Open mike 14/04/2025
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6:00 am, April 14th, 2025 - 12 comments
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Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...1 week ago
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- Release: End to the Treaty Principles Bill, but challenges remain ahead for Aotearoa
Ka mate te pire I te rā neiThe bill dies today ...1 week ago
- Ka mate te Pire, ka ora Te Tiriti o Waitangi – Treaty Principles Bill dead, Te Tiriti o Waitangi m...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...1 week ago
- Member’s Bill an opportunity for climate action
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- Release: Bill to make trading laws fairer passes first hurdle
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- Release: Reserve Bank acts while Govt shrugs
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...1 week ago
- Release: Property Law Amendment Bill pulled from ballot
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- Release: More children at risk of losing family connections
Karen Chhour is proposing to scrap Oranga Tamariki targets which aim to connect more children under state care with family and their culture. ...1 week ago
- Release: David Parker made a difference – Hipkins
The Labour Leader today acknowledged and celebrated David Parker’s 23-year contribution to the Labour Party and to Parliament. ...1 week ago
- Release: David Parker to step down from Parliament
Long-serving Labour MP and former Minister David Parker has today announced his intention to leave Parliament. ...1 week ago
- Release: Flaws in Govt’s climate strategy will cost us money
The Government’s plan to achieve our climate goals falls short, and will cost New Zealanders money and jobs. ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party differing view on the Treaty Principles Bill
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- Release: Abortion care quietly shelved amid staff shortage
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- Release: Govt guts Kāinga Ora, third of workforce under axe
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- Release: Thousands of submissions excluded from Treaty Principles Bill report
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- Release: Uncertainty remains over the impact of tariffs
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- Release: Worst February for building consents in over a decade
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- Release: Labour supports Willie Apiata’s selfless act
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- Release: Govt health and safety changes put workers at risk
Changes to New Zealand’s health and safety laws will strip back key protections for small businesses and put working Kiwis at greater risk. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Kiwis worse off this April thanks to Govt choices
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- Release: Three more years for Interislander ferries
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- Release: Myanmar junta must stop the airstrikes
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- Labor’s poll surge continues in YouGov, but it’s barely ahead in Freshwater
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Labor increased its lead again in a YouGov poll, but Freshwater put the party ahead by just 50.3–49.7. This article also covers ...4 hours ago - ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for April 18, 2025
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 18, 2025. Labor’s poll surge continues in YouGov, but they’re barely ahead in FreshwaterSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and ...8 hours ago
- The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending April 18
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30) Haymitch’s Hunger Games. 2 Careless People: A ...9 hours ago - Labor’s poll surge continues in YouGov, but they’re barely ahead in Freshwater
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Labor increased their lead again in a YouGov poll, but Freshwater put them ahead by just 50.3–49.7. This article also covers the ...9 hours ago
- The Friday Poem: ‘How to Make a Terrorist’ by Tusiata Avia
A new poem by Tusiata Avia. How to make a terrorist First make a whistling sound which is the sound of a bomb just before it lands on a house. Then make an exploding sound which is the sound of the bomb which kills a father, decapitates a mother, roasts ...11 hours ago
- Compulsory consent education proposed for schools
More than three quarters of recent school leavers said they didn't learn enough about consent. ...13 hours ago - Energy and shipping decisions needed before meatworks – Chatham Islands mayor
Monique Croon says energy and shipping decisions are needed before a meatworks supported by the government can proceed. ...17 hours ago
- Watch live: the 2025 NZ Scrabble Masters
The top-rated Scrabble players in the country go head-to-head this Easter weekend. Watch games live from 9.30am on the stream below. How does it all work? The Masters is different to most Scrabble tournaments in that it’s invitational, open only to the top-rated players in the country. The ...17 hours ago
- Film adaptations of Jane Austen novels ranked from worst to best
Books editor Claire Mabey appraises all the Austen-adapted films from 1990 onwards to separate the delightful from the duds. For the purists, read our ranking of Jane Austen’s novels here. It is a truth universally acknowledged that not everything is created equal. Since 1990 there have been 12 attempts to ...18 hours ago
- Table Service: Margot is the very definition of hospitality
To arrive through the heavy red door of Margot in Newtown is to be invited to the best dinner party in town, hosted by the best friends you haven’t yet made. Table Service is a column about food and hospitality in Wellington, written by Nick Iles. Hospitality is a term ...18 hours ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 18 April
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, Friday 18 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...18 hours ago - Daily crossword, Friday 18 April
The post Daily crossword, Friday 18 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...18 hours ago
- Bestselling books at Easter
NONFICTION1 No Words for This by Ali Mau (HarperCollins, $39.99)A free copy of the author’s new memoir was up for grabs in last week’s giveaway contest. Readers were asked to share their feelings about Mau, a former broadcaster and one of the most powerful figures in the New Zealand #metoo ...18 hours ago
- Rather than ‘de-extincting’ species, let’s save the species we have
Analysis: The announcement last week that Colossal Biosciences in the USA had “de-extincted” the dire wolf, which was last seen 13,000 years ago, was reported worldwide.The three wolf pups generated equal parts fascination and widespread scientific criticism. But is this actually de-extinction, and what are the implications for the potential ...18 hours ago
- The best TV shows to binge this Easter
We recommend the best – and longest – television series to watch this holiday weekend. As the Easter holiday weekend descends and the weather turns a little grim, many of us will turn to the trusty old television for comfort and entertainment. If you’re lucky, you’ll have some time over ...18 hours ago
- Why Kinshasa keeps flooding – and why it’s not just about the rain
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gode Bola, Lecturer in Hydrology, University of Kinshasa The April 2025 flooding disaster in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, wasn’t just about intense rainfall. It was a symptom of recent land use change which has occurred rapidly in ...19 hours ago
- Grattan on Friday: Peter Dutton’s tax indexation ‘aspiration’ has merit – so why didn’t we...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Peter Dutton, now seriously on the back foot, has made an extraordinarily big “aspirational” commitment at the back end of this campaign. He says he wants to see a move to indexing personal income ...1 day ago
- Keith Rankin Essay – Barbecued Hamburgers and Churchill’s Bestie
Essay by Keith Rankin. Operation Gomorrah may have been the most cynical event of World War Two (WW2). Not only did the name fully convey the intent of the war crimes about to be committed, it, also represented the single biggest 24-hour murder toll for the European war that I ...1 day ago
- Public toilets could be the jewels in our cities’ crowns – if only governments would listen
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Tietz, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design, UNSW Sydney A New South Wales Senate inquiry into public toilets is underway, looking into the provision, design and maintenance of public toilets across the state. Whenever I mention this inquiry, however, everyone nervously ...1 day ago
- Bad news – why Australia is losing a generation of journalists
Shrinking budgets and job insecurity means there are fewer opportunities for young journalists, and that’s bad news, especially in regional Australia, reports 360info ANALYSIS: By Jee Young Lee of the University of Canberra Australia risks losing a generation of young journalists, particularly in the regions where they face the closure ...1 day ago
- Why do scientists want to spend billions on a 70-year project in an enormous tunnel under the Swiss ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tessa Charles, Accelerator Physicist, Monash University An artist’s impression of the tunnel of the proposed Future Circular Collider. CERN The Large Hadron Collider has been responsible for astounding advances in physics: the discovery of the elusive, long-sought Higgs boson as well as ...1 day ago
- Could you accidentally sign a contract by texting an emoji? Here’s what the law says
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer McKay, Professor in Business Law, University of South Australia Parkova/Shutterstock Could someone take you to court over an agreement you made – or at least appeared to make – by sending a “
”? Emojis can have more legal weight ... 1 day ago - Why healthy eating may be the best way to reduce food waste
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trang Nguyen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Global Food and Resources, University of Adelaide Stokkete, Shutterstock Australians waste around 7.68 million tonnes of food a year. This costs the economy an estimated A$36.6 billion and households up to $2,500 annually. ...1 day ago
- Government Takes Fight Against Poverty To People In Poverty
Pushing people off income support doesn’t make the job market fairer or more accessible. It just assumes success is possible while unemployment rises and support systems become harder to navigate. ...1 day ago - The Boy in the Water update: Coroner to release findings
A year since the inquest into the death of Gore three-year-old Lachlan Jones began and the Coroner has completed his provisional findings. Interested parties have been provided with a copy of Coroner Ho’s provisional findings and have until May 16 to respond.The Coroner has indicated the final decision will be delivered on June 3 in Invercargill, citing high ...1 day ago
- Why can’t I keep still after intense exercise?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ken Nosaka, Professor of Exercise and Sports Science, Edith Cowan University Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock Do you ever feel like you can’t stop moving after you’ve pushed yourself exercising? Maybe you find yourself walking around in circles when you come off the pitch, ...1 day ago
- ‘We get bucketloads of homework’: young people speak about what it’s like to start high school
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Stevens, PhD Candidate, Education, Murdoch University Rawpixel.com Starting high school is one of the most significant transitions young people make in their education. Many different changes happen at once – from making new friends to getting used to a new ...1 day ago
- Hone Harawira criticises former Te Pāti Māori candidate Pere Huriwai-Seger for confronting Casey C...
The activist and MP has criticised Pere Huriwai-Seger, who ran on list in 2023, after an exchange with the NZ First MP. ...1 day ago
- How to tackle the ‘gender play gap’: 4 ways to encourage young women back into sport
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Kay, PhD Candidate at the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University matimix/Shutterstock Women’s sport has recently enjoyed unprecedented success in Australia. We have seen the Matildas sell out 16 successive home games, a world-record attendance for ...1 day ago
- Want straighter teeth or a gap between? Don’t believe TikTok – filing them isn’t the answer
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland After decades of Hollywood showcasing white-picket-fence celebrity smiles, the world has fallen for White Lotus actor Aimee Lou Wood’s teeth.Wood was bullied for ...1 day ago
- 1 in 6 New Zealanders is disabled. Why does so much health research still exclude them?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachelle Martin, Senior Lecturer in Rehabilitation & Disability, University of Otago Getty Images Disabled people encounter all kinds of barriers to accessing healthcare – and not simply because some face significant mobility challenges. Others will see their symptoms not investigated properly ...1 day ago
- ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for April 17, 2025
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 17, 2025. Most bees nest in the ground. Offering rocks and gravel is a simple way to help them thriveSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Freya Marie Jackson, PhD Candidate, School of Veterinary and ...1 day ago
- Most bees nest in the ground. Offering rocks and gravel is a simple way to help them thrive
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Freya Marie Jackson, PhD Candidate, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University _Lasioglossum dotatum_ kerrysturat/iNaturalist, CC BY-NC-ND Of the more than 20,000 bee species in the world, 70% nest in the ground. And like many of their counterparts that nest above ...1 day ago
- Thailand’s fragile democracy takes another hit with arrest of US academic
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Simpson, Senior Lecturer, International Studies, University of South Australia Despite the challenges faced by local democratic activists, Thailand has often been an oasis of relative liberalism compared with neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Westerners, in particular, have been ...1 day ago
- In the trade war, China has moved to curb supply of critical minerals. Can Australia seize the momen...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marina Yue Zhang, Associate Professor, Technology and Innovation, University of Technology Sydney China has placed curbs on exports of rare germanium and gallium which are critical in manufacturing. Shutterstock In the escalating trade war between the United States and China, one notable ...1 day ago
- ‘The pay is not worth the stress’: research finds 10% of lawyers plan to quit within a year
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vivien Holmes, Emerita Professor, Australian National University Momentum studio/Shutterstock No one goes into the legal profession thinking it is going to be easy. Long working hours are fairly standard, work is often completed to tight external deadlines, and 24/7 availability to ...1 day ago
- Contemporary television is rarely as good as The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Prime The Narrow Road to the Deep North stands as some of the most visceral and moving television produced in Australia in recent memory. Marking a new accessibility and confidence to ...1 day ago
- How to spend four days stuck in your own home with children
The forecast for Easter weekend in much of the country is pretty shitty. Here are some ideas for having a nice time indoors. Ex-tropical cyclone Tam might have been downgraded to a subtropical low, but it has already unleashed heavy rain, high winds and power outages on the upper North ...1 day ago
- NZ’s over-reliance on roads for freight means natural disasters hit even harder. But there is a fi...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cécile L’Hermitte, Senior Lecturer in Logistics and Supply Chain Management, University of Waikato In the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, the driving time between Napier and Wairoa stretched from 90 minutes to over six hours, causing major supply chain delays. Retail prices rose ...1 day ago
- Event noticeboard: folk in a church hall, whimsical sculpture and a 1995 party
The Spinoff’s top picks of events from around the motu. This week some sad research landed in my inbox. A report found that 75% of New Zealanders are tightening their purse strings when it comes to socialising. The casualties are dining out, going to cafes, weekend getaways and going to ...1 day ago
Luxon on ZB this morning was just a mess IMHO. He feels so incoherent against Peters when we seriously need a unified leadership team. Hipkins is so on point about this right now. Peters in particular advising Luxon not to unify with other world leaders is so dangerously inept he may as well be waving a piece of paper on the airport steps declaiming "Peace in our time".
The crisis is so deep it's making Albanese, Carney, and Starmer look like giant statesmen. Which is some feat.
I sort of covered this here.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13-04-2025/#comment-2031512
The more recent Winston, the elder statesman still with us. As per Key in opining that Trump would be better for the economy.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elder%20statesman
Perhaps Key's idea of what makes "the economy" good is (as a former currency trader) a place with plentiful opportunities for unearned income, where speculators can thrive and countries become rich by being financial services hubs and welcome opaque foreign trusts to set up. If so, he may be right about the Trump economy.
When anyone talks about "the economy" we should try to understand what idea they have in their heads about what "the economy" is and what purpose it should serve.
the best people…
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/12/linda-mcmahon-a1-instead-of-ai/83059797007/
Any panegyric about AI from an obviously stupid person is all about creating acceptance of an environment where AI is not (and will not be) adequately regulated.
If Trump just replaced his entire Cabinet with AI-empowered androids with the same faces we could probably have better risk mitigation for decisions and a more informed US President.
First thought was that these were video edits but it seems someone has been playing with pedestrian crossing signals..
.
Matt Novak
@paleofuture.bsky.social
It looks like someone has hacked a crosswalk button in Palo Alto to deliver at least two different messages in the voice of Elon Musk. (They are not complimentary)
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4usmserhjqkvhldgedfjb3jw/post/3lmo22lcnk226
Crosswalk buttons along the mid-Peninsula appear to have been hacked, so that when pressed, voices professing to be Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk begin speaking.
Videos taken at locations in Redwood City, Menlo Park and Palo Alto show various messages that begin to play when crosswalk buttons are hit. The voices appear to imitate how Zuckerberg and Musk sound.
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/technology/2025/04/12/silicon-valley-crosswalk-buttons-apparently-hacked-to-imitate-musk-zuckerberg-voices/
If Keir Starmer can nationalise British Steel, why can’t we nationalise the power companies?
So social media seems to think that Trumpy will pass/use the insurrection act on April 20th? To those that follow american politics, what are the chances? Scary stuff.
why the 20th?
The date tRump set in January for secretaries of Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to recommend whether the president should invoke the Insurrection Act.
(b) Within 90 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a joint report to the President about the conditions at the southern border of the United States and any recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/declaring-a-national-emergency-at-the-southern-border-of-the-united-states/
What scares me is that Dwight seems to think that social media ‘thinks’ and, presumably, ‘feels’. To me, that comes across a bit botty.