Social issues

Categories under Social issues

What Chat GPT thinks of the Standard

Written By: - Date published: 10:28 am, February 18th, 2023 - 27 comments

I thought that I would get Chat GPT to write 500 words on the Standard and this is what it came up with.

Greenpeace calls on government to cut Big Dairy climate pollution

Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, February 16th, 2023 - 20 comments

Join our call on the government to take real action to cut climate pollution from NZ’s biggest polluter: industrial dairying.

Is it too early to talk about climate change?

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, February 13th, 2023 - 50 comments

Two unprecedented summertime storms in Auckland suggest that the threats posed by climate change are not in our future but are here now.

The great reset

Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, February 9th, 2023 - 109 comments

Chris Hipkins has announced the great policy reset and there are no surprises.

Waitangi Day reading

Written By: - Date published: 5:47 pm, February 6th, 2023 - 14 comments

“It’s a road we are travelling together” – Sharon Murdoch

Gender Critical Disputes

Written By: - Date published: 1:23 pm, February 5th, 2023 - 34 comments

A selection of essays on the importance of feminism in gender critical debate has been published by UK-based, feminist collective The Radical Notion.

Protecting poor people: the call for a rent freeze in Auckland

Written By: - Date published: 10:47 am, February 3rd, 2023 - 187 comments

As property investors indicate an intention to raise rents, Renters United and 20+ community groups call for a rent freeze in Auckland.

Luxon blunders again

Written By: - Date published: 2:38 pm, January 26th, 2023 - 25 comments

Chris Luxon has provided another example of his ineptness by suggesting in an MMP environment that a vote in a Maori Seat is worth more than a vote in an European seat.

Why do rationalists position Science against Mātauranga Māori?

Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, January 25th, 2023 - 142 comments

Another piece on the internet by a Western scientist calling indigenous knowledge superstitious woo that should be separated from the Mighty Western Science way of knowing. Take that as a content warning either way if you are reading on.

There is no misogyny in New Zealand *

Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, January 24th, 2023 - 62 comments

* sung to the famous tune from Blam Blam Blam.

It will be Chippy for PM

Written By: - Date published: 10:36 am, January 21st, 2023 - 101 comments

Chris Hipkins is now set to become prime minister. I rather expected that would be the likely outcome. Helps the election campaign as it will mute the revolting misogynist arsehole conservatives of the right and some on the left. I’m really tired of listening to them, and I suspect that way more than half of the countries population are as well.

Running on empty

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, January 20th, 2023 - 180 comments

Jacinda Ardern has realised that she was not in a position to commit to four more years as Prime Minister and has called it quits.  Recent levels of abuse and misogyny shown to her have clearly played their part.

Your Mindset and Your Money

Written By: - Date published: 1:29 pm, January 18th, 2023 - 48 comments

Mega property owning entrepreneur Graeme Fowler thinks we can all be rich if we just changed our attitude.

The 2022 midterms and what happens next in US politics

Written By: - Date published: 12:04 am, January 10th, 2023 - 3 comments

Overall, the 2022 midterms were the best for any sitting Democrat President since 1978. Whilst losing control of the House is disappointing, the Republican majority is slim. Should hardliners try to block the Biden agenda as they did with Obama, they risk moderate Republicans breaking ranks. Further, hardline Republicans overplaying their hand in Congress may scare moderate voters away from the party and at the same time motivate the Democrat base to win back the House in 2024. Add to that the prospect of Trump returning in 2024, it could be about to get very messy in the Republican Party.

What repeat covid infections do to the human body

Written By: - Date published: 2:36 pm, January 6th, 2023 - 28 comments

There’s bad news, but there is also hope and opportunity.

New Zealand is in a terrible state *

Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, January 6th, 2023 - 116 comments

* or is it?

Meri Kirihimete

Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, December 26th, 2022 - 116 comments

Even on the one day of the year that is meant to be a day of peace and calm and family some people get triggered by the use of Te Reo.

Caption contest

Written By: - Date published: 6:12 pm, December 20th, 2022 - 35 comments

Keep it seemly.

Push Back Against Tyranny and Win

Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, December 17th, 2022 - 136 comments

Australia is showing New Zealand how to resist the authoritarian Xi Jinping’s pressure and stay prosperous at the same time.

Much ado about nothing

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, December 16th, 2022 - 54 comments

The big news this week was Jacinda Ardern describing David Seymour in an unparliamentary phrase on an open mike in Parliament.  But the matter was resolved in a way that can only happen in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The kind, caring tobacco companies

Written By: - Date published: 11:51 am, December 14th, 2022 - 15 comments

Kim Hill vs Tobacco Company PR Guy.

Dog whistles and South Auckland garages

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, December 14th, 2022 - 20 comments

luxon sheep

Chris Luxon has doubled down on a dog whistle attack on South Auckland garages by apologising if anyone was offended, thereby ignoring most of South Auckland who were definitely offended.

Labour’s big reset

Written By: - Date published: 7:46 am, December 13th, 2022 - 77 comments

New Zealand politics is at an interesting stage.  With announcements about Ministerial futures pending and with a review of all current projects to occur over Christmas Jadinda Ardern is planning to repurpose Labour to have its best chance in the election next year.

Stop the gentailers bribing investors with borrowed capital.

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, December 10th, 2022 - 47 comments

Brian Easton at Pundit provides a clear overview on what is happening in out large generator / retailer market at present. Their implicit collusion on excessive pricing is profiteering and even using future capital to pay off investors rather than improve the cost of and efficiency usage of power.

Labour and National and Industry Intervention

Written By: - Date published: 8:51 am, December 9th, 2022 - 73 comments

Minister Mahuta’s water reforms are by some measure the most consequential industry intervention of this Labour government, and likely to be the most successful in over a decade.

Three strikes law is not the answer

Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, November 29th, 2022 - 25 comments

National is proposing a return of the Three Strikes legislation, despite the Supreme Court ruling that the law went well beyond excessive punishment and would shock the conscience of properly informed New Zealanders, and was so disproportionately severe as to breach the Bill of Rights.  And despite there being no evidence that it would actually work.

Overblown rhetoric and Laura Norder

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, November 27th, 2022 - 69 comments

This week has seen some extreme rhetoric from various quarters about who to blame for a recent senseless killing.  But news that the person arrested had recently been extradited from Australia has shown the rhetoric to be entirely misplaced.

Medical gender transition in New Zealand: How common is it really?

Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, November 25th, 2022 - 42 comments

Laura López decided to explore and analyse the available evidence on medical transition in New Zealand.

Prime Minister Ardern and Premier Xi

Written By: - Date published: 8:40 pm, November 24th, 2022 - 6 comments

New Zealand has the most adroit and high profile international leader in a generation with Prime Minister Ardern, but she has weakened New Zealand against China.

Surviving the apocalypse of the Great Twit

Written By: - Date published: 12:34 am, November 22nd, 2022 - 15 comments

The Great Twit at Twitter has been cauterising off staff in excess. I suspect that the platform is going to go down the toilet for that (amongst other reasons). My concern here has been to preserve the embedded tweets in posts and comments on this site if the idiot engineer manages to destroy the platform through simple stupidity.

The politics of the voting age change

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 pm, November 21st, 2022 - 90 comments

The Supreme Court has just lobbed a grenade into New Zealand politics by ruling that denying 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote was not only discrimination on the basis of age but also had not been justified and was therefore a breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.