Social issues

Categories under Social issues

Should teaching about the Treaty of Waitangi be compulsory?

Written By: - Date published: 1:19 pm, February 7th, 2019 - 226 comments

It was sure refreshing to see the current head of the National Party saying on Waitangi Day that teaching of New Zealand history should be compulsory in the New Zealand curriculum.

Happy Waitangi day

Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, February 6th, 2019 - 30 comments

Waitangi day should be a day of celebration and a day of reflection.

Liam Neeson Under the Cosh

Written By: - Date published: 9:35 am, February 5th, 2019 - 119 comments

Actor Liam Neeson has made a sensational confession to stalking black men with the intent to kill. No, that’s not the plot to his latest movie, it’s apparently a true story. But what is the wider truth?

UPDATE: Added video of a new Liam Neeson interview regarding the incident.

Mr Brash goes to Waitangi

Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, February 5th, 2019 - 32 comments

Don Brash is heading to Waitangi to tell local iwi that treaty settlements will not make them personally rich.

Trump’s brilliant strategy to dismantle US dollar hegemony

Written By: - Date published: 5:05 pm, February 3rd, 2019 - 56 comments

Polymath economist Professor Michael Hudson’s latest article is a geopolitical panoramic masterpiece, sparked by outrage at a series of concurrent events on January 31 which he predicts means that 2019 will be the “year of global fracture.” Definitely worth a read.      

Auckland’s yellow jacket protest

Written By: - Date published: 1:14 pm, February 3rd, 2019 - 24 comments

Some observations on yesterday’s yellow jacket protest in Auckland. Basically it was pretty mundane but continued vigilance is important.

Open Mike 03/02/2019

Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, February 3rd, 2019 - 57 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

The Meathead tax

Written By: - Date published: 11:28 am, February 2nd, 2019 - 85 comments

National’s claim that the Government wants to impose a meat tax suffers from the reality that the Government has done no such thing and the proposal comes from an International collective of academics.

Take the oil!

Written By: - Date published: 6:23 pm, January 28th, 2019 - 87 comments

Before he was elected President, Donald Trump’s approach to United States illegal attacks on Iraq and Libya was that their only mistake was that the US didn’t “take the oil.” After becoming President, his approach to oil-rich Venezuela was “can’t we just invade them?”

Update: John Bolton confirms its about the oil.

The Power of Anger

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, January 28th, 2019 - 75 comments

Anger can be a great catalyst for change if used wisely.

Roastbusters redux

Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, January 27th, 2019 - 92 comments

One of the Roastbusters this week has talked publicly about what happened in an apparent attempt to start a music career. And John Tamihere has started his Mayoral campaign having to answer questions about his attitude to what happened.

Taxpayers Union receives funding from British American Tobacco

Written By: - Date published: 7:36 am, January 25th, 2019 - 39 comments

Sam Sachdeva at Newsroom has connfirmed that the Taxpayer’s Union (*not a real union) has received funding from British American Tobacco.

Stuff is now an official mouthpiece of the National Party

Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, January 24th, 2019 - 47 comments

Mark Mitchell is an early contender for most stupid utterance by a politician this year. And Stuff has packaged up his utterance and uncritically made it a headline.

What Can This Government Really Do About the Economy?

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, January 23rd, 2019 - 108 comments

Why is it that right now some countries can have weak governments and the economies just surge ahead? Why is political agency shearing away from economic change?

Housing affordability and urban form

Written By: - Date published: 3:07 pm, January 21st, 2019 - 35 comments

Hugh Pavletich thinks that Auckland’s housing crisis is because of restrictions on urban sprawl and that loosening up would be a good thing. I disagree.

Chinese Herald changed Herald articles to be more China friendly

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, January 15th, 2019 - 70 comments

Stuff has reported that its opponent, the New Zealand Herald, has via its Chinese version amended stories to make them more acceptable to the Chinese Government.

Cops ♥ Chases

Written By: - Date published: 8:35 pm, January 14th, 2019 - 215 comments

The common factor in Police chases is adrenaline fueled driving. And not just by the kid in the stolen car. The Police strategy of chasing stolen cars is a bigger problem than the thefts themselves and it needs to stop. Now.

David Seymour can’t handle criticism

Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, January 14th, 2019 - 112 comments

ACT MP David Seymour has lashed out on Facebook at Dianne Khan apparently for successfully fact checking him.

Legalize it!

Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, January 12th, 2019 - 51 comments

A new poll shows solid support for legalising cannabis. Is the 2020 referendum a done deal?

New Zealand needs a Government that understands climate change

Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, January 10th, 2019 - 47 comments

In an opinion piece in Stuff National Spokesperson on climate change Todd Muller has cast doubt on National agreeing to a political consensus on climate change.

Julian Assange and the Streisand Effect.

Written By: - Date published: 6:45 pm, January 7th, 2019 - 161 comments

Wikileaks has tried to silence media organisations on behalf of Julian Assange. Why is a ‘transparency’ organisation opposed to free speech and have they made things worse for the Aussie hacker?

UPDATE: The list has been leaked. Link in post.

Drug testing at music festivals

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, January 7th, 2019 - 18 comments

Police Minister Stuart Nash has said publicly that he wants to see all New Zealand music festivals to have drug testing kits by next summer.

Open Mike 06/01/19

Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, January 6th, 2019 - 166 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

The wonder of e-bikes and e-scooters

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, January 6th, 2019 - 20 comments

The rise of cycleways, e-bikes, and e-scooters is steadily revolutionising commutes around Auckland, especially Central Auckland. Like public transport the economic reasons for commuters are easy to understand. You don’t get ridiculous parking costs or the lousy variable commute times of fat footprint cars jammed up on crowded roads.

Dance MF Dance!

Written By: - Date published: 7:28 pm, January 5th, 2019 - 32 comments

Three women have made their mark in US politics this week. One danced, one swore, one made the House her home.

Political punditry in 2019

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, January 4th, 2019 - 79 comments

The media has recently reviewed its predictions from last year and made a few new ones.  How did it go?  And what is going to happen in the next 12 months?

Open Mike 04/01/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, January 4th, 2019 - 208 comments

Open mike is your post.  For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.  The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).  Step up to the mike …

Test embeds in comments.

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 pm, January 3rd, 2019 - 32 comments

As some of you may have noticed, I’ve started testing some embeds in comments in OpenMike today. This is a test to see what is possible in posts that can worthwhile be carried over to the comments. I’ll probably make decisions on what I allow over the weekend and either add what you want or remove the ones that look like they will break the conversation.

Open Mike 03/01/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, January 3rd, 2019 - 125 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

Open Mike 02/01/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, January 2nd, 2019 - 54 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

The Race To Replace Trump has Started

Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, January 1st, 2019 - 112 comments

Elizabeth Warren has announced that she will be seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination to be the 46th President of the USA. With the Republicans unsure about whether Trump will run again due to the difficulties of campaigning from Federal prison, the Presidential election should be a shoo in for the Dems. Warren is just the first; there will be many more candidates who will see this as the opportunity of a lifetime.