The bloody cheek of it! I’ve met Nanaia. She has to be one of our most under-rated MPs. She’s intelligent, competent and has the ability to relate to a diverse range of people. She isn’t an attention seeker and she works quietly and effectively behind the scenes.
If I was Nanaia I would want to give that fly-by-nighter, Tuku Morgan a punch in the face. He’s the instigator here. A venomous “greedy brown Tom” who is in it for what he and his cohorts can get out of it.
Edit: If this is the kind of politics the M. P. endorse then I hope they’re knocked out of parliament later this year.
Around 90% of Maori have seen no money or benefits from Treaty settlements for the past ripp-offs by dishonest white settlers …
And then we have the Tuku morgans ….. who put a $89 pair of undies for himself ahead of other uses for Maori money…
Simple proof the guys a wanker … big on greed and self-entitlement …… BM & James should vote for him…. there is an affinity between the three which cuts across race.
Hi sanctuary,I would have thought as class was a bigger group than an individual’s idea of their identity,there was a greater chance of solidarity within a class.
Hi Anne,I have to confess I must be a bit dodge on identity politics too.
My understanding is that it is quite particular and framed by how you view yrself. Often at odds with how others view you.
I realised that. 🙂 I think Sanctuary was talking in terms of “class” as in say… the so called ‘entitled’ upper class (in which some M.P. members seem to see themselves) and the rest of the Maori population who are working class.
“My understanding is that it is quite particular and framed by how you view yrself. Often at odds with how others view you.”
Nope. But I’m not surprised, the debate around IP is pretty fractured now and not conducive to understanding. Unless you hang out with people that value IP 😉
It’s because there is an increasing stoush over ownership of the term and thus what it means varies hugely depending on who you talk to. Carolyn has gotten to the point of finding it a useless term. I vacillate between abandoning it and reclaiming it.
I’ll have a think about writing a definition in a context that will make sense here. Would make an interesting post (although I might have to turn the comments off 😈 )
The Adam Curtis 4 part series century of the self looks at the work of Anna Frued (niece of Sigmund).
The rise of marketers in the age of consumerism took this work and exploited us by telling us we were special, our needs were important, our fears are legitimate and here is a product to meet those fears, needs and wants.
IP comes across as a natural consequence of this conditioning.
Rather than look at what we have in common, we look for what sets us apart.
I look forward to a post.
Would be ironic to have no comments….
There’s an intense fight this coming election over the Māori seats. So, if it’s about social class, it’d about the amounts of working class within those electorates.
I mean, that all people enrolled in Māori electorates will be Māori – obviously. Many are also likely to identify as working class. But working class solidarity within the Māori electorates is not likely to outnumber those whose primary identification is as Māori.
I think/feel he’s the better candidate that’s all, although to be fair I don’t know a lot about Mahuta, and that maybe partly because of Mahuta’s reserved style. The impression I get of Papa is that he’s a great communicator with natural leadership skills and brings a prescence whenever he speaks. I also like how he knows his history.
I totally agree Anne. An ungracious and disrepectful comment indeed. Tuku has an obliging media following. No surprises there, given that anything that portrays Labour in a negative light will be highlighted by our faithful National abiding news casters.
That the now ‘backbencher is devoid of mana’ shows that he and his king place politics over and above familial associations. To say this publicly about a whanau, hapu and iwi member says less about them and much more about her. A personal attack of this nature will not be taken lightly and I hope Maori vote en masse to ensure they don’t make it into Parliament.
She’s not on the back bench. She’s on the front bench of course. And she will be a senior minister in the Lab/Green coalition government. That’s the big lie Tuku Morgan is peddling. I can’t believe the majority of Maori will fall for his sexist crap.
#completely disgusted with tv1 news report on vault7, drop in shill piece lies about status of assange, lies about source of DNC leak, zero fact check , un filtered propaganda!
A protest is being planned for outside Wellington College, to call on the school and New Zealand to address rape culture. A Wellington high school student tells Checkpoint why she plans to attend.
She said the behaviour/comments reported to have been posted by Wellington school boys on facebook, was no surprise to herself or girls she knows. She says it’s a daily experience for her to have boys and men to make rape-type comments to her in the street.
She says that she thinks many men need to look at their own behaviour, because school boys are just copying them.
The author of Raising Boys, Steve Biddulph, tells Checkpoint why so many boys, and men, act in a way that some students from Wellington College have come under fire for.
Some feedback to Checkpoint says it is part of our culture where a PM can harass a woman by pulling her ponytail, and critics get told to lighten up.
Grim listening Caroline, I will stick my neck out and suggest that part of the problem is pornography, from tv and media advertising through to music videos and the free hard core stuff available on any phone/laptop.
Thanks for the link Carolyn, is bloody shocking that this is still happening. Makes me think how are these boys being taught to treat women.. maybe via advertising, music videos, gaming and porn so easily and freely available online?
Wondering where the male role models are within the Government?
Surely the male leaders of our country should be setting an example for young men to follow, or are they part of the problem?
On the up side I’ve certainly seen some wonderful male role models within the opposition parties.
Interesting story regarding ‘rape culture’.
Was at a party, this guy was hitting on all the women there, even the ones who had partners.
It was inappropriate.
So the men took care of that situation, as women DO NOT get hassled at parties, such are the values of the men there towards women. This man was given a very very very stern talking to and removed from the party.
The next day the women from the party were called to gather at the party hostesses home, the touchy feely man in question was taken to the women, all clean shaven and in his sunday best and made to apologise to them all.
Some men do have strong values about respecting women. And it’s nice to know they are sharing their knowledge, lead by example and all that
The whole situation impressed me so very much, kudos to those men at the party for their respect of women, they always look after and look out for the women at parties.
Biker party, great night had by all, it was a great night because we felt safe, it was the bikers that cemented that feeling of safety by the way they dealt with the situation.
Now that’s how to get the chicks 😀 stick up for them. Lesson to be learned there 😀
Yes. On Checkpoint the author talked about the importance of men in the homes being good role models, but also about them needing to have “honest” discussions with their sons about ways to behave with women that are not damaging to the women.
The 16 year old student from Wellington College says she gets the same sorts of comments from men in the street, as from school boys: comments that promote rape culture. And from some men as old as John Campbell ie in their 50s.
For sures. I wonder if some parents really know what their kids are watching, it’s learned behaviour, whether it be on a screen or real people interacting around them.
And it’s the girls too, they see skanky chicks in music videos gyrating in sweet FA and rolling around on the floor and mimic it. And if no one puts them right and explains to them why it’s not acceptable in a way they understand, they will continue to do so.
My youngest watched the 9 – 12 yr olds from a local dance school do a performance at a community event, these young girls were dressed in gold hot pants and tiny crop tops, loads of sexual moves including dry humping the floor. Then my youngest tries to copy them dang.
I’m no prude that’s for sure, but crikey wtf, young dance teacher, brought up with sexual music video’s, dang any local perverts would have been in bliss.
Documentaries at home that encourage discussion seems to bring results at our house, lolz I’ll blindside their friends with one next sleepover lmao.
Sorry, but as one who started secondary teaching in 1970, I think you are both off-beam.
The attitude is started at home in the parents, and grows from there. It always has been so. I remember at secondary school in the early 1960s hearing boys talk that kind of talk. No social media, so no publicity.
This will annoy you even more (maybe): those bad parent types are producing more offspring than good parents do. So the problem gets worse.
Blaming social media and pornography is just the kind of mindless distraction that our neo-liberal masters want you to be distracted by. It suits them.
I still teach, and can assure you that well-parented children handle social media without harm, and probably avoid excessive exposure to pornography, without being harmed by the exposure their curiosity may have led them to.
Same with violence. The vicious cycle all starts with what parents unconsciously teach their kids in early years. Violence in video games or pornography have harmful effects only on people who are already infected with that harm, from parental input. Good children from good parents are incorruptible.
Otherwise, the harm is already done. Squealing about pornography and violence is squealing for an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. Too late.
We need good parenting, not a ban on porn or bash-up games.
I just wish I knew how to bring it about. Social justice, a decent living wage for all, and full employment would be much more worth fighting for. But that will not suit our neo-liberal regime.
So I guess we will get more squealing about porn and violence..
Interesting ty In Vino especially with your background in teaching and seeing things unfold over the years.
Maybe we need a parenting channel on the TV rather than a shopping channel? Actually.. that’s not a bad idea. Government funded using a medium that gets obvious results, good old television the drug of a nation.
The differences today are important, i remember one porno magazine that did the rounds, or someone trying to hire a porno video, sheez it was a big deal, required major planning, including how to watch it, whose got a VCR, they were super fancy.
But now days it’s all there and free online. I do think that makes a difference. Grand Theft Auto is a long way removed from Pac Man. There is a ban on porn and bash up games as well as guns in our house. JS
How do you think we could improve parenting in NZ to create change and break the cycles In Vino?
In Vino: Sorry, but as one who started secondary teaching in 1970, I think you are both off-beam.</i.
Really? And where did I particularly condemn pornography? – I merely said it was addressed. And in my previous comment I also referred to the discussion where parents as role models was also addressed.
Blaming social media and pornography is just the kind of mindless distraction that our neo-liberal masters want you to be distracted by. It suits them.
What a muddle of ideas you’ve thrown out.
I’m interested, though, that it is pornography again that is in the firing line with respect to misogyny.
2nd wave feminist tended to be highly critical of pornography – long before the neoliberal shift kicked in. And during the 1990s, with 3rd wave feminism, there was a tendency for many feminists to embrace pornography (or was it erotica?) that was claimed to be produced by and for women.
Actually, the expansion of pornography/erotica into digital media coincided with the neoliberal shift. Like all forms of media, it proliferated with the ability to more easily reproduce such productions. Pornography has probably been caught up in the acceleration of the commodification of everything, rather than being something separate from, or oppositional to neoliberalism.
I don’t know much about the content of pornography. But there were 2 issues raised by the Auckland Grammar teaching:
1. It was claimed pornography objectifies women, and treats them as less than human.
2. It was claimed some guys get addicted to pornography, and then become unable to maintain sexual relationships with real women.
On 1: I am critical of any media content that consistently objectifies women and/or demeans or demonises any section of society: and that includes whenever it happens within G-rated cartoons, sports broadcasts, serious documentaries, mainstream TV dramas, 6pm evening news… and pornography/erotica.
And I think the dominant narratives in most of our media tend to reinforce rape culture. And inter-related with that, is the role models adults set for young people.
On 2: I don’t know anything about addiction to pornography. There seems to be concerns these days about addictions to all kinds of things. I’ll pay attention to anything on addiction that is solidly backed up by research.
That was excellent, wows good on AG, and the discussion it brought about with those young lads, so important. And a subject no doubt many parents would feel rather uncomfortable discussing with their own kids and visa versa, brilliant way to tackle the issue.
Hows that… 60% of boys watch porn weekly, dang. Good on you Auckland Grammar for seeing it as a possible mental health issue meaning it fits within their curriculum, maybe all NZ secondary schools should look at doing the same.
Cinny … what percentage of teenage boys do you think Masturbate each week?? …. hint … they wake up with a hard on each day….
I’m presuming their porn watching would be central to their wanking …
And while we can criticize the lazy spotty Herberts …. for not using their grey matter and imaginations more ….
If you invented a lap top or Tablet that can come into the shower … they will be batting at over 90% in the porn watching stakes.
Electrocution not blindness …. from all that wanking …would be the modern mothers warning.
More seriously …. respectful loving relationships, between them and others in their family home….. gives All young people the best chance when the Hormones start hitting them…. and their own relationships and interactions of a sexual nature begin.
Speaking As a male to Mothers ….. do not underestimate the hormonal and mood swings that teenage boys can go through …. Testosterone is not a easy hormone.
Thank you for your honesty, some things I just simply forget being a woman, like the morning hardon, I really appreciate you being straight up with me, it helps me to understand .
I wonder how many teens have the privacy and safety they need. Like for masturbation with out shame. Cause that’s really important for a number of reasons, as well as having understanding relationships and conversations, rather than turning a blind eye because it feels uncomfortable discussing the human body, and it’s functions.
And the privacy and safety in that respect would be hard to find in some homes. But the internet however, that can be found in most homes. One with out the other could become toxic.
Maybe if we had Parenting TV, it could be a topic for after 8:30pm. These things so need to be talked about, so we can all learn, and they need to be talked about frankly and maturely to help find the best outcomes for our youth.
Such a complex topic. Had a very frank conversation with my man about it yesterday, so many facets, not just the boys but how internet porn can lead to massive confusion for girls too.
It lead us to discussing the education system, we felt that it needs to be changed to include subjects that have only become relevant in the last twenty years with the internet etc as well as subjects that should have been made compulsory years ago like personal finance, how the government works etc etc
No skin off my nose.
Cos, like, you know… the men have every right to tell the woman MP to “step aside” for them – especially on International Women’s Day!
I’m never happy with arrogant, misogynist males who try to put down an admired and respected politician because she happens to be a woman and is willing to stand up and speak for the many disenfranchised people within Maoridom. The people, I might add, for whom the Tuku Morgans of this world don’t give a damm.
I love it when people go “ooooh it’s because she’s a woman”. Without giving any consideration that there could be any other reason for it.
Perhaps if you read what he said –
“We all deserve no less than the best leadership on offer.
“She’s going right back to the backbench now. To me, she’s got no mana in there now,” King Tuheitia said of Labour MP Nanaia Mahuta’s demotion in the party.”
So perhaps it’s her demotion in labour that had something to do with it.
Of course the only reason Andrew little demoted her was because she’s a woman right?
Yeah, James, Little forgot to take into account the inherent sexism and heirachical being of some of the so-called the top Maori. (sarc)
Because maybe he hadn’t encountered it before, and probably wasn’t aware it existed – because he lives in a world where women are treated equally and with respect.
Who invited them in? The Syrian government? (I don’t think so.) What you call that…deploying troops to wage war a foreign country without the express permission or invitation of the government of said country? (Answers on a postcard)
Also sending troops to Kuwait. Could hazard a guess that the Kuwaiti government might have ‘invited’ them.
With each move the violent remnants of ‘western hegemony’ relegates itself to the unwritten history books
The chaotic events now unraveling at such an accelerated pace, indicate to me that humanity is in the midst of tectonic shifts ….
Which way the shift ultimately goes is unclear IMO, but it is with certainty I say the following
Climate Change is not the most pressing issue facing all living beings…in fact CC is relatively a ‘non event’ when compared the imminent threat of complete and utter destruction wrought with WMDs, be they military, financial or technical…
How many more years can the current trajectory be continued before the destructive tipping point is reached, one way or the other..
The timeline is nearer term than any other threat humanity has ever faced
Well, all I know is that the US (NATO member) has illegally deployed armed troops to Syria (allegedly to protect Rojavans) – the same Rojavans that Turkey (NATO member) has illegally deployed troops inside Syria to fight against.
So even ignoring all other spaghetti strands that make for the situation in Syria, I wonder if anyone can tell me how that possibly ends well?
The shareholders in the munitions and arms companies get a return.
If the folk on the ground are with private companies then there are contracts being paid.
Don’t be fretting about civilians, international protocols or any of that lefty stuff. There is money to be made.
You could be right, OneTwo.
Whenever I see the destruction of cities and countries – almost daily on TV news, I wonder how much longer this will continue and what will become of all those millions of people unhoused, and unfed, with the loss of their lands and their livelihoods – where will they all end up, how will they all end up ? ? And does the western world ever think about what the end destruction of places, cities, countries really means ?
Speaking of Syria, I found this to be very interesting and well worth a watch.
Journalist Eva Bartlett: “I’m Back From Syria. The Media Is Lying To You!”
Google’s computer vision technology is now so good it’s able to find specific objects within a video or group of videos.
[…]
With the tool, you can search one or more videos using keywords and get back a list of results showing you where in the video you can find the objects relevant to your search terms. You can see a bit of Google’s demo of the software onstage at Cloud Next in the video below.
“Foreigners snapped up 362,000 hectares of freehold farm or forestry land and 103,000 ha of leasehold land in 2016, a hefty increase from the year before and higher than the average over the last 10 years.”
“Economist Bill Rosenberg, who conducted the research, said statistics on sales of land to overseas interests were poorly recorded and incomplete.
“Our best estimate is that in 2011 at least 8.7 percent of New Zealand farmland including forestry, or 1.3 million ha, was foreign-owned or controlled and it could have reached 10 percent.”
This was despite former Prime Minister John Key’s assertion in 2014 that foreigners owned only 2 per cent of farm and forestry land.
Rosenberg said CAFCA’s opposition to foreign ownership of land was based on the fact it was “the bedrock of our international competitive advantage” and the benefits were often overstated.
For example, a KPMG report recently showed US investors, who were the largest between 2013-15, invested $4.5 billion, but over the same period they removed $3.2b from New Zealand.”
New Zealand spy agencies and our elite Special Air Service soldiers have long-standing commercial links with a controversial big-data company founded by surprise Kiwi Peter Thiel, the Herald can reveal.
An investigation into Thiel’s links to New Zealand has found his firm Palantir Technologies has counted the New Zealand Defence Force, the Security Intelligence Service and the Government Communications and Security Bureau as clients with contracts dating back to at least 2012.
The revelation caused Kennedy Graham, Green Party spokesman for intelligence and security matters, to call for a delay to the passage of the New Zealand Intelligence and Security Bill, which today passed its second and penultimate reading.
Graham said the New Zealand-Palantir connection was “potentially huge” and raised more questions than it answered.
More at the link.
And it’s worth reading Nippert’s tweets on it, too.
WOW! That’s massive. Excellent investigative journalism going on there by Mr Nippert. And thanks Dr Kennedy.
Thanks for the links Carolyn. Will be expecting to see this all over the media in the morning as well it needs to be addressed on the weekend political shows.
I am really pleased that the background to Thiel and his connections to Palantir is finally coming out. Good on Matt Nippert for his perseverance on this issue.
Just saying that I have been pushing the Palantir connections for quite some time here on TS.
My most recent comment on Open Mike on 4 March seems to have gone unnoticed so will repeat here.
I commented on the Thiel posts a few months ago* when it was revealed that he had been given NZ citizenship some years ago. My concern re Thiel was his connections to Palantir with its connections to the Five Eyes spy network, the GCBS etc. – and to US regulatory authorities ($B worth of contracts).
There are also links to several other interesting recent articles on Thiel at the end of the Intercept article.
*Shock – It was only at the end of Jan! Feels like a year ago. The Trump effect.”
My earlier comment 1293097 at the end of Jan is quite long so will not repeat it here, but it contains quite a number of links to other (US) articles on Palantir and its connections to US government (intelligence and other regulatory) agencies that came out after Thiel’s connections to Trump became known.
This comment is not intended as a “I told you so”. Simply that I have been following the Palantir connections to NZ for some years. A bit of a personal fixation.
Absolutely agree re Matt Nippert. I gather that David Fisher is also helping on this issue.
The Palantir connection has been an interest of mine right back to when their name came up in relation to the GCSB and SIS, and the changes to intelligence gathering legislation. Key was up to his ears in the connection IMHO.
Anyway i used to ‘live’ on TS as a reader and occasional commenter, but only pass by from time to time these days and saw your post. Cheers.
I also found this in my rereadings of Wayne’s comment 13.2.1 below Karol’s post. (my bold)
Karol, two interesting posts.
Yes the PM does interact with this group of people. In many respects they are his generation or close to it. He is much more networked into this global group than any other prior NZ PM. His prior job and the level he rose to ensures that. He was involved in the most globally networked part of the economy; global finance and IT. The latter by degrees of connection and their need for huge infusions of capital in order to grow at often exponentional rates
And a significant number of them are really interested in NZ, often for quite eccentric reasons – the billionaires who visit NZ in their private jet and then bike around NZ as an expression of their oneness with nature – work that one out if you can!
So he is certainly going to know those who come to NZ especially if they are from the US, where he PM did a lot of his work. In Peter Theil’s case he has actually become a citizen.
There are quite a few who have exclusive hideaways in Queenstown area and Bay of Islands.
Yes, it is a bit of an unusual part of the zeitgist, but there you are.
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While the economy is on pause under lockdown, the government is beginning to plan how to cope with the post-lockdown, post-tourism, post-export education world we will eventually find ourselves in. They're planning a lot of infrastructure spending as economic stimulus, and have asked for proposals which can start the moment ...
It's my distraction, setting up tiny scenes to photograph. I've got stuck on the Babushka dolls for now. Something about their bubble shape. Something about their never changing, smiling features, suggesting persistent equanimity. Can we get through everything that is being thrown at us and keep at least a tiny ...
. . March 31: Day six of living in lock-down… This time I managed to sleep a little longer and the alarm woke me at the pre-set time: 6.55am. Then remembered I was working a later shift and could’ve slept in. Oh well, there are things to do at home. ...
Image credit:Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ...
Yesterday's Horizon poll showing support for a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum sliding into the majority for the first time in a year looked like good news for reformers – and it probably is. But the result warrants some scrutiny.The poll is the fifth in a series commissioned ...
For almost a week now, every one of us who isn’t an essential worker has been confined to their bubble. We are allowed to go shopping for groceries, to visit the doctor, and to get a bit of exercise if we stay local. The reason we are doing this is ...
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...
In the absence of a vaccine or a cure for a deadly disease, staying home in your bubble is what you do, the concept is not new. To the best of my knowledge last time we did this in NZ was for polio, in the years before a vaccine came ...
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...
This has been a terrible summer for Hector’s dolphins. The first indication was very low numbers of dolphin sightings during late spring and early summer. The Otago University Marine Mammal Research Team has carried out routine dolphin surveys at Banks Peninsula for more than 30 years. In all that time, ...
On March 17, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was quick out of the blocks with an economic rescue package to help businesses through the inevitable recession resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Robertson had pulled together a scheme in short order that so far seems to have saved many jobs. In his ...
The purpose of the lockdown is to save lives, by reducing the spread of covid-19. We won't know if its really working for another week, but given the devastation that will result if it doesn't - 14,000 dead is the optimistic scenario - its definitely worth trying. But pausing the ...
. . March 30: Day five of living in lock-down… Woke up still in darkness. Alarm hadn’t gone off. Turn to radio clock; it’s a few minutes after 6am… I lie there in the dark, waiting to drift off to sleep… but it ain’t happening. Clock ticks over to 6.55 ...
The story of Les Gray, the public sector psychologist who told the truth about his use of cannabis and set off a storm, has a special place in the lore of cannabis reform in New Zealand.When Paul Shannon interviewed Gray for the 'Dope and Hope' issue of Planet magazine in ...
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...
Since the lockdown began, we've all suddenly been reminded who the actually essential workers in our society are: not the people at the top who pay themselves the big bucks and rort the perks, but the people at the bottom they screw over and squeeze: cleaners, warehouse staff, truck drivers ...
Kia ora! As I've watched nearly all my remaining work vanish over the past couple of days, it has occured to me that one good way to keep me away from arguing with fools on Twitter all the time (in the knowledge that all we're really doing is processing our ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to extirpate the virus that causes COVID-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to “Level 4”. That means adapting to unprecedented restrictions on our personal freedoms, particularly to our rights to move freely and associate with friends and ...
When the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency last week, she handed the police powers to enforce it. And almost immediately, we started hearing about heavy-handed, arbitrary "enforcement" by police who (at best) cared more about order than law, or (more likely) had no idea what the rules were ...
. . Lock Down: Day 4 – A photo essay with observations . March 29: Usual wake up routine as RNZ snaps on my radio-clock. Jim Mora’s voice slowly enters my conciousness; there’s talk of a second wave of covid19 taking hold in South Korea; the week in Parliament – ...
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... ‘Misinformation kills’: The link between coronavirus conspiracies and climate denialGrist / Rob Kim / Stringer / CSA Images Scientific ...
The kids did surprisingly well today – meltdown count was about 3, and mostly fairly short ones. (And a fourth while I was writing.) Game-wise I had a go at Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. It’s a fairly standard RPG with turn-based combat and what they call a “mature storyline” (it ...
by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...
. . Lock Down: Day 3 – A photo essay with observations . March 28: First day of the first weekend in Lock Down. It feels like it’s been weeks since only Level 3 was declared last Tuesday, only four days ago. Woke up this morning to RNZ; coffee; toast, ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 22, 2020 through Sat, Mar 28, 2020Articles Linked to on FacebookSun, Mar 22, 2020In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters by Chelsea Harvey, ...
I’m here in lockdown with my flatmate and her two girls (6 and 2) and it. is. a time. They’re usually really active so to start with the only boardgame in the house is the copy of Guess Who that the 6 year old got for her birthday. Flatmate commented ...
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...
. . Lock Down: Day 2 – A photo essay with observations . March 27 – Day 2 of our Strange New World. The Park and Ride near my suburb, usually filled with hundreds of vehicles, had just… four; . . Another drive into Wellington City on a highway nearly ...
Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to rent a property on the open market in New Zealand, which is one of the most expensive in the entire world, you’ll likely be keenly aware of just how arrogant and entitled landlords and their real estate agents can be.Unfortunately for ...
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights:In this legal blog we outline some ...
by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...
When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
. . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
. . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections A respected research group, Project Drawdown, finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new 2020 Drawdown ...
It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
We’ve been meaning t write something on Cuba and the coronavirus but have just discovered a very good article on the subject in the US left publication Jacobin. The article looks at how Cuba, a poor country but one where capitalism has been done away with, is leading the way ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
The domestic travel ban has been lifted for stranded foreign tourists trying to get to international airports to fly home, after the Coalition Government announced a plan to help the tens of thousands of foreigners stranded here. Foreign Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters spoke with RNZ's Susie Ferguson said foreign ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes the country is rediscovering its resilience and self-reliance through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.He says he is heartened that the mass majority of New Zealanders are following lockdown rules and that the government looking at the future, including paying to keep much ...
New Zealand can emulate the success of the US after the Great Depression by exploiting our own resources to turn the economy around quickly, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr. Peters told Magic Talk that New Zealand has an opportunity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic a "superior, ...
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark."Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
We know people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass.Well, we’ve all said we wish we had more time to read and now we’ve got what we wished for. Jenna, Kiran and Louisa delve into some book news (that’s not too heavy for ...
The prime minister says she expects the health minister to continue doing his job, including media interviews, after he broke the lockdown rules last week to go mountain biking. ...
Ardern says the role of planning for moving out of lockdown is not the Government's alone Businesses should plan how they will operate in an environment where intensive contact tracing would be needed post-lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Government was working on additional guidance for the move to Level 3 ...
Netflix’s four-part series Unorthodox traces a woman’s escape from a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. Emily Writes considers the lessons we can all learn from her journey. There was a moment watching Netflix’s miniseries Unorthodox when I felt like I was actually in Berlin, where much of the show is ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
By RNZ Pacific The number of people with Covid-19 in the Pacific continues to climb with French Polynesia hitting 40 cases, Guam now over 90 and the US state of Hawai’i suffering its third coronavirus death. In the past day, another person tested positive for Covid-19 in French Polynesia. ...
We needed a reasonable period of time to allow the recent surging wave of highly geared first home buyers to get financially comfortable. We didn’t get it, writes David Hargreaves of interest.co.nz.You know, I was really beginning to think (as well as hope) that we might just get away with it.By ‘it’ ...
Being stuck inside all day might be wearing you and your kids down, but there’s never been a better time to encourage them to pick up their musical instrument and get stuck into writing songs. Mike Chunn from Play It Strange explains how. Mums and dads and households with teenage children. ...
Siouxsie Wiles on the vitriolic correspondence she’s received since the Covid-19 outbreak struck, and the realities of communicating evidence.I recently received an email and text from someone telling me they are planning to email my boss, the University of Auckland vice chancellor. They are going to ask for me to ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, five of New Zealand’s best writers chronicle the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Fiona Farrell.There’s a sign sticky-taped to the bakery window. Closed Until Further Notice. Stay Safe NZ and Be Kind. We will get through this!We all know where the words ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Covid-19 is a real threat to older people, but these Central Otago seniors are embracing technology, experiencing no FOMO, and finding new ways to connect and share, finds Jill Herron When the full lockdown began on March 25 it meant the end of going for a swim, spa or to ...
Former editor of the Woman's Weekly, Nicky Pellegrino, bids farewell to the magazine that brought information and fun to generations of New Zealand women. All those stories. Gone. Stories about our politics, our health, our education, our aspirations. Stories about the houses we lived in and the gardens we grew, ...
As small businesses fight for their survival in the Covid-19 lockdown, it seems one of the country’s biggest retail landlords is not keen to share the pain. On the one side, you have Jonathan*. Jonathan runs a small business out of South Auckland’s Sylvia Park - New Zealand’s biggest mall. ...
With no Covid-19 cases and its economy desperate to restart, the Chathams is keen to go fishing again, writes Jim Kayes.It shouldn’t really be a surprise. They are, after all, ahead of New Zealand by 45 minutes.And though they are part of Wellington’s Rongotai electorate, the fiercely ...
On Friday night, the government quietly laid down some lockdown rules via a legal order under the Health Act. Law professor Andrew Geddis explains what it means for all of us (including David Clark). As the first week of level four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was ...
The health and wellbeing of people working and being held inside our prisons needs to be a priority, writes JustSpeak director Tania Sawicki Mead. Kelvin Davis’s interview on The Hui last weekend made it clear that precautions taken by Corrections to stop the spread of Covid-19 will create an unprecedented restriction ...
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes.Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks.When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By David Robie A rather beautiful Guåhan legend is rather poignant in these stressed pandemic times. It is one about survival and cooperation. In ancient times, goes the story, a giant fish was eating great chunks out of this western Pacific island. The men used muscle ...
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...
Alex Casey speaks to a dream expert about why so many people are suddenly remembering their vivid and often horrible dreams. As the days begin to blur together and the only thing we get between sleeps is unimaginably horrible news and an embarrassing tootle around the block, it’s no surprise ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
Medical centres across the country are condensing services, moving online, and ushering in pandemic plans. Josie Adams assesses what it’s like to access and provide essential medical care under alert level four.On Monday, Sandra Russell woke up before dawn and drove to Milford to get her blood tested. She has ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun, with the second of his Letters to Hone Tūwhare and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions. ...
ANALYSIS:By Haiqing Yu of RMIT University and Michael Keane of Curtin University China has gradually emerged out of its shadow of despair as the epicentre where the coronavirus pandemic started. Now, there is face saving required – as well as agenda-setting in the global power play. China played ...
Tech giant Google has released a giant global data set which shows how different countries are locking down, and which NZ regions are most compliant with its lockdown.A giant set of reports released by Google, created using its anonymised cellphone location data reveals the scale of human behaviour change the ...
Comedian Penny Ashton writes on the necessity of the arts, especially during lockdown.On March 22, everyone’s favourite fiscal bloodhounds, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, sent out a tweet in response to Creative New Zealand’s announcement that it will dedicate an emergency response package to helping New Zealand’s artists, in the ...
Wellington writer Philippa Swan’s new novel TheNight of All Souls is an homage to Pulitzer-winning and all-round fabulous American writer Edith Wharton. Wharton died in 1937 but, Swan writes, she’s very much of the moment. Nobody does social distancing like Wharton did. While Wharton was still comparatively young, she created the ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford.I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...
How do you hold a funeral service with the country in lockdown? Where there’s a will – and a tech-savvy uncle – there’s a way, Erin Kavanagh-Hall discovered.I was floating somewhere in the Cook Strait when I heard my grandfather’s funeral had been cancelled.I should elaborate. It was a Monday, ...
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer.It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south ...
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...
Every day at 1pm New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announces precise figures on the number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the country. He is working on the best information available, and during this week the level of community transmission was put at around ...
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Deery, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, University of Melbourne “Stupid coronavirus!” I heard my six-year-old mumble while talking in her sleep. Earlier that day her swimming and basketball lessons were cancelled, a birthday party postponed, and she had to race with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University “Zoombombing” in case you haven’t heard, is the unsavoury practice of posting distressing comments, pictures or videos after gatecrashing virtual meetings hosted by the videoconferencing app Zoom. With hundreds of millions ...
Analysis - A leading epidemiologist says health authorities 'really have no idea' of the extent of community spread, Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee gets its teeth into what's going on during the lockdown and the horrendous economic imp ...
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersInformation about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 ...
The Finance Minister says struggling companies will be able to put some debt into hibernation, under new legislation unveiled today. Watch the latest government update here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Welcome to the second edition of our lockdown Top 10s. A reminder that this chart has nothing to do with sales or launches or the publishing cycle; these are just books the Unity team love – and this week it’s westerns, full of big skies and long rides and showdowns.AUCKLANDAll ...
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s plan to cover revenue shortfalls through borrowing without cutting low priority spending is immoral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “Businesses and households across the country are meeting financial challenges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin John Brophy, Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, University of Melbourne “Katrina, I had in mind a prayer, but only this came,” Bruce Dawe wrote to his infant daughter, new-born, in intensive care, her life in the balance, declaring as poets must ...
Daily Review 09/03/2017 
This is the advice from the very top of the anti-fluoride movement – Paul Connett, director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). Don’t worry about reading up on all the scientific information “You only have ... 49 mins ago
. . April 4: Day 10 of living in lock-down… I wake up to a fine Saturday morning which normally would be like an early Christmas. But it’s Day 10 of Level 4 Lock Down. What will my fellow New Zealanders be doing on a day like this – staying ...5 hours ago
Some time during the night we went over the 850,000 views mark. We might have had our millionth view by the end of this year – certainly by early next year. Most of the people involved in Redline spent years and years producing various small left-wing papers and selling them ...5 hours ago
Comfortably, in the very first round, with an impressive 56% of the votes.I wonder, did members of the Shadow Cabinet start tweeting their resignations during Starmer's victory speech, or is that only a trick the right pull?It is odd how all the talk of how the next leader "needs to ...6 hours ago
One of the key voices in this extraordinary time in which we live is that of University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker. Philip Matthews did an an excellent job this weekend of capturing the way he became the man for this moment in a profile for The Press.But one ...7 hours ago
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...21 hours ago
As the first week of Level Four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was (and was not) allowed under its “rules”. Partly these were driven by some apparently contradictory messages from different authority figures and explanations carried in the media. Partly they reflected a somewhat sketchy legal basis ...1 day ago
We must root out the traitors among us! ...2 days ago
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As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...2 days ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...2 days ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...3 days ago
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The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...4 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...5 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...6 days ago
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Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world". Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...2 days ago
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...1 week ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...2 weeks ago
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...2 days ago
The prime minister says she expects the health minister to continue doing his job, including media interviews, after he broke the lockdown rules last week to go mountain biking. ...48 mins ago
Ardern says the role of planning for moving out of lockdown is not the Government's alone Businesses should plan how they will operate in an environment where intensive contact tracing would be needed post-lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Government was working on additional guidance for the move to Level 3 ...2 hours ago
Netflix’s four-part series Unorthodox traces a woman’s escape from a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. Emily Writes considers the lessons we can all learn from her journey. There was a moment watching Netflix’s miniseries Unorthodox when I felt like I was actually in Berlin, where much of the show is ...2 hours ago
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By RNZ Pacific The number of people with Covid-19 in the Pacific continues to climb with French Polynesia hitting 40 cases, Guam now over 90 and the US state of Hawai’i suffering its third coronavirus death. In the past day, another person tested positive for Covid-19 in French Polynesia. ...5 hours ago
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Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...1 day ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...1 day ago
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...1 day ago
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...1 day ago
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...2 days ago
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford. I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...2 days ago
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...2 days ago
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...2 days ago
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...2 days ago
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...2 days ago
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...2 days ago
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...2 days ago
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...2 days ago
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...2 days ago
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...2 days ago
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...2 days ago
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...2 days ago
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...2 days ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...2 days ago
Vodafone says its continuing to see significant increases in calls and data on its networks after the first week of level 4 lockdown. ...2 days ago
Greedy brown fat cats prefer class war to the solidarity of identity politics…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/90257182/maori-king-endorses-waikatotainui-chairman-to-political-battle
The bloody cheek of it! I’ve met Nanaia. She has to be one of our most under-rated MPs. She’s intelligent, competent and has the ability to relate to a diverse range of people. She isn’t an attention seeker and she works quietly and effectively behind the scenes.
If I was Nanaia I would want to give that fly-by-nighter, Tuku Morgan a punch in the face. He’s the instigator here. A venomous “greedy brown Tom” who is in it for what he and his cohorts can get out of it.
Edit: If this is the kind of politics the M. P. endorse then I hope they’re knocked out of parliament later this year.
What’s a “greedy brown Tom”?
an Uncle Tom. and I totally agree with you, Anne. power-seeking sexist rant from Tuku and his mouthpiece, the King.
The bloody cheek of it. Having his own view and endorsing somebody anne doesn’t agree with.
Yes, don’t those damn darkies realise we know best? how dare they have their own thoughts and ideas !!!!
hey so cool you are there for “Mr $89 underpants”
Around 90% of Maori have seen no money or benefits from Treaty settlements for the past ripp-offs by dishonest white settlers …
And then we have the Tuku morgans ….. who put a $89 pair of undies for himself ahead of other uses for Maori money…
Simple proof the guys a wanker … big on greed and self-entitlement …… BM & James should vote for him…. there is an affinity between the three which cuts across race.
Hi sanctuary,I would have thought as class was a bigger group than an individual’s idea of their identity,there was a greater chance of solidarity within a class.
I think you are mis-reading what Sanctuary means by “class”.
Hi Anne,I have to confess I must be a bit dodge on identity politics too.
My understanding is that it is quite particular and framed by how you view yrself. Often at odds with how others view you.
Genuinely a bit lost, not agitating at all.
…not agitating at all.
I realised that. 🙂 I think Sanctuary was talking in terms of “class” as in say… the so called ‘entitled’ upper class (in which some M.P. members seem to see themselves) and the rest of the Maori population who are working class.
Perhaps the contrast of entitled vs working isn’t as striking when all identify as Maori.
“My understanding is that it is quite particular and framed by how you view yrself. Often at odds with how others view you.”
Nope. But I’m not surprised, the debate around IP is pretty fractured now and not conducive to understanding. Unless you hang out with people that value IP 😉
I realise u are probably sick to the back teeth of engaging with ignorami (plural?) on this subject, but getting a handle on IP is proving elusive.
True, I don’t mingle with folk who have heard of IP.
It’s because there is an increasing stoush over ownership of the term and thus what it means varies hugely depending on who you talk to. Carolyn has gotten to the point of finding it a useless term. I vacillate between abandoning it and reclaiming it.
I’ll have a think about writing a definition in a context that will make sense here. Would make an interesting post (although I might have to turn the comments off 😈 )
The Adam Curtis 4 part series century of the self looks at the work of Anna Frued (niece of Sigmund).
The rise of marketers in the age of consumerism took this work and exploited us by telling us we were special, our needs were important, our fears are legitimate and here is a product to meet those fears, needs and wants.
IP comes across as a natural consequence of this conditioning.
Rather than look at what we have in common, we look for what sets us apart.
I look forward to a post.
Would be ironic to have no comments….
There’s an intense fight this coming election over the Māori seats. So, if it’s about social class, it’d about the amounts of working class within those electorates.
I pondered this earlier, and perhaps it is a Westminster view that has left/right, instead of what is best for Maori.
I mean, that all people enrolled in Māori electorates will be Māori – obviously. Many are also likely to identify as working class. But working class solidarity within the Māori electorates is not likely to outnumber those whose primary identification is as Māori.
Spot on, well.said.
Rahui Papa has the makings of a superb Māori politician I reckon. I hope he beats Labour in this one.
Hi Maui, is it because he ain’t labour or you regard him as a better prospect than ms Mahuta?
I think/feel he’s the better candidate that’s all, although to be fair I don’t know a lot about Mahuta, and that maybe partly because of Mahuta’s reserved style. The impression I get of Papa is that he’s a great communicator with natural leadership skills and brings a prescence whenever he speaks. I also like how he knows his history.
He features on this interesting video discussion about the New Zealand Wars if youre interested to get an idea of the fella.
http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/media-take/S03E004/media-take-extended-series-3-episode-6
Cheers, will give it a lookalike.
Btw I do enjoy media take.
National are trying to divide Maori just like they have divided the rest of New Zealand.
Maori are doing a pretty good job of doing that all by themselves.
I totally agree Anne. An ungracious and disrepectful comment indeed. Tuku has an obliging media following. No surprises there, given that anything that portrays Labour in a negative light will be highlighted by our faithful National abiding news casters.
That the now ‘backbencher is devoid of mana’ shows that he and his king place politics over and above familial associations. To say this publicly about a whanau, hapu and iwi member says less about them and much more about her. A personal attack of this nature will not be taken lightly and I hope Maori vote en masse to ensure they don’t make it into Parliament.
That the now ‘backbencher is devoid of mana’…
She’s not on the back bench. She’s on the front bench of course. And she will be a senior minister in the Lab/Green coalition government. That’s the big lie Tuku Morgan is peddling. I can’t believe the majority of Maori will fall for his sexist crap.
#completely disgusted with tv1 news report on vault7, drop in shill piece lies about status of assange, lies about source of DNC leak, zero fact check , un filtered propaganda!
Outraged!
This interview on Checkpoint tonight, with a female high school student in Wellington, is pretty damning – not just of school boys’ behaviour, but of men’s behaviour too:
She said the behaviour/comments reported to have been posted by Wellington school boys on facebook, was no surprise to herself or girls she knows. She says it’s a daily experience for her to have boys and men to make rape-type comments to her in the street.
She says that she thinks many men need to look at their own behaviour, because school boys are just copying them.
This interview was followed by an author who has written about rape culture, pretty much confirming what the above high school student said.
Some feedback to Checkpoint says it is part of our culture where a PM can harass a woman by pulling her ponytail, and critics get told to lighten up.
Grim listening Caroline, I will stick my neck out and suggest that part of the problem is pornography, from tv and media advertising through to music videos and the free hard core stuff available on any phone/laptop.
Thanks for the link Carolyn, is bloody shocking that this is still happening. Makes me think how are these boys being taught to treat women.. maybe via advertising, music videos, gaming and porn so easily and freely available online?
Wondering where the male role models are within the Government?
Surely the male leaders of our country should be setting an example for young men to follow, or are they part of the problem?
On the up side I’ve certainly seen some wonderful male role models within the opposition parties.
Interesting story regarding ‘rape culture’.
Was at a party, this guy was hitting on all the women there, even the ones who had partners.
It was inappropriate.
So the men took care of that situation, as women DO NOT get hassled at parties, such are the values of the men there towards women. This man was given a very very very stern talking to and removed from the party.
The next day the women from the party were called to gather at the party hostesses home, the touchy feely man in question was taken to the women, all clean shaven and in his sunday best and made to apologise to them all.
Some men do have strong values about respecting women. And it’s nice to know they are sharing their knowledge, lead by example and all that
The whole situation impressed me so very much, kudos to those men at the party for their respect of women, they always look after and look out for the women at parties.
Biker party, great night had by all, it was a great night because we felt safe, it was the bikers that cemented that feeling of safety by the way they dealt with the situation.
Now that’s how to get the chicks 😀 stick up for them. Lesson to be learned there 😀
Good story cinny,
I am more concerned about the male role models in the home than in the government.
Yes. On Checkpoint the author talked about the importance of men in the homes being good role models, but also about them needing to have “honest” discussions with their sons about ways to behave with women that are not damaging to the women.
The 16 year old student from Wellington College says she gets the same sorts of comments from men in the street, as from school boys: comments that promote rape culture. And from some men as old as John Campbell ie in their 50s.
For sures. I wonder if some parents really know what their kids are watching, it’s learned behaviour, whether it be on a screen or real people interacting around them.
And it’s the girls too, they see skanky chicks in music videos gyrating in sweet FA and rolling around on the floor and mimic it. And if no one puts them right and explains to them why it’s not acceptable in a way they understand, they will continue to do so.
My youngest watched the 9 – 12 yr olds from a local dance school do a performance at a community event, these young girls were dressed in gold hot pants and tiny crop tops, loads of sexual moves including dry humping the floor. Then my youngest tries to copy them dang.
I’m no prude that’s for sure, but crikey wtf, young dance teacher, brought up with sexual music video’s, dang any local perverts would have been in bliss.
Documentaries at home that encourage discussion seems to bring results at our house, lolz I’ll blindside their friends with one next sleepover lmao.
Yes, good story, Cinny.
The TV1 news focused on the pornography angle quite a bit tonight. They presented the example of Auckland Grammar where they are having lessons about the problems with pornography. Some of the AG boys talked about it.
Sorry, but as one who started secondary teaching in 1970, I think you are both off-beam.
The attitude is started at home in the parents, and grows from there. It always has been so. I remember at secondary school in the early 1960s hearing boys talk that kind of talk. No social media, so no publicity.
This will annoy you even more (maybe): those bad parent types are producing more offspring than good parents do. So the problem gets worse.
Blaming social media and pornography is just the kind of mindless distraction that our neo-liberal masters want you to be distracted by. It suits them.
I still teach, and can assure you that well-parented children handle social media without harm, and probably avoid excessive exposure to pornography, without being harmed by the exposure their curiosity may have led them to.
Same with violence. The vicious cycle all starts with what parents unconsciously teach their kids in early years. Violence in video games or pornography have harmful effects only on people who are already infected with that harm, from parental input. Good children from good parents are incorruptible.
Otherwise, the harm is already done. Squealing about pornography and violence is squealing for an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. Too late.
We need good parenting, not a ban on porn or bash-up games.
I just wish I knew how to bring it about. Social justice, a decent living wage for all, and full employment would be much more worth fighting for. But that will not suit our neo-liberal regime.
So I guess we will get more squealing about porn and violence..
Interesting ty In Vino especially with your background in teaching and seeing things unfold over the years.
Maybe we need a parenting channel on the TV rather than a shopping channel? Actually.. that’s not a bad idea. Government funded using a medium that gets obvious results, good old television the drug of a nation.
The differences today are important, i remember one porno magazine that did the rounds, or someone trying to hire a porno video, sheez it was a big deal, required major planning, including how to watch it, whose got a VCR, they were super fancy.
But now days it’s all there and free online. I do think that makes a difference. Grand Theft Auto is a long way removed from Pac Man. There is a ban on porn and bash up games as well as guns in our house. JS
How do you think we could improve parenting in NZ to create change and break the cycles In Vino?
In Vino: Sorry, but as one who started secondary teaching in 1970, I think you are both off-beam.</i.
Really? And where did I particularly condemn pornography? – I merely said it was addressed. And in my previous comment I also referred to the discussion where parents as role models was also addressed.
Blaming social media and pornography is just the kind of mindless distraction that our neo-liberal masters want you to be distracted by. It suits them.
What a muddle of ideas you’ve thrown out.
I’m interested, though, that it is pornography again that is in the firing line with respect to misogyny.
2nd wave feminist tended to be highly critical of pornography – long before the neoliberal shift kicked in. And during the 1990s, with 3rd wave feminism, there was a tendency for many feminists to embrace pornography (or was it erotica?) that was claimed to be produced by and for women.
Actually, the expansion of pornography/erotica into digital media coincided with the neoliberal shift. Like all forms of media, it proliferated with the ability to more easily reproduce such productions. Pornography has probably been caught up in the acceleration of the commodification of everything, rather than being something separate from, or oppositional to neoliberalism.
I don’t know much about the content of pornography. But there were 2 issues raised by the Auckland Grammar teaching:
1. It was claimed pornography objectifies women, and treats them as less than human.
2. It was claimed some guys get addicted to pornography, and then become unable to maintain sexual relationships with real women.
On 1: I am critical of any media content that consistently objectifies women and/or demeans or demonises any section of society: and that includes whenever it happens within G-rated cartoons, sports broadcasts, serious documentaries, mainstream TV dramas, 6pm evening news… and pornography/erotica.
And I think the dominant narratives in most of our media tend to reinforce rape culture. And inter-related with that, is the role models adults set for young people.
On 2: I don’t know anything about addiction to pornography. There seems to be concerns these days about addictions to all kinds of things. I’ll pay attention to anything on addiction that is solidly backed up by research.
That was excellent, wows good on AG, and the discussion it brought about with those young lads, so important. And a subject no doubt many parents would feel rather uncomfortable discussing with their own kids and visa versa, brilliant way to tackle the issue.
Hows that… 60% of boys watch porn weekly, dang. Good on you Auckland Grammar for seeing it as a possible mental health issue meaning it fits within their curriculum, maybe all NZ secondary schools should look at doing the same.
Cinny … what percentage of teenage boys do you think Masturbate each week?? …. hint … they wake up with a hard on each day….
I’m presuming their porn watching would be central to their wanking …
And while we can criticize the lazy spotty Herberts …. for not using their grey matter and imaginations more ….
If you invented a lap top or Tablet that can come into the shower … they will be batting at over 90% in the porn watching stakes.
Electrocution not blindness …. from all that wanking …would be the modern mothers warning.
More seriously …. respectful loving relationships, between them and others in their family home….. gives All young people the best chance when the Hormones start hitting them…. and their own relationships and interactions of a sexual nature begin.
Speaking As a male to Mothers ….. do not underestimate the hormonal and mood swings that teenage boys can go through …. Testosterone is not a easy hormone.
Thank you for your honesty, some things I just simply forget being a woman, like the morning hardon, I really appreciate you being straight up with me, it helps me to understand .
I wonder how many teens have the privacy and safety they need. Like for masturbation with out shame. Cause that’s really important for a number of reasons, as well as having understanding relationships and conversations, rather than turning a blind eye because it feels uncomfortable discussing the human body, and it’s functions.
And the privacy and safety in that respect would be hard to find in some homes. But the internet however, that can be found in most homes. One with out the other could become toxic.
Maybe if we had Parenting TV, it could be a topic for after 8:30pm. These things so need to be talked about, so we can all learn, and they need to be talked about frankly and maturely to help find the best outcomes for our youth.
Such a complex topic. Had a very frank conversation with my man about it yesterday, so many facets, not just the boys but how internet porn can lead to massive confusion for girls too.
It lead us to discussing the education system, we felt that it needs to be changed to include subjects that have only become relevant in the last twenty years with the internet etc as well as subjects that should have been made compulsory years ago like personal finance, how the government works etc etc
Thanks Anne.
You just reminded me why I will never vote left.
No skin off my nose.
Cos, like, you know… the men have every right to tell the woman MP to “step aside” for them – especially on International Women’s Day!
You should try to be happy more. 🙂
I’m never happy with arrogant, misogynist males who try to put down an admired and respected politician because she happens to be a woman and is willing to stand up and speak for the many disenfranchised people within Maoridom. The people, I might add, for whom the Tuku Morgans of this world don’t give a damm.
I love it when people go “ooooh it’s because she’s a woman”. Without giving any consideration that there could be any other reason for it.
Perhaps if you read what he said –
“We all deserve no less than the best leadership on offer.
“She’s going right back to the backbench now. To me, she’s got no mana in there now,” King Tuheitia said of Labour MP Nanaia Mahuta’s demotion in the party.”
So perhaps it’s her demotion in labour that had something to do with it.
Of course the only reason Andrew little demoted her was because she’s a woman right?
It’s not like this is a surprise- it’s just little read it all wrong.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/74597088/andrew-little-dismisses-impact-of-nanaia-mahuta-demotion-on-maori-support
Yeah, James, Little forgot to take into account the inherent sexism and heirachical being of some of the so-called the top Maori. (sarc)
Because maybe he hadn’t encountered it before, and probably wasn’t aware it existed – because he lives in a world where women are treated equally and with respect.
If this sort of stuff is what Maori politics is about, Im glad Im not Maori
Mabey he just thought she wasn’t that good at her job ?
Just read this … https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/09/us-sends-hundreds-of-marines-to-syria-to-support-fight-against-isis
Who invited them in? The Syrian government? (I don’t think so.) What you call that…deploying troops to wage war a foreign country without the express permission or invitation of the government of said country? (Answers on a postcard)
Also sending troops to Kuwait. Could hazard a guess that the Kuwaiti government might have ‘invited’ them.
With each move the violent remnants of ‘western hegemony’ relegates itself to the unwritten history books
The chaotic events now unraveling at such an accelerated pace, indicate to me that humanity is in the midst of tectonic shifts ….
Which way the shift ultimately goes is unclear IMO, but it is with certainty I say the following
Climate Change is not the most pressing issue facing all living beings…in fact CC is relatively a ‘non event’ when compared the imminent threat of complete and utter destruction wrought with WMDs, be they military, financial or technical…
How many more years can the current trajectory be continued before the destructive tipping point is reached, one way or the other..
The timeline is nearer term than any other threat humanity has ever faced
Within a decade I would say…
Well, all I know is that the US (NATO member) has illegally deployed armed troops to Syria (allegedly to protect Rojavans) – the same Rojavans that Turkey (NATO member) has illegally deployed troops inside Syria to fight against.
So even ignoring all other spaghetti strands that make for the situation in Syria, I wonder if anyone can tell me how that possibly ends well?
The shareholders in the munitions and arms companies get a return.
If the folk on the ground are with private companies then there are contracts being paid.
Don’t be fretting about civilians, international protocols or any of that lefty stuff. There is money to be made.
More or less what ‘gsays’ responded with…although I do not believe it is about money
The circumstances which come from the situation you describe are ‘another brick in the wall’
The multiplier effect ensures an ever accelerating decline to whichever outcome the ‘masses’ allow to eventuate…
I see from your comments on various subjects that you don’t observe events in a vacuum…
They are each and every one a contributer to the multiplier effect
You could be right, OneTwo.
Whenever I see the destruction of cities and countries – almost daily on TV news, I wonder how much longer this will continue and what will become of all those millions of people unhoused, and unfed, with the loss of their lands and their livelihoods – where will they all end up, how will they all end up ? ? And does the western world ever think about what the end destruction of places, cities, countries really means ?
Hi Jenny
IMO if people of ‘the west’ do not take the actions required to halt the actions of their captured governments..
Sooner than later what ‘we’ allowed to happen abroad, will happen inside ‘our” own boarders, and in ways similar or more destructive than is seen now
Violence will always lead to escalated violence…
This is inevitable, as is the threat of continue decemation as the war machine expands around the globe at an increasingly rapid pace!
Speaking of Syria, I found this to be very interesting and well worth a watch.
Journalist Eva Bartlett: “I’m Back From Syria. The Media Is Lying To You!”
An excellent journalist disseminating crucial information reduced to using outlets associated with David Icke…
It’s going to be all on like Donkey Kong at the Nelson Trolley Derby this weekend.
Green Party candidate Matt Lawrey will be racing against outgoing government minister Dr Custard.
Heats start at 11am this Saturday 11th March, Collingwood St, Nelson
Lawrey for the win!
Ctrl + f for video.
Google’s computer vision technology is now so good it’s able to find specific objects within a video or group of videos.
[…]
With the tool, you can search one or more videos using keywords and get back a list of results showing you where in the video you can find the objects relevant to your search terms. You can see a bit of Google’s demo of the software onstage at Cloud Next in the video below.
http://mashable.com/2017/03/08/google-video-intelligence-api/#dL0VTPgM_8qo
New Zealand continues being sold off at pace by the Nats
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/90260050/overseas-investment-office-approves-sharp-increase-in-foreign-land-ownership
“Foreigners snapped up 362,000 hectares of freehold farm or forestry land and 103,000 ha of leasehold land in 2016, a hefty increase from the year before and higher than the average over the last 10 years.”
“Economist Bill Rosenberg, who conducted the research, said statistics on sales of land to overseas interests were poorly recorded and incomplete.
“Our best estimate is that in 2011 at least 8.7 percent of New Zealand farmland including forestry, or 1.3 million ha, was foreign-owned or controlled and it could have reached 10 percent.”
This was despite former Prime Minister John Key’s assertion in 2014 that foreigners owned only 2 per cent of farm and forestry land.
Rosenberg said CAFCA’s opposition to foreign ownership of land was based on the fact it was “the bedrock of our international competitive advantage” and the benefits were often overstated.
For example, a KPMG report recently showed US investors, who were the largest between 2013-15, invested $4.5 billion, but over the same period they removed $3.2b from New Zealand.”
Just online from NZ Herald’s Matt Nippert – he just tweeted that the OIAs on Peter Thiel have just started coming through.
Billionaire Peter Thiel’s secret Kiwi spy links revealed
More at the link.
And it’s worth reading Nippert’s tweets on it, too.
WOW! That’s massive. Excellent investigative journalism going on there by Mr Nippert. And thanks Dr Kennedy.
Thanks for the links Carolyn. Will be expecting to see this all over the media in the morning as well it needs to be addressed on the weekend political shows.
I am really pleased that the background to Thiel and his connections to Palantir is finally coming out. Good on Matt Nippert for his perseverance on this issue.
Just saying that I have been pushing the Palantir connections for quite some time here on TS.
My most recent comment on Open Mike on 4 March seems to have gone unnoticed so will repeat here.
“Peter Thiel Update
I rarely pass by here these days, but thought some here might be interested in this March 3 article.
https://theintercept.com/2017/03/02/palantir-provides-the-engine-for-donald-trumps-deportation-machine/
I commented on the Thiel posts a few months ago* when it was revealed that he had been given NZ citizenship some years ago. My concern re Thiel was his connections to Palantir with its connections to the Five Eyes spy network, the GCBS etc. – and to US regulatory authorities ($B worth of contracts).
There are also links to several other interesting recent articles on Thiel at the end of the Intercept article.
*Shock – It was only at the end of Jan! Feels like a year ago. The Trump effect.”
My earlier comment 1293097 at the end of Jan is quite long so will not repeat it here, but it contains quite a number of links to other (US) articles on Palantir and its connections to US government (intelligence and other regulatory) agencies that came out after Thiel’s connections to Trump became known.
This comment is not intended as a “I told you so”. Simply that I have been following the Palantir connections to NZ for some years. A bit of a personal fixation.
Good that someone’s keeping watch on it.
Nippert is one of the better journalists at NZ Herald.
Absolutely agree re Matt Nippert. I gather that David Fisher is also helping on this issue.
The Palantir connection has been an interest of mine right back to when their name came up in relation to the GCSB and SIS, and the changes to intelligence gathering legislation. Key was up to his ears in the connection IMHO.
Anyway i used to ‘live’ on TS as a reader and occasional commenter, but only pass by from time to time these days and saw your post. Cheers.
Interesting to reread Karol’s post of June 13th, 2013 titled Networks of influence: Key, Peter Thiel & the GCSB
Sorry, I omitted the link to the above
I also found this in my rereadings of Wayne’s comment 13.2.1 below Karol’s post. (my bold)
Part one —–of many.