crime
Categories under crime
- domestic violence (14)
- police (248)
- prisons (101)
My reaction to a new Commissioner of Police
Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, March 10th, 2020 - 15 comments
Previous readers of this site will be aware that I’m not a particularly enthusiastic supporter of the police. I’m more in the order of regarding our current police of a necessary burden on society that could do with having considerable improvement. While I find most police members to be what I can respect. I find the organisation protects some real idiots. I pity a commissioner having to deal with this.
Before the massacre the State was warned
Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, March 10th, 2020 - 27 comments
Through a series of meetings that led all the way to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Head of the State Services Commission Peter Hughes, and the Police, the Islamic Women’s Council repeatedly warned the highest levels of our civil service that their community was under imminent threat. They were ignored.
The politics of gun control
Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, March 9th, 2020 - 180 comments
National and NZ First are frustrating the passage of the Arms Legislation Bill by raising issues that may appeal to extremists but will not make the country a safer place after the Christchurch massacre.
National is going low on law and order issues
Written By: - Date published: 7:48 am, February 27th, 2020 - 10 comments
Over the past week National has shown a willingness to take really base aggressive positions on law and order issues for political advantages no matter what principles are at stake. And at the same time show a complete lack of understanding of the issues that are involved.
BREAKING NEWS: Simon Bridges Calls on Simon Bridges to Stand Down
Written By: - Date published: 6:30 pm, February 18th, 2020 - 5 comments
BREAKING NEWS: Simon Bridges calls on the leader of the opposition to stand down while the SFO case is before the courts.
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.
Bridges’ biggest gamble
Written By: - Date published: 3:46 pm, February 2nd, 2020 - 103 comments
Simon Bridges has mimicked John Key and ruled out National working with NZ First after the election. The difference is however that back then Key ruled out working with NZ First because NZ First was involved in a SFO investigation about the hiding of a $100,000 donation. This time it is National.
SFO files charges in relation to National Party donations
Written By: - Date published: 3:37 pm, January 29th, 2020 - 55 comments
The SFO has confirmed that it has charged four persons with offences relating to the receipt of donations by the National Party.
National politicises police by claiming Government is politicising police
Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, January 14th, 2020 - 19 comments
Simon Bridges has alleged the police of being politicised after a person who holds rather right wing views and libertarian views on gun ownership had a search warrant for illegal firearms executed on his property.
Bridges and the Robertson trial
Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, December 30th, 2019 - 22 comments
National has released a video of Simon Bridges talking about the trial he conducted against Tony Robertson and suggesting he is in politics to change the law. But the particular law he appears to be targeting was unchanged during the term of the last National Government.
Disarming New Zealand
Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, December 7th, 2019 - 39 comments
what are the connections between armed police patrols, gendered violence, and a gun lobby protest outside a school?
Strike Force Raptor for the win
Written By: - Date published: 8:14 am, November 28th, 2019 - 40 comments
National has proposed significant changes to the Criminal Justice system to create a Police group without evidence that it works, and that if enacted would make our prisons less safe and plug holes in our law that do not exist.
National’s Youth lauranorda rhetoric
Written By: - Date published: 2:16 pm, November 27th, 2019 - 20 comments
National is proposing changes to the Youth Court system that show not only a disregard for working in the interests of young people but disturbingly show a complete lack of understanding about how the Youth Court works.
Little announces changes to Prisoner voting rights
Written By: - Date published: 12:58 pm, November 26th, 2019 - 44 comments
Andrew Little has announced a review of prisoner voting rights to overturn National’s law change which the Courts have ruled to be in breach of fundamental rights and unjustified. Simon Bridges has announced that National will reverse any such law change. And he has topped this off by proposing that Tauranga City Council should prosecute and fine beggars and homeless people.
Common-wealth Government
Written By: - Date published: 8:14 am, November 18th, 2019 - 16 comments
Advantage is testing an idea out. What will a common accountability framework for the government look like?
Police London-wide ban on Extinction Rebellion actions ruled unlawful
Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, November 7th, 2019 - 5 comments
“The landmark judgment upholds the peoples’ fundamental right to peaceful protest and prohibits the Police from any such future ban”
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.
Can’t Simon Bridges prove a double negative
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, October 30th, 2019 - 33 comments
Simon Bridges has announced new National Party policy to take benefits off gang members and their families if they can’t prove they don’t have illegal income or assets.
British Justice tortures Assange
Written By: - Date published: 4:14 am, October 26th, 2019 - 36 comments
Craig Murray reports on the horror of Julian Assange’s treatment by British so-called “justice.” Read it and don’t weep. You can see why Murray resigned from the UK foreign service; their diplomacy is just as bad.
“Extinction Rebellion blanket ban chilling and unlawful”
Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, October 16th, 2019 - 74 comments
Amnesty International condemn police blanket ban on Extinction Rebellion protests in London.
National’s extreme gang rhetoric
Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, October 10th, 2019 - 39 comments
National has engaged in some extreme rhetoric concerning gangs which is not reality based.
No Right Turn: Against facial recognition
Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, September 19th, 2019 - 21 comments
“we should be outlawing this intrusive technology and the tracking it enables and entails.”
How This Government Can Still Win
Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, September 16th, 2019 - 91 comments
Some suggestions on how Labour can retain power at the next election.
Te Whare Pounamu #3
Written By: - Date published: 1:40 pm, September 7th, 2019 - 3 comments
Survivor Backs Refuge.
Te Whare Pounamu – Are Children Really Safe?
Written By: - Date published: 10:52 am, September 4th, 2019 - 7 comments
How seriously do Women’s Refuge, the Ministry of Social Development and Te Whare Pounamu management take child abuse concerns? This requires greater scrutiny.
Te Whare Pounamu #1
Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, September 2nd, 2019 - 17 comments
When an organisation that exists to help abused people, itself abuses people, I suspect many people will have a lot to say. Here’s my initial take.
Police and computers: incompetent or just unbalanced?
Written By: - Date published: 8:26 am, August 21st, 2019 - 23 comments
I’ve just been reading the decision by the IPCA on their botched and blatantly political searches on Nicky Hager. But there is a more serious problem. The police appear to be technically and legally incapable of enforcing our 2002 legislation about computer crimes. Perhaps a specialist office like the SFO who can garner the skills to deal with it – without political linkages being an issue.
The Government’s prison reforms
Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, August 20th, 2019 - 71 comments
The Government has announced policies designed to reduce Maori incarceration rates dramatically.
Police – ignoring their job in Southland
Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, August 12th, 2019 - 49 comments
“Allegations of trespassing and intimidation as Southland winter grazing protest escalates” yesterday. The reporter completely missed the most important salient point – the police don’t seem to be doing their job. Leaving a pissed lynch mob of farmers trying to force people out of their house to ‘talk’ to them is pretty clearly an act of intimidation. And that doesn’t even cover the original idiot farmer who is alleged to have rammed someone’s car.
Taking out the trash – Whaleoil site sold to Blomfield
Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, August 9th, 2019 - 67 comments
Matt Blomfield has brought the Whaleoil site from the official assignee. This fulfills a long held wish of, not only Matt, but a whole pile of people that this arsehole-run paid-for defamation lying site have damaged over the years. Chapter 27 of the Margie Thompson’s Whale Oil book is now available online…
Ihumātao: Today’s Nationwide Day of Action
Written By: - Date published: 12:59 am, August 6th, 2019 - 188 comments
After increased police presence and action at Ihumātao on Monday night, the call went out again for people to come to support the Protectors, and they did. More support can be offered at solidarity events being held across the country today.
- Hoon: Trumpism dies with Trump says Wolff
2 weeks ago - The ADF reserve system is obsolete. We need a dramatically expanded force
Australia needs to radically reorganise its reserves system to create a latent military force that is much larger, better trained and equipped and deployable within days—not decades. Our current reserve system is not fit for ...2 weeks ago - Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on Friday, March 21
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, Washington Post/$, Wired/$, ...2 weeks ago - Against All Reason: William Blake and the Private Fantasy Mythology
I have argued before that one ought to be careful in retrospectively allocating texts into genres. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) only looks like science-fiction because a science-fiction genre subsequently developed. Without H.G. Wells, would Frankenstein be considered science-fiction? No, it probably wouldn’t. Viewed in the context of its time, Frankenstein ...2 weeks ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #12 2025
Open access notables The severe 2020 coral bleaching event in the tropical Atlantic linked to marine heatwaves, Rodrigues et al., Communications Earth & Environment: Marine heatwaves can amplify the vulnerabilities of regional marine ecosystems and jeopardise local economies and food resources. Here, we show that marine heatwaves in the tropical ...2 weeks ago - Elbridge Colby’s vision: blocking China
Elbridge Colby’s senate confirmation hearing in early March holds more important implications for US partners than most observers in Canberra, Wellington or Suva realise. As President Donald Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defence for ...2 weeks ago
- China’s military spending rises should prompt regional budget responses
China’s defence budget is rising heftily yet again. The 2025 rise will be 7.2 percent, the same as in 2024, the government said on 5 March. But the allocation, officially US$245 billion, is just the ...2 weeks ago
- Pressure grows for commonsense correction on safe local speeds
Concern is growing about wide-ranging local repercussions of the new Setting of Speed Limits rule, rewritten in 2024 by former transport minister Simeon Brown. In particular, there’s growing fears about what this means for children in particular. A key paradox of the new rule is that NZTA-controlled roads have the ...2 weeks ago - Luxon’s Guests.
Speilmeister: Christopher Luxon’s prime-ministerial pitches notwithstanding, are institutions with billions of dollars at their disposal really going to invest them in a country so obviously in a deep funk?HAVING WOOED THE WORLD’s investors, what, if anything, has New Zealand won? Did Christopher Luxon’s guests board their private jets fizzing with enthusiasm for ...2 weeks ago - S&P downgrades 18 councils, blaming Govt
Christchurch City Council is one of 18 councils and three council-controlled organisations (CCOs) downgraded by ratings agency S&P. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories shortest: Standard & Poor’s has cut the credit ratings of 18 councils, blaming the new Government’s abrupt reversal of 3 Waters, cuts to capital ...2 weeks ago - Recession ends – Economic challenges remain
Figures released by Statistics New Zealand today showed that the economy grew by 0.7% ending the very deep recession seen over the past year, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “Even though GDP grew in the three months to December, our economy is still 1.1% smaller than it ...2 weeks ago - Maybe there’s a connection?
What is going on with the price of butter?, RNZ, 19 march 2025: If you have bought butter recently you might have noticed something - it is a lot more expensive. Stats NZ said last week that the price of butter was up 60 percent in February compared to ...2 weeks ago - I, too, got a few things wrong
I agree with Will Leben, who wrote in The Strategist about his mistakes, that an important element of being a commentator is being accountable and taking responsibility for things you got wrong. In that spirit, ...2 weeks ago
- Commandments & Cures
You’d beDrunk by noon, no one would knowJust like the pandemicWithout the sourdoughIf I were there, I’d find a wayTo get treated for hysteriaEvery dayLyrics Riki Lindhome.A varied selection today in Nick’s Kōrero:Thou shalt have no other gods - with Christopher Luxon.Doctors should be seen and not heard - with ...2 weeks ago - Australia needs greater defence self-reliance, and extra funding
Two recent foreign challenges suggest that Australia needs urgently to increase its level of defence self-reliance and to ensure that the increased funding that this would require is available. First, the circumnavigation of our continent ...2 weeks ago
- Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on Thursday, March 20
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, The Atlantic-$, The ...2 weeks ago - Gordon Campbell on Winston Peters’ bad trip, and the return of the PPPs zombie
According to RNZ’s embedded reporter, the importance of Winston Peters’ talks in Washington this week “cannot be overstated.” Right. “Exceptionally important.” said the maestro himself. This epic importance doesn’t seem to have culminated in anything more than us expressing our “concern” to the Americans about a series of issues that ...2 weeks ago - Climate Fresk – a neat way to make the complexity of climate change less puzzling
Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of "Climate Fresk" and at a guess, this will also be the case for many of you. I stumbled upon it in the self-service training catalog for employees at the company I work at in Germany where it was announced ...2 weeks ago
- Japan and Australia can fill each other’s defence gaps
Japan and Australia talk of ‘collective deterrence,’ but they don’t seem to have specific objectives. The relationship needs a clearer direction. The two countries should identify how they complement each other. Each country has two ...2 weeks ago
- Submission on the Draft Biometric Processing Privacy Code
The NZCTU strongly supports the OPC’s decision to issue a code of practice for biometric processing. Our view is that the draft code currently being consulted on is stronger and will be more effective than the exposure code released in early 2024. We are pleased that some of the revisions ...2 weeks ago
- Eggs in more baskets: diversify Australian agricultural exports away from US
Australia’s export-oriented industries, particularly agriculture, need to diversify their markets, with a focus on Southeast Asia. This could strengthen economic security and resilience while deepening regional relationships. The Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on ...2 weeks ago
- The Fisheries Reform Scam – Sam Woolford
Minister Shane Jones is introducing fastrack ‘reforms’ to the our fishing industry that will ensure the big players squeeze out the small fishers and entrench an already bankrupt quota system. Our fisheries are under severe stress: the recent decision by the High Court ruling that the ...2 weeks ago - Climate Change: Failed again
In what has become regular news, the quarterly ETS auction has failed, with nobody even bothering to bid. The immediate reason is that the carbon price has fallen to around $60, below the auction minimum of $68. And the cause of that is a government which has basically given up ...2 weeks ago
- Trump’s tariffs challenge India’s economic balance
US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have dominated headlines in India in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Trump announced that his reciprocal tariffs—matching other countries’ tariffs on American goods—will go into effect on 2 April, ...2 weeks ago
- NZ’s First #MeToo Case Wants To Practise Law Again
Hi,Back in June of 2021, James Gardner-Hopkins — a former partner at law firm Russell McVeagh — was found guilty of misconduct over sexually inappropriate behaviour with interns.The events all related to law students working as summer interns at Russell McVeagh:As well as intimate touching with a student at his ...2 weeks ago - Climate sceptic ACT MP attacks National
Climate sceptic MP Mark Cameron has slammed National for being ‘out of touch’ by sticking to our climate commitments. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories shortest: ACT’s renowned climate sceptic MP Mark Cameron has accused National of being 'out of touch' with farmers by sticking with New Zealand’s Paris accord pledges ...2 weeks ago - Libertarian Jesus
Now I've heard there was a secret chordThat David played, and it pleased the LordBut you don't really care for music, do you?It goes like this, the fourth, the fifthThe minor falls, the major liftsThe baffled king composing HallelujahSongwriter: Leonard CohenI always thought the lyrics of that great song by ...2 weeks ago - People matter—especially when frigate crews are too small
People are getting carried away with the virtues of small warship crews. We need to remember the great vice of having few people to run a ship: they’ll quickly tire. Yes, the navy is struggling ...2 weeks ago
- Auckland’s Western Line: Walking and cycling catchments
This is a guest post by Peter Bisley. It previously appeared on his substack, and is republished here by kind permisison. How can active transport connections maximise City Rail Link benefits City Rail Link successfully ran a test train last month on the 3.45km line under central Auckland, ahead ...2 weeks ago
- Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on Wednesday, March 19
Mōrena. Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, The Atlantic-$, ...2 weeks ago - Unity is the answer to Europe’s defence woes
US President Donald Trump’s hostile regime has finally forced Europe to wake up. With US officials calling into question the transatlantic alliance, Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently persuaded lawmakers to revise the country’s debt ...2 weeks ago
- Australian politics needs clearer national security boundaries
We need to establish clearer political boundaries around national security to avoid politicising ongoing security issues and to better manage secondary effects. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealed on 10 March that the Dural caravan ...2 weeks ago
- Government must act decisively and ban engineered stone
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have reiterated their call for Government to protect workers by banning engineered stone in a submission on MBIE’s silica dust consultation. “If Brooke van Velden is genuine when she calls for an evidence-based approach to this issue, then she must support a full ban on ...2 weeks ago
- Tuesday 18 March
The Labour Inspectorate could soon be knocking on the door of hundreds of businesses nation-wide, as it launches a major crackdown on those not abiding by the law. NorthTec staff are on edge as Northland’s leading polytechnic proposes to stop 11 programmes across primary industries, forestry, and construction. Union coverage ...2 weeks ago
- First-person view drones: transitioning from sport to battle
It’s one thing for military personnel to hone skills with first-person view (FPV) drones in racing competitions. It’s quite another for them to transition to the complexities of the battlefield. Drone racing has become a ...2 weeks ago
- ‘There are no exemptions. Just eat it.’
Seymour says there will be no other exemptions granted to schools wanting to opt out of the Compass contract. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories shortest: David Seymour has denied a request from a Christchurch school and any other schools to be exempted from the Compass school lunch programme, saying the contract ...2 weeks ago - Nuclear Ukraine: Budapest Memorandum – what it says and is it relevant?
Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, and British Prime Minister John Major signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in ... 2 weeks ago - A Palate Cleanser
Edit: The original story said “Palette Cleanser” in both the story, and the headline. I am never, ever going to live this down. Chain me up, throw me into the pit.Hi,With the world burning — literally and figuratively — I felt like Webworm needed a little palate cleanser at the ...2 weeks ago
- Do Americans really want urban sprawl?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler (Image credit: Antonio Huerta) Growing up in suburban Ohio, I was used to seeing farmland and woods disappear to make room for new subdivisions, strip malls, and big box stores. I didn’t usually welcome the changes, but I assumed others ...2 weeks ago
- Myanmar’s desperate condition: fragmentation, drugs, money-laundering and more
Myanmar was a key global site for criminal activity well before the 2021 military coup. Today, illicit industry, especially heroin and methamphetamine production, still defines much of the economy. Nowhere, not even the leafiest districts ...2 weeks ago
- The Hardest Word
What've I gotta do to make you love me?What've I gotta do to make you care?What do I do when lightning strikes me?And I wake up and find that you're not thereWhat've I gotta do to make you want me?Mmm hmm, what've I gotta do to be heard?What do I ...2 weeks ago - Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on Tuesday, March 18
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...2 weeks ago - Gordon Campbell On Luxon’s Survival Chances, And The India FTA
Whenever Christopher Luxon drops a classically fatuous clanger or whenever the government has a bad poll – i.e. every week – the talk resumes that he is about to be rolled. This is unlikely for several reasons. For starters, there is no successor. Nicola Willis? Chris Bishop? Simeon Brown? Mark ...2 weeks ago
- It’s been done before: pay for more defence spending with debt
Australia, Britain and European countries should loosen budget rules to allow borrowing to fund higher defence spending, a new study by the Kiel Institute suggests. Currently, budget debt rules are forcing governments to finance increases ...2 weeks ago
- Feedback on work with engineered stone and materials containing crystalline silica
The NZCTU remains strongly committed to banning engineered stone in New Zealand and implementing better occupational health protections for all workers working with silica-containing materials. In this submission to MBIE, the NZCTU outlines that we have an opportunity to learn from Australia’s experience by implementing a full ban of engineered ...2 weeks ago
- Big deal
The Prime Minister has announced a big win in trade negotiations with India.It’s huge, he told reporters. We didn't get everything we came for but we were able to agree on free trade in clothing, fabrics, car components, software, IT consulting, spices, tea, rice, and leather goods.He said that for ...2 weeks ago - A Return to a US Gilded Age?
I have been trying to figure out the logic of Trump’s tariff policies and apparent desire for a global trade war. Although he does not appear to comprehend that tariffs are a tax on consumers in the country doing the tariffing, I can (sort of) understand that he may think ...2 weeks ago - France is prominent in efforts to shape Syria’s future, again
As Syria and international partners negotiate the country’s future, France has sought to be a convening power. While France has a history of influence in the Middle East, it will have to balance competing Syrian ...2 weeks ago
- “Capital poor”
One of the eternal truths about Aotearoa's economy is that we are "capital poor": there's not enough money sloshing around here to fund the expansion of local businesses, or to build the things we want to. Which gets used as an excuse for all sorts of things, like setting up ...2 weeks ago
- Pictures Tell The Story
National held its ground until late 2023 Verion, Talbot Mills & Curia Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)If we remove outlier results from Curia (National Party November 2023) National started trending down in October 2024.Verion Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)Verian alone shows a clearer deterioration in early ...2 weeks ago - High-impact climate risks, low-probability? Think again
In a recent presentation, I recommended, quite unoriginally, that governments should have a greater focus on higher-impact, lower-probability climate risks. My reasoning was that current climate model projections have blind spots, meaning we are betting ...2 weeks ago
- Daddy
Daddy, are you out there?Daddy, won't you come and play?Daddy, do you not care?Is there nothing that you want to say?Songwriters: Mark Batson / Beyonce Giselle Knowles.This morning, a look at the much-maligned NZ Herald. Despised by many on the left as little more than a mouthpiece for the National ...2 weeks ago - Monday 17 March
Employers, unions and health and safety advocates are calling for engineered stone to be banned, a day before consultation on regulations closes. On Friday the PSA lodged a pay equity claim for library assistants with the Employment Relations Authority, after the stalling of a claim lodged with six councils in ...2 weeks ago
- Luxon announces start of India trade deal talks
Long stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy: Christopher Luxon surprises by announcing trade deal talks with India will start next month, and include beef and dairy. Napier is set to join Whakatane, Dunedin and Westport in staging a protest march against health spending restraints hitting their hospital services. Winston Peters ...2 weeks ago - Mercury Lane, and Auckland Transport’s habitual failure
When the City Rail Link opens (circa 2026), all signs point to it immediately being a huge success. It will be transformational for Auckland, with ripple effects across the city. Thousands of people an hour will pour in and out of the new and upgraded stations. So, as well as ...2 weeks ago
- Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on March 17
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, Newsroom-$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, ...2 weeks ago - 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 9, 2025 thru Sat, March 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. We are still interested ...2 weeks ago
- Maxing out – next steps for progressives
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...2 weeks ago
- Bernard’s Soliloquy for the week to March 16
The Government dominated the political agenda this week with its two-day conference pitching all manner of public infrastructure projects for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest in our political economy this week: The Government ploughed ahead with offers of PPPs to pension fund managers ...2 weeks ago - Eating Like Kings
You know that it's a snake eat snake worldWe slither and serpentine throughWe all took a bite, and six thousand years laterThese apples getting harder to chewSongwriters: Shawn Mavrides.“Please be Jack Tame”, I thought when I saw it was Seymour appearing on Q&A. I’d had a guts full of the ...2 weeks ago - David now turns to Rodney with a stricken face
So here we are at the wedding of Alexandra Vincent Martelli and David Seymour.Look at all the happy prosperous guests! How proud Nick Mowbray looks of the gift he has made of a mountain of crap plastic toys stuffed into a Cybertruck.How they drink, how they laugh, how they mug ...3 weeks ago - Fact brief – Is waste heat from industrial activity the reason the planet is warming?
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is waste heat from industrial activity the reason the planet is warming? Waste heat’s contribution to global warming is a small fraction of ...3 weeks ago
- On why complaining about incompetent David Seymour’s School Lunches is the only rational respo...
Some continue to defend David Seymour on school lunches, sidestepping his errors to say:“Well the parents should pack their lunch” and/or “Kids should be grateful for free food.”One of these people is the sitting Prime Minister.So I put together a quick list of why complaint is not only appropriate - ...3 weeks ago - Whistling Past The Graveyard.
“Bugger the pollsters!”WHEN EVERYBODY LIVED in villages, and every village had a graveyard, the expression “whistling past the graveyard” made more sense. Even so, it’s hard to describe the Coalition Government’s response to the latest Taxpayers’ Union/Curia Research poll any better. Regardless of whether they wanted to go there, or ...3 weeks ago
- Jane Kelsey – Transforming neoliberalism
Prof Jane Kelsey examines what the ACT party and the NZ Initiative are up to as they seek to impose on the country their hardline, right wing, neoliberal ideology. A progressive government elected in 2026 would have a huge job putting Humpty Dumpty together again and rebuilding a state that ...3 weeks ago
- Ain’t No Use
See I try to make a differenceBut the heads of the high keep turning awayThere ain't no useWhen the world that you love has goneOoh, gotta make a changeSongwriters: Arapekanga Adams-Tamatea / Brad Kora / Hiriini Kora / Joel Shadbolt.Aotearoa for Sale.This week saw the much-heralded and somewhat alarming sight ...3 weeks ago - Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix on Saturday, March 15
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...3 weeks ago - Is the New Zealand Healthcare System Doing Badly?
By international standards the New Zealand healthcare system appears satisfactory – certainly no worse generally than average. Yet it is undergoing another redisorganisation.While doing some unrelated work, I came across some international data on the healthcare sector which seemed to contradict my – and the conventional wisdom’s – view of ...3 weeks ago - Europe can still prevent a Russian victory
When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he knew that he was upending Europe’s security order. But this was more of a tactical gambit than a calculated strategy ...3 weeks ago
- Labour draws a clear line in the sand on National’s privatisation binge
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Over the last year, I’ve been warning about Luxon’s pitch to privatise our public assets. He had told reporters in October that nothing was off the cards:Schools, hospitals, prisons, and ...3 weeks ago - Making it up as they go along
1. Why was school lunch provider The Libelle Group in the news this week?a. Grand Winner in Pie of The Yearb. Scored a record 108% on YELP c. Bought by Oravida d. Went into liquidation2. What did our Prime Minister offer prospective investors at his infrastructure investment jamboree?a. The Libelle ...3 weeks ago - Arbitrary or worse
Back in December, Lands Minister Chris Penk rejected proposals to recognise the proper names of Manawatū and Pito One. Both proposals were strongly supported by their communities and so recommended by Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa / New Zealand Geographic Board. Despite this, Penk rejected them. I was curious about ...3 weeks ago
- The problems with PPPs
Here’s the excellent explainer on PPPs from over at that this chat was based on.Government's Investment SummitThis week, the Government is hosting a grand event aimed at trying to interest big foreign capital players in financing capital works in New Zealand, particularly its big rural motorway programme.Greater ...3 weeks ago
- South Korea has acted decisively on DeepSeek. Other countries must stop hesitating
South Korea has suspended new downloads of DeepSeek, and it was right to do so. Chinese tech firms operate under the shadow of state influence, misusing data for surveillance and geopolitical advantage. Any country that ...3 weeks ago
- PPPs are more expensive, slower & riskier than Govt DIY
Previous big infrastructure PPPs such as Transmission Gully were fiendishly complicated to negotiate, generated massive litigation and were eventually rewritten anyway. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesLong stories shortest: The Government’s international investment conference ignores the facts that PPPs cost twice as much as vanilla debt-funded public infrastructure, often take ...3 weeks ago
- Social investment means funding reprioritisation, more changes to services
Tough decisions on social service funding are coming, as Govt beds in social investment policy The post Social investment means funding reprioritisation, more changes to services appeared first on Newsroom. ...13 hours ago - NZ fiction, playing it safe and woke
The novels of Brannavan Gnanalingam often inhabit a Wellington-centric, culturally hip, university-educated, Kiwi-bourgeois world. In his latest novel, The Life and Opinions of Kartik Popat, his titular character delivers a sharp critique of how so-called Asian-Indian ethnic MPs are used by political parties to rake in ethnic votes and donations.These ...13 hours ago
- Specialist vet clinic consolidation worries Commerce Commission
Private equity has been rapidly buying up vet clinics around the world, and a bid for Matamata Veterinary Services is in the regulator’s sights The post Specialist vet clinic consolidation worries Commerce Commission appeared first on Newsroom. ...13 hours ago
- Labor will urge Fair Work Commission to give real wage rise to three million workers
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Labor party on Wednesday will urge the Fair Work Commission to grant a real wage increase to Australian workers on awards. This goes further than Labor’s recommendations in earlier years, which have been for ...16 hours ago - Politics with Michelle Grattan: Kos Samaras on polls and the people who’ll decide this election
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The demography that makes up the Australian electorate is changing and as voters desert the major parties polls are becoming harder to read. Kos Samaras is a director of the political consultancy firm ...18 hours ago
- It will take more than an Oscar to stop Israel’s West Bank plans
“I started filming when we started to end.” With these haunting words, Basel Adra begins No Other Land, the Oscar-winning documentary that depicts life in Masafer Yatta, a collection of Palestinian villages in the southern West Bank that are under complete occupation – military and civil – by Israel. For ...19 hours ago
- Election Diary: Dutton flags intervention in what he sees as ‘woke’ education, but how much coul...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Peter Dutton came perilously close to a DOGE moment on Monday night, when he was asked about getting the “woke” agendas out of the education system. Noting the Commonwealth government “doesn’t own or run a ...20 hours ago
- War Hero Willie Apiata Entrusts MP With Victoria Cross Medal
ONE SERVICE: Whakatāne RSA Padre Raharuhi Koia provides a prayer as Warrant Officer Willie Apiata bestows his Victoria Cross medal on Minister for Veterans Chris Penk. Photos Diane McCarthy (Apiata and Penk) Minister for Veterans Affairs Chris Penk ...20 hours ago - Who decides what Australian students are taught in schools?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Holloway, Senior Research DECRA Fellow, Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, Australian Catholic University Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has begun his election campaign with fresh criticism of schools. The Coalition has previously raised concerns the national curriculum is “unwieldy” and ...21 hours ago
- Supreme Court orders a recall of PNG parliament for no confidence vote
By Scott Waide, RNZ Pacific PNG correspondent Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court has ruled that Parliament must be recalled on April 8 to debate a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister James Marape. In a decision handed down yesterday, the court found that actions taken by the Parliament’s Private ...22 hours ago
- Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’: why the US is on a war footing over tariffs and mass deportations
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Smith, Associate Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is doing little to enhance his country’s standing abroad. But it is helping to reinforce his political authority at home. ...22 hours ago
- Reserve Bank holds rates steady, cautious about the economic outlook
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank of Australia left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4.1% today, stressing the uncertainty in the economic outlook. As the Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock ...23 hours ago
- Global warming of more than 3°C this century may wipe 40% off the world’s economy, new analysis r...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Neal, Senior lecturer in Economics / Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney The damage climate change will inflict on the world’s economy is likely to have been massively underestimated, according to new research by my colleagues and I which ...1 day ago
- Torrential rains created inland seas in outback Queensland. Soon, they will supersize Kati Thanda-La...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia The small Queensland town of Eromanga bills itself as Australia’s town furthest from the sea. But this week, an ocean of freshwater arrived. Monsoon-like weather has hit the normally arid Channel Country ...1 day ago
- ChatGPT’s Studio Ghibli-style images show its creative power – but raise new copyright problems
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kai Riemer, Professor of Information Technology and Organisation, University of Sydney Social media has recently been flooded with images that looked like they belonged in a Studio Ghibli film. Selfies, family photos and even memes have been re-imagined with the soft pastel ...1 day ago
- Why do I get headaches when I exercise, even when I drink lots of water?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia Jacob Lund/Shutterstock Getting a headache during or after exercise can be seriously frustrating – especially if you have kept hydrated to try and stop them from happening. But why do these ...1 day ago
- New poll: Most voters think parents should provide school lunches
The government's revamp of the school lunch programme has received a lot of attention this term and featured as a topical question in this week's poll. ...1 day ago - Northland water pipline projects to receive $40 million in government loans
The funds come from the Coalition Government's Regional Infrastructure Fund. ...1 day ago
- Northland water pipeline projects to receive $40 million in government loans
The funds come from the Coalition Government's Regional Infrastructure Fund. ...1 day ago
- Threats against MP Benjamin Doyle referred to police – Greens
The Greens say Benjamin Doyle is feeling "scared and worried about their whānau". ...1 day ago
- Te Pāti Māori MPs refuse to attend Parliament’s Privileges Committee hearing over haka prote...
The Privileges Committee hearing was set after concerns were raised about their conduct during the first reading of the controversial bill. ...1 day ago
- Disappointing Govt Attack On Diversity, Inclusion In Public Service
Successive governments have sought to build a workforce that reflects the New Zealand population that it serves so it is better able to deliver effective policies and services. ...1 day ago
- ‘Signalgate’ was damaging to the Trump administration. It could be deadly for Yemeni civilians
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah G. Phillips, Professor of Global Conflict and Development; Non-Resident Fellow at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies (Yemen), University of Sydney The “Signalgate” story has received wall-to-wall coverage since Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, published explosive details about a ...1 day ago
- From Rongelap to Mejatto – how Rainbow Warrior helped move nuclear refugees
The second of a two-part series on the historic Rongelap evacuation of 300 Marshall islanders from their irradiated atoll with the help of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior crew and the return of Rainbow Warrior III 40 years later on a nuclear justice research mission. Journalist and author David Robie, ...1 day ago
- Christopher Luxon faces questions in the House
It's Question Time, and prime minister is back in the hot seat. ...1 day ago
- ‘We’re not just welcoming you as allies, but as family’ – Rainbow Warrior in Marshall Island...
The first of a two-part series on the historic Rongelap evacuation of 300 Marshall islanders from their irradiated atoll with the help of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior crew and the return of Rainbow Warrior III 40 years later on a nuclear justice research mission. SPECIAL REPORT: By Shiva Gounden ...1 day ago
- Hotter and deeper: how NZ’s plan to drill for ‘supercritical’ geothermal energy holds promise ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Dempsey, Associate Professor in Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury Shutterstock/donvictorio New Zealand’s North Island features a number of geothermal systems, several of which are used to generate some 1,000 MegaWatts of electricity. But deeper down there may be even ...1 day ago
- ‘Behind every claim is a grieving family’. Death benefits inquiry demands change but lacks penal...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natalie Peng, Lecturer in Accounting, The University of Queensland SeventyFour/Shutterstock When Lisa’s husband passed away unexpectedly, she assumed accessing his superannuation death benefit would be straightforward. Instead, she spent months navigating a bureaucratic maze. She repeatedly sent documents, waited weeks for ...1 day ago
- What I learned from 40 hours of the Military Veterans Kaupapa Inquiry
The Waitangi Tribunal’s investigation into the treatment of Māori veterans exposed the dark past and tentative progress of the New Zealand Defence Force. Growing up, I was always fascinated by my grandfather’s war service. Eruera “Pako” Ratana, A Company of the 28th Māori Battalion, fought in Crete, Egypt, and Monte ...1 day ago - Watch live: Christopher Luxon faces questions in the House
It's Question Time, and prime minister is back in the hot seat. ...1 day ago
- Hosting America’s Cup too expensive, Luxon says
Labour says it might not have shelled out the millions required either, but the government should have tried harder. ...1 day ago
- Rainbow community ‘vulnerable’ after political attack on Green MP – Labour
Labour MPs have come to the support of Benjamin Doyle after a reported spike in death threats against the Green MP. ...1 day ago
- Using tranquillisers on racehorses is ethically questionable and puts horses and riders at risk
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul McGreevy, Professor, School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney hedgehog94/Shutterstock Australia’s horse racing industry is in the spotlight after recent allegations of tranquilliser use on horses so they can be “worked” (exercised) between race days. A recent ABC report stated ...1 day ago
- New Director-General of Health named as Audrey Sonerson
Audrey Sonerson has been appointed to the role after the resignation of Diana Sarfati. ...1 day ago
- The Fold: Careless People, Adolescence and where Meta is at
Anna Rawhiti-Connell joins Duncan Greive to analyse two of the most-discussed cultural artefacts of the year so far. It’s been a rough PR month for Meta, with two of the most-discussed cultural artefacts of the year both directly concerning their two biggest products. On this week’s episode of The ...1 day ago
- Law change makes those running outdoor activities responsible for injuries – not land owners
The change to the Health and Safety at Work Act would mean the land owner would still be responsible for risks where their work is in the immediate vicinity, but not from the activity itself. ...1 day ago
- ‘Bare-faced lie’ to blame me for ferry saga – Winston Peters
The minister for rail said what he ordered in 2020 was not what Labour ended up trying to build. ...1 day ago
- ‘Gripping, revelatory, generous and layered’: No Words for This by Ali Mau, reviewed
Claire Mabey and Alex Casey discuss Ali Mau’s memoir, No Words for This, which is released today. This review discusses sexual abuse and includes details from throughout the book, including new information. Claire Mabey: Alex, we’ve both read No Words for This by Ali Mau – I’d love to start ...1 day ago
- Green MP Benjamin Doyle away from Parliament this week after death threats
Parliamentary Services is working with the MP Benjamin Doyle and the Green Party around the received threats, and those are being escalated to police where necessary. ...1 day ago
- The Great Gatsby at 100: the Jazz Age novel that helps explain Trump’s America
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, a top contender for the title of Great American Novel, turns 100 on April 10. A century later, it is invoked to help ...1 day ago
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