Social issues

Categories under Social issues

Covid-19: down to L2 Thursday

Written By: - Date published: 4:37 pm, May 11th, 2020 - 44 comments

In the ongoing press conference (RNZ): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a staggered move into level 2 starting on Thursday, with schools and bars reopening later and groups limited to 10 people. and She said retail, malls, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and other public spaces including playgrounds and gyms would be able to reopen on […]

Dimwitted habeas corpus duo

Written By: - Date published: 12:50 pm, May 11th, 2020 - 28 comments

The well-known duo of Dermot Nottingham and Robert McKinney were the appellants in habeas corpus High Court case against Arden, Bloomfield, and Stuart-Black over the covid-19 lockdown. As was usual for this pair, the grounds that they made their case on were completely flawed, failed to be presented correctly, and make a damn good case against self-representation from vexatious litigants like them.

Covid19 is a bastard

Written By: - Date published: 9:25 am, May 11th, 2020 - 128 comments

We are heading towards decision time. Does Aotearoa New Zealand loosen up and head back to a semi normal life?

Israel’s proposed annexation of Jordan Valley

Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, May 10th, 2020 - 18 comments

With Benjamin Netanyahu now reinstated as Prime Minister of Israel, the big annexation of the Jordan Valley is gathering momentum.

UK: Too soon to end the lockdown

Written By: - Date published: 12:18 pm, May 9th, 2020 - 17 comments

First Secretary of State Dominic Raab has said that lockdown changes being announced this coming Sunday will be ‘modest’ and ‘small’. This is hardly surprising when earlier in the week the national statistician Professor Ian Diamond said that COVID-19 infection rates could be increasing. In particular, the number of cases being reported in care-homes appears to be increasing. Adding to the pressure both the Scottish and Welsh ruled out any significant relaxation of the lockdown rules.

Go Joe.

Written By: - Date published: 11:23 am, May 9th, 2020 - 50 comments

The clock is ticking on Joe Biden.

Parker gives Bridges a lesson in constitutional law

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, May 9th, 2020 - 175 comments

In a Facebook Live event David Parker has schooled Simon Bridges on basic principles of constitutional law. And it appears that Bridges demand that legally privileged advice be handed over is heading to the Privileges Committee.

Transmission Gully PPP

Written By: - Date published: 10:46 am, May 7th, 2020 - 56 comments

I’d agree with what No Right Turn says..
“The entire project looks to be an expensive failure. Rather than transferring risk to the private sector, it turns out to be the usual scam of privatising profits and socialising losses.”

Bridges pulls a stunt

Written By: - Date published: 7:46 am, May 7th, 2020 - 93 comments

Simon Bridges threw two stunts yesterday, firstly threatening to try and summons senior Public Servants to publicise confidential legal advice and then by attacking Dr Ashley Blomfield for not answering emails quickly enough despite the existence of a pandemic which the country appears to be handling pretty well.

The Green Party’s proposal on essential workers’ pay

Written By: - Date published: 12:19 pm, May 6th, 2020 - 45 comments

Low-wage essential workers are getting New Zealand through this crisis and continue to do so. They went to work when the rest of us were told to stay away – and people would be horrified to hear many of them barely earn enough to live on.

Trump’s not so bad: manslaughter edition

Written By: - Date published: 12:07 pm, May 6th, 2020 - 49 comments

An occasional series

Top ten things we have learned already

Written By: - Date published: 7:49 am, May 6th, 2020 - 53 comments

The top ten things that the Covid pandemic has taught us as a country.

The Post Covid Blues

Written By: - Date published: 2:01 pm, May 4th, 2020 - 26 comments

No new COVID 19 cases today!

UPDATE: No change to Level 2, decision in a week.

What would President Biden do?

Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, May 4th, 2020 - 59 comments

With President Trump doing what we all expected, and killing 67,000 people and counting through chronic poor leadership, and utterly ruining the U.S. economy as well, it’s time to look at what policies the alternative candidate has on offer.

A Response to ‘No Exit’.

Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, May 3rd, 2020 - 91 comments

In a recent post, Bill hit his straps with – “Either way, wind power won’t save us. Solar power won’t save us. Carbon capture and storage won’t save us. Your God won’t save us. Nothing but ourselves will save us.”

I felt miffed and more than a little grumpy at Bill’s flippant reference to God, and so sent through this long form response.  ~ Adam.

Covid-19: Important… satire

Written By: - Date published: 3:05 pm, May 2nd, 2020 - 8 comments

The latest status 

Discuss…

It is a bit of a problem when this was often more accurate than the statements from many governments.

Rebuild better post COVID

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 2nd, 2020 - 46 comments

A Guest blog from E tū Assistant National Secretary, Annie Newman. “Democracy creates a space for the market, civil society and the government but it doesn’t guarantee a balance between these spheres. That is government’s role. Right now, there is an opportunity for our government to do more than protect the future of business; it can address the imbalance in our democracy where the market dominates the agenda.”

His work here is not yet done

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 1st, 2020 - 71 comments

Former Prime Minister John Key has said that under current conditions employers are going to sack 20 per cent of their workers even if the company is doing well and that employers should never waste a crisis.

UFOs are real

Written By: - Date published: 3:44 pm, April 30th, 2020 - 24 comments

The Pentagon has confirmed the existence of videos which pretty well prove the existence of Unidentified Flying Objects and released the videos.

How to kill the car

Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, April 29th, 2020 - 45 comments

What would you do so that instead of wandering endlessly through tilt-slab monstrosities soaked in 80s music and fluorescent lighting, surrounded by oppressed minimum-wage slaves who hate being there and you hating being there worried about your wheeled asset damaged in their carpark instead you get freedom?

Covid =/= Rogernomics

Written By: - Date published: 12:47 pm, April 28th, 2020 - 45 comments

Using neoliberal ideas to try and remedy a situation where neoliberalism is very sick indeed is kind of like pouring salt on the wound. Fortunately we have new, emerging models of how run society that can also serve us well in a covid and climate world.

The class politics of the Covid-19 pandemic response

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, April 28th, 2020 - 59 comments

National economics spokesperson Paul Goldsmith has advanced a plan to address the Covid 19 pandemic which includes union bashing and privatisation.

Green Party: COVID-19 recovery and investment in people and nature

Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, April 27th, 2020 - 16 comments

Most of the funding will go directly to employing people – the tools needed for wetland restoration such as spades and seedlings are far cheaper than big excavators and asphalt.

Draconian Tourism or no Tourism?

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, April 27th, 2020 - 192 comments

If overseas tourists want to visit NZ, they may have to give up a little bit of their privacy to keep all of us safe.

dear sysop: on covid-19 debt

Written By: - Date published: 3:33 pm, April 25th, 2020 - 60 comments

We put in guest posts occasionally.  These days I’m the person who runs the email account and sees the general ones. Mostly I don’t give any feedback as much as anything else because a lack of time. But I should. This is the first to get that editorial attention. The topic itself is worth discussing. What is the process of raising debt for the cobid-19 economic response.

The “Others”.

Written By: - Date published: 12:07 pm, April 25th, 2020 - 20 comments

“Othering” has long been a staple of Governments that want to remain in power for the benefit of an Oligarchy, an “Elite”, a small ruling class, or the ones with, “the money”. Deflecting blame for economic and social issues on, an ethnicity, a class, the elderly, the poor, the young, the unemployed, young solo mothers, the disabled, immigrants, or any other convenient group that can be demonised. Very soon more of us may become the “others” we didn’t care about.

Trump’s not so bad: the inject bleach edition

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, April 25th, 2020 - 152 comments

an occasional series.

Russel Norman: Climate change is harder to visualise than coronavirus, but no less dangerous

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, April 24th, 2020 - 6 comments

Executive Director of Greenpeace NZ, Russel Norman writes about the different responses to climate change and covid-19, and the things we can learn from the pandemic.

“The government will never do that”

Written By: - Date published: 11:28 am, April 23rd, 2020 - 56 comments

Say it out loud: Degrowth.

Our damaged rivers and streams

Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, April 23rd, 2020 - 25 comments

A new report out from the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics NZ showing that New Zealand’s fresh water system is getting worse, all over the place, but particularly in the South Island.

Will National roll Bridges before or after the election?

Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, April 23rd, 2020 - 241 comments

It appears that the National Party is engaged in a bitter discussion of when Simon Bridges should be rolled, not if. Will it be before or after the election?