Author Archive
The Guns of November 2018
Written By: - Date published: 5:38 pm, November 10th, 2018 - 188 comments
On 11 November 1918 the guns fell silent across Europe’s slaughter. In the Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman described how that dreadful war started by accident. Daniel Ellsberg warns us now that accidents could happen again, this time in the nuclear age. Ellsberg says first strike is America’s policy, making accidental nuclear winter all the more likely.
Is Politik a propaganda mouthpiece for the UK Embassy?
Written By: - Date published: 8:46 pm, September 8th, 2018 - 29 comments
In Politik’s 7 September issue we are told that Western diplomats in Wellington are surprised that Winston Peters has not accused Russia of the Skripal poisoning or joined some other countries in taking reprisals. Editor Richard Harman quotes a source to tell us that the British in particular were “pissed” at Peters’ response. Well dearie me. I’m with Winston, a wise old owl.
“Creating quagmires” – US policy in Syria
Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, September 5th, 2018 - 82 comments
Things are coming to a head in Syria, with a key meeting on 7 August between Syria, Turkey and Russia to discuss future strategy re the Idlib enclave where terrorist groups have been concentrated. The US and its allies want to retain influence, having lost it to Russia. A shooting war based on a false flag is a real albeit disastrous possibility to maintain US “quagmire” policy in the Middle East to date.
The future of the left
Written By: - Date published: 6:45 pm, July 1st, 2018 - 40 comments
Australian Guardian columnist Van Badham writes “the future of the left is bright if it looks like Jacinda Ardern and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes.” She concludes “We can hope the influence of Jacinda Ardern and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes spread, or we can ensure that it does. The stakes for the marginalised remain life and death.” Very worth a read.
Photoshop Wars?
Written By: - Date published: 4:03 pm, April 17th, 2018 - 56 comments
The Independent’s Robert Fisk reports from Douma, where he interviewed one of the clinic doctors who said that the images that outraged Trump, May and Macron were real, but the cause was oxygen starvation from dust, not poisonous gas. Could it be that misleading images started a bombing war? What might this say about Western values?
Evidence-based foreign policy
Written By: - Date published: 6:07 pm, April 2nd, 2018 - 99 comments
In the second stage of a false flag attack, facts go out the window and the sole issue becomes “are you for us or against us.” Our media and National Party politicians are well into this stage in the Skripal affair. But as questions mount and skeptics proliferate from all sides, Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters may well be wiser than media advisers by not following blindly the western herd. 26 countries is not the whole world. Update: Porton Down unable to establish Novichok of Russian origin.
Underpants not Underarm
Written By: - Date published: 9:45 pm, March 25th, 2018 - 17 comments
In the days of the British Raj unsportsmanlike behaviour was condemned by saying “it isn’t cricket.” Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft hiding ball-tampering sandpaper in his trousers in a forlorn attempt to avoid the cameras showed that for Aussies “it is cricket.” We’ve seen it before of course with the Chappells. Heads must roll.
Russian to Judgment
Written By: - Date published: 5:55 pm, March 16th, 2018 - 517 comments
The possible poisoning of Sergei Skripal and the consequent hysteria have all the signs of another false flag operation, as we saw before the second American invasion of Iraq. The chain of circumstantial evidence has more holes in it than a swiss cheese, and while attempted murder (if that is what it is) is a criminal act Winston Peters and Jeremy Corbyn are sane voices calling for evidence before any attribution still less action.
Tax Haven Man in Town
Written By: - Date published: 10:08 pm, February 20th, 2018 - 11 comments
The Lord Mayor of the City of London is visiting New Zealand. Its not Sadiq Khan, Charles Bowman is a PwC partner leading London’s financial centre lobby. He’s here to talk to business and regulators. He’ll no doubt be talking up more deregulation.
The Dogs of War
Written By: - Date published: 9:12 pm, January 31st, 2018 - 20 comments
At a Union/NDP conference in March 2002 in Ottawa I saw wall-to-wall US TV attacking Iraq in my room. My caucus report that America was going to war was instinctive. Helen Clark stood up immediately and said that we wouldn’t be following. The US war dogs are barking again, this time over Korea. A recent […]
Jac-in-da-Box
Written By: - Date published: 6:58 pm, January 15th, 2018 - 48 comments
“Wedger Wayne” Mapp in todays’s Spinoff does his best to stuff Jacinda Ardern into a Tony Blair “Third Way” box. Too glib by far. True in 2002 Blair did promise to eliminate child poverty by 2020; but poverty’s now the highest in 20 years in Britain. I’d back Jacinda to do much better. Besides, instead of Mandy she’s got David Parker.
The Yellow Peril?
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 pm, November 15th, 2017 - 338 comments
What’s with the academic panic epidemic about China? Two in our media in the same week, referencing each other with vague warnings about the Chinese bogey. It’s not quite Lionel Terry in Haining Street again; more likely in my view a case of singing to someones else’s geopolitical tune. No prizes for guessing whose.
800th Anniversary of Charter of the Forest
Written By: - Date published: 8:25 pm, November 5th, 2017 - 21 comments
Issued alongside the Magna Carta on November 6, 1217, the Charter of the Forest is among the first ecological charters in history and among the first to assert the rights of ordinary people to the right to subsistence. 800 years old tomorrow.
Books but no beds
Written By: - Date published: 6:11 pm, October 18th, 2017 - 19 comments
Most viewed story on the Guardian website today: “New Zealand library cracks case of missing books.” Turns out some of Auckland’s 23,000 homeless were hiding bookmarked books in odd places so they wouldn’t lose their place. The library will now keep their books safe. Good on them. Finding homes for homeless must be a high priority for Aotearoa’s next government.
Passchendaele and Pyongyang
Written By: - Date published: 3:14 pm, October 12th, 2017 - 19 comments
The massive artillery barrage at Passchendaele was supposed to cut the German wire and make advance easy. All it did was churn up the mud though which so many doomed New Zealanders slogged and died. A monument to military incompetence and political disaster. These days they prefer bombs, which are equally deadly and equally futile. Its time we said no more.
Politics or Policy?
Written By: - Date published: 5:46 pm, October 9th, 2017 - 56 comments
Policy is everything, Winston Peters said today. This should not be a surprise. Before every election, he has refused to give any hint of Party support preference until after the vote. But he will have thought a lot about what he might want, as it has long been clear that his Party would decide the outcome. So what are his policies?
She’s got what it takes
Written By: - Date published: 12:23 am, September 17th, 2017 - 73 comments
Great read in London today – full page Guardian article headlined “I’ve got what it takes, says the charismatic Labour leader taking New Zealand by storm.” Send it far and wide.
Fire and Fury over North Korea
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, August 12th, 2017 - 60 comments
Donald Trump may not know it but Koreans certainly remember the last time the United States unleashed fire and fury over North Korea. In the 1950s, B-29s used bombs and napalm to flatten every North Korean city. Gen Curtis Lemay boasted that the USAF killed off 20% of the population. That’s why this time they have nuclear weapons.
Politics in the Age of Populism
Written By: - Date published: 9:28 pm, July 6th, 2017 - 3 comments
Bryce Edwards, Stephanie Rodgers and Rob Egan. Connolly Hall, Guildford Street, Wellington, 5:30 pm Friday 7th July.Fabian society, all welcome.
New information on Glenda Hughes?
Written By: - Date published: 8:12 pm, June 28th, 2017 - 43 comments
On 20 June after Melanie Read’s Newsroom interview Andrew Geddis blogged about possible obstruction of justice by a National Party Board member. That was based on new information in the Barclay case, and may be why the Police have since re-interviewed Glenys Dickson.
Follow the money
Written By: - Date published: 10:39 pm, June 22nd, 2017 - 49 comments
Bill English’s texted electorate chair Stuart Davie on 21st February 2016 saying Glenys Dickson was given an extra payout from the Leader’s fund “to avoid potential legal action.” It was the only source available for an extra payout for confidentiality. English said today no-one in February knew there was any issue of illegality. Then what legal action and why an extra payment?
Dirty Politics 2017 style
Written By: - Date published: 4:05 pm, June 8th, 2017 - 27 comments
Latest polls and some anecdotal evidence from the doorstep are showing a move back to the Tories in Britain. If so it may in part be due to last-minute dark and dirty personally targeted Facebook advertising to voters in marginal seats. They cost so will need to be watched later on here.
Hager Hit & Run and NZ’s Asian wars
Written By: - Date published: 8:23 pm, June 5th, 2017 - 13 comments
Nicky Hager will talk about his book Hit and Run, and the issues it raises about New Zealand’s values and role in the world at 5:30pm on Wednesday 7th June at Connolly Hall, Guildford Terrace, Wellington. The book is about important events and the incoherence of New Zealand fighting it’s longest ever war in Central Asia. This talk is particularly timely in view of this week’s visit of the American Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.
Scots git on Q+A
Written By: - Date published: 2:11 pm, March 27th, 2017 - 12 comments
I went to Q+A yesterday in search of political comment and was astonished to see John McTernan aka “Malcolm Tucker without the charm” given ten minutes to burble. McTernan promotes himself as a former political adviser to Blair and Gillard, but his last real job was chief of staff to Jim Murphy who led the Scottish Labour Party to oblivion in 2015.
Social investment meets the surveillance state
Written By: - Date published: 11:14 pm, March 4th, 2017 - 45 comments
First they came for the budgeting services. Now we know that every social service agency has to provide clients’ private personal data to the Ministry of Social Development or get no funding. Apparently it’s essential to Bill English’s much-touted and little understood “social investment” strategy, which is sounding more like something out of Orwell’s 1984. […]
Thanks Annette
Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, March 3rd, 2017 - 9 comments
I well remember going to see new Minister of Employment Annette King in 1989 to ask for support for group apprenticeship in the motor industry. “Seems like a good idea, we’ll put up $50,000.” she said. I nearly fell off my chair. It was not the usual response from Ministers in those days, but is Annette King to a T – positive, decisive, and supportive.
Good ideas in Gisborne
Written By: - Date published: 1:28 pm, February 17th, 2017 - 97 comments
Andrew Little’s announcement yesterday in Gisborne of Labour’s pledge of up to $20million to build a prefabricated timber plant there is a much-needed boost to the area and a sign that Labour’s 100,000 new house pledge first made by David Shearer in 2012 has legs.
Key gives up on us, keeps International Democratic Union.
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, February 10th, 2017 - 33 comments
The Herald informs us that Key is going on the speaking circuit and will go back into finance (not that he ever left). Like John Howard before him, he also intends to carry on chairing the International Democratic Union of right-wing parties. Not a surprise.
Prof John Quiggin – After Reform, What Comes Next?
Written By: - Date published: 10:26 pm, February 9th, 2017 - Comments Off on Prof John Quiggin – After Reform, What Comes Next?
University of Queensland Professor John Quiggin, author of Zombie Economics, will speak on this topic for the Fabian Society in Wellington on Monday 13th and Auckland Thursday 16th of this month. All welcome, details and registration inside. Will be interesting.
Peter Thiel’s Libertarian Dream – for New Zealand?
Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, February 2nd, 2017 - 86 comments
From a Business Insider article in the OIA papers: Thiel is a long-term thinker, so what’s the big picture? What could the contrarian investor see in a country of 4 million people whose economy is based on agriculture and tourism? Maybe Peter Thiel wants to turn New Zealand into the next Silicon Valley. Or maybe even the libertarian utopia of his dreams.”
75th Anniversary Battle of Endau
Written By: - Date published: 4:24 pm, January 26th, 2017 - 9 comments
Today marks 75 years to the day since the suicidal Battle of Endau, when obsolete aircraft were sent to prevent the Japanese landing. Of the 72 aircrew from Nos. 36 and 100 Squadrons who participated in the raids, 27 were killed, seven were wounded and two were captured. My uncle was killed but Ron Reid survived the raid and captivity. He is interviewed by Dave Homewood of WONZ in memory of the day.
- Political Market Clearing.
As I watched the results come in on US midterm election night, it struck me that the tally was a microcosmic distillation of what democracy is in terms of preferred outcomes: no one gets everything that they want, but everyone ...8 hours ago - New research, November 5-11, 2018
A selection of new climate related research articles is shown below. Climate change mitigation Zero CO2 emissions for an ultra-large city by 2050: case study for Beijing Climate change communication Developing a model of climate change behavior among adolescents Petro-hegemony ...14 hours ago - Flashback Saturday: Notes from Sydney City Centre
Every weekend we dig into the archives. This post by Patrick was originally published in September 2015. The Sydney city centre is fantastic. It’s vibrant, varied, exciting: And, like all successful cities, full of people. So how do they all get ...16 hours ago - “Follow the Money” Archives new Zealand, the National Library and the Department of Internal Af...
At the height of the Watergate scandal, when the story had seemed to stall, Deep Throat told Bob Woodward that to understand what was going on he needed to “Follow the Money.” ...1 day ago - “A serious threat to public health”
That's how UK doctors have described that country's benefit system:Universal credit has become a serious threat to public health, doctors have said, after a study revealed that the stress of coping with the new benefits system had so profoundly affected ...1 day ago - Time for the government to pay upPrimary teachers are on strike this week, secondary teachers are planning the same, and next year there's the prospect of a joint teachers' strike meaning schools everywhere will shut. Meanwhile, other strike action is shutting down the courts, forcing trials ...2 days ago
- Communication Breakdown.
2 days ago - AT Annual Report “talks a good talk” but we need to see results
Tuesday’s Auckland Transport Board Meeting included a statutorily required review of how they performed for the 2017/18 financial year against their Statement of Intent (SOI). The results are outlined in their annual report, which provides a useful opportunity to take a ...2 days ago - Rating Reality Television.
2 days ago - Is Increasing Inequality of Wealth Inevitable?
This column is an exploration of the recently published The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century. But first I need to attend to a couple of analytic points.read more ...2 days ago - Law change for sex self identification needs discussion not silencing
Daphna Whitmore Parliament is considering a law change to allow people to change their sex on their birth certificates by simply filling out a form. If the law is passed there will be no requirement to show any proof of ...2 days ago - Rail Siding Fund
Though the website is down at the time of writing this article one of the more interesting transport policies of New Zealand First was creating a fund/grant etc. to help fund private rail sidings. For those unfamiliar, a rail siding ...2 days ago - More dirty dairyingCouncils and the courts finally seem to be getting serious about dirty dairying, with another conviction in the Waikato resulting in a near-record fine:A Waikato dairy farming company has been fined almost $60,000 for discharging effluent into a waterway. H ...3 days ago
- The Fijian electionFijians went to the polls yesterday in the second elections since the 2006 coup. While bad weather forced polling to be suspended in some areas, and the final count is not yet in, the provisional results show coup-leader Voreqe Bainimarama's ...3 days ago
- Missing the point of Te Reo Māori3 days ago
- Kids in the city: housing
This three-part series of guest posts is written by Alex Bonham, a member of Women in Urbanism, who has worked as a Porse carer and is now researching “the playful city” for her doctorate. In this series of three posts ...3 days ago - The many ways climate change worsens California wildfires
This is the first entry in a Dana's new monthly column with Yale Climate Connections Now designated as California’s deadliest fire, the still-raging Camp Fire by November 13 had led to 42 deaths, with many residents still unaccounted for and more than ...3 days ago - The Armistice Centenary
The centenary of the Armistice that ended the First World War has rightly been celebrated around the world. The Armistice brought an end to the horrors of a war that had been so terrible that it was described in retrospect, ...3 days ago - What Makes the All Blacks So Good?Both in the run-up to and during the aftermath of the All Blacks’ narrow victory over England at Twickenham, the world’s rugby media posed a frequently asked question – how can a small country with a population of only 4 ...3 days ago
- Come clean about Victoria University’s future, VC told
The Vice-Chancellor of the Victoria University of Wellington, Professor Grant Guilford has been told by the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) to come clean about his plans for the future of the university after all staff were sent an email yesterday inviting them to ...3 days ago - Keeping a promiseAfter the Pike River disaster, then-Prime Minister John Key gave the victims' families an "absolute reassurance" that their loved ones bodies would be recovered. He lied, and left them to rot. Now, Labour is keeping his promise:The Minister responsible for ...4 days ago
- Pure cronyismSo, the rumours were true: the government has appointed former Labour deputy Annette King as High Commissioner to Australia. So much for Winston Peters' supposed opposition to such appointments - it turns out that he's really only opposed when they're ...4 days ago
- Trump and the media – codependents wallowing in the mud
If you look at the footage really carefully, Jim Acosta was extremely rough with Trump's intern.pic.twitter.com/Tbo5ULudGw — Femi (@Femi_Sorry) November 11, 2018 Now, this is what “doctoring” really looks like! This whole Trump-Acosta issue got me thinking ...4 days ago - Pike River
Just putting a pin in this day. For them, we are returning. ➡️ https://t.co/H31Z8E5XZa pic.twitter.com/tG9lkLJAxO — Andrew Little (@AndrewLittleMP) November 13, 2018 ...4 days ago - Fullers plan: more ferries
Auckland’s harbours are one it’s defining features and correspondingly the phrase “we should make better use of our harbour for transport” is a common refrain we hear in Auckland. Fullers want to deliver that and today have released a report ...4 days ago - The Need to Diversify New Zealand’s War Narratives
On 11 November 2018, many thousands in countries all around the world stopped to commemorate the end of World War I. In New Zealand, as elsewhere, the date marked the end of a four-year long series of national remembrance activities ...4 days ago - Climate science comeback strategies: Al Gore said what?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk Credit: Image by Karin Kirk. Don’t feed the trolls. You’ve heard this advice before, but how can anyone sit on their hands when the trolls are just so … wrong? ...4 days ago - 3 Reasons to invest in Punakaiki Fund Limited (Closing Tomorrow)
We generally hold one retail offer per year for people to invest in Punakaiki Fund Limited. As is normal this year’s offer has a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS), and investors can apply online using our simple system. CLOSING TOMORROW AT 5PM ...4 days ago - Another reason to use a false name for OIA requestsBecause if you request information about a company, they may turn around and request information about you:In a case of the hunter becoming the hunted, people making Official Information Act requests cannot bank on remaining anonymous. Over the past two ...4 days ago
- Lest we forget, indeed. . .
Material on Redline about the First Great Imperialist Slaughterhouse War, aka World War I, includes over 50 items. Below are some of the main ones. Stevan Eldred-Grigg’s The Great Wrong War: New Zealand society and World War I Gallipoli Invasion: ...4 days ago - Report on 2018 ‘Historical Materialism’ conferenceby Michael Roberts This year’s Historical Materialism conference in London seemed well attended and with younger participants. HM covers all aspects of radical thought: philosophical, political, cultural, psychological and economic. But it’s economics that this blog concentrates on and so my ...5 days ago
- New Melon Health Investment
Punakaiki Fund has a public offer that closes on Wednesday, 14 November at 5pm. Read the PDS and invest online at punakaikifund.co.nz/investnow After some gestation it’s great to be able to share the news about our latest investment in Melon Health. We are leading ...5 days ago - Speaker: What almost everyone is missing about KiwiBuild
Many people are ripping into KiwiBuild at the moment. A lot of these criticisms have a strong whiff of partisan heckling – this is politics after all – some of them are fair and others are just looking for trouble.One ...5 days ago - A Diet Of Lies.
5 days ago - The Herald’s Latest Cycling Smear
An article that went up on the Herald’s site last night, and presumably in the dead tree version today, titled “Auckland cycleways overestimated demand to obtain taxpayer funding, says Auckland Transport report“, raises questions about some cycleway projects. Auckland Transport ...5 days ago - What are the climate change consequences of the midterm elections?This is a re-post from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Over the past two years, the Trump administration, aided by the Republican-controlled Congress, has eroded the Obama administration’s policy efforts to curb global warming. Climate activists had hoped to reverse ...5 days ago
- UnreasonableThat's the Chief Ombudsman's formal opinion of Horowhenua District Council's practice of redirecting, blocking and editing emails from people on a secret shitlist. While the Ombudsman recognises that sometimes members of the public might send emails that require management to ...5 days ago
- Hard News: Getting serious about the cannabis referendumThe organisers of last Friday's Cannabis Referendum Conference had a specific aim: they wanted to demonstrate that they, as the Cannabis Referendum Coalition, represented a credible, serious and organised campaign for New Zealand's forthcoming vote on legalising cannabis.They didn't have ...5 days ago
- This is what happens when agencies investigate themselvesThe State Services Commission's inquiry into its appointment of Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha has reported back - and unsurprisingly, cleared the SSC of any wrongdoing. The full report is here, but the short version is that the appointment panel ...5 days ago
- We don’t need more terror lawsBack in 2007, the New Zealand Police invaded Ruatoki, terrorised the town, and held children at gunpoint as part of a series of raids against "terrorists". But when it came time to prosecute the seventeen people they'd arrested, the whole ...6 days ago
- “Not a priority”On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld the right of the courts to formally declare laws to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act. This does not overturn or invalidate them, but it sends a clear message to Parliament that ...6 days ago
- Nov-18 AT Board meeting
Tomorrow the AT board meet again and the Closed Agenda Items for Approval/Decision Northcote Point Ferry Wharf – This will likely decide the fate of the currently closed wharf. It’s noted that John Gillon (Kaipatiki Local Board), Cr Richard Hills and Dan ...6 days ago - “The Great War” and, like all wars, the hard questions it poses for society…
The Great War! The “War to end all Wars!”… and so it went. On the 100th Anniversary of Armstice Day, and the completion of that “War to end all wars!”, which history clearly shows it did not do so at ...6 days ago - A hundred yearsToday marks the centenary of the end of the first world war. While it wasn't quite the world's stupidest war - that title probably goes to the Football War or the War of Jenkins' Ear - it ranks among them. ...7 days ago
- What We “Don’t Know And Can’t Know” – The Truth About World War I.
7 days ago - New research, October 29 – November 4, 2018A selection of new climate related research articles is shown below. Climate change impacts Mankind Altered Disease Risk from Climate Change (A special issue in EcoHealth) Climate change perception: an analysis of climate change and risk perceptions among farmer types ...1 week ago
- Flashback Saturday: Public transport and congestion in Wellington
Every weekend we dig into the archives. This post by Peter was first published in September 2015. Last week, I took a look at some new research from the Netherlands that estimated the benefits of public transport for car travel ...1 week ago - What the Mid-Term’s weren’t, what could easily happen, and a rocky road to 2020
Firstly, we must open with that breaking news… Attorney General Sessions is out. But Sessions didn’t “resign” so much as he was basically asked to, well, GTFO – just in more “Presidential” terms, cough. But this is like swapping Trump ...1 week ago - CANA Newsletter, November 2018
Check out our November newsletter, which covers the Te Kuha decision, No Mining on Conservation Land, the IPCC 1.5 warning, Just Transitions, book reviews, and more! The post CANA Newsletter, November 2018 appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa. ...1 week ago - The costs of choice in the New Zealand history curriculumHistory is not just an account of past events, but an interpretation. Which historical events are taught in schools, and how they are presented, communicates an important message to pupils about national identity. Currently, in New Zealand, these important decisions ...1 week ago
- Ending the pillageBack in 2015, we learned that miners were destroying Northland's wetlands to dig up swamp kauri and exporting the raw logs to China under the guide of "carved temple poles". The latter was obviously taking the piss, a pretext solely ...1 week ago
- RIP performance-linked fundingTertiary Update – Vol 21 No 20 For years union members have worked together to change the way the tertiary education sector is funded. Earlier this week, the government agreed with what students and staff have been saying and brought an end ...1 week ago
- Listen to staff on proposed merger of WelTec and WhitireiaChief Executive Chris Gosling and Commissioner Neil Barnes must take seriously and heed the views of staff and students affected by their proposal to merge Whitireia with WelTec, which includes closing the Kāpiti campus, and make the distinct local and regional needs of ...1 week ago
- TEU Kuia Whaea Kāterina Daniels retiresThe Tertiary Education Union Te Hautū Kahurangi held a special retirement celebration in Wellington recently with Whaea Kāterina Daniels to acknowledge her decades of service to the union that she has been a part of since the early 1980s. During that time she ...1 week ago
- Stuart McCutcheon will step down as Auckland Uni VC next yearUniversity of Auckland Vice-Chancellor Stuart McCutcheon has said he will step down at the end of 2019. Reporting the news, NZ Herald quoted TEU national president Sandra Grey on the subject of the appointment process for his successor. She said academic staff at ...1 week ago
- One way of fixing itPrivate spy companies infiltrating environmental groups to disrupt and spy on them for governments and toxic industries seems to be becoming increasingly common. In New Zealand, there's a whole company, Thompson and Clark Investigations, specialising in it. But UK anti-asbestos ...1 week ago
- VindicatedBack in 2016, the High Court declared that National's 2010 prisoner voting ban (the one which was so shabby and shoddily passed that it brought Parliament into disrepute) was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act. The case has worked ...1 week ago
- Sep-18 Ridership
It feels like it’s taken a while but we’ve finally got the ridership results for September and they’re looking positive despite there being one less working day than September 2017. Overall, ridership was up 4.8% on September last year but ...1 week ago - The White, Male, Losers’ Liberator Wins Again.
1 week ago - What If We Are On Our Own?In order to maintain international liquidity during the Global Financial Crisis, the US Federal Reserve and other central banks arranged $US580b of ‘currency swaps’ in which for a limited period they exchanged US dollars for the local currencies.read more ...1 week ago
- Restoring the RMADuring its final term in office, National removed democracy from the RMA by removing notification and appeal rights while allowing Ministers to dictate local plans from their office in Wellington. now Labour is planning to repeal that as the first ...1 week ago
- Police look the other way on crime by their ownAnother report from the Independent Police Conduct Authority was released today, finding that police who sped at 200 km/h down a busy Auckland motorway during a pursuit violated pursuit policy in multiple ways and should have been charged with dangerous ...1 week ago
- Third Main UpdateApologies It has been a long time since my last post. I have had a little trouble with my health and as a result had to move to Brisbane. I’m feeling slightly better now and hoping that I can get ...1 week ago
- Good riddanceThe government's offshore oil exploration ban has already borne fruit, with Canadian oil firm TAG Oil quitting New Zealand:Taranaki oil and gas producer TAG Oil is selling its New Zealand operations for US$30 million to Tamarind Resources, citing the less ...1 week ago
- Good – But Could Be BetterLabour was, not surprisingly, in good heart at its annual conference last week in Dunedin, as Jacinda Ardern celebrated her first anniversary as Prime Minister. The past year has not been without its difficulties for the new government, but the ...1 week ago
- Viewshaft E10: “The full cost could easily be double”
This is a follow up guest post from Geoff Cooper, Director of Economics at PwC, on work he’s done looking at viewshafts. You can read the first post here. I’ve had a lot of feedback on the results of our ...1 week ago - Brexit—another day in the death of the old world orderJohn Smith looks at Britain’s impending departure from the EU in a wider context and explains why the Irish border has become such a make-or-break issue. (Originally published on MR online) Five months before the March 29 leaving date, ...1 week ago
- Climate change science comeback strategies: ‘In it for the money’
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk Image by Karin Kirk. When you don’t like the message, attack the messenger. It’s an age-old tactic and an easy way to energize opposition while distracting from the real issue ...1 week ago - Climate Change: The next stepThis morning Parliament passed the Crown Minerals (Petroleum) Amendment Act, outlawing future offshore oil and gas exploration. As I've already argued, its fatally compromised by allowing existing permits to be extended and expanded - effectively giving the fossil fuel industry ...1 week ago
- EMBARRASSING: Winning Melbourne Cup horse just ran around in a big circle like some kind of idiot
What a stupid animal. It’s been revealed today that Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter only won the race by running around in a circle like some big, dumb, horse-faced idiot. Counter, 3, was hailed by the excited crowd as he ...1 week ago - 17,000 employed under LabourThe labour market statistics have been released, showing that unemployment has dropped to 3.9% - its lowest level since 2008. The number of unemployed has dropped to 109,000, 17,000 less than when the government took office. This is a ...2 weeks ago
- Ramshackle and decrepitWatching the US elections from the bottom of the world in New Zealand, I'm struck by how ramshackle and decrepit the system is. The tales of broken or even missing voting machines and long queues to vote bring to mind ...2 weeks ago
- Hard News: The MidtermsThis week's US midterm elections are inescapably a referendum on Donald Trump's presidency, and would have been so even if he hadn't gone to such lengths to make it that way.The closing campaign ad that was so racist and mendacious ...2 weeks ago
- Auckland’s City Centre Plans
Auckland’s city centre has been growing strongly with more and more people living, working or studying there. On top of that, over the last 10-15 years we’ve seen a significant shift with more people now arriving in the city centre ...2 weeks ago - Whitireia and WelTec MergerCE and Commissioner must listen to staff and make regional needs a priority in proposed merger of Whitireia and WelTec The Tertiary Education Union (TEU) today called on Chief Executive Chris Gosling and Commissioner Neil Barnes to take seriously ...2 weeks ago
- Trans-Tasman partnership behind cocaine bust
Police Minister Stuart Nash says the seizure of 190 kilograms of cocaine in Auckland demonstrates the strength of partnership between Australian and New Zealand law enforcement agencies in preventing the harm drugs cause in our communities. “Targeting transnational organised crime ...1 day ago - Extra Police constables deployedSeventy-nine new Police constables will be deployed across New Zealand following the graduation of a new wing of recruits. Police Minister Stuart Nash has congratulated the recruits of Wing 320 at the formal graduation parade at the Royal New Zealand ...2 days ago
- SPEECH – Andrew Little confirms Pike River Mine Drift re-entry plan to proceedNext Monday is the 8th anniversary of the dreadful tragedy at Pike River Coal Mine. Two men escaped with their lives. 29 others never came home. ...4 days ago
- Andrew Little confirms Pike River Mine Drift re-entry plan to proceedThe Pike River Mine Drift will be re-entered, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little announced today. ...4 days ago
- Significant step in Pike River drift re-entryMinister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little has received the report on re-entering the Pike River drift following nine months of intensive work by Te Kāhui Whakamana Rua Tekau Mā Iwa Pike River Recovery Agency. ...2 weeks ago
- The Nation: Shane Jones
• Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said he takes responsibility for the mulching of $160,000 worth of seedlings destined for Ngati Hine Forestry Trust. He said while it was a slip up between the "advisers and the actual officials" ...10 hours ago - The Nation: Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker• Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker says New Zealand is trying to position itself as the bridge between the United States and China. “We have a bit of a reputation for the honest broker, and it’s times like ...11 hours ago
- Musicians join call to stop incarcerating children on Nauru"Children Don’t Belong in Jail" is a new protest song released today by New Zealand musicians Luke Buda and Don McGlashan in response to the plight of the refugee children still detained on the island of Nauru. Don and Luke ...12 hours ago
- NZUS Council Mike Moore Congressional Interns departThe New Zealand United States Council today farewells four interns on their way to work in Washington DC courtesy of the NZUS Council Mike Moore Internship Programme. The programme is conducted in partnership with the University of Canterbury, Victoria ...1 day ago
- Ministry of Education offers $10,000 to most teachersIt is hard to understand why the teaching unions are threatening further campaigns before the NZEI members get the opportunity to vote on the settlement offer, and while the PPTA is still in active bargaining with the Ministry. ...1 day ago
- Trout Anglers Want Whitebait and Eels “De-commercialised”A trout and rivers advocacy group the NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers want native fish in whitebait and eels largely de-commercialised. Federation president Graham Carter spoke out in support of the Forest and Bird Society who recently said whitebait ...1 day ago
- Questions Remain for Justice Select CommitteeSignificant questions remain for the Justice Select Committee as it finishes hearing oral evidence from more than 2,000 New Zealanders on the End of Life Choice Bill. ...1 day ago
- Israel Institute condemns hate speech at Music AwardsIsrael Institute of New Zealand director, Dr David Cumin, has condemned a speech given at the recent Vodafone Music Awards by the lead of New Zealand hip-hop music group Upper Hutt Posse calling it ‘blatant incitement to violence’. ...1 day ago
- TOP Leadership Election Candidates announcedThe Opportunities Party has announced candidates for the Leadership and Member Representative roles in the party elections to be held in early December. ...1 day ago
- Hamilton-Auckland rail plan would cost $185 per personA passenger service between Auckland and Hamilton requiring a reported $57.7 million in ratepayer and taxpayer subsidies works out as at least $185 per passenger per trip, calculates the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...1 day ago
- Blind people significantly under employed around the worldToronto, Ont. – People with sight loss are significantly less employed full-time than their sighted counterparts, according to a recent survey from the CNIB Foundation, Vision Australia and the Blind Foundation of New Zealand. The results were nearly ...2 days ago
- Tauranga rough sleeping ban vote callousThe Tauranga council voted in favour of a bylaw banning begging and rough sleeping within 5m of public entrances to retail and hospitality premises in Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and Greerton. Auckland Action Against Poverty condemns the move by the ...2 days ago
- NZBA calls for resolution to court strikeThe country’s professional body for barristers, the New Zealand Bar Association, says the current dispute between the Ministry of Justice and court staff should be resolved as quickly as possible because of safety considerations. ...2 days ago
- Firearm Breaches Need Three Strikes LegislationNew Conservative is calling for firearm offences to be subject to three strikes legislation in light of the three incidents in 36 hours involving firearms in South Auckland. When 50 people are walking the streets with 3 or more firearms ...2 days ago
- Scroogey Auckland Council Spoils Kids’ Santa ParadeA Family First NZ is labelling a decision by Auckland Council’s events group (ATEED) to defund the Auckland Santa Parade as scroogey and a politically correct hijack of one of the city’s most iconic annual events. ...2 days ago
- Bus commuters in Waikato ride for free as protest continuesChristmas comes early for bus commuters in the Waikato this year as around 120 bus drivers will refuse to accept payment from passengers. Passengers will be receiving free rides on services provided by Go Bus in Hamilton, Te Awamutu, Otorohanga ...2 days ago
- Education unions’ combined executives to meetThe combined National Executives of NZEI Te Riu Roa and the PPTA Te Wehengarua are meeting today (Friday, 16 November) at 4pm to discuss possible joint campaigning next year, should members reject the offers from the Ministry of Education. ...2 days ago
- Future Directions of Treatment Courts ConferenceResearchers at the University of Auckland, with the support of the Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation, are hosting a conference to encourage informed, robust, conversations about the future shape, scope and operation of the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment ...2 days ago
- Wilfred Case: INZ has finally tipped the scalePress Release INZ has finally tipped the scale, says former human rights barrister turned journalist, Joseph Cederwall Having fought the good fight over the years as an immigration and human rights attorney, Cederwall has had enough of immigration’s ...2 days ago
- Boat repair loan is just gambling with taxpayer moneyHon Shane Jones’ decision to loan $4.8 million to a Whangarei boat repair company is simply gambling with taxpayer money, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Oceania Marine is a private ...2 days ago
- New report on why sugar taxes don’t work to curb obesityA new report from the New Zealand Taxpayer’ Union examines why the taxing of sugar-sweetened beverages around the world has failed to curb obesity ...3 days ago
- International visitor spending shows strong growthThe latest International Visitor Survey results released today by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment show spending by international visitors increased seven per cent to $11.1 billion for the year to September 2018. ...3 days ago
- Manawatu-Whanganui PGF spending is just picking winnersThe Government should be delivering tax cuts to all businesses, not spending $48 million picking winners says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, responding to the Government's announcement of Provincial Growth Fund spending in the region. The Union's ...3 days ago
- Ministry heads should roll over teacher numbersThe Chair of the National Maori Authority and the Auckland District of New Zealand Maori Council, Matthew Tukaki, has said heads should roll over the debacle of the teachers shortage asking the question “how did it all get to this?”. ...3 days ago
- Dunne Speaks: The Pike River Re-entryIt is perhaps a commentary in itself of this Government’s media management skills that it chose to reveal the two worst kept political secrets of its tenure to date on the same day. The first was the confirmation that a ...3 days ago
- Vote of confidence expected at Ngāpuhi Rūnanga AGMBeneficiaries are encouraged to have their say at the Ngāpuhi Rūnanga Annual General Meeting (AGM) this weekend. ...3 days ago
- New home ownership trials underway to help whānauMore innovative trials to assist low-income whānau to move towards owning their own homes were announced today by Te Puni Kōkiri Chief Executive Michelle Hippolite. ...3 days ago
- MBIE’s GHG Figures Define Clean EnergyMBIE has released figures which illustrate wood fuel is the cleanest energy consumed for process heat in New Zealand, by a huge margin. The data indicates that replacing fossil fuels with wood energy could drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ...3 days ago
- E tū welcomes Pike River re-entryE tū has welcomed the decision to proceed with the re-entry of the Pike River mine drift in a bid to uncover the cause of death of the 29 men who died there in November 2010. ...4 days ago
- East Coast nurses and health care assistants to join strikeNZNO nurses and health care assistants (HCAs) will join colleagues in various professions, and from three other unions, in a 24 hour strike over a breakdown in their collective agreement negotiation with East Coast PHO Ngāti Porou Hauora (NPH). The ...4 days ago
- Govt Should Invest in Waste to Energy PlantThe Government should invest in building a waste to energy plant south of Auckland. ...4 days ago
- Student Volunteer Army to reconnect with Parkland studentsTwelve youth leaders from the University of Canterbury’s Student Volunteer Army (SVA) are reconnecting with students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) in the United States, this month from 26 November to 8 December. ...4 days ago
- All Whakatōhea hapū vote for a Waitangi Tribunal InquiryThe voting results of the Whakatōhea Settelement Process were relased yesterday and it is clear that all Whakatōhea hapū have all voted in support of a Waitangi Tribunal process. ...4 days ago
- Greenpeace calls for ban on chemical nitrogen fertiliserGreenpeace is opening up a new front in the struggle to save New Zealand’s rivers and reduce agricultural emissions. ...4 days ago
- Sir Rod Stewart and Thor Bjornsson Feature in New CampaignSodastream Takes It up a Notch with New Environmental Campaign Calling upon Consumers to Go Reusable ...4 days ago
- Majority of Whakatōhea votes to progress Treaty settlementsThe result of the Whakatōhea vote on the future of its Treaty of Waitangi claims has been announced today, with majority support for the Whakatōhea Pre-Settlement Claims Trust (the Trust) and its continued work to achieve a comprehensive settlement ...4 days ago
- Ambos open to further strike actionAmbos open to further strike action as St John reluctant to request more Government funding for staff numbers and pay ...4 days ago
- We’re in!The coalition government’s decision to recover the Pike River Drift is an historic moment for truth and justice for all New Zealanders. ...4 days ago
- We’re in!The coalition government’s decision to recover the Pike River Drift is an historic moment for truth and justice for all New Zealanders. ...4 days ago
- Working people killed in Pike River will not be forgottenThe Council of Trade Unions President Richard Wagstaff today welcomed the long-awaited release of the Pike River re-entry plan as a victory for the Pike River community and families of the men killed working in the mine. "For eight years, ...4 days ago
- Working people killed in Pike River will not be forgottenThe Council of Trade Unions President Richard Wagstaff today welcomed the long-awaited release of the Pike River re-entry plan as a victory for the Pike River community and families of the men killed working in the mine. "For eight years, ...4 days ago
- Judges Vigilant to Impact of Pay DisputeThe Chief District Court Judge is taking steps to protect the rights of people needing urgent access to justice during the ongoing industrial dispute between the Ministry of Justice and court staff who are members of the PSA. ...4 days ago
- Human hacking is on the riseNew Zealand has seen an 15% increase in scams over the past calendar year, and we will have lost $70 million to scammers by Christmas, according to high level estimates from the Banking Ombudsman for Fraud Awareness Week (11-17 November). ...4 days ago
- EQC Claimant Reference Group Welcomes Commission of InquiryThe Claimants Reference Group (CRG), established from the recommendations from the Stevenson Report, is welcoming the announcement today of a Commission of Inquiry into The Earthquake Commission. ...4 days ago
- Cycleways are a waste of ratepayers’ moneyA new Auckland Transport report says that over-estimated cycling demand led to poor investment decisions, says the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance. Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson Jo Holmes says “The data shows exactly what everyone in Auckland already ...4 days ago
- Anglers Federation pans 3 Waters ResponseThe New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers (NZFFA), a national association of angling clubs and anglers, is disappointed, but not surprised, by the Local Government NZ position statement on the 3 Waters project. The statement suggested that ‘while ...4 days ago
- Highlighting impacts of oil and gas decisionThe ‘Energy Voices’ public campaign will keep running to give voice to serious concerns over the end to new offshore oil and gas exploration permits, says the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ). ...5 days ago
- Cabinet rubber-stamps withdrawals from Jones’ slush fundThe Cabinet is now acting as a rubber-stamp for Shane Jones’ withdrawals from his Provincial Growth Fund, according to ACT Leader David Seymour. ...5 days ago
- ACT: Free Press, 12 November – Rubbing Up Against RealityRubbing Up Against Reality I Any of Australia’s last five Prime Ministers can tell you what happens when energy prices rise and people are hit hard in the hip pocket. Our Prime Minister knows this. She got elected saying that ...5 days ago
- Maori Council welcomes Dr Erueti’s appointmentMaori Council welcomes Dr Erueti’s appointment to the Royal Commission into Child and Institutional Abuse … “throw open the doors and let the stories and healing begin” ...5 days ago
- Fiji’s elections chief Saneem slams 4 political parties – counting on hold
28 mins ago - Crosbie Walsh: Fiji elections still a cliffhanger, FijiFirst hanging on
6 hours ago - ‘End the horror’: Luke Buda’s new Nauru protest song with Don McGlashan
Luke Buda and Don McGlashan have today released “Children Don’t Belong in Jail”, a protest song about the refugee children detained on Nauru. The song, released in association with trans-Tasman advocacy group Mums 4 Refugees in the leadup to Universal Children’s ...8 hours ago - Chinese officials kick out EMTV, foreign media from APEC events – allow Beijing state media
9 hours ago - FijiFirst leads election polls, 772 stations yet to be counted
9 hours ago - Scott Waide: How China is several moves ahead in Port Moresby
9 hours ago - The Brexit mess could lead to a break-up of a no longer United Kingdom
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Wellings, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Monash University Behind the scenes at Westminster and the teetering fate of the British government lies an even more profound change in British ...12 hours ago - Meanwhile in Britain, Brexit keeps lurching from debacle to disasterThis week British PM Theresa May thought she’d finally come up with a Brexit deal that her own MPs would accept. Things didn’t quite turn out that way, writes RNZ.After two years of discussions and negotiations with the European Union ...16 hours ago
- Science or Snake Oil: do hangover cures actually work?
It seemed like a good idea at the time. But a few drinks with friends turned into a few more, and the next morning you’re not feeling so crash hot. Is there anything you can take to help? Ken Harvey of Monash ...16 hours ago - Hunting for Katango: a desperate search for a $5 fan club refund
In the mid-1980s, a teenager paid five dollars for a Katango fan club parcel. Thirty years later, her son attempts to track down the missing goods, or at least a refund.Katango was one of thousands of bands in the 1980s. ...16 hours ago - Climate change and security to be discussed at APEC summit
Trade, security, and climate change are expected to dominate discussions among leaders at the APEC leaders' summit in Papua New Guinea this weekend. ...16 hours ago - If I see you holding a gun on Tinder, I’m swiping left
Holding up a fish in your Tinder profile is one thing, but what about firearms? Hannah Reid finds concerning meaning behind the dating profile trend. Yet another mass shooting in the United States. More conversations about how lucky we are to ...17 hours ago - Rose Matafeo and Alice Snedden are making Christmas horny again
This year the Basement Christmas show enters its tenth year with Work Do, written by superstar comedians Rose Matafeo and Alice Snedden. Alex Casey talks to the duo about office parties, Christmas fantasies and Michelle Obama. Somewhere in London, Rose Matafeo ...18 hours ago - Inquiry’s failings will turn into Royal Omission
Aaron Smale’s coverage of state abuse led to a Royal Commission of Inquiry. But he believes the Commission’s terms of reference will make it another chapter in a 20-year cover-up. ...18 hours ago - Chinese President Xi’s early PNG arrival upstages APEC rivals
News headlines with the arrival of the Chinese president in Papua New Guinea for APEC. Video: EMTV News Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Port Moresby last night to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ...1 day ago - Ben Bohane: A tribute to the ‘grand old man’ of the OPM Bernard MawenOPM Southern Commander Bernard Mawen (right) with Commander John Koknak (left) and the Morning Star flag at the time of being interviewed by Vanuatu-based journalist Ben Bohane in 1998. Image: © Ben Bohane OBITUARY: By Ben Bohane The Free Papua ...1 day ago
- SODELPA leads official Fiji party tally after 527 of 2170 stations counted
1 day ago - Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: The Media’s fraught role in the Jami-Lee Ross scandal
1 day ago - Australia saves NZ from billion-dollar stink bug invasion
A ship bound for New Zealand has been stopped in Australia after it was found to be carrying stink bugs. ...1 day ago - Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – November 16 2018
Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – November 16 2018 Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.Pike River Katie Todd (RNZ): Mother ...1 day ago - It’s the right time to review the world’s chemical weapons conventionSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Boland, Senior Lecturer of Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Charles Darwin University The chemical weapons convention (CWC) is one of the most successful arms control treaties in existence. It outlaws the production, ...1 day ago
- I blame Karl Marx
Column: Barbara Sumner – The Gallows Bird is a historical trilogy I have coming out next year. There, we meet Mr Fingleston, a silk merchant and tailor. The character of Mr Fingleston visited me in the early hours, over ...1 day ago - Papua New Guinea’s APEC: burden or opportunity?
Laura Walters reports on the controversies plaguing this year’s APEC host. ...1 day ago - Logging must stop in Melbourne’s biggest water supply catchmentSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University Continued logging in Melbourne’s water catchments could reduce the city’s water supply by the equivalent of 600,000 people’s annual ...1 day ago
- Refining NZ eyes low-carbon opportunities
Refining NZ says it is reviewing its activities and potential opportunities to improve shareholder returns in the medium and long term. ...1 day ago - How digital media blur the border between Australia and ChinaSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Sear, PhD Candidate, UNSW Canberra Cyber, Australian Defence Force Academy, UNSW In this series Hacking #auspol we explore whether covert foreign influence operates in Australia, and what we can do about ...1 day ago
- NZSA pans Kathmandu’s lack of disclosure on directors’ fee increase
Outdoor clothing and equipment retailer Kathmandu Holdings’ proposal to hike its directors’ fee pool by 25 percent has drawn the ire of the New Zealand Shareholders’ Association. ...1 day ago - How digital media blurs the border between Australia and ChinaSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Sear, PhD Candidate, UNSW Canberra Cyber, Australian Defence Force Academy, UNSW In this series Hacking #auspol we explore whether covert foreign influence operates in Australia, and what we can do about ...1 day ago
- Science or Snake Oil: do hangover cures actually work?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ken Harvey, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University It seemed like a good idea at the time. But a few drinks with friends turned into a few ...1 day ago
- Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending November 16Only 39 shopping days till Xmas! Get in early and peruse the week’s bestselling books at the Unity stores in Willis St, Wellington, and High St, Auckland.WELLINGTON UNITY1 Tart & Bitter: Four Decades of Dining Nightmares by David Burton (Potton & ...1 day ago
- The Friday Poem: ‘After Lucy Tinakori’s Famous Party’ by Vincent O’SullivanNew verse by Dunedin writer Vincent O’Sullivan. After Lucy Tinakori’s Famous Party I love it that poetry now so possesses the worldit is not possible to play ‘pin the tail’ at a children’sparty without every child being the winnerwherever the tail’s pinned. ...1 day ago
- Evidence of aliens? What to make of research and reporting on ‘Oumuamua, our visitor from spaceSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Tingay, John Curtin Distinguished Professor (Radio Astronomy), Curtin University This article is part of our occasional long read series Zoom Out, where authors explore key ideas in science and technology in ...1 day ago
- Ardern rejects refugee reports
Jacinda Ardern has rejected reports in Australian media that New Zealand is blocking refugees from Nauru who wish to travel here on a holiday visa. ...1 day ago - Referendum redux: Labor’s two-step plan for a vote on becoming a Republic has some precedentsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ron Levy, Associate professor, Australian National University A recent report suggested Australia’s head of state, Queen Elizabeth, wants Australia to “get on with” moving towards becoming a republic rather than holding a ...1 day ago
- Mercury storage slides to two-year low
Hydro storage in Lake Taupo has fallen to a two-year low after unusually dry weather in the central North Island in recent weeks. ...1 day ago - Gareth Morgan: NZ’s inconvenient truth
Gareth Morgan rejects arguments made by Wayne Linklater this week, instead making a case for toxins remaining an essential tool to protect our wildlife. ...1 day ago - Will an ambitious Chinese-built rail line through the Himalayas lead to a debt trap for Nepal?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jagannath Adhikari, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has ambitions to reshape the global economy by connecting more than 60 ...1 day ago
- NZSA says time’s up for Keith Smith on Warehouse board
The New Zealand Shareholders’ Association is suggesting that The Warehouse’s deputy chair Keith Smith may have passed his use-by date. ...1 day ago - House of Drag wobbles in the man-sized heels of Drag Race
New Zealand has its own drag reality show now, House of Drag – but how does it fare under the mighty shadow of RuPaul’s Drag Race? Sam Brooks tunes in.Once in a generation, a piece of work comes along that is so ...1 day ago - ‘You’re a racist!’ Radio talkback host explodes at rugby bigot
In a dramatic moment on the radio airwaves, a sports talkback host put the theory of giving nothing to racism into practice. It has long been clear that rugby has a problem with racial classification of players. It’s a well worn ...1 day ago - A Serco prison officer refused to take his shoes off…and had his tyres slashed
The refusal of a Serco prison officer to take his shoes off at a marae, for the tangi of a prominent New Zealand musician, has been labelled disrespectful and rude, writes Leigh-Marama McLachlan for RNZ.Tensions were running high last week for ...1 day ago - Man who burnt his wife alive gets at least 27 years’ jail, but not life – as victim was no stran...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Featherstone, Associate Professor in Australian History and the History of Sexuality, The University of Queensland Last week in the New South Wales Supreme Court, Justice David Davies sentenced a 45-year-old man ...1 day ago
- Fiji poll campaign blackout period to end at 6pm tomorrow
2 days ago - Week in Politics: Inquiry announcements give government kudosAnalysis - The Pike River re-entry decision and a move to widen the inquiry into state care abuse were public relations coups for the government, writes Peter Wilson ...2 days ago
- Easy entertaining: how to fake it like you made it
Instead of spending all night in the kitchen, keep it simple and use the time you gain to dazzle your guests with that sparkling wit of yours.Let me tell you something: attempting to make a risotto for the first time ...2 days ago - October manufacturing activity strongest since May
New Zealand's manufacturing activity expanded in October to its highest level since May as production and new orders improved. ...2 days ago - But what about boil up? How Māori are embracing veganism
Vegan, kaimanga, kapa kaiota, whekana – whatever you call it, a movement towards a harm free, plant-based lifestyle is being championed by Māori looking to protect Papatūānuku. Across Aotearoa, people are ditching dairy and moving away from meat in an effort ...2 days ago - Explainer: how the Antarctic Circumpolar Current helps keep Antarctica frozenSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Phillips, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania The Antarctic Circumpolar Current, or ACC, is the strongest ocean current on our planet. It extends from the ...2 days ago
- Blis Technologies narrows 1H loss
Blis Technologies narrowed its first-half loss and continues to expect a pre-tax profit for the full year as revenue ticks higher. ...2 days ago - Foley Family Wines migrates to NZX’s main board
Foley Family Wines is biting the bullet early and moving from NZX's junior board to its main board from Dec. 3. ...2 days ago
Recent Comments