“The chief reason that we are waking up to our entanglement with the world we have been destroying, Morton says, is our encounter with the reality of hyperobjects – the term he coined to describe things such as ecosystems and black holes, which are “massively distributed in time and space” compared to individual humans. Hyperobjects might not seem to be objects in the way that, say, billiard balls are, but they are equally real, and we are now bumping up against them consciously for the first time.
Global warming might have first appeared to us as a bit of funny local weather, then as a series of independent manifestations (an unusually torrential flood here, a deadly heatwave there), but now we see it as a unified phenomenon, of which extreme weather events and the disruption of the old seasons are only elements.”
No brighter future for those workers and their families.
Interesting that some RWNJs want to blame the Grenfell fire on the tenants instead of the owners. They’re that same sort who blame workers for their own deaths.
A bit like the ‘ unsinkable ‘ Titanic’ and J Bruce Ismay, – president of the company that built the Titanic, who jumped into one of the half filled life boats and sat with his back to the Titanic as it went down…
Titanic builder J Bruce Ismay: doomed the moment he jumped ship … http://www.telegraph.co.uk › Culture › Books
There will always be jobs that involve danger and if people forget or don’t follow procedure, they end up badly injured or dead, this is why there’s such a push for automation.
Unfortunately, human beings are rather suspectable to life-threatening lapses of judgement.
Sooner these types of jobs are replaced by robots or unmanned units the better.
Yep. As night follows day I knew there’d be one of them blaming the worker instead of the procedure. Even though it is incumbent upon the employer to ensure the worker is in a safe environment.
I wasn’t blaming the worker, I have no idea how she died or what caused her death.
Just pointing out that working around large moving machinery is inherently dangerous and because of that, these sort of jobs should be automated out of existence.
‘ Just pointing out that working around large moving machinery is inherently dangerous and because of that, these sort of jobs should be automated out of existence.’
I can understand that sentiment. Ive worked in construction most of my life – as a grunt.
Six years in the ARA as a ‘ Headworks assistant’ in the Waitakere Ranges ( I was proud of those years 🙂 ) whereby we often used 19th century equipment to get the job done in rugged back country so all the townies could enjoy the wonderful scenery – while not giving a thought to who maintained it.
Whats a frog? …
No… its not an animal that croaks on a lily pad,… its a U shaped 80 pound iron instrument with a thread that you place a bar ( no – not a BAAAA – that’s what sheep do ) into to lever it to bend the rail line with. Then you use a dogging hammer ( nothing to do with disciplining a sheep dog with when its snuck off with the workers lunch ) to drive a dog ( its a type of 4 – 6 inch spiked ‘nail ‘ – so take it easy all you animal activists- relax ! ) into the sleeper ( again – not a worker who takes a nap at work after a hard night out on the piss … )
We literally poured tonnes and tonnes of concrete in the most primitive of bush conditions.
Later on , I became a qualified Painter and Decorator. Still working with my hands and still bloody hot sweat type work on a construction site.
The point of all this,… is that there are many many times… when automation , although desirable, is not feasible. Perhaps in a yard where events are predictable , a flat ground operation , or even a quarry or factory situation. But there are many occupation where it is simply not and never will be.
AND THAT ,… is precisely the POINT.
That automation is NO PANACEA for human diligence and regulation.
And if those who are in charge or responsible for a situation in which large loss of life has occurred – despite ‘ automation’ – then ‘automation’ should NOT BE USED as a diversion to their negligence or incompetence.
I don’t mind BM, I can see a little of where he / shes coming from.
The difference is I’m a nationalist. Not an opportunist or a globalist . And that’s not inferring BM ‘s an opportunist or a globalist , either.
I just believe we need to moderate and regulate the excesses of human greed so all can have a jolly good outlook.
If that means the rising of taxation brackets , so be it. If that means the rising of wages , so be it. Not all can be innovators, not all can be business owners,… but for those who are not,- they should not be fiscally penalized because of their station in life though they help to produce that wealth , either. Nor should those who through infirmity , age or circumstance be excluded from the benefits of a prosperous society .
The world is divided up into society’s and communities whether we like to admit it or not , and the proper ideal is the strong providing for the weak in all situations. And despite the protestations of the aberrant to those principles , we are , as human beings , reliant on those very same principles of group security as when we first formed the earliest of society’s in Sumeria…
Nothing, … has ever changed throughout the millennia…
Fleetwood Mac – Dreams [with lyrics] – YouTube
Video for fleetwood mac when the rain washes you clen youll know you tube▶ 4:14
‘ There will always be jobs that involve danger and if people forget or don’t follow procedure, they end up badly injured or dead, this is why there’s such a push for automation.’
* Very true. However , under our Health and Safety laws it is up to both party’s – Employers and employees / contractors to follow procedures in a way that minimizes risk. And all too often – as in Pike River – we see that principle abused. And as at Pike River , the fault lay squarely with company management. To which in this country NO ONE was ever prosecuted , – simply a deal done with Peter Whittalls Insurance by WORKSAFE for Whittall to buy his way out of prosecution.
And its that sort of weasel like elitist culture that breeds the sort of cynicism and calls for vengeance from the average worker every time these right wing wankers try that shit on.
As for the push for automation?… so whats the answer for compensation in causing the mass unemployment of hundreds of thousands of people in society’s worldwide ? Can you honestly tell me the elite are suddenly going to come over all gushy , grow a conscience and become conciliatory and consent to paying higher taxes to ensure a UBI?
Or even start pay the taxes they SHOULD have been paying for decades and haven’t ?
And the wages they SHOULD have been paying but haven’t?
I think not.
And as for this :
” Sooner these types of jobs are replaced by robots or unmanned units the better.”
Have you really thought that statement through to its final conclusion?
Really?
Then good luck at getting a robot to crawl up and down a high rise building construction site without some sort of human control , then.
Then good luck at getting a robot to crawl up and down a high rise building construction site without some sort of human control , then.
Which is why I also mentioned unmanned units.
Saw an interesting video of a chap operating some sort of forestry delimbing machinery by remote control.
Looked a hell of a lot safer having him at the top of the hill out of harm’s way while the machinery he was controlling was doing the business down at the bottom of this steep bank.
There’s a point in automation – its always been around, always will be. We enjoy many benefits from technology , no doubt.
It can be a great labour saving device and definitely increase safety, no doubt.
But there are many areas where it just isn’t feasible. Again… the robots at Pike River. Not a good example but pretty illustrative. There are many industry’s where there is no way around having boots on the ground.
And I guess that there will always be an interface between the robot and human control. A simple illustration is the guy on the bulldozer versus the guy using the shovel.
But there are other times whereby an industry or company is in its infancy and simply cannot afford automation. And the human quotient is still the most efficient one.
Now here’s the rub :
Hypothetically at least , and taken to its extreme, – if all was automated and an excess of product entered the markets – it would , eventually , decrease profits to the point where because of the glut of market produce available… the question then would be,… are the profits derived equal to the costs of the raw materials extracted needed to produce that product?
And if there is no UBI , would there be the consumer base left remaining to be able to sustain the produce so manufactured by the virtue of consumerism ?
How many fridges, heaters, cars, laptops, flat screen TV’s and houses of quality are those in the third world renowned for be able to purchase to illustrate the point even further ?
But all of that is a different beast to what we are talking about than some rich fat privileged prick trying to weasel their way out of accepting culpability for blame and instead trying to pin the blame on residents of a burnt out building or a worker who will never come home to their family’s in the evening…
Good answer,… and indeed , interesting times ahead.
However, I suspect that what we will see,… is a relocation to the third world of many of the production and manufacturing jobs currently undertaken in the west, – including the IT jobs, – meanwhile… mass un employment occurring in the west and large scale social unrest.
Some occupations, a ‘skeleton’ of its former self ,… so to speak ,… will always be needed for maintenance, and basic services. I should imagine a shift in the west towards the FIRE economy , but even that will not assuage the unrest of by – then decimated middle classes .
I see a general unrest in the intended resetting of the economy ( predictions are September 2017 –
or later in an effort to dislodge Trump- which is predicted to make the Great Depression look like a mere ripple in economic history and to which Trump will ot be able to control ) redistribution of wealth of the global economy and the introduction of the cashless society. Following that , martial law introduced by increments to quell disquiet about the loss of civil freedoms and adherence to the requirements of the state.
However it will not be the requirements of a sovereign ‘ nation state’.
It will be the requirements of a supranational and internationalist ‘globalist cabal’ that uses regional ‘ free trade deals ‘ to enforce by manner of corporate laws such things as the Investor-State Dispute Settement’s .
THIS IS WHERE this is all heading.
And one of the more blatant groups who hide this in plain sight are this group :
Caught a bit of Full House on Netflix just now. The family were going out and Michelle (Mary-Kate or Ashley Olsen) asks why the family were taking two cars. Danny (Bob Saget) explains that they couldn’t all fit in one car to which Michelle replies, ‘we could all fit on the Subway and that’s better for the planet.’
Circa 1992.
Were those writers ahead of their time? Not on the US seaboards perhaps, but safe to say none of it got through to the National Party government.
Can’t quite work out Katie Hopkins here except to say she’s an unhinged shock jock who I hope has suddenly turned a corner.
She’s spent a lifetime attacking the very types of people who lived and died in the Grenfell building but now seems to have had an epiphany.
She seems to be advocating for corporate manslaughter law, which I must say is a welcome change in attitude from her. The language in this article is straight out of a left wing activist’s manual.
So I guess the right wing wankers will have no more need for all the imported Filipino workers to work for slave labour in the rural sector anymore , then , eh?
I guess Bulldust English is hoping he is happily retired on a governmental pension by that time…
Too many questions , Old Boy , too many questions…
latest poll
When it comes to seats in the House, National is set to get 58. With its three support partners, it reaches the required 61 to govern.
For the Labour/Green alliance set to get 48 seats total.
Even if it got New Zealand First’s 12 seats, the Left would only get to 60
Greens 12.5%, Labour 26.4% http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/06/poll-labour-crumbles-falling-towards-defeat.html
I reckon National could actually get an outright majority under Bill English.
Safe solid dependable, that appeals to an all mighty chunk of New Zealanders.
Little cannot compete against English they’re far too similar.
No , no , no,… BM … your starting to sound like all the other desperate wide eyed leftist fanatics about climate change here…
The numbers dont add up simply on the strength of the ‘ rouge ‘ polls numbers presented by Enough is Enough… who sadly is still thinking in terms of FPP.
That’s precisely the type of thinking that led to the virtual wiping out of Teresa May.
This is not England , it is New Zealand.
And here we have Labour , NZ First and the Greens.
Which , by sheer mathematical equation , means that a Labour led govt is a certainty. Despite the waning fortunes of the Maori party , Peter Dunne and ACT, the latter which is of course… a zombie walking…
Nay ,… tis not so much ‘ personality politics’ but those temporary media personality mercenary’s paid for and stationed deliberately by the Rupert Murdoch MSM CEO’s to influence our opinions…
As for a ‘ Trump tweet ‘… I assure you ,… it is the product of a real, live undead human being expressing their opinions,… un – choreographed, un scripted , and yes,… spontaneously constructed. With all its faults and fallibility’s.
The ‘ media personality mercenary’s paid for and stationed deliberately by the Rupert Murdoch and other MSM CEO’s to influence our opinions’ often use personality politics as their method.
Have to laugh at ACT more than doubling support by increasing by 0.5% but still not breaking 1%. Truely a party no one likes yet has still not been put out of its misery.
Or even 0.69% which is what they got in 2014. The rest is publicity (I love the Coq), parliamentary support (the suicide bill being picked ‘randomly’), and dirty politics (Farrar’s lobby group blogging).
Epsom voters not having an independent bone in their body.
They’ll still worried about Banks’ prophecy that brown people are going to come through their windows at night.
Where’s Banks now? Embroiled in a 40 year old paternity case. Through to courts on corruption charges. Separated from the wife who defended him. Still a racist fuck.
Then you get to Jamie White. An evil ideologue which New Zealand should be deporting back to Her Majesty’s Britain.
100% Globalists and lackeys of the anti sovereign New World Order of which George Bush Senior so often liked to include in so many of his speeches…
And to which President Trump has just dealt a kick in the nuts to when he pulled out of the Paris Accords…
George H.W. Bush New World Order Speech – YouTube
Video for george bush senior speeches about the new world order you tube▶ 1:14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txukr5zgHnw
joe90 …
15 June 2017 at 11:40 pm
And the Jews are in on it, too. Am I right?.
Your pathetic suggestions , not mine.
edit: btw, other than grammar corrections, editing without annotating verges on dishonesty
* btw, other than grammar corrections
** that should read ‘ grammatical ‘ corrections for a start. I was not aware I was in the presence of a grammar NAZI who lacks formal education in correct grammatical prose. I am so humbly sorry for your first year degree lack of inadequacies … but still ,… no fault of mine.
* ‘ editing without annotating verges on dishonesty’
** You can gaff on as much as you like but The Guardian itself has outed you. So again … are you some sort of closet fascist?
You have failed the test despite your attempts at academic / intellectual superiority. Which was always so easily , yes so easily ,… seen right through for what it is…
Come back when you’ve put a few years more fat on your political / academic growth, please. Lightweights are an embarrassment to have to belt around.
The corporate media want you to think that.
Switch them off.
Use social media and bypass the right wing billionaires who own the media and control their filters.
You know it's not going to be good when your told to write your name on you helmet before you go in! pic.twitter.com/qToYAXa1k8— Mick (@crispymick) June 14, 2017
Hi Mick, can we use this image on our site please?— The Sun Picture Desk (@SunPictureDesk) June 14, 2017
Nope… Not in in your shitrag— Mick (@crispymick) June 14, 2017
The landlord of Grenfell Tower had already been given legal warnings over fire safety in two other tower blocks.
‘The landlord in charge of Grenfell Tower, where a fire broke out in the early hours on Wednesday 14 June, had been issued legal warnings over fire safety in two other tower blocks prior to the blaze that engulfed the West London property.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) is the landlord of Grenfell Tower. The 24-storey tower block with 120 flats was reported to be on fire at 12.54am on Wednesday 14 June. At the time of publishing, 50 people had been taken to hospital and six people had been confirmed dead.
Previous history
But this is not the first fire in a KCTMO-managed tower block. Because the London Fire Brigade (LFB) had previously issued it with two legal enforcement notices over fire safety, as a result of another fire.
In October 2015, a fire broke out in Adair Tower and 50 people had to be rescued from their flats. As a result, LFB issued an enforcement notice not only on Adair Tower but on the neighbouring Hazelwood Tower. And it shows a catalogue of failings.
A catalogue of failings?
The LFB notice said KCTMO had shown a:
Failure to make a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment.
Failure to apply the principles of prevention to the implementation of the preventative and protective measures identified by the risk assessment.
Failure in the effective management of the preventive and protective measures.
Failure to eliminate or reduce, so far as is reasonably practicable, dangerous substances present in or on the premises.
Failure to provide and/or maintain adequate and clearly indicated emergency routes and exits that lead to a place of safety.
Failure to establish an appropriate emergency plan.
Failure to ensure that the premises and any facilities, equipment and devices are maintained in an efficient state, in effective working order and in good repair.
A similar notice was issued for Hazelwood Tower.’
Blogger gagged by council after warning about Grenfell Tower fire threat
‘A blogger who warned the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council of the dangers lurking in Grenfell Tower was threatened by local officials for writing about problems in the building.
Home to over 600 people, Grenfell Tower, in the Lancaster West estate, west London, was engulfed in flames in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The true scale of the tragedy is only gradually becoming clear.
As early as 2013, a man named Francis O’Connor, a member of the Grenfell Action Group (GAG), urged councillors and landlord Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organization (KCTMO) to address the fire safety risks that new works on the building would cause.
GAG had several times tried to warn the council and the landlord that the building of a school and gym next to the estate would restrict emergency services’ access, including firefighting vehicles.
But a leaked letter reveals that officials at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea tried to silence the campaigners, sending a lawyer to threaten O’Connor.’
Pilgrim Tucker, of #GrenfellTower Action details how residents concerns over safety have been treated. All for profit.
UTTERLY SHOCKING. Pilgrim Tucker, of #GrenfellTower Action details how residents concerns over safety have been treated. All for profit. pic.twitter.com/QUnGAAua0v
‘The cladding that might have led to the horrifying blaze at Grenfell Tower was added partly to improve its appearance.
During a refurbishment aimed at regeneration last year, cladding was added to the sides of the building to update its look. The cladding then seems to have helped the fire spread around the building, allowing it to destroy almost the entirety of the structure and kill people inside.
And that cladding – a low-cost way of improving the front of the building – was chosen in part so that the tower would look better when seen from the conservation areas and luxury flats that surround north Kensington, according to planning documents, as well as to insulate it.’
Don't politicize the Grenfell Fire.. people are literally screaming in the streets we told you so!!!! pic.twitter.com/UvHwn2zsrf— ARTIST TAXI DRIVER (@chunkymark) June 14, 2017
Don't politicize the Grenfell Fire.. people are literally screaming in the streets we told you so!!!! pic.twitter.com/UvHwn2zsrf
‘Theresa May’s new Police and Fire Minister, Nick Hurd, was among the 72 Tory MPs – who are also residential landlords – that voted against a motion to make homes “fit for human habitation.”
Many people have been reposting articles about the debate in Parliament last January in light of today’s tragedy at Grenfell Tower.
Labour submitted an amendment to the Government’s Housing and Planning Bill designed to ensure all rental properties were “fit for human habitation.”
The need to improve fire prevention was explicitly set out by then Shadow Housing Minister Teresa Pearce. Proposing the amendment, she said:
“New clause 53 is about safety and would introduce a requirement for landlords to undertake electrical safety checks. Many organisations from across the sector support the measure, such as the Local Government Association, the London fire brigade, Shelter, the Association of Residential Letting Agents, British Gas, Crisis and the Fire Officers Association. They have all given their support in the past to measures that will see the introduction of mandatory electrical safety checks.
“It is estimated that electricity causes more than 20,000 house fires each year, leading to about 350 serious injuries and 70 deaths across the UK. Carbon monoxide, gas leaks and other fires and explosions cause fewer deaths and injuries, with 300 injuries and 18 deaths—these risks remain serious and it is right that we should continue to monitor them, but that shows what is at stake as regards electrical fires in the home.”
Labour’s amendment was defeated with the help of the 72 Tory MPs who top up their Parliamentary salaries as landlords.’
Grenfell Tower fire is ‘corporate manslaughter’ and arrests must be made, MP David Lammy says
‘We should call it what it is, it’s corporate manslaughter, that’s what it is and there should be arrests made, frankly,’ the Tottenham MP said
Yes … it wouldn’t take much for those indentured contractors CEO’s to consult with local business heads to know EXACTLY what the weak points of that building was… we read that the tower was surrounded by affluent property owners with an eye to increasing the values of their already existing property’s…
We cant have a bunch of dark skinned / poor white trash holding up progress and our pecuniary gain , can we now , old bean ?
Time to move them on , time to move them on… without any fuss, quietly and quite justifiably so… just a nudge , a short sharp shock and they’ll never do it again…
Short Sharp Shock – YouTube
Video for pink floyd a short sharp shock you tube▶ 0:24
Even fellow right wing journalist Stacey Kirk manages to do a decent bit of reporting, unlike Jenna Lynch. Here she has done some actual research work instead of sitting with the Newshub video editor all day trying to mock Andrew Little.
Tories, voting in their own best interests forever.
/
At least 71 of the Tory MPs who voted against an amendment to force landlords to make sure their properties are “fit for human habitation” are private landlords themselves.
The Conservatives voted against a Labour amendment to the current Housing and Planning Bill to ensure houses were kept to a decent standard by 312 votes to 219, a majority of 93.
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Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Zero emission buses, cleaner cars and environmentally-friendly biofuels will soon be hitting New Zealand’s roads, as the Government delivers on its election promise to make our transport network more sustainable. ...
The Green Party is already delivering on its commitment for cleaner, climate-friendly transport through our Cooperation Agreement with the Government. ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
Prudence Steven QC, barrister of Christchurch has been appointed as an Environment Judge and District Court Judge to serve in Christchurch, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Ms Steven has been a barrister sole since 2008, practising in resource management and local government / public law. She was appointed a Queen’s ...
The Government is delivering on its first tranche of election promises to take action on climate change with a raft of measures that will help meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. “This will be an ongoing area of action but we are moving ...
The Government is investing up to $10 million to support 30 of the country’s top early-career researchers to develop their research skills. “The pandemic has had widespread impacts across the science system, including the research workforce. After completing their PhD, researchers often travel overseas to gain experience but in the ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
A poll across the Early Childhood Education community found 93% in favour of pausing the ‘lunchbox rules’, or the Ministry of Education’s new Food Safety/choking changes to the Licensing Criteria, which came into effect on 25 January. “The message ...
Cycling advocates are calling for the transformation of urban transport, as New Zealand races to cut carbon. The Climate Change Commission will release its initial advice on Sunday 31 January. “Bikes and e-bikes are perfect for many local trips, ...
Three Ministers, led by the PM, joined in chorus today to warble about a bunch of measures aimed at helping to meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. Mind you, the measures mentioned seem to be more matters of decisions yet to be made ...
Michelle Kidd defines her role at Auckland’s specialist family violence court as te kaiwhakatere – the navigator. It’s a one-of-a-kind job, helping guide defendants through the court system. And there’s no one better suited to it than Whaea Michelle.First published November 24, 2020.Whaea Michelle is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sallie Yea, Associate professor & Principal Research Fellow, La Trobe University Each year, thousands of men and boys labour under extremely exploitative conditions on commercial fishing vessels owned by Taiwanese, Chinese and South Korean companies. The Taiwanese fleet, which operates in all ...
Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis believes the Crown should maintain responsibility for the care and protection of at-risk and vulnerable children, regardless of their race. Moreover, he is confident his all-Maori team of advisers will not be taking race into account as they help to improve Oranga Tamariki’s care and protection of ...
It’s easy to sacrifice John Banks. It’s a lot harder for brands, sports organisations and government to truly stop funding racism. Are they willing to try?Yesterday John Banks, the former Auckland mayor and MP, became subject to one of the fastest firings in media history when audio covering his approving ...
A community is outraged after Auckland Council granted consent for a row of trees planted by local kids to be removed along a revitalised waterway in South Auckland, reports Justin Latif. An Auckland Council decision to give contractors the all-clear to chop down 12 mānuka and kānuka trees shading Māngere’s Tararata ...
Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu hopes that the recent changes to Oranga Tamariki leadership present an opportunity for a long overdue paradigm shift that will place whānau at the heart of the child welfare sector. Pouārahi Helen Leahy says that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rice, Professor of Management, University of New England Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person, edging out previous title holder Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. His rocketing fortune is due to the booming share price of Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles ...
There are now three returnees who contracted the virus in the Auckland isolation facility then left into the community while positive. These are some of the questions that need to be resolved. At 10.20pm last night the Ministry of Health confirmed that the two cases they’d been treating as probable ...
Having a hard time remembering to scan in on the NZ Covid Tracer app when you’re out and about? Get this song stuck in your head and you’ll never forget again.Learn the lyrics:Aotearoa, it’s time to get scanning!I mean if you think about it, it never really wasn’t time we ...
We conclude our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with a review of his stories by John Newton Roger Hickin’s Cold Hub Press is one of the small miracles of contemporary New Zealand publishing. Over the last decade, on what can only be a shoe-string budget, the ...
Thursday 28th January, AUCKLAND: Drive Electric, the not-for-profit with one mission – making electric vehicle uptake in New Zealand mainstream, welcomes the announcement by the Government today as a sign of what’s to come through 2021, and we are confident ...
The Government announced today key policy decisions on the proposed clean car policies. The MIA has stated on many occasions that we support well thought out and constructive policies that will lead to an increased rate in the reduction of CO2 emissions from ...
Get wild, get cultured, get fed and then get to bed: the essential guide to a perfect few days in the southern city. There’s one thing that preoccupies the staff of The Spinoff almost as much as arranging popular food items into arbitrary lists, and that’s Dunedin. A quite remarkable ...
John Banks’ racist exchange with a Magic Talk listener on Tuesday was the latest in nearly 50 years of talkback controversies. Donna Chisholm has the receipts.John Banks axed over Māori ‘stone age culture’ comments on Magic Talk1972: On Radio I, sports talkback host Tim Bickerstaff launches a “Punch a Pom ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission.Two new community Covid-19 cases have been identified as the more infectious South African variant, but Auckland Mayor Phil Goff sayit would be "premature to go into lockdown now". The two new cases of Covid-19 identified in the ...
Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine in Southland to Fonterra’s ...
KiwiRail STOP Hauling COAL Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Dunn, Associate professor, University of Sydney The government is rolling out a new public information campaign this week to reassure the public about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, which one expert has said “couldn’t be more crucial” to people actually getting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese O’Sullivan, Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University The COVID vaccine rollout has placed the issue of vaccination firmly in the spotlight. A successful rollout will depend on a variety of factors, one of which is vaccine acceptance. One potential hurdle to vaccine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernard Walker, Associate Professor in Organisations and Leadership, University of Canterbury Kiwis know what it’s like when life throws curveballs. We’ve had major quakes, floods, fires, an eruption, a terrorist attack and now a pandemic. In those situations, it’s the ability to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Irwin, Emeritus professor, Murdoch University While we continue to be occupied with the COVID pandemic, another life-threatening disease has emerged in northern Australia, one that’s cause for considerable alarm for the millions of dog owners around the country. This disease — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cath Ferguson, Academic, Edith Cowan University Almost half of Australian adults struggle with reading. Similar levels of struggling readers are reported in the United Kingdom and United States. This does not mean all struggling readers are illiterate. It means they often struggle ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abbas Shieh, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Islamic Azad University The industrial revolution transformed cities, resulting in places of residence and work becoming more distant than ever before. This spatial segregation is still largely embedded in the design of our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: Occupation: Rainfall, written and directed by Luke Sparke Historically, when a sequel to a film was greenlit, you could rest assured this was because the first film made a ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 28, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tourism suffers in the shadow of Covid-19, two new positive cases in Auckland confirmed, and National will contest the Māori electorates.The front page of the January 4 Greymouth Star carried grim tidings for several of the glacier towns on the ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Two people who left managed isolation on January 15 have been confirmed as positive Covid-19 cases, with the Ministry of Health urging anyone who visited the same locations during the same time period as the infected pair in Auckland to ...
The watchlist of 'offensive or unreasonable' babies' names is to be reviewed, to include more names from other languages. Generations of the Īhaka family have played a meaningful role in bringing Te Reo and stories of Māori to our wider community. Archdeacon Sir Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka (Te Aupōuri, 1921-93) was known as the orator of ...
After Morocco’s flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire in Western Sahara on Friday 13 November 2020 war broke out between the two sides. In the midst of this war Tauranga based Ballance Agri-Nutrients has decided to carry on importing phosphate ...
Nicholas Agar suggests that our handling of the pandemic could be partly down to our distinctive Treaty of Waitangi relationship, and Māori ideas that enabled us to make it through without tens of thousands of deaths A mission for universities in the coming decade will be a deep understanding of the meaning ...
A young girl who once sent $5 to an embattled America's Cup team is now among the women on the water helping run the contest for the Auld Mug. As an eager and generous nine-year-old, Melanie Roberts posted a letter, with a $5 note, to OneAustralia’s America’s Cup team. It was 1995, ...
At 5am today, cock’s crow, the embargo lifted on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist. Here are the books in the race, followed by thoughts from poetry editor Chris Tse and books editor Catherine Woulfe. A shortlist of four books in each category will be announced March 3, with ...
Ignoring those QR codes when you drop into the supermarket? Can’t be bothered when you grab a coffee? The people serving you notice, and you’re freaking them out.So far, New Zealanders’ use of the Covid-19 Tracer app has been notably woeful. Food industry workers who’ve watched streams of customers walk ...
Steve Braunias reveals the longlist of the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards Apart from one or two unfortunate omissions which cast doubt on the sanity and intellectual acumen of judges, especially the nobodies who judged this year's non-fiction, the longlist for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards is ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursday’s memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...
New Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...
On Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...
“The Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealand’s respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Yesterday, under increasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Lanicek, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW On January 27 communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz — the largest complex of concentration camps and extermination centres during the Holocaust. This is the first year the International ...
Nice, but longish read, about the relationship between the Anthropocene Era and philosophy:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/15/timothy-morton-anthropocene-philosopher
“The chief reason that we are waking up to our entanglement with the world we have been destroying, Morton says, is our encounter with the reality of hyperobjects – the term he coined to describe things such as ecosystems and black holes, which are “massively distributed in time and space” compared to individual humans. Hyperobjects might not seem to be objects in the way that, say, billiard balls are, but they are equally real, and we are now bumping up against them consciously for the first time.
Global warming might have first appeared to us as a bit of funny local weather, then as a series of independent manifestations (an unusually torrential flood here, a deadly heatwave there), but now we see it as a unified phenomenon, of which extreme weather events and the disruption of the old seasons are only elements.”
Here’s alink to a Doug Lain interviewing Timothy morton. It’s a bit old but worth a listen.
http://douglaslain.net/diet-soap-podcast-197-hyperobjects-neurotic-ecology/
Also this lecture series is also really good
https://archive.org/details/Romanticism1
Poor audio quality but
Woman dead after accident at industrial site in Hastings
Another death at work in what was obviously dangerous machinery without the proper safeguards.
Will the shareholders and directors be held properly to account for this?
Was that today? There was another in Penrose.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11876742
No brighter future for those workers and their families.
Interesting that some RWNJs want to blame the Grenfell fire on the tenants instead of the owners. They’re that same sort who blame workers for their own deaths.
A bit like the ‘ unsinkable ‘ Titanic’ and J Bruce Ismay, – president of the company that built the Titanic, who jumped into one of the half filled life boats and sat with his back to the Titanic as it went down…
Titanic builder J Bruce Ismay: doomed the moment he jumped ship …
http://www.telegraph.co.uk › Culture › Books
‘ Same as it ever was , same as it ever was ‘…
Always reminds me of this song :
Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime (Full Length Version) (1980/ 2013 …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98AJUj-qxHI
There will always be jobs that involve danger and if people forget or don’t follow procedure, they end up badly injured or dead, this is why there’s such a push for automation.
Unfortunately, human beings are rather suspectable to life-threatening lapses of judgement.
Sooner these types of jobs are replaced by robots or unmanned units the better.
Dance on her grave all you like, BM.
Yep. As night follows day I knew there’d be one of them blaming the worker instead of the procedure. Even though it is incumbent upon the employer to ensure the worker is in a safe environment.
I wasn’t blaming the worker, I have no idea how she died or what caused her death.
Just pointing out that working around large moving machinery is inherently dangerous and because of that, these sort of jobs should be automated out of existence.
Oh, so it was just sheer innocent coincidence that you elected to share these victim-blaming insights in response to DtB’s comment?
On the one hand I’m disgusted, but not surprised, that you sink so low, and on the other it’s always worth being reminded what the National Party is.
‘ Just pointing out that working around large moving machinery is inherently dangerous and because of that, these sort of jobs should be automated out of existence.’
I can understand that sentiment. Ive worked in construction most of my life – as a grunt.
Six years in the ARA as a ‘ Headworks assistant’ in the Waitakere Ranges ( I was proud of those years 🙂 ) whereby we often used 19th century equipment to get the job done in rugged back country so all the townies could enjoy the wonderful scenery – while not giving a thought to who maintained it.
Whats a frog? …
No… its not an animal that croaks on a lily pad,… its a U shaped 80 pound iron instrument with a thread that you place a bar ( no – not a BAAAA – that’s what sheep do ) into to lever it to bend the rail line with. Then you use a dogging hammer ( nothing to do with disciplining a sheep dog with when its snuck off with the workers lunch ) to drive a dog ( its a type of 4 – 6 inch spiked ‘nail ‘ – so take it easy all you animal activists- relax ! ) into the sleeper ( again – not a worker who takes a nap at work after a hard night out on the piss … )
We literally poured tonnes and tonnes of concrete in the most primitive of bush conditions.
Later on , I became a qualified Painter and Decorator. Still working with my hands and still bloody hot sweat type work on a construction site.
The point of all this,… is that there are many many times… when automation , although desirable, is not feasible. Perhaps in a yard where events are predictable , a flat ground operation , or even a quarry or factory situation. But there are many occupation where it is simply not and never will be.
AND THAT ,… is precisely the POINT.
That automation is NO PANACEA for human diligence and regulation.
And if those who are in charge or responsible for a situation in which large loss of life has occurred – despite ‘ automation’ – then ‘automation’ should NOT BE USED as a diversion to their negligence or incompetence.
EVER.
I would get stuck into bm too but I have showered already this evening.
You feel dirty engaging with some folk.
I don’t mind BM, I can see a little of where he / shes coming from.
The difference is I’m a nationalist. Not an opportunist or a globalist . And that’s not inferring BM ‘s an opportunist or a globalist , either.
I just believe we need to moderate and regulate the excesses of human greed so all can have a jolly good outlook.
If that means the rising of taxation brackets , so be it. If that means the rising of wages , so be it. Not all can be innovators, not all can be business owners,… but for those who are not,- they should not be fiscally penalized because of their station in life though they help to produce that wealth , either. Nor should those who through infirmity , age or circumstance be excluded from the benefits of a prosperous society .
The world is divided up into society’s and communities whether we like to admit it or not , and the proper ideal is the strong providing for the weak in all situations. And despite the protestations of the aberrant to those principles , we are , as human beings , reliant on those very same principles of group security as when we first formed the earliest of society’s in Sumeria…
Nothing, … has ever changed throughout the millennia…
Fleetwood Mac – Dreams [with lyrics] – YouTube
Video for fleetwood mac when the rain washes you clen youll know you tube▶ 4:14
Repulsive views, as ever..
Cyber Scum. They exist.
‘ There will always be jobs that involve danger and if people forget or don’t follow procedure, they end up badly injured or dead, this is why there’s such a push for automation.’
* Very true. However , under our Health and Safety laws it is up to both party’s – Employers and employees / contractors to follow procedures in a way that minimizes risk. And all too often – as in Pike River – we see that principle abused. And as at Pike River , the fault lay squarely with company management. To which in this country NO ONE was ever prosecuted , – simply a deal done with Peter Whittalls Insurance by WORKSAFE for Whittall to buy his way out of prosecution.
And its that sort of weasel like elitist culture that breeds the sort of cynicism and calls for vengeance from the average worker every time these right wing wankers try that shit on.
As for the push for automation?… so whats the answer for compensation in causing the mass unemployment of hundreds of thousands of people in society’s worldwide ? Can you honestly tell me the elite are suddenly going to come over all gushy , grow a conscience and become conciliatory and consent to paying higher taxes to ensure a UBI?
Or even start pay the taxes they SHOULD have been paying for decades and haven’t ?
And the wages they SHOULD have been paying but haven’t?
I think not.
And as for this :
” Sooner these types of jobs are replaced by robots or unmanned units the better.”
Have you really thought that statement through to its final conclusion?
Really?
Then good luck at getting a robot to crawl up and down a high rise building construction site without some sort of human control , then.
Then good luck at getting a robot to crawl up and down a high rise building construction site without some sort of human control , then.
Which is why I also mentioned unmanned units.
Saw an interesting video of a chap operating some sort of forestry delimbing machinery by remote control.
Looked a hell of a lot safer having him at the top of the hill out of harm’s way while the machinery he was controlling was doing the business down at the bottom of this steep bank.
There’s a point in automation – its always been around, always will be. We enjoy many benefits from technology , no doubt.
It can be a great labour saving device and definitely increase safety, no doubt.
But there are many areas where it just isn’t feasible. Again… the robots at Pike River. Not a good example but pretty illustrative. There are many industry’s where there is no way around having boots on the ground.
And I guess that there will always be an interface between the robot and human control. A simple illustration is the guy on the bulldozer versus the guy using the shovel.
But there are other times whereby an industry or company is in its infancy and simply cannot afford automation. And the human quotient is still the most efficient one.
Now here’s the rub :
Hypothetically at least , and taken to its extreme, – if all was automated and an excess of product entered the markets – it would , eventually , decrease profits to the point where because of the glut of market produce available… the question then would be,… are the profits derived equal to the costs of the raw materials extracted needed to produce that product?
And if there is no UBI , would there be the consumer base left remaining to be able to sustain the produce so manufactured by the virtue of consumerism ?
How many fridges, heaters, cars, laptops, flat screen TV’s and houses of quality are those in the third world renowned for be able to purchase to illustrate the point even further ?
But all of that is a different beast to what we are talking about than some rich fat privileged prick trying to weasel their way out of accepting culpability for blame and instead trying to pin the blame on residents of a burnt out building or a worker who will never come home to their family’s in the evening…
ISN’T IT .
Who’s going to buy all the stuff the robots make in your grave-dancing future?
No idea, interesting times ahead.
Good answer,… and indeed , interesting times ahead.
However, I suspect that what we will see,… is a relocation to the third world of many of the production and manufacturing jobs currently undertaken in the west, – including the IT jobs, – meanwhile… mass un employment occurring in the west and large scale social unrest.
Some occupations, a ‘skeleton’ of its former self ,… so to speak ,… will always be needed for maintenance, and basic services. I should imagine a shift in the west towards the FIRE economy , but even that will not assuage the unrest of by – then decimated middle classes .
I see a general unrest in the intended resetting of the economy ( predictions are September 2017 –
or later in an effort to dislodge Trump- which is predicted to make the Great Depression look like a mere ripple in economic history and to which Trump will ot be able to control ) redistribution of wealth of the global economy and the introduction of the cashless society. Following that , martial law introduced by increments to quell disquiet about the loss of civil freedoms and adherence to the requirements of the state.
However it will not be the requirements of a sovereign ‘ nation state’.
It will be the requirements of a supranational and internationalist ‘globalist cabal’ that uses regional ‘ free trade deals ‘ to enforce by manner of corporate laws such things as the Investor-State Dispute Settement’s .
THIS IS WHERE this is all heading.
And one of the more blatant groups who hide this in plain sight are this group :
Have a wee listen , then my old mate.
Bilderberg Elites Panic As Trump Dismantles Climate Change Hoax …
Video for climate change bilderberg you tube▶ 7:48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qADHgxZtaps
Why is this kind of repugnant trolling permitted by the mods? If the answer is it’s ok by the policy then the policy is an ass.
No
Caught a bit of Full House on Netflix just now. The family were going out and Michelle (Mary-Kate or Ashley Olsen) asks why the family were taking two cars. Danny (Bob Saget) explains that they couldn’t all fit in one car to which Michelle replies, ‘we could all fit on the Subway and that’s better for the planet.’
Circa 1992.
Were those writers ahead of their time? Not on the US seaboards perhaps, but safe to say none of it got through to the National Party government.
Can’t quite work out Katie Hopkins here except to say she’s an unhinged shock jock who I hope has suddenly turned a corner.
She’s spent a lifetime attacking the very types of people who lived and died in the Grenfell building but now seems to have had an epiphany.
She seems to be advocating for corporate manslaughter law, which I must say is a welcome change in attitude from her. The language in this article is straight out of a left wing activist’s manual.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4604942/KATIE-HOPKINS-Jail-blame-Grenfell-fire.html
Can we say that RWNJs are never, ever brought to the table on social issues until they are forced to, often by loss of life?
Change the government in September.
A newly-developed robotic rover could become the workhorse of New Zealand’s fruit industry (video)
Article
They’re saying about two years before it’s in the field.
So I guess the right wing wankers will have no more need for all the imported Filipino workers to work for slave labour in the rural sector anymore , then , eh?
I guess Bulldust English is hoping he is happily retired on a governmental pension by that time…
Too many questions , Old Boy , too many questions…
latest poll
When it comes to seats in the House, National is set to get 58. With its three support partners, it reaches the required 61 to govern.
For the Labour/Green alliance set to get 48 seats total.
Even if it got New Zealand First’s 12 seats, the Left would only get to 60
Greens 12.5%, Labour 26.4%
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/06/poll-labour-crumbles-falling-towards-defeat.html
Clearly a rouge poll. There is no way labour can be going backwards
I wonder if this poll will get its own thread….
Wonder Girl Ardern sounds like she is ready to throw in the towel. This poll certainly won’t help.
Going by the sexist BS in that comment you must be a National voter.
Do you care about child poverty?
http://www.childpoverty.co.nz/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/93583589/unicef-report-wellbeing-of-kiwi-kids-languishes-behind-other-developed-countries
I hear all the cool kids are sporting rouge polls.
/
YES ,… I quite like the idea of being part of a ‘ rouge ‘ poll… sounds exciting !!!
What the dickens is a ‘ rouge’ poll???
Did you mean a ‘ rogue’ poll?
What do you think?
I reckon National could actually get an outright majority under Bill English.
Safe solid dependable, that appeals to an all mighty chunk of New Zealanders.
Little cannot compete against English they’re far too similar.
“that appeals to an all mighty chunk of New Zealanders”
Really?
https://infogr.am/after_the_next_general_election_which_outcome_do_you_most_want
I love the way your hubris means you assume you can speak for others,
No , no , no,… BM … your starting to sound like all the other desperate wide eyed leftist fanatics about climate change here…
The numbers dont add up simply on the strength of the ‘ rouge ‘ polls numbers presented by Enough is Enough… who sadly is still thinking in terms of FPP.
That’s precisely the type of thinking that led to the virtual wiping out of Teresa May.
This is not England , it is New Zealand.
And here we have Labour , NZ First and the Greens.
Which , by sheer mathematical equation , means that a Labour led govt is a certainty. Despite the waning fortunes of the Maori party , Peter Dunne and ACT, the latter which is of course… a zombie walking…
BM’s puppet master has given him his lines to repeat fore the day.
If he can bore the younguns out of the will to vote, and Bingles is the go to guy for that.
Personally politics.
That’s all you neoliberals know.
Sad.
That could be close to a trump tweet lol
Nay ,… tis not so much ‘ personality politics’ but those temporary media personality mercenary’s paid for and stationed deliberately by the Rupert Murdoch MSM CEO’s to influence our opinions…
As for a ‘ Trump tweet ‘… I assure you ,… it is the product of a real, live undead human being expressing their opinions,… un – choreographed, un scripted , and yes,… spontaneously constructed. With all its faults and fallibility’s.
What would you rather have?
The ‘ media personality mercenary’s paid for and stationed deliberately by the Rupert Murdoch and other MSM CEO’s to influence our opinions’ often use personality politics as their method.
Lol I just meant the word sad at the end but please do carry on
Typo..personality politics.
Have to laugh at ACT more than doubling support by increasing by 0.5% but still not breaking 1%. Truely a party no one likes yet has still not been put out of its misery.
Yet they get so much coverage…….much more than 1%
Or even 0.69% which is what they got in 2014. The rest is publicity (I love the Coq), parliamentary support (the suicide bill being picked ‘randomly’), and dirty politics (Farrar’s lobby group blogging).
Mora’s Panel has a lot of support from ACT ideologues.
Epsom voters not having an independent bone in their body.
They’ll still worried about Banks’ prophecy that brown people are going to come through their windows at night.
Where’s Banks now? Embroiled in a 40 year old paternity case. Through to courts on corruption charges. Separated from the wife who defended him. Still a racist fuck.
Then you get to Jamie White. An evil ideologue which New Zealand should be deporting back to Her Majesty’s Britain.
Are libertarians deluded ideologues or pragmatic thieves?
100% Globalists and lackeys of the anti sovereign New World Order of which George Bush Senior so often liked to include in so many of his speeches…
And to which President Trump has just dealt a kick in the nuts to when he pulled out of the Paris Accords…
George H.W. Bush New World Order Speech – YouTube
Video for george bush senior speeches about the new world order you tube▶ 1:14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txukr5zgHnw
Fake.
Oh really … another one uneducated and in denial…
Read this then , … you fool.
How Bush’s grandfather helped Hitler’s rise to power | World news …
https://www.theguardian.com › World › Second world war
And in case you are wondering how… copy and paste the whole title to google. Are you some sort of closet fascist sympathizer ?
And the Jews are in on it, too. Am I right?.
edit: btw, other than grammar corrections, editing without annotating verges on dishonesty
joe90 …
15 June 2017 at 11:40 pm
And the Jews are in on it, too. Am I right?.
Your pathetic suggestions , not mine.
edit: btw, other than grammar corrections, editing without annotating verges on dishonesty
* btw, other than grammar corrections
** that should read ‘ grammatical ‘ corrections for a start. I was not aware I was in the presence of a grammar NAZI who lacks formal education in correct grammatical prose. I am so humbly sorry for your first year degree lack of inadequacies … but still ,… no fault of mine.
* ‘ editing without annotating verges on dishonesty’
** You can gaff on as much as you like but The Guardian itself has outed you. So again … are you some sort of closet fascist?
You have failed the test despite your attempts at academic / intellectual superiority. Which was always so easily , yes so easily ,… seen right through for what it is…
Come back when you’ve put a few years more fat on your political / academic growth, please. Lightweights are an embarrassment to have to belt around.
Oh dear, the semi literate cretin fancies himself.
And the vain victim of their superiority complex doesn’t even realize their own mental prison.
As I said… come back when you’ve grown up a little bit more… lightweight.
Cubs have Momma bear to protect them… so who’s your Daddy?
Don’t waste my time.
The corporate media want you to think that.
Switch them off.
Use social media and bypass the right wing billionaires who own the media and control their filters.
Yes but the problem , old boy , is that MSM is horrific in getting it wrong these days…
And according to Enough is Enough , … this is the findings of a ‘ rouge ‘ poll… whatever that is…
Winston will go with Labour and the Greens will too… and that means a Labour led govt despite Peter Dunne’s protestations…
Mick is a London firefighter.
https://twitter.com/crispymick/status/874999483326754817
good for him.
The landlord of Grenfell Tower had already been given legal warnings over fire safety in two other tower blocks.
‘The landlord in charge of Grenfell Tower, where a fire broke out in the early hours on Wednesday 14 June, had been issued legal warnings over fire safety in two other tower blocks prior to the blaze that engulfed the West London property.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) is the landlord of Grenfell Tower. The 24-storey tower block with 120 flats was reported to be on fire at 12.54am on Wednesday 14 June. At the time of publishing, 50 people had been taken to hospital and six people had been confirmed dead.
Previous history
But this is not the first fire in a KCTMO-managed tower block. Because the London Fire Brigade (LFB) had previously issued it with two legal enforcement notices over fire safety, as a result of another fire.
In October 2015, a fire broke out in Adair Tower and 50 people had to be rescued from their flats. As a result, LFB issued an enforcement notice not only on Adair Tower but on the neighbouring Hazelwood Tower. And it shows a catalogue of failings.
A catalogue of failings?
The LFB notice said KCTMO had shown a:
Failure to make a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment.
Failure to apply the principles of prevention to the implementation of the preventative and protective measures identified by the risk assessment.
Failure in the effective management of the preventive and protective measures.
Failure to eliminate or reduce, so far as is reasonably practicable, dangerous substances present in or on the premises.
Failure to provide and/or maintain adequate and clearly indicated emergency routes and exits that lead to a place of safety.
Failure to establish an appropriate emergency plan.
Failure to ensure that the premises and any facilities, equipment and devices are maintained in an efficient state, in effective working order and in good repair.
A similar notice was issued for Hazelwood Tower.’
https://www.thecanary.co/2017/06/14/landlord-grenfell-tower-already-given-legal-warnings-fire-safety-two-tower-blocks-video/
Blogger gagged by council after warning about Grenfell Tower fire threat
‘A blogger who warned the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council of the dangers lurking in Grenfell Tower was threatened by local officials for writing about problems in the building.
Home to over 600 people, Grenfell Tower, in the Lancaster West estate, west London, was engulfed in flames in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The true scale of the tragedy is only gradually becoming clear.
As early as 2013, a man named Francis O’Connor, a member of the Grenfell Action Group (GAG), urged councillors and landlord Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organization (KCTMO) to address the fire safety risks that new works on the building would cause.
GAG had several times tried to warn the council and the landlord that the building of a school and gym next to the estate would restrict emergency services’ access, including firefighting vehicles.
But a leaked letter reveals that officials at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea tried to silence the campaigners, sending a lawyer to threaten O’Connor.’
https://www.rt.com/uk/392272-council-grentfell-blogger-fire/
Pilgrim Tucker, of #GrenfellTower Action details how residents concerns over safety have been treated. All for profit.
Grenfell Action Group warned the local authority that their estate was at risk of fire.
From 2016 –
https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/kctmo-playing-with-fire/
https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/
Criminal.
And as with the CTV building and Pike River, dollars to donuts they’ll get away with it, too.
Pike River.
Our Grenfell.
David Lammy says ‘We should call it what it is, it’s corporate manslaughter,
Did they die so the rich would have a nicer view?
‘The cladding that might have led to the horrifying blaze at Grenfell Tower was added partly to improve its appearance.
During a refurbishment aimed at regeneration last year, cladding was added to the sides of the building to update its look. The cladding then seems to have helped the fire spread around the building, allowing it to destroy almost the entirety of the structure and kill people inside.
And that cladding – a low-cost way of improving the front of the building – was chosen in part so that the tower would look better when seen from the conservation areas and luxury flats that surround north Kensington, according to planning documents, as well as to insulate it.’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grenfell-tower-cladding-fire-cause-improve-kensington-block-flats-appearance-blaze-24-storey-west-a7789951.html
Dude says it all.
edit:
‘Theresa May’s new Police and Fire Minister, Nick Hurd, was among the 72 Tory MPs – who are also residential landlords – that voted against a motion to make homes “fit for human habitation.”
Many people have been reposting articles about the debate in Parliament last January in light of today’s tragedy at Grenfell Tower.
Labour submitted an amendment to the Government’s Housing and Planning Bill designed to ensure all rental properties were “fit for human habitation.”
The need to improve fire prevention was explicitly set out by then Shadow Housing Minister Teresa Pearce. Proposing the amendment, she said:
“New clause 53 is about safety and would introduce a requirement for landlords to undertake electrical safety checks. Many organisations from across the sector support the measure, such as the Local Government Association, the London fire brigade, Shelter, the Association of Residential Letting Agents, British Gas, Crisis and the Fire Officers Association. They have all given their support in the past to measures that will see the introduction of mandatory electrical safety checks.
“It is estimated that electricity causes more than 20,000 house fires each year, leading to about 350 serious injuries and 70 deaths across the UK. Carbon monoxide, gas leaks and other fires and explosions cause fewer deaths and injuries, with 300 injuries and 18 deaths—these risks remain serious and it is right that we should continue to monitor them, but that shows what is at stake as regards electrical fires in the home.”
Labour’s amendment was defeated with the help of the 72 Tory MPs who top up their Parliamentary salaries as landlords.’
https://politicalscrapbook.net/2017/06/new-fire-minister-was-among-72-tory-landlords-who-voted-against-homes-fit-for-human-habitation/
Grenfell Tower fire is ‘corporate manslaughter’ and arrests must be made, MP David Lammy says
‘We should call it what it is, it’s corporate manslaughter, that’s what it is and there should be arrests made, frankly,’ the Tottenham MP said
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/grenfell-tower-fire-corporate-manslaughter-arrests-david-lammy-mp-labour-london-kensington-a7790911.html
Yes … it wouldn’t take much for those indentured contractors CEO’s to consult with local business heads to know EXACTLY what the weak points of that building was… we read that the tower was surrounded by affluent property owners with an eye to increasing the values of their already existing property’s…
We cant have a bunch of dark skinned / poor white trash holding up progress and our pecuniary gain , can we now , old bean ?
Time to move them on , time to move them on… without any fuss, quietly and quite justifiably so… just a nudge , a short sharp shock and they’ll never do it again…
Short Sharp Shock – YouTube
Video for pink floyd a short sharp shock you tube▶ 0:24
Even fellow right wing journalist Stacey Kirk manages to do a decent bit of reporting, unlike Jenna Lynch. Here she has done some actual research work instead of sitting with the Newshub video editor all day trying to mock Andrew Little.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/93710597/migrants-coming-into-new-zealand-at-a-faster-rate-of-knots-compared-to-other-countries-figures
Tories, voting in their own best interests forever.
/
At least 71 of the Tory MPs who voted against an amendment to force landlords to make sure their properties are “fit for human habitation” are private landlords themselves.
The Conservatives voted against a Labour amendment to the current Housing and Planning Bill to ensure houses were kept to a decent standard by 312 votes to 219, a majority of 93.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/full-list-landlord-tory-mps-who-voted-against-making-properties-fit-human-habitation-1537725?
There are words for people like this.
Yes and unfortunately , it has nothing to do with people humorously sung about in songs like this :
Irish Rovers – Patsy Fagan – YouTube
Video for patsy fagan irish rovers you tube▶ 2:01