the praiseworthy and the pitiful
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Bernie by 6K.
Written By: - Date published: 4:54 pm, February 7th, 2020 - 35 comments
Iowa and beyond.
Trump survives
Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, February 7th, 2020 - 35 comments
Donald Trump has predictably been acquitted by the US Senate on the impeachment charges laid against him by the House of Representatives.
Pay the money back Simon
Written By: - Date published: 3:17 pm, February 1st, 2020 - 33 comments
Simon Bridges has stated that National wants to pay the undeclared $100,000 donation back but even though nearly two years have passed since it was made it still remains unrepaid.
How low will Bridges go?
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, January 28th, 2020 - 23 comments
Simon Bridges has wondered out loud if anti semitism stopped the Government from sending a senior representative to a Holocaust memorial in Israel.
Federated Farmers launches petition against its business model
Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, January 19th, 2020 - 157 comments
Federated Farmers has started a petition against an educational resource that teaches about climate change and activism because it does not present their industry in a sufficiently positive way.
National created more working groups than Labour
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, January 18th, 2020 - 31 comments
The Herald has reported that National in its first two years of Government created *more* working groups than Labour.
News Corp climate change denial attacked by (checks notes) James Murdoch …
Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, January 15th, 2020 - 116 comments
News Corp has had a bad week in the media with many questioning its continued climate change denial and its support for politicians refusing to accept the reality of climate change. But the most surprising opposition has been expressed by Rupert Murdoch’s son and News Corp director James Murdoch.
A message for conservatives about climate change and nuclear power
Written By: - Date published: 3:21 pm, January 9th, 2020 - 142 comments
David Farrar has criticised young people not for their passion about addressing climate change, but for not supporting nuclear power as a potential solution. Even though it is too risky, too expensive, and too late.
Australia is no longer the lucky country
Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, January 6th, 2020 - 112 comments
Australia is arguably no longer the lucky country. And if it does not resolve its addiction to coal it may not have a future.
Bridges fights losing twitter battle with Nigel Latta
Written By: - Date published: 7:52 am, December 19th, 2019 - 18 comments
Simon Bridges’s twitter account has chosen to celebrate Christmas by engaging in a twitter spat with well known Media personality Nigel Latta. And has not fared well.
Crash ‘n Burn
Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, December 10th, 2019 - 17 comments
A chuttering PM and…well, I guess being left speechless.
Right wing lies
Written By: - Date published: 8:29 am, December 6th, 2019 - 110 comments
New Zealand and the United Kingdom are both cursed with the right wing parties having the same advisors and similar means of campaigning
An Early Christmas.
Written By: - Date published: 12:33 pm, December 5th, 2019 - 23 comments
Christian tradition dictates Christmas falls on the 25th of December. This year though, if we simply view Christmas through a lens of ‘good things happening’, then Christmas is coming early.
Learning to win fast
Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, November 12th, 2019 - 53 comments
While Australia burns its conservative politicians still refuse to accept the enormity of the climate crisis and are acting to hinder and prevent measures that need to be taken to address what is a clear threat to the country’s future.
TWP – sorted?
Written By: - Date published: 12:10 am, November 4th, 2019 - 15 comments
A guest post from Chrissy Thomas on Te Whare Pounamu, Dunedin Women’s Refuge.
Truth, boomer memes and the next election campaign
Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, October 26th, 2019 - 54 comments
Thanks to Facebook’s lax attitude to fact checking it appears that the next election campaign is going to be a rough one.
Sneaky Simon somersaults on support for Terrorism Bill
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, October 23rd, 2019 - 24 comments
National has welched on a promise to support the Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill so that it can play politics with law and order issues.
About the $7.5 billion surplus
Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, October 9th, 2019 - 37 comments
The announcement of a $7.5 billion surplus for the last fiscal year combined with a $5.5 billion surplus the year before proves once and for all that Steven Joyce’s claim of a $11.5 billion deficit in Labour’s costings was bollocks.
National’s faux outrage
Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, September 27th, 2019 - 33 comments
The National Party has described as “censorship at the extreme” a rule in Parliament’s standing orders the latest version of which was enacted under the last National Government. Updated with Simon Bridges opposing the relaxation of the rule in 2017
Every day New Zealanders
Written By: - Date published: 12:37 pm, September 18th, 2019 - 20 comments
Simon Bridges thinks that Jacinda Ardern’s international campaign to change the way that social media handles hate speech and terrorism a big talkfest that will achieve nothing, even though Facebook has as a result announced significant changes to its platform.
The Race to be the Democratic Party’s Presidential nominee
Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, September 17th, 2019 - 38 comments
Breaking it down.
National’s double standard
Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, September 15th, 2019 - 100 comments
National has a rather murky past when it comes to dealing with issues relating to the behaviour of its Members of Parliament.
Toxic masculinity
Written By: - Date published: 8:36 am, August 28th, 2019 - 153 comments
As the Amazon burns and the world looks on aghast as our lungs go up in flames Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has chosen to respond to an offer of help from the G7 by picking a fight with French leader Emmanuel Macron.
Cmon Aussie …
Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, August 18th, 2019 - 54 comments
In the last week Australia has insulted Pacific nations by refusing to commit to a 1.5 degree maximum increase in global temperatures and by claiming that Pacific Islands will be fine because they can pick Australia’s fruit. And Alan Jones has almost lost his job through misogynist attacks on Jacinda Ardern.
National still does not get MMP
Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, August 14th, 2019 - 62 comments
National has shown that it does not understand MMP by being overly concerned that some electorates may be slightly bigger or smaller than other electorates.
Five days is a long time in politics
Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, August 6th, 2019 - 27 comments
Five days ago Simon Bridges predicted that unemployment had gone up. The latest figures show that the unemployment rate is at its lowest rate for the past eleven years. Update: My enthusiasm was too high. It has been pointed out to me that the Bridges tweet was from last year. My apologies to Simon …
Later Whaleoil
Written By: - Date published: 11:07 am, August 1st, 2019 - 66 comments
The Whaleoil blog has announced that there will be no new blog posts on the site.
The unbelievable lightness of Simon Bridges
Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, July 31st, 2019 - 31 comments
Simon Bridges has insulted women and Tokelauans at the same time with a thinly veiled attack on Jacinda Ardern.
Australian right wing commentators suffer from deranged Jacinda syndrome
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, July 24th, 2019 - 76 comments
Australian right wing commentators are losing their shirts at the thought that Jacinda Ardern may be in the running for a Nobel Peace prize.
Make America white again
Written By: - Date published: 11:32 am, July 16th, 2019 - 81 comments
Donald Trump has attacked a group of young female Democrat politicians and has claimed they should go back to the country they were born in. Even though they were actually born in the United States.
Sorry no posts today …
Written By: - Date published: 1:46 pm, July 12th, 2019 - 36 comments
A chicken crisis will curtail posts from me today sorry.
- National’s Erica Stanford allegedly calls Labour’s Jan Tinetti a ‘stupid bitchR...
The Education Minister has apologised in Parliament for her remark. ...4 days ago - Labour backs new Police Commissioner – but warns against routine arming
The alternative to policing by consent would be a police state, which New Zealanders don't want, the party says. ...4 days ago
- Youth on boot camp pilot re-offended five weeks after release
Children's Minister Karen Chhour said while it was disappointing, it would naïve to think none of the participants would lapse. ...4 days ago
- In photos: People of the hīkoi, and why they marched
Hikoi mō Te Tiriti has come to an end, going down in history as the largest march to Parliament in Aotearoa. ...4 days ago
- ‘Everything is becoming a culture war’: Jon Ronson on conspiracies and cycleways
Ahead of his appearance in Aotearoa, the acclaimed British journalist, podcaster and documentarian talks to Stewart Sowman-Lund about why people are still fascinated by the fringes. The last place I would expect to find Jon Ronson is relaxing in the countryside. The iconic British journalist and writer is best known ...4 days ago - Kia kaha Lebanon: NZ media only tell half your story of struggle
The United States has vetoed a UN Security Council ceasefire resolution — for the fourth time — in Israel’s war on Gaza, while Hezbollah demands a complete ceasefire and “protection of Lebanon’s sovereignty” in any deal with Israel. Amid the death and devastation, Joe Hendren reflects on his time in ...4 days ago - ‘Deserves a Bafta’: After the Party premieres in the UK to five-star reviews
The acclaimed New Zealand drama has just premiered on TV in the United Kingdom, and the five-star reviews are already flowing in. Six months after it was called a “blistering” “tour de force” by Australian critics, and nearly a year since The Spinoff declared it the best drama New Zealand ...4 days ago
- Drugs are getting cheaper and easier to find in Aotearoa
New Zealanders are drinking and smoking less, but most other recreational drugs are becoming cheaper, more popular and more available, two new reports show. Two significant new surveys about drugs in Aotearoa were released this week, offering a rare insight into New Zealanders’ choice of substances, which ones are becoming ...4 days ago
- COP29: ‘climate finance’ for the Pacific is mostly loans, saddling small island nations with mor...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Ratuva, Director, Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury Lenora Qereqeretabua, the deputy speaker of Fiji’s Parliament, at the COP29 climate summit. IISD/ENB/Mike Muzurakis, CC BY-SA As this year’s UN climate summit reaches its final stage of negotiations, Pacific ...4 days ago
- Review: The magic of Wicked and the curse of corporate greed
The new movie musical is undoubtedly a fun watch, but it’s also proof that bigger isn’t always better, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund. Contains minor spoilers for Wicked. There’s no doubt that Wicked is going to be huge. No other pop culture event this year, save from maybe Charli XCX’s Brat, has ...4 days ago
- Dame Jacinda Ardern to be given United Nations leadership award
She will get the champion for global change award from the United Nations Foundation at a ceremony in New York tomorrow. ...4 days ago
- NZ will resume live animal exports – to low demand
Analysis: NZ is lifting what was supposed to be a permanent ban on live animal exports. But it’s not the lucrative industry it once was. The post NZ will resume live animal exports – to low demand appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 days ago - Financial forms of family violence affect one in seven of us – but the law is lagging
There are calls for New Zealand’s Family Violence Act to name economic harm as a standalone type of violence, rather than a subcategory of psychological abuse, to bring it in line with the United Kingdom and Australia. Economic harm – restricting access to, sabotaging or exploiting another person’s financial resources, ...4 days ago
- Downside Risks To Treasury’s Economic And Fiscal Forecasts
New Zealand is currently running a structural fiscal deficit, with expenditure exceeding revenue. Economic growth falling short of expectations has been making it harder for the Government to bring the books back into balance. ...4 days ago - Science continues to exclude Indigenous communities. Fixing this benefits everyone
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jordan Peter Anthony Pitt, Associate Dean of Indigenous Strategy and Services (Faculty of Science), University of Sydney An enduring challenge facing science around the world is how to best include and engage Indigenous communities. In Australia, for example, 0.5% of Indigenous ...4 days ago
- Why is cricket so popular on the Indian sub-continent?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Cricket originated in England, but has been spread worldwide by British soldiers and settlers in the past few hundred years. It is now the second most popular sport in ...4 days ago
- Disinformation and deepfakes played a part in the US election. Australia should expect the same
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Renee Barnes, Associate professor of Journalism, University of the Sunshine Coast Mladen Zivkovic/Shutterstock As America takes stock after Donald Trump’s re-election to the presidency, it’s worth highlighting the AI-generated fake photos, videos and audio shared during the campaign. A slew ...4 days ago
- Is thunderstorm asthma becoming more common?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kira Morgan Hughes, PhD Candidate in Allergy and Asthma, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University When spring arrives, so do warnings about thunderstorm asthma. But a decade ago, most of us hadn’t heard of it. So where did thunderstorm asthma ...4 days ago
- Overwhelmed by ever more clothing donations, charities are exporting the problem. Local governments ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yassie Samie, Postdoctoral Researcher in Fashion and Textiles, RMIT University anna.spoka/Shutterstock What happens to your clothes after you don’t want them any more? Chances are, you will donate them to op shops run by a charity organisation. There are more ...4 days ago
- Friendly fire: a nuclear push by allies at COP29 poses a sticky problem for Albanese
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland IndustryAndTravel/Shutterstock Prime Minister Anthony Albanese didn’t see this coming. At the global COP29 climate talks in Baku, the Australian government was indirectly criticised by two allies, the United States and the ...4 days ago
- Nugget Is Dead brings queer love, multiculturalism and Aussie flair to the Christmas movie formula
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phoebe Hart, Associate Professor, Film Screen & Animation, Queensland University of Technology Julia Firak Stan’s new Christmas film Nugget is Dead is a colourful production that follows the rules of the seasonal genre film to a tee – with an Aussie ...4 days ago
- Help Me Hera: Should I cut contact with my ex-stepdad?
My parents are finally getting divorced. So why do I feel like my stepdad’s feelings are still my problem? Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nz Dear Hera My parents recently announced their separation. This in itself isn’t a problem. I’ve already gone through this once before in my early childhood, so ...4 days ago
- New Zealand Drops In Global Ranking On Climate Action
If the government won’t hold polluters to account, then people will. People are increasingly taking to the streets and the courtrooms, putting their bodies on the line to shut down polluting industries. This will only escalate further unless New ...4 days ago
- Government’s fiscal policy dragging out recession, economists say
Slashing the budget deficit and reducing public debt are making matters worse for households and businesses, they say. ...4 days ago
- Mongrel Mob member charged 3 minutes after patch ban begins
The new gang patch law came into force at midnight. The first person under the ban was caught at 12.03am. ...4 days ago
- Spending Cuts Need To Stop – PSA Urges Govt To Listen To Economists
The economists, drawn from universities, unions and the private sector, are calling on the Government to urgently revisit its fiscal policy stating the economic rationale for spending cuts and deferral of key infrastructure projects was ‘unclear’. ...4 days ago
- Government proposes law change on name suppression for sex offenders
Convicted adult sex offenders would not get permanent name suppression unless the victim agreed to it, the justice minister says. ...4 days ago
- Insufficient data on restraint and seclusion of children in Oranga Tamariki facilities, watchdogs sa...
The Independent Children's Monitor says it cannot determine if there have been improvements since a 2020 report found both practices were used inappropriately. ...4 days ago
- No mental wellbeing priority in government’s latest child strategy
Mental well-being has been removed as a standalone priority in the government's latest Child and Youth Well-being Strategy - despite officials warning against this earlier in the year. ...4 days ago
- ‘Enforcement action taken’ hours after gang patch ban comes into effect
The Police Minister says gang members in the Hawke's Bay came out at midnight to challenge the law. ...4 days ago
- ‘The deal sucks’: MPs question Tauranga marine precinct sale
Two MPs in Tauranga are calling for the Auditor-General to investigate the sale of the city's marine precinct, which one believes is a "really bad deal for Tauranga". ...4 days ago
- Will banning gang patches actually make New Zealand safer?
Gang members say it will create more problems, but the government argues it’s about improving public safety, explains Stewart Sowman-Lund for The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...4 days ago
- Gang patch ban: ‘Subtle adaptations’ of insignia already being seen
Gang members are already changing their insignia to get around the law that came into effect overnight. ...4 days ago
- Bootcamp bill to have first reading before verdict on 10-boy pilot project
The Govt’s bootcamp bill will have its first reading on Thursday, ahead of a final evaluation of the controversial pilot programme. The post Bootcamp bill to have first reading before verdict on 10-boy pilot project appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 days ago
- Where to find $1.3 trillion for climate finance
Fossil fuel subsidies, solidarity levies and wealth taxes have all been proposed as sources of the trillions of dollars of climate finance needed The post Where to find $1.3 trillion for climate finance appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 days ago
- It’s not too late to halt the death spiral of New Zealand’s public health system
It’s a shambles of our own making, but it’s still one we can turn around, argues health sector expert Dr David Galler. Trust and confidence in the public health system is at an all-time low. Not a day goes by without another story highlighting its alleged failings, eroding what little ...4 days ago
- The gang patch ban is now in force. What’s going to happen?
From today, police can enforce new gang legislation, including a ban on insignia being displayed in public. Here’s what you need to know. Why are we talking about this again? I thought it came in ages ago. The Gangs Act 2024 and Sentencing Amendment Act 2024 did indeed become law ...4 days ago
- The case for juries
New Zealand will find out early next year if the Government will decrease the number of jury trials in a bid to speed up the court system.Currently, defendants can choose to face a jury – rather than a judge alone – when charged with a criminal offence carrying a maximum ...4 days ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 21 November
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, Thursday 21 November appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 days ago
- National desperately needs to nullify Act’s Treaty bill
The Prime Minister cannot afford to be seen getting bogged down and taken over by Act on the Treaty Principles Bill The post National desperately needs to nullify Act’s Treaty bill appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 days ago
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