill ...1 week ago
- Summer holidays haven’t changed much since ancient Greece and Rome (except maybe the sand wrestlin...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, researching Greco-Roman antiquity, The University of Melbourne Imagine a summer holiday at a seaside resort, with days spent sunbathing, reading books, exploring nature and chatting with friends. Sounds like it could be anywhere in Australia or ...1 week ago
- The elimination of cervical cancer in NZ is within reach in our lifetime – but not without funding...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesca Storey, Deputy Director Te Tātai Hauora o Hine – National Centre for Women’s Health Research Aotearoa, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington After committing to a global plan to eliminate cervical cancer, New Zealand is lagging behind Australia and ...1 week ago
- Why do some people’s hair and nails grow quicker than mine?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Moscova, Adjunct Associate Professor, Anatomy, UNSW Sydney Jari Lobo/Pexels Throughout recorded history, our hair and nails played an important role in signifying who we are and our social status. You could say, they separate the caveman from businessman. It ...1 week ago
- Monarch butterflies are in decline in NZ and Australia – they need your help to track where they g...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myron Zalucki, Professor in Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland Kathy Reid, CC BY-SA Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) appear to be declining not just in North America but also in Australiasia. Could this be a consequence of global change, including ...1 week ago
- Australia needs better ways of storing renewable electricity for later. That’s where ‘flow batte...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, Professor Emeritus, School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW Sydney As more and more solar and wind energy enters Australia’s grid, we will need ways to store it for later. We can store electricity in several different ways, from pumped hydroelectric ...1 week ago
- Unlocking the past: how NZ’s first jail tells a complex story of colonial identity
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine McCarthy, Senior Lecturer in Interior Architecture, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington View of Kororāreka in the Bay of Islands, 1845, by George Thomas Clayton. via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY New Zealand’s first jail was a simple affair, just ...1 week ago
- Is it important to read the explanatory labels next to artworks? We asked 5 experts
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Noor Gillani, Digital Culture Editor Shutterstock You’re standing at the centre of an expansive art gallery, overwhelmed by what’s in front of you: panel after panel of stupendous works – densely-written labels affixed next to each piece. These labels may offer ...1 week ago
- Te Pāti Māori co-founder Dame Tariana Turia dies
Dame Tariana Turia has died aged 80 in Whangaehu overnight.The founder and former co-leader of Te Pāti Māori suffered a stroke earlier this week and was said not to have long left.A press release from Te Ranga Tupua said she had died in the early hours of Friday morning. “A mother ...1 week ago
- DoC’s big donation drive gets mixed reviews
An $80 million subantarctic pest eradication project is being backed by a high-profile conservation charity targeting wealthy individuals.Since it was established in 2000, NZ Nature Fund has raised $5 million for project-specific conservation work, including $1.2 million over the past year. Projects, often managed by the Department of Conservation (DoC), ...1 week ago
- Rust Belt vs the beltway: Vance’s memoir more relevant than ever
Opinion: When it was first published in 2016, JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy was hailed by Britain’s Sunday Times as “the political book of the year”. The Independent described it as “an insight into Trump and Brexit”.Hillbilly Elegy is an autobiographical account of Vance’s life, growing up in a poor, white ...1 week ago
- Positive sports fandom: netball fans show the way
Sport is a place where ‘real’ fans are often assumed to be men. Global research tells us that female fans of live men’s sport often face misogynistic and homophobic environments that include swearing, drunkenness and yelling negative comments and abuse at opponents and referees. In men’s sport, a quick skim through ...1 week ago
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