Daily review 02/04/2019

Written By: - Date published: 5:00 pm, April 2nd, 2019 - 45 comments
Categories: Daily review - Tags:

 

Daily review is also your post.

This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

45 comments on “Daily review 02/04/2019 ”

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  1. adam 1
    2 April 2019 at 5:17 pm

    So will this government stop funding the GCSB?

    Is it not about time?

    When you fail this bad, you should get none of our tax money.

    • Drowsy M. Kram 1.1
      2 April 2019 at 6:18 pm

      Wind up the GCSB? And (presumably) the SIS and NAB, and maybe extricate ourselves from 5-Eyes while we’re at it? Then ‘we’ could finally relax. OR the GCSB could up their game – hopefully the Royal Commission of Inquiry will indicate how.

      A question about an unrelated observation. How best to describe UK PM May for insisting on multiple parliamentary votes (three so far?) on her Brexit deal, while also insisting that a second Brexit referendum would be “undemocratic“?

      Hypocritical? Fishy? Phoney? Ironic? Paradoxical? Twisted? Cynical?

      “Offering voters a simple choice on intricate issues can have disastrous consequences.”

      https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/opinion-it-is-a-paradox-to-say-that-a-second-brexit-referendum-would-be-undemocratic-4426560-Jan2019/

  2. Tuppence Shrewsbury 2
    2 April 2019 at 5:52 pm

    There goes most government departments then if we use your criteria for funding.

    Or is it just the ones that you don’t agree with that get to fail again and again?

  3. bwaghorn 3
    2 April 2019 at 6:12 pm

    Out of interest do you (thats a royal you) think that if the shooter hadn’t been a foreigner shooting up immigrants and had been a white kiwi shooting Maori or visa versa would nz have handled it in such a quiet compassionate and considered way . ??
    My guess is hell know we would be tearing each other apart.

    • Gabby 3.1
      2 April 2019 at 6:15 pm

      Let’s hope we don’t find out waggers.

    • BM 3.2
      2 April 2019 at 6:31 pm

      I’d be surprised if that ever happened, Mate, we’re just too laid back, it’s just not in our genetic makeup.

      Which is why all this white male hate browbeating by left wingers is really bunching everyone’s undies and destroying all of the goodwill that happened post-Christchurch.

      Hopefully, if any hate speech laws do get past we can drag Davidson and the Iranian before the courts and fine or jail their sorry arses

      • Anne 3.2.1
        2 April 2019 at 6:46 pm

        You’d better watch it BM. Some of your provocative, nonsensical and inaccurate displays of “race bait speech” could land you in a spell of very hot water in the not too distant future.

        • BM 3.2.1.1
          2 April 2019 at 6:59 pm

          Wow, check out Anne, channelling her inner Nazi.
          It’s what I’d expect from you left wingers though.

          The next step is the “re-education camps”, could be a job there for you Anne, I reckon you’d be perfect.

        • Drowsy M. Kram 3.2.1.2
          2 April 2019 at 7:06 pm

          BM puts me in mind of ‘Mr Hankey’, minus the cheery wit.

      • McFlock 3.2.2
        2 April 2019 at 8:53 pm

        Not in our genetic make up?

        Freudian slip says it is…

      • KJT 3.2.3
        2 April 2019 at 8:55 pm

        Did you actually read what they said, or Hoskings interpretation?

        It was about as far from hate speech as you can get.

      • marty mars 3.2.4
        2 April 2019 at 9:23 pm

        You’re an idiot – try using your brain you sorry arsed nobody – your type is on the way out thank goodness – weak men with no gumption to be men – just embarrassing.

  4. greywarshark 4
    2 April 2019 at 6:15 pm

    Christine Rankin, Children’s Advocate says that ‘pouring money’ into poor families is not going to solve family poverty – it’s how families spend their money that is the main problem she says. She makes the point that people gaining skills is the way to help them but of course things are more complicated than that. She could say that assisting them to do things that will help them in the short run, and build competence to enable them to better themselves and their children. Following that with helping with training and support to more skilled positions compatible with their parenting duties, and ensuring that they are helped with contraceptive pills and condoms etc to not have second pregnancies.

    It sounded like the old story about cutting aid to the bone, you aren’t good enough to hope for decent conditions, moments of joy even, everything for you should be miserly handed out, austere and with a strong whiff of Dickens. Hear her at 2.30 mins.
    https://www.radionz.co.nz/programmes/news-bulletin/story/2018689238/radio-new-zealand-news

    • Rosemary McDonald 4.1
      2 April 2019 at 6:20 pm

      Ye gods and little fishes!!!

      Christine Rankin….full of herself and so full of questionable ideas.

      http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA9907/S00355/court-of-christine-rankin-cavorts-at-our-expense.htm

      ” Winz Chief Executive Christine Rankin starred in a Michael-Jackson type performance at a senior manager’s conference, dressed in an extravagant costume and descending from the ceiling on a flying rig said Alliance spokesperson on Social Welfare, Grant Gillon.

      He’s calling it yet more evidence of waste of tax-payers money.

      At one of two conferences of WINZ senior managers, Christine Rankin herself was lowered onto the conference floor wearing a sliver suit and performing a ‘Power in the Profession’ dance while a background screen showed pictures of Ghandi, Martin Luther King and Christine Rankin. This performance followed the screening of a video that showed a figure in a silver suit being lowered from a helicopter onto a deck of a sinking ship in order to save it. ”

      Child advocate? My arse.

  5. joe90 5
    2 April 2019 at 6:33 pm

    AOC is a very sharp young woman.

    https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1112146790860668928

    https://twitter.com/Liz_Cheney/status/1112501224551665665

    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was lambasted on Twitter and in the media for confusing the facts while waxing lyrical about the Democratic golden age of the 1930s and 1940s—but was she actually right?

    […]

    “FDR did die in office in ‘45 and the 22nd amendment did come in ‘47 but Congress did start the legislative process in 1944 prior to his death so that he would not be reelected,” another Twitter user wrote in Ocasio-Cortez’s defense. “It was not ratified soon enough and he won in ‘44. AOC did not misspeak, friends.”

    The National Constitution Center also had Ocasio-Cortez’s back. On its website, the nonpartisan organization explained: “Talk about a presidential term-limits amendment started in 1944, when Republican candidate Thomas Dewey said a potential 16-year term for Roosevelt was a threat to democracy.

    https://www.newsweek.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-attacked-twitter-constitutional-mistake-was-she-1381693

    • Andre 5.2
      2 April 2019 at 7:11 pm

      Thanks for that moment of wry sick laughter. FFS, yelling gotcha at AOC for some slightly clumsy wording, when the only amendments their boy the barbecued bloviator might come up with are freedom of speech and freedom of the press from the First (never mind the other bits of the First) and he’s probably been made well aware of the Fifth. That’s industrial grade double standards partisanship.

      • alwyn 5.2.1
        2 April 2019 at 8:35 pm

        Oh well. None of the people commenting on this seem to have read the Amendment.
        It includes the following.
        ” But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress”.
        Given that Roosevelt was President at the time it was proposed it would never have applied to him at all.
        He could have remained President, if re-elected and if he had lived longer for as long as he liked.

        • Andre 5.2.1.1
          2 April 2019 at 8:48 pm

          That clause is a bit longer than just the bit you quoted. The extra bits may have been interpreted differently to what you’ve just said if it ever got tested in court. In any case, it was totally moot by the time the amendment even passed congress, let alone got ratified by enough states to come into force.

          But the broader point AOC was making, that FDR winning his third then fourth term was the impetus for the 22nd, is not seriously disputed by any historian. Except that most would express it that the motivation was to prevent any future three-or-more term presidents, not so much as a backdoor way to limit FDR’s time in power.

          • NatteringNabob 5.2.1.1.1
            4 April 2019 at 3:48 am

            You’re right on the broader point Andre but wrong on the text being unclear or contradictory when it comes to what alwyn said/quoted.

            The full clause: “But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.”

            It clearly exempted FDR bc he was President when amendment was proposed. The rest of the clause has to do with the possibility of the law going into effect during future president’s third term, stipulating that he wouldn’t have to vacate if the amendment became operative (enacted or enacted with future effective date) in that scenario

  6. Dennis Frank 6
    2 April 2019 at 6:37 pm

    Three News just ran a Newshub report on the trojan haka hack, which I discovered was actually scooped by the ODT yesterday: https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/accused-mosque-gunmans-manifesto-hacked

    Some clever Maori, seemingly… “copies have continued to circulate on dark avenues of the internet and social media sites. But now, an online vigilante using the name “Māori” is circulating a “weaponised” version of the document in an apparent attempt to thwart its distribution. When it is clicked on, it forces a system reboot that ends with a black screen featuring a message in red writing: “This is not us!” The hacked version was discovered by security firm Blue Hexagon, which has dubbed the hack “Trojan Haka”.”

    “”Our initial suspicion was that this was targeting the press, but with all the data that we have now, it looks like it was not one specific group, just anyone who was trying to get a copy of the manifesto,” Blue Hexagon researcher Irfan Asrar told PCMag.”

    • joe90 6.1
      2 April 2019 at 6:47 pm

      Which was actually scooped last month on TS.

      Couldn’t happen to nicer people.

      A modified version of the Christchurch shooter manifesto circulating online includes a payload that overwrites the master boot record in Windows to show a custom message upon system reboot.

      Modifying the master boot record (MBR), which contains details about available partitions and helps load the operating system, allows the malicious payload to start immediately when the computer boots, even before the operating system is started.

      It is suspected that this weaponized version of the manifesto is being distributed as a vigilante attack against those who want to download the original document and to halt its spread

      https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/vigilantes-counter-christchurch-manifesto-with-weaponized-version/

      • A 6.1.1
        2 April 2019 at 6:50 pm

        I missed it

      • Dennis Frank 6.1.2
        2 April 2019 at 7:00 pm

        Well done you!! 30 March 2019 at 7:52 pm – so the msm don’t read the Standard, or are rather slow on the uptake! Given the breathless style of reportage they delivered it in, one suspects the former…

      • greywarshark 6.1.3
        2 April 2019 at 8:35 pm

        I like the term ‘Trojan Haka’, I wonder if it was a Maori computer geek that did it?

      • McFlock 6.1.4
        2 April 2019 at 8:58 pm

        Missed that.

        Bloody good hackers, too – the macron over the “a” always throws me – can never remember the ALT code 🙂

    • A 6.2
      2 April 2019 at 6:50 pm

      Villainous!!

  7. joe90 7
    2 April 2019 at 6:45 pm

    Get well soon, Mick!

    On Monday (April, 1) a story on the Rolling Stone magazine website confirmed earlier reports that Mick Jagger, frontman of the legendary rock group the Rolling Stones will undergo heart valve replacement surgery next week. The procedure is the cause of the legendary band’s postponement of it’s upcoming North American tour, including a May 2 stop at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

    https://www.nola.com/entertainment/2019/04/mick-jagger-to-undergo-heart-surgery-report.html?

    • Dennis Frank 7.1
      2 April 2019 at 10:51 pm

      Apparently he “still has time on his side”. https://pagesix.com/2019/04/01/as-mick-jagger-heads-for-heart-surgery-keith-richards-continues-to-defy-the-odds/

      “Meanwhile, Richards, also 75, has long been the butt of jokes over his unflagging health despite smoking like a chimney and generally treating his body like a DEA evidence locker. The hard-living, hard-rocking guitarist called sobriety “novel” when he cleaned up in 2018. He has kicked the heroin and cocaine that fueled him for decades.”

      “Richards survived Nazi bombing raids growing up in World War II London, was nearly electrocuted onstage in 1965, awoke to flames after setting his bed ablaze with a cigarette in 1971, and accidentally dosed himself with strychnine-laced cocaine a few years later.”

      “Still, his only major health scare came in 2006, when doctors removed a blood clot from his brain. A year later, he snorted his dead father’s ashes cut with cocaine — or was it vice versa? “It went down pretty well, and I’m still alive,” Richards recalled to The Guardian.”

      • tc 7.1.1
        3 April 2019 at 6:40 am

        Keef is a legend……checkout the Netflix doco which captures him so well. The god given talents to not only play but glue pieces together like his chuck berry backing band.

        He explains his relationship with mick, shot during their last hiatus I think.

  8. WILD KATIPO 8
    2 April 2019 at 8:07 pm

    Hmmmm…

    Philippines protests Beijing’s swarm of boats around Spratly island …
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12218582

  9. Cinny 9
    2 April 2019 at 8:20 pm

    Good job….. the jailer of journalists appears to be losing his grip on Turkey.

    “Erdogan’s AK Party ‘loses’ major Turkey cities in local elections

    Unofficial data shows AK Party lost Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, as the country waits for the official results.”

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/04/erdogan-ak-party-loses-major-turkey-cities-local-elections-190401172133394.html

  10. alwyn 10
    2 April 2019 at 8:26 pm

    Well. The Indian Government are demonstrating that they are just as stupid as the Chines were in 2007.
    They want to demonstrate that they are, at least in their own minds, a major power.
    Whoopee. Lets shoot down a satellite. To Hell with all the junk we are going to leave in orbit and the damage the fragments could do to all the other satellites we rely on.
    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/02/a-terrible-thing-nasa-condemns-indias-destruction-of-satellite-and-resulting-space-junk

    • Andre 10.1
      2 April 2019 at 8:38 pm

      At least the Indian test was done to a satellite in a very low orbit. At a 300 km orbit, everything should drop out of orbit in a month or three. The bits whose orbits have gone elliptical enough to threaten the ISS should decay even faster since their perigee will be closer to earth.

      Whereas the Chinese one was up around 800ish km. That space junk will be there for decades or even centuries.

      • Dennis Frank 10.1.1
        2 April 2019 at 9:10 pm

        Maybe not. Recently there was a report about a space-junk collector going into orbit. Kinda high-flying equivalent of the thing that took off to suck up the plastic in the Pacific gyre last year. Both inspirational stories to ole greenies like me who have spent most of a lifetime depressed by perpetual pollution…

        • Andre 10.1.1.1
          2 April 2019 at 9:15 pm

          As with most kinds of pollution, the vastly greater numbers of bits too small to track and collect are generally the greater hazard. Even when the so-far-unsuccessful garbage collectors can be made to work.

          • In Vino 10.1.1.1.1
            2 April 2019 at 10:20 pm

            ‘Scuse my ignorance, but if they have a big net/scoop thing out to pick up rubbish, does that not make them more likely to strike an important satellite?

            • Dennis Frank 10.1.1.1.1.1
              2 April 2019 at 10:37 pm

              Depends how well the thing is designed & constructed. You’d expect the orbital shifts to be planned carefully enough to avoid impacts – that’s elementary. Requires data entry for all known orbital items – enough to keep a bunch of folks busy awhile, I bet! Andre’s right, success remains to be seen.

            • Andre 10.1.1.1.1.2
              3 April 2019 at 6:55 am

              The proposals and trials I’ve read about so far involve sending a space junk collector out after a specific piece of space junk, and catching it with a small net or harpooning it. So that kind of operation would be timed and placed to work around operating satellites.

              I’ve yet to see any serious proposals for just a big net trawling style operation to just collect any random junk out there. Keep in mind just how huge a volume we’re talking about, it’s a full three dimensions to deal with, rather than just the two dimensions for trash collection on land or the ocean.

              Most operational satellites can adjust their orbits to stay on their intended orbits, and boost themselves into a graveyard orbit at the end of their operating lives if needed. They can also use those adjustment rockets to avoid known bits of space garbage, so they could probably also avoid a screwed-up garbage collection effort.

              There’s also a bit of international concern about space garbage collection programs being a disguise for developing ways to disable the other teams satellites.

  11. Anne 11
    2 April 2019 at 9:28 pm

    Lols

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12218680

    Just behind Hipkins sat Police Minister Stuart Nash, the point man. Nash looked like he was watching a tennis game, so quickly was he turning his head from the Speaker to the door to see if Seymour was arriving.

    I tuned in just at this point and wondered what was going on. The only thing missing was Nash’s wide open mouth waiting for a ball to be tossed in it.

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    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In 2023, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • GRAHAM ADAMS:  Media knives flashing for Luxon’s government
    The fear and loathing among legacy journalists is astonishing Graham Adams writes – No one is going to die wondering how some of the nation’s most influential journalists personally view the new National-led government. It has become abundantly clear within a few days of the coalition agreements ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    4 days ago

  • Top 10 news links for Wednesday, Nov 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere for Wednesday November 29, including:The early return of interest deductibility for landlords could see rebates paid on previous taxes and the cost increase to $3 billion from National’s initial estimate of $2.1 billion, CTU Economist Craig Renney estimated here last ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Smokefree Fallout and a High Profile Resignation.
    The day after being sworn in the new cabinet met yesterday, to enjoy their honeymoon phase. You remember, that period after a new government takes power where the country, and the media, are optimistic about them, because they haven’t had a chance to stuff anything about yet.Sadly the nuptials complete ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • As Cabinet revs up, building plans go on hold
    Wellington Council hoardings proclaim its preparations for population growth, but around the country councils are putting things on hold in the absence of clear funding pathways for infrastructure, and despite exploding migrant numbers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Cabinet meets in earnest today to consider the new Government’s 100-day ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • National takes over infrastructure
    Though New Zealand First may have had ambitions to run the infrastructure portfolios, National would seem to have ended up firmly in control of them.  POLITIK has obtained a private memo to members of Infrastructure NZ yesterday, which shows that the peak organisation for infrastructure sees  National MPs Chris ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago

  • At a glance – Evidence for global warming
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Who’s Driving The Right-Wing Bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In ...
    Bowalley Road
    5 days ago

  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • National’s murderous smoking policy
    One of the big underlying problems in our political system is the prevalence of short-term thinking, most usually seen in the periodic massive infrastructure failures at a local government level caused by them skimping on maintenance to Keep Rates Low. But the new government has given us a new example, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • NZ has a chance to rise again as our new government gets spending under control
    New Zealand has  a chance  to  rise  again. Under the  previous  government, the  number of New Zealanders below the poverty line was increasing  year by year. The Luxon-led government  must reverse that trend – and set about stabilising  the  pillars  of the economy. After the  mismanagement  of the outgoing government created   huge ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    5 days ago

  • KARL DU FRESNE: Media and the new government
    Two articles by Karl du Fresne bring media coverage of the new government into considerations.  He writes –    Tuesday, November 28, 2023 The left-wing media needed a line of attack, and they found one The left-wing media pack wasted no time identifying the new government’s weakest point. Seething over ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • PHILIP CRUMP:  Team of rivals – a CEO approach to government leadership
    The work begins Philip Crump wrote this article ahead of the new government being sworn in yesterday – Later today the new National-led coalition government will be sworn in, and the hard work begins. At the core of government will be three men – each a leader ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Black Friday
    As everyone who watches television or is on the mailing list for any of our major stores will confirm, “Black Friday” has become the longest running commercial extravaganza and celebration in our history. Although its origins are obscure (presumably dreamt up by American salesmen a few years ago), it has ...
    Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
    5 days ago

  • In Defense of the Media.
    Yesterday the Ministers in the next government were sworn in by our Governor General. A day of tradition and ceremony, of decorum and respect. Usually.But yesterday Winston Peters, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, of our nation used it, as he did with the signing of the coalition ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Tuesday, Nov 28
    Nicola Willis’ first move was ‘spilling the tea’ on what she called the ‘sobering’ state of the nation’s books, but she had better be able to back that up in the HYEFU. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • PT use up but fare increases coming
    Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    5 days ago

  • The very opposite of social investment
    Nicola Willis (in blue) at the signing of the coalition agreement, before being sworn in as both Finance Minister and Social Investment Minister. National’s plan to unwind anti-smoking measures will benefit her in the first role, but how does it stack up from a social investment viewpoint? Photo: Lynn Grieveson ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Giving Tuesday
    For the first time "in history" we decided to jump on the "Giving Tuesday" bandwagon in order to make you aware of the options you have to contribute to our work! Projects supported by Skeptical Science Inc. Skeptical Science Skeptical Science is an all-volunteer organization but ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Let's open the books with Nicotine Willis
    Let’s say it’s 1984,and there's a dreary little nation at the bottom of the Pacific whose name rhymes with New Zealand,and they've just had an election.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, will you look at the state of these books we’ve opened,cries the incoming government, will you look at all this mountain ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • Climate Change: Stopping oil
    National is promising to bring back offshore oil and gas drilling. Naturally, the Greens have organised a petition campaign to try and stop them. You should sign it - every little bit helps, and as the struggle over mining conservation land showed, even National can be deterred if enough people ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Don’t accept Human Rights Commission reading of data on Treaty partnership – read the survey fin...
    Wellington is braced for a “massive impact’ from the new government’s cutting public service jobs, The Post somewhat grimly reported today. Expectations of an economic and social jolt are based on the National-Act coalition agreement to cut public service numbers in each government agency in a cost-trimming exercise  “informed by” head ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • The stupidest of stupid reasons
    One of the threats in the National - ACT - NZ First coalition agreements was to extend the term of Parliament to four years, reducing our opportunities to throw a bad government out. The justification? Apparently, the government thinks "elections are expensive". This is the stupidest of stupid reasons for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • A website bereft of buzz
    Buzz from the Beehive The new government was being  sworn in, at time of writing , and when Point of Order checked the Beehive website for the latest ministerial statements and re-visit some of the old ones we drew a blank. We found ….  Nowt. Nothing. Zilch. Not a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • MICHAEL BASSETT: A new Ministry – at last
    Michael Bassett writes – Like most people, I was getting heartily sick of all the time being wasted over the coalition negotiations. During the first three weeks Winston grinned like a Cheshire cat, certain he’d be needed; Chris Luxon wasted time in lifting the phone to Winston ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Luxon's Breakfast.
    The Prime Minister elect had his silver fern badge on. He wore it to remind viewers he was supporting New Zealand, that was his team. Despite the fact it made him look like a concierge, or a welcomer in a Koru lounge. Anna Burns-Francis, the Breakfast presenter, asked if he ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • LINDSAY MITCHELL:  Oranga Tamariki faces major upheaval under coalition agreement
     Lindsay Mitchell writes – A hugely significant gain for ACT is somewhat camouflaged by legislative jargon. Under the heading ‘Oranga Tamariki’ ACT’s coalition agreement contains the following item:   Remove Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 According to Oranga Tamariki:     “Section ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • BRIAN EASTON:  Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record. Brian Easton writes – 1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Cathrine Dyer's guide to watching COP 28 from the bottom of a warming planet
    Is COP28 largely smoke and mirrors and a plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel? Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: COP28 kicks off on November 30 and up for negotiation are issues like the role of fossil fuels in the energy transition, contributions to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Monday, Nov 27
    PM Elect Christopher Luxon was challenged this morning on whether he would sack Adrian Orr and Andrew Coster.TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am on Monday November 27, including:Signs councils are putting planning and capital spending on hold, given a lack of clear guidance ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the new government’s policies of yesteryear
    This column expands on a Werewolf column published by Scoop on Friday Routinely, Winston Peters is described as the kingmaker who gets to decide when the centre right or the centre-left has a turn at running this country. He also plays a less heralded but equally important role as the ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    6 days ago

  • The New Government’s Agreements
    Last Friday, almost six weeks after election day, National finally came to an agreement with ACT and NZ First to form a government. They also released the agreements between each party and looking through them, here are the things I thought were the most interesting (and often concerning) from the. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    6 days ago

  • How many smokers will die to fund the tax cuts?
    Maori and Pasifika smoking rates are already over twice the ‘all adult’ rate. Now the revenue that generates will be used to fund National’s tax cuts. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The devil is always in the detail and it emerged over the weekend from the guts of the policy agreements National ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • How the culture will change in the Beehive
    Perhaps the biggest change that will come to the Beehive as the new government settles in will be a fundamental culture change. The era of endless consultation will be over. This looks like a government that knows what it wants to do, and that means it knows what outcomes ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • No More Winnie Blues.
    So what do you think of the coalition’s decision to cancel Smokefree measures intended to stop young people, including an over representation of Māori, from taking up smoking? Enabling them to use the tax revenue to give other people a tax cut?David Cormack summed it up well:It seems not only ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #47
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 19, 2023 thru Sat, Nov 25, 2023.  Story of the Week World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief  Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Some of it is mad, some of it is bad and some of it is clearly the work of people who are dangerous ...
    On announcement morning my mate texted:Typical of this cut-price, fake-deal government to announce itself on Black Friday.What a deal. We lose Kim Hill, we gain an empty, jargonising prime minister, a belligerent conspiracist, and a heartless Ayn Rand fanboy. One door closes, another gets slammed repeatedly in your face.It seems pretty ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • “Revolution” is the threat as the Māori Party smarts at coalition government’s Treaty directi...
    Buzz from the Beehive Having found no fresh announcements on the government’s official website, Point of Order turned today to Scoop’s Latest Parliament Headlines  for its buzz. This provided us with evidence that the Māori Party has been soured by the the coalition agreement announced yesterday by the new PM. “Soured” ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • The Good, the Bad, and the even Worse.
    Yesterday the trio that will lead our country unveiled their vision for New Zealand.Seymour looking surprisingly statesmanlike, refusing to rise to barbs about his previous comments on Winston Peters. Almost as if they had just been slapstick for the crowd.Winston was mostly focussed on settling scores with the media, making ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • When it Comes to Palestine – Free Speech is Under Threat
    Hi,Thanks for getting amongst Mister Organ on digital — thanks to you, we hit the #1 doc spot on iTunes this week. This response goes a long way to helping us break even.I feel good about that. Other things — not so much.New Zealand finally has a new government, and ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 week ago

  • Thank you Captain Luxon. Was that a landing, or were we shot down?
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Also in More Than A FeildingFriday The unboxing And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • Cans of Worms.
    “And there’ll be no shortage of ‘events’ to test Luxon’s political skills. David Seymour wants a referendum on the Treaty. Winston wants a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Labour’s handling of the Covid crisis. Talk about cans of worms!”LAURIE AND LES were very fond of their local. It was nothing ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago

  • Disinformation campaigns are undermining democracy. Here’s how we can fight back
    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Misinformation is debated everywhere and has justifiably sparked concerns. It can polarise the public, reduce health-protective behaviours such as mask wearing and vaccination, and erode trust in science. Much of misinformation is spread not ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record.1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is not even an entry in Wikipedia. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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