Seriously though, the consultation paper is 190 pages long, and a cursory scan indicates that prefab housing might just gain well deserved credibility and that the extortionate cost of building materials is not on the list of issues needing sorting.
Shub breathlessly reports that there might be a coup against Bridges, either immediately or in a few months, in caucus or behind closed doors (hang on, do they hold their caucus meetings in a field?), and the “anonymous” leakers from the Nat caucus seem to be fixated on Madame Collins. Hmmm.
“Collins is good at media. She can be scathing, she doesn’t equivocate and she’s able to laugh at herself.” Um, perhaps chuckle? Ever so briefly?
Manhire uses Richard Harman as his springboard: “a leadership spill in the National caucus is growing ever likelier. On his site Politik, Harman wrote that “even now, multiple sources say, [Collins] has the support of just over half the caucus to take the leadership”. Figures in the caucus and wider party had been asking, he said, “questions about Bridges’ political judgement and the judgments of his inner circle”.”
Gulp. Will be the reaction from Bridges when his staffers report it to him tomorrow (no, of course I don’t rate the technical possibility that they were sufficiently on the ball to get the news to him today).
Toby ends with this hypothetical: “what if a Collins leadership were to provide an amicable catalyst for a future coalition partner, especially if might in the process sink NZ First?” That kite won’t fly long in current winds. Any such brainstorming would have had to be done last year, and the kite would be flying more decisively already awhile. Timing of any challenge is their huge problem…
Collins is a far better choice for leader than Bridges by so many degrees it’s not funny
1-Takes the women card off the table.
2-Can criticise Ardern without all the women in NZ thinking “He’s only saying bad
things about her because she’s a woman!”
3- Splits the female vote which is heavily in favour of Ardern
4- First proper Female National leader
5- Signals that National isn’t run by a group of private boys only school feltchers who consider woman nothing more than baby factories and people who organize dinner parties
Lots of win there for National if they can get past their ingrained misogyny.
It will be interesting once JC is installed because she is almost opposite in personality and approach to JA. Still I think JC doesn’t have the capacity to lead. Guess we will see.
She had to stab Bolger in the back to get a shot at the top job.
It doesn’t really count, Collins getting selected by caucus and winning the election would be a first for National.
That would be the start of a new National party.
I am certain there are males who post sneeringly about the ‘girl’ they see as an incapable leader. The idea of having a ‘young’ woman at the top is what really upsets them.
They’ll be delighted to have Judith as ‘mum’ in charge. They’ll love the high leather boots, the whip, and her bossing them around. The toughies can’t handle Jacinda.
She’s as popular in her caucus as Cunliffe was in his, and we know how that worked out for him.
Only a matter of time before the open disloyalty is on show, but as already noted, I don’t think anyone will want to take it on against JA this term.
Talking to a friend living in a caravan who is really sick. Needs an actual home but hasn’t been able to get one for over a year. Come to think of it she hasn’t had a real home for over five years.
When I think of those people trashing HNZ houses it annoys me that my friend, and others are literally left in the cold because of the current “no consequence” policy. Time to admit this was a mistake?
My Parents are in their late 80s, they own their house (which they’ve lived in for more than 55 years !) … it’s part of a two-house unit … the other unit (on other side of dividing wall) still being a State House.
For almost 50 years, they had very nice, quiet elderly / late middle age neighbours. The last 2 neighbouring Tenants, however, (& particularly the current one, by a significant margin) have been absolutely fucking horrendous.
My Parents are the sort of people who never ever moan or complain about things … they are extremely reasonable, caring & empathetic, they put up with an enormous amount & are always going out of their way to help everyone else … so when they both spontaneously (albeit reluctantly & almost apologetically) mention what they’ve had to put up with on a daily / nightly basis … I immediately knew something really fucking major was happening.
I won’t go into the details at this point … but HNZ are placing an extremely violent, anti-social, out-of-control element of the Underclass next to Elderly people … who should have a basic bloody right to continue to live in their own home without having to deal with the constant threat of violence, intimidation, enforced chronic sleep deprivation (relentless loud, aggressive, often violent noise throughout the early hours until dawn) and day-in / day-out extreme stress (from both the tenant’s constant aggression / explosions of violence & from the relentless full-on noise of his kids – who are dumped there by his former partner as often as she can get away with it. All in the context of a neighbouring unit with appalling echo-chamber acoustics … and a dividing wall that isn’t even remotely soundproof). It’s a bloody horrendous predicament for them to be forced into,
The violence & intimidation are clearly the most shocking things (on two occassions my Parents have been forced to seek refuge with neighbours across the road … and on other occasions it’s been a close run thing … the guy’s just inherently violent, seems to have a criminal record, with local Police keeping a close eye on him) … but I can tell you the stress they suffer on an almost daily / nightly basis from the relentless running, banging, slamming, screaming of the kids is really bad … it’s right in their face often all day until very late at night … I mean my Mother’s a former childcare teacher … but even for her it’s just mega-stressful.
My Partner & I don’t live too far away … so I’ve been monitoring the situation and I can tell you it’s just fucking incomprehensible to me that such an intolerable set up is allowed to exist. Feels like the systematic Use & Abuse of Elderly People. Thrown to the wolves (and by the Party they’ve devoted so much of their lives to).
Something as mindnumbingly cruel as a No Eviction policy (or close enough to it) for extremely anti-social / violent tenants … can only happen when socially-detached Upper Middle-Class Professionals & Intersectionals – from often highly privileged backgrounds – take over both the activist core and elite parliamentary wings of the Labour Party. It’s an ignorant (& really quite callous) Luvvie Paternalism.
But then I should realise that the historic role of the Left is no longer to take a universalist approach to human rights and social justice, endeavouring to make everyone’s life better … rather it’s simply to help a small group of remarkably privileged former Woodford House girls wrest power & control from a small group of remarkably privileged former Christ College boys.
Knowing your voice here for many years I’m convinced of the seriousness of this situation. The system will not you help for all the reasons you so accurately outline. Don’t waste your energy on it.
As a family you’re going to have to make a plan to get them out of there; if you don’t it will wear your parents down and kill them prematurely. Sorry to be blunt but this is where your attention needs to be.
The government should have plans for dealing with people who are entirely anti-social. Soppy emotional response to hard problems is unsatisfactory and don’t stop perpetrators’ bad behaviour; containment should be available, and for the worst it may be necessary to have borstals again, with basic standards, an ordered life, some work and skills earned and they be offered an attempt at habilitation; it is something that can’t be forced.
Luvvie paternalism could work in this case – doing the only thing that one
can do with those who have abandoned themselves, lost their souls, stewed their brains, and who are habitually violent, angry with no self-control.
Shoving them in houses privately provided under leasing schemes appears a way out for government to abrogate responsibility. People at unskilled and semi-skilled levto be el have been left dangling with their jobs have crushed by imports from overseas, or a lack of training, or promise of work for those who get a reasonable level of schooling. So they fill time in smoking, drinking and drugging to fill in their days between the irregular jobs without hope for better and just turn nasty. People can deteriorate like meat left in the sun,till it is so unpleasant that nobody wants it.
I have just started reading Lynley Hood’s concentrated analysis of the case against Peter Ellis in Christchurch years ago. It seemed clear when looked at dispassionately, that the Judges had been bent out of shape by a sort of Luvvie Paternalism. The precedents that they had once for checking for factual and practical aspects of evidence had been put aside on the basis that children hadn’t been treated fairly and properly when it came to evidence; having been dismissed as unreliable too often. Now, it appeared there was credence for everything they said.
From one extreme to another the practice had gone, without regard of consequences. It showed a lack of balance, and dropped standards.
These were abandoned in favour of understanding and making up for past wrongs. There seems a lack of willingness to get real and face the people who have problems that the public purse becomes forced to remedy when
people have almost gone too far. If only the experts and academics with practical ideas got listened to when the parents and children are all young, and the older people who understand them could guide them with the proper aid and respect of government for those who were successful in this.
After 55 years, they are very wedded to the place (particularly my Mother … my Father's an Aussie who, deep down, always wanted to return to the Lucky Country but has slowly reconciled himself to remaining in "the Shaky Isles"). They also have a wider support network of neighbours & friends in the area (their long-term neighbours across the road have been brilliant & have called the police on their behalf on several occasions).
And it's by no means a depressing or unattractive suburb. Hills/Beaches/Sea … arguably one of the more attractive & liveable lower income areas in the Country. Their street is very well established, most houses have trees / a lot of greenery in front yard and so on … about 80% Privately-owned / 20% pepper-potted Social housing … and they have beautiful sea views out to the South Island. So they've been very happy there … until very recently.
And, of course, as Age Concern chief executive Stephanie Clare emphasised in the Listener a few weeks back,
Older people have the right to stay in the home they have grown into and to be cared for in the homes they love
In the same article, Ruth Nichol cited a range of scholarly literature to argue that elderly people who continue to live in their own house generally have much happier and healthier outcomes (all in line with the Country's Positive Ageing Strategy).
So, you know, I don't give up without a fight. When this violent, sadistic, malevolent little prick was being born in the early 90s, my Parents would've already been living there for about 30 years … I'll be fucked if I'm just going to allow him to turn up, make their life hell, and force them out. It's not right (quite apart from the question of just who is going to buy a house with that kind of in-your-face noise and malevolent atmosphere nextdoor … Maybe HNZ has some sort of cunning Baldrick-like plan to buy up private neighbouring units at bargain basement prices ?)
So, I really feel like publicising this and putting as much pressure as possible on HNZ (& MSD) to do the right thing. Sunlight as the best disinfectant. I might start by laying out some of the more shocking details on my Blog, then move on to contacting local Media. Local City Councillors, Age Concern, Retirement Commission … I'm not against shaming a few hypocrites who need to be shamed.
But I hear what you're saying: essentially hopeless cause / naive to think otherwise / just prolonging the agony.
I'll just have to try and get it sorted as quickly as poss … if worst comes to worst, I'll encourage them to move. Can't force them though and don't want to. It'll have to be their decision … they're not too far off 90 … but still as mentally alert as ever.
Pisses me off so much. Both of them still grieving over the death of my older brother in 2016, both have undergone major surgery for bowel cancer in the last 5 years … then just callously thrown to the wolves.
I had all those thoughts too, we lived just up the road in Tawa for many years and I know the area you indicate well. Every reason not to want to move, and if you're going to into battle for them I absolutely wish you the best with it.
Still if you're going to do that, make sure you have a solid Plan B and a clear cut idea of what the threshold of tolerable is. That will give everyone a sense of control and the sense that you are doing things on your terms not theirs.
Sound advice. Thanks, Red. Always appreciate your very solid, feet-on-the-ground approach … anchored in realism and universalism – rather than the highly selective morality / ethics / empathy of some. Cheers.
My mother was in a similar situation in West Auckland. Same thing, HNZ unit through the wall and all good, actually really good, up until 10 years ago. Over 3 or 4 years and a succession of tenants it got to a point where Mum’s health, physical and mental, was in a very bad place. HNZ had no interest at all, your problem.
Fortunately we were able to get mum out of there and build a unit on our property for her, wasn’t easy, but Mum’s come out of it really well. The town planning side of building the unit was tricky, but a logical argument to council got a non-compliant application through quite easily and with out consultants.
Thanks, Graeme. Sounds very similar … almost identical situation … and pretty similar timing.
Glad to hear your mother's recovered from what sounds like an awful ordeal. But it must still be a bit upsetting for her to have been (for all practical purposes) forced out of her home through absolutely no fault of her own. Some anti-social little shit just gets to come in, take over, and destroy her quality of life. It's so fucking wrong that this is allowed to even remotely happen. Really rough-as-guts, out of control people who have absolutely no boundaries or social norms, treat 3am as if it's 3pm, innately violent impulses … get to just suddenly turn up, call the shots and ride roughshod at will. They have 100% of the rights, zero consequences, your Parent(s) have no rights at all.
I mean reasonable sleep, safety from violence & relaxation in your own home … especially for older people … should be a fundamental human right. HNZ Tenancies need to be contingent on tenants respecting those basic rights of their neighbours … and if they don't over a prolonged period then OUT.
I certainly wouldn't be opposed to the State forcing one or two prominent, well-healed, Intersectionals on the 'Left' (increasingly, I'm thinking this particular faction comprises an elitist, self-interested Faux Left) to live in the sort of intolerable situation your / my Parent(s) have had to endure … maybe every day & night for a year or two … might just lead to a little less ostentatious virtue-signalling, less paternalistic romanticisation / sacralization of particular demographics, less of a tendency to adopt the role of heroic Rescuer in a housing context & social situation that they're completely bloody ignorant of … and, who knows, maybe even a little less obsessive focus on 'microaggression' and a little more focus on the rather more pressing MACROaggression
TRP …… Anyone can use google …. but I have trouble searching The Standard site and could not find the Link that The Al1en was selectively misrepresenting, … and James was tag teaming him with …. with ‘ rape apologist’ insults at me.
While I was Abused, discredited …. and goaded …. I note you never provided the link either …. yet TRP asks me for an apology ? …. For something I summarized ( I had no link ), and the Al1en pretended I’d quoted ver-batum
You’ll note when I paraphrased your / TRP s, ‘ You were rude to me ‘, statement I did not use direct quotation marks …. this is because I could not find the thread.
The Al1en however did use exact quote marks” ” …. claiming I was quoting you ver batum. ….. was he being dishonest? … probably .
But ‘ you were rude / rude to me ‘ was exactly your message …. and excuse,,, to set The Al1ens dishonest and survivor / victim abuse stand .
” [Given that you’d normally be banned for calling an author an arsehole, I think you should take the same charitable approach to al1en’s reply.”
I’m very disappointed you’ve let victim denial and abuse go unchecked against me in your thread ….. and then expect I should apologized to you.
You’ve got as much as an apology as you will ever get out of me ……
Bollocks to “selectively misrepresenting”.
All quotes I made can all be found in the very old thread, and whatever you wrote the other day.
Lying is just sad, as it trying to get out of it.
Give it up.
To get it to link directly to the comment you need to embed the link. Instructions are on the FAQ page, then click the link for How do I put links in comments cleanly. There’s the whole palaver of a href= and you have to have the quote marks and stuff (and just one space) but it works in the end.
Well I might have to use it because the allegation that “The Al1en however did use exact quote marks” ” …. claiming I was quoting you ver batum. ….. was he being dishonest? … probably .” is just more bull shit.
In the recent thread, any instance of ” ‘Yup … you were rude to me.” has been from a quote from that days thread, such as…
The Al1en …
14 April 2019 at 3:41 pm
“I asked TRP if he was going to let that stand …… his reply ‘Yup … you were rude to me.”
I’ve directly quoted from the posts in that thread. Nowhere in the exchange did TRP ever write ‘Yup … you were rude to me.
That’s a lie, isn’t it?
The Al1en …
14 April 2019 at 4:14 pm
I’ve quoted directly from the thread. No argument from me. It’s black and white.
“I asked TRP if he was going to let that stand …… his reply ‘Yup … you were rude to me.”
That was never posted in the whole exchange. Link to it.
The Al1en 3.1.4.2.1.1
14 April 2019 at 5:02 pm
Find your own thread. I did. Maybe you can too. But I can tell you for sure there’s no “I asked TRP if he was going to let that stand …… his reply ‘Yup … you were rude to me.” in there.
As for all the ban crap, Since last July I’ve had exchanges with reason. At no time has this been mentioned before. 🙄
Yeah, but definitely not the same one Shane Jones had. Eeeewww
But seriously, what should I do? What’s the consensus here?
Should I rebut the reaching lies from reason, or just ignore it and accept it for what it is – Another internet troll with a grudge?
After a while, shit gets circular, and reason is to incoherent to actually provide any laughs by contradicting themself or suddenly not understanding basic English. Just my opinion.
I suspect that reason feels aggrieved because double quotes got put around what they originally used single quotes for, but frankly their summary (“yup” etc) is so far off the mark of what the mod note said as to be a damned lie anyway.
But “lie” implies that they don’t have an honest delusion that what they thought they remembered reading is actually what was on the screen in the first place.
I hear you, though as the quotes above show, With that ‘yup’ line, I was quoting from the recent thread and at no time put quote marks around reason’s ‘yup’ summary. Aggrieved, or not, it’s totally misplaced in this case, and yes, far off what was actually said as to be a damn lie.
The point about it being a lie and delusion, is after I posted in this thread, where all the info was available, reason reposted the same crud in the recent assange topic. It’s like it didn’t happen.
I call that completely untruthful and malicious in intent.
In that thread I wrote my conscience is clear, and it still is.
‘what should I do.?’
Since you asked.
reason said they were sexually abused.
You could show some compassion and empathy and back away.
Stop trying to be right and do the correct thing.
When the Prime Minister asks for kindness, it’s not just for people you like.
Phil’s a long time commenter on NZ blogs with a thing for ellipses.
But I don’t think it is Phil because despite his ellipses and weird AF syntax, Phil’s screeds make sense.
Y’know, we all missed a very important detail in Barr’s 4 page whitewash of Mueller’s report. In particular, in Mueller’s line ‘[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.’
[T]he???? What exactly was the word that came before that [T]he? Perhaps it was ‘Although’ ?
“As the environmental crisis accelerates, and as protest movements like YouthStrike4Climate and Extinction Rebellion make it harder not to see what we face, people discover more inventive means of shutting their eyes and shedding responsibility. Underlying these excuses is a deep-rooted belief that if we really are in trouble, someone somewhere will come to our rescue: “they” won’t let it happen. But there is no they, just us.”
“This is less daunting than we might imagine. As Erica Chenoweth’s historical research reveals, for a peaceful mass movement to succeed, a maximum of 3.5% of the population needs to mobilise. Humans are ultra-social mammals, constantly if subliminally aware of shifting social currents. Once we perceive that the status quo has changed, we flip suddenly from support for one state of being to support for another. When a committed and vocal 3.5% unites behind the demand for a new system, the social avalanche that follows becomes irresistible.”
Only 3.5%….I thought it was 15%, and that always made me realise how precarious our ordered lives were
Good stuff, here’s the guts: “I collected data on all major nonviolent and violent campaigns for the overthrow of a government or territorial liberation since 1900. The data cover the entire world and include every known campaign that consists of at least a thousand observed participants, which constitutes hundreds of cases.”
“Then I analyzed the data, and the results blew me away. From 1900 to 2006, nonviolent campaigns worldwide were twice as likely to succeed outright as violent insurgencies. And there’s more. This trend has been increasing over time—in the last fifty years civil resistance has become increasingly frequent and effective, whereas violent insurgencies have become increasingly rare and unsuccessful. This is true even in extremely repressive, authoritarian conditions where we might expect nonviolent resistance to fail.”
“In fact, no campaigns failed once they’d achieved the active and sustained participation of just 3.5% of the population—and lots of them succeeded with far less than that”. Keywords are “active and sustained”.
Teams are active and sustained while playing. Task-forces are active and sustained until they produce the output designed for. Forget political parties – few members are ever able to sustain activity. Only one way for a mass movement to succeed in making the world a better place: ensure that it forms more than 3.5% of global population, and contract those members to sustain their collaborative endeavour until their goal is achieved.
Trying to fill a hall over something that deserves consideration but hasn’t reached enough people’s anxiety trigger point or pocket indicates that a relatively small number of determined people in NZ with good planning and strategies could do much.
How many men to spread the unsettling word around that the NZ$ was to be devalued which started the capital flight?
John Roughan’s 2005 NZ Herald backgrounder: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/john-roughan/news/article.cfm?a_id=5&objectid=3576219 In 1984 David Lange’s … theme – ironically, it would turn out – was about “bringing the country together”, dispelling the nastiness of the Muldoon years and returning to the politics of consensus.
It was a message borrowed wholesale from the Australian Labor Party’s successful campaign the previous year. Like Bob Hawke, Lange was carefully dressed in authoritative dark suits and Labour promised nothing more than to copy the ALP’s “economic summit conference”.
But behind the warm rhetoric, something else was happening. Word was around the business world that Labour’s finance spokesman, Roger Douglas, favoured devaluing the dollar, as the ALP had done.
The more likely Labour’s victory became, the more dollars were sold. And since the currency had to be traded at a fixed rate through the Reserve Bank, the flight from the dollar rapidly depleted the bank’s foreign currency reserves….
Before the day was out Muldoon capitulated. The dollar was devalued by 20 per cent and the exchange re-opened. But the dye was cast. The fourth Labour Government had been hijacked by the crisis.
And far more importantly, the extraordinary sequence of events had given the public a sharpened sense of the economy’s fragility, creating a climate receptive as never before to drastic change…
There were advocates of those [neoliberal economic] policies within the conservative governments of New Zealand and Australia in the early 1980s. Derek Quigley, Ian McLean, George Gair, Hugh Templeton and Jim McLay were among those doing what they could to liberalise the economy in the Muldoon years, and they had some achievements.
How many in a Labour government ostensibly with goodwill towards the ordinary working man and woman?
Tim Shadbolt in 2015 names the few men who gained the most notoriety and set smugly enjoying some element of leadership in the eyes of the pragrmatic and comfortably off: https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/opinion/73077140/null But lurking in the shadows, behind the euphoria of our Kiwi Spring,
was Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble, Michael Bassett, Mike Moore and almost the entire Auckland University, Princess St branch of the New Zealand Labour Party who were about 200km to the right of the National Party. They called themselves “the fish and chip brigade”. A name that sounded working class but was yet another disguise for this bunch of ruthless, well-educated right wing revolutionaries.
Gummy Bear posting involves the tactic to keep pushing your argument while ignoring personal attacks …. even ones abusing and calling you dishonest over your sexual abuse survivor / victims status ……….. Like The Al1en does ,,,, and TRP allows him to
With The L1ar AL1en …. If it was anyone other poster in the world apart from Phil Ure ….
Would he not have called them a spreader of fucking lies … and Faux Bullshit ?
Really ??
I may think the L1ar Al1en is standing on liquid ground ….
Anyway back to more evidence …. and discrediting the political use of rape allegations against wikileaks
James ….Who used sleazy rape culture posts to diminish the woman involved in the waikato cheifs sexual assault controversy….
Women posters and authors left this site over that … and roast busters … and other bits of NZ culture … that james usually joined in and posted in a rapey way in
Own it Jair James
David Cameron 20 mins to 25 mins in the Frankie Boyle vid 🙂
funny stuff 🙂 ;0 🙂
[You were put on notice the other day to show some restraint in your comments. You’ve ignored that advice. Banned till May 1. TRP]
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Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
PNG Post-Courier New Zealand High Commissioner Peter Zwart and PNG Defence Minister Dr Billy Joseph welcomed a C-130 Hercules to Port Moresby this week to support Papua New Guinea’s response to the March 24 earthquake and recent severe flooding. “Papua New Guinea has requested New Zealand’s assistance to transport emergency ...
Grub Street King Luxon rode through the streets Of King’s Landing, and was troubled By the sight of hungry urchins in the mud. “Who would be the best of my Lords To deal with this negative optic?” He pondered. The answer came to him instantly. “Seymour!” he said to himself. ...
“The Bill does not provide environmental protection, good quality decision making, certainty, public participation or speed. It should be withdrawn.” ...
RNZ News Television New Zealand has breached its collective agreement with the E tū union when deciding on discontinuing programmes, the Employment Relations Authority has ruled. It was announced in March that 68 staff members who work for news programmes Midday and Tonight, consumer justice programme Fair Go, current affairs ...
Asia Pacific Report Barangay New Zealand’s Rene Molina has interviewed the country’s first Filipino Green MP Francisco Hernandez who was sworn into Parliament yesterday as the party’s latest member. This is the first interview with Hernandez who replaces former Green Party co-leader James Shaw after his retirement from politics to ...
An Australian Strategic Policy Institute report says Pillar Two could raise the industry to state of the art capability - or "crush" it "under the weight of the globe's biggest player". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marlene Longbottom, Associate Professor, Indigenous Education & Research Centre, James Cook University ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the violence experienced by First Nations people in encounters with the Australian carceral system. It also contains references to ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren’t part of it … their bodies hadn’t been sexualised to the same extremes and they didn’t really need it. But now that’s changed. And in a warped sort ...
The New Zealand comedy legend takes us through her life in television, including the time she hugged Elton John and the unshakeable legacy of a girl named Lyn. In 1981, Ginette McDonald stood on the stage of Auckland’s St James Theatre and directly addressed Queen Elizabeth II. It was a ...
An essay by Lily Duval from the just-released anthology Otherhood: Essays on being childless, childfree and child adjacent.I was 22 when my friend Alice gave birth in the living room of our pokey Addington flat. She laboured in the blow-up pool for hours. Garish fish swam along the inflated ...
Ella Borrie on the best books about motherhood she’s come across so far. Over the past few years I’ve been drawn to books about motherhood. I’m fascinated by the joys and horrors of becoming a parent. The question of children also feels more pressing than it used to. It’s like ...
Out of gift ideas for mum? You can’t go wrong with a bottle of toilet cleaner and a new squeegee. Emily Writes is the writer and editor of Emily Writes Weekly. This week marks five years since I published a post on The Spinoff about Mother’s Day marketing titled ‘A ...
My husband is posted overseas for 12 months and I’m armed with an expensive, newfangled vibrator. Will I miss him? The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.A few days after my husband leaves, a new sex toy arrives at the front door. Nestled ...
Jaimie Baird’s new book Here Today Gone Tomorrow is a record of four decades of graffiti and street art in Wellington, told through more than 1,200 photographs. He spoke with Joel MacManus about what inspired the book. How did you first get interested in photographing street art? I remember ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at a busy week where food of all political leanings dominated. Sometimes you’re just going about your week thinking you’ve got a good handle on what might be coming as far as news topics and then someone (usually a politician) says something so ridiculous that ...
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Released today….Building System Legislative Reform Programme public consultation
https://www.mbie.govt.nz/have-your-say/building-system-legislative-reform-programme-public-consultation
And if reading is not your thing….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=16&v=rvX7MitT1kc
Seriously though, the consultation paper is 190 pages long, and a cursory scan indicates that prefab housing might just gain well deserved credibility and that the extortionate cost of building materials is not on the list of issues needing sorting.
MOBIs levy is being reduced.
site appears unavailable
Shub breathlessly reports that there might be a coup against Bridges, either immediately or in a few months, in caucus or behind closed doors (hang on, do they hold their caucus meetings in a field?), and the “anonymous” leakers from the Nat caucus seem to be fixated on Madame Collins. Hmmm.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/04/national-mps-speaking-out-against-leader-simon-bridges.html
No smoke without fire. Well, not usually. Since Toby Manhire thought it worth a look, could be there’s a flame a-flickering in caucus: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/16-04-2019/why-judith-collins-should-be-made-national-leader-and-why-she-shouldnt/
“Collins is good at media. She can be scathing, she doesn’t equivocate and she’s able to laugh at herself.” Um, perhaps chuckle? Ever so briefly?
Manhire uses Richard Harman as his springboard: “a leadership spill in the National caucus is growing ever likelier. On his site Politik, Harman wrote that “even now, multiple sources say, [Collins] has the support of just over half the caucus to take the leadership”. Figures in the caucus and wider party had been asking, he said, “questions about Bridges’ political judgement and the judgments of his inner circle”.”
Gulp. Will be the reaction from Bridges when his staffers report it to him tomorrow (no, of course I don’t rate the technical possibility that they were sufficiently on the ball to get the news to him today).
Toby ends with this hypothetical: “what if a Collins leadership were to provide an amicable catalyst for a future coalition partner, especially if might in the process sink NZ First?” That kite won’t fly long in current winds. Any such brainstorming would have had to be done last year, and the kite would be flying more decisively already awhile. Timing of any challenge is their huge problem…
Smart writer, that man. I like this:
“FOR: The risk of schism”
Not that its important but shes also saucier than a direct hit on a Heinz tomato sauce factory
Never underestimate the power of unbridaled, raw sex appeal
Ah but he knows the score
Yeah he knows it
And Jude can’t hide it anymore
She can’t hide it anymore
Collins is a far better choice for leader than Bridges by so many degrees it’s not funny
1-Takes the women card off the table.
2-Can criticise Ardern without all the women in NZ thinking “He’s only saying bad
things about her because she’s a woman!”
3- Splits the female vote which is heavily in favour of Ardern
4- First proper Female National leader
5- Signals that National isn’t run by a group of private boys only school feltchers who consider woman nothing more than baby factories and people who organize dinner parties
Lots of win there for National if they can get past their ingrained misogyny.
WTH? Shipley was a proper female leader!
It will be interesting once JC is installed because she is almost opposite in personality and approach to JA. Still I think JC doesn’t have the capacity to lead. Guess we will see.
She had to stab Bolger in the back to get a shot at the top job.
It doesn’t really count, Collins getting selected by caucus and winning the election would be a first for National.
That would be the start of a new National party.
Yes! Yes! Make Judith Collins the Leader of the National Party!
“Splits the female vote which is heavily in favour of Ardern”
You seriously think women will vote based on the two figureheads being women?
Yes, not all women but a fair chunk.
It’s just the way females tend to be hard-wired, the default setting is pack animal.
FIFY
BM.
“It’s just the way females tend to be hard wired, the default setting is pack animal…..
Ridiculous unscientific comment.
I am certain there are males who post sneeringly about the ‘girl’ they see as an incapable leader. The idea of having a ‘young’ woman at the top is what really upsets them.
They’ll be delighted to have Judith as ‘mum’ in charge. They’ll love the high leather boots, the whip, and her bossing them around. The toughies can’t handle Jacinda.
Awww yeah!
“Signals that National isn’t run by a group of private boys only school feltchers”
—
What is it with you right wingers and your fascination for mens arses?
Boarding schools.
If the answer is Judith Collins, what the hell was the question?
She’s as popular in her caucus as Cunliffe was in his, and we know how that worked out for him.
Only a matter of time before the open disloyalty is on show, but as already noted, I don’t think anyone will want to take it on against JA this term.
Which MPs sex appeal and beauty is surpassed only by their intelligence, capability and empathy
Pretty obvious really 🙂
Talking to a friend living in a caravan who is really sick. Needs an actual home but hasn’t been able to get one for over a year. Come to think of it she hasn’t had a real home for over five years.
When I think of those people trashing HNZ houses it annoys me that my friend, and others are literally left in the cold because of the current “no consequence” policy. Time to admit this was a mistake?
Entirely Agree.
My Parents are in their late 80s, they own their house (which they’ve lived in for more than 55 years !) … it’s part of a two-house unit … the other unit (on other side of dividing wall) still being a State House.
For almost 50 years, they had very nice, quiet elderly / late middle age neighbours. The last 2 neighbouring Tenants, however, (& particularly the current one, by a significant margin) have been absolutely fucking horrendous.
My Parents are the sort of people who never ever moan or complain about things … they are extremely reasonable, caring & empathetic, they put up with an enormous amount & are always going out of their way to help everyone else … so when they both spontaneously (albeit reluctantly & almost apologetically) mention what they’ve had to put up with on a daily / nightly basis … I immediately knew something really fucking major was happening.
I won’t go into the details at this point … but HNZ are placing an extremely violent, anti-social, out-of-control element of the Underclass next to Elderly people … who should have a basic bloody right to continue to live in their own home without having to deal with the constant threat of violence, intimidation, enforced chronic sleep deprivation (relentless loud, aggressive, often violent noise throughout the early hours until dawn) and day-in / day-out extreme stress (from both the tenant’s constant aggression / explosions of violence & from the relentless full-on noise of his kids – who are dumped there by his former partner as often as she can get away with it. All in the context of a neighbouring unit with appalling echo-chamber acoustics … and a dividing wall that isn’t even remotely soundproof). It’s a bloody horrendous predicament for them to be forced into,
The violence & intimidation are clearly the most shocking things (on two occassions my Parents have been forced to seek refuge with neighbours across the road … and on other occasions it’s been a close run thing … the guy’s just inherently violent, seems to have a criminal record, with local Police keeping a close eye on him) … but I can tell you the stress they suffer on an almost daily / nightly basis from the relentless running, banging, slamming, screaming of the kids is really bad … it’s right in their face often all day until very late at night … I mean my Mother’s a former childcare teacher … but even for her it’s just mega-stressful.
My Partner & I don’t live too far away … so I’ve been monitoring the situation and I can tell you it’s just fucking incomprehensible to me that such an intolerable set up is allowed to exist. Feels like the systematic Use & Abuse of Elderly People. Thrown to the wolves (and by the Party they’ve devoted so much of their lives to).
Something as mindnumbingly cruel as a No Eviction policy (or close enough to it) for extremely anti-social / violent tenants … can only happen when socially-detached Upper Middle-Class Professionals & Intersectionals – from often highly privileged backgrounds – take over both the activist core and elite parliamentary wings of the Labour Party. It’s an ignorant (& really quite callous) Luvvie Paternalism.
But then I should realise that the historic role of the Left is no longer to take a universalist approach to human rights and social justice, endeavouring to make everyone’s life better … rather it’s simply to help a small group of remarkably privileged former Woodford House girls wrest power & control from a small group of remarkably privileged former Christ College boys.
Knowing your voice here for many years I’m convinced of the seriousness of this situation. The system will not you help for all the reasons you so accurately outline. Don’t waste your energy on it.
As a family you’re going to have to make a plan to get them out of there; if you don’t it will wear your parents down and kill them prematurely. Sorry to be blunt but this is where your attention needs to be.
The government should have plans for dealing with people who are entirely anti-social. Soppy emotional response to hard problems is unsatisfactory and don’t stop perpetrators’ bad behaviour; containment should be available, and for the worst it may be necessary to have borstals again, with basic standards, an ordered life, some work and skills earned and they be offered an attempt at habilitation; it is something that can’t be forced.
Luvvie paternalism could work in this case – doing the only thing that one
can do with those who have abandoned themselves, lost their souls, stewed their brains, and who are habitually violent, angry with no self-control.
Shoving them in houses privately provided under leasing schemes appears a way out for government to abrogate responsibility. People at unskilled and semi-skilled levto be el have been left dangling with their jobs have crushed by imports from overseas, or a lack of training, or promise of work for those who get a reasonable level of schooling. So they fill time in smoking, drinking and drugging to fill in their days between the irregular jobs without hope for better and just turn nasty. People can deteriorate like meat left in the sun,till it is so unpleasant that nobody wants it.
I have just started reading Lynley Hood’s concentrated analysis of the case against Peter Ellis in Christchurch years ago. It seemed clear when looked at dispassionately, that the Judges had been bent out of shape by a sort of Luvvie Paternalism. The precedents that they had once for checking for factual and practical aspects of evidence had been put aside on the basis that children hadn’t been treated fairly and properly when it came to evidence; having been dismissed as unreliable too often. Now, it appeared there was credence for everything they said.
From one extreme to another the practice had gone, without regard of consequences. It showed a lack of balance, and dropped standards.
These were abandoned in favour of understanding and making up for past wrongs. There seems a lack of willingness to get real and face the people who have problems that the public purse becomes forced to remedy when
people have almost gone too far. If only the experts and academics with practical ideas got listened to when the parents and children are all young, and the older people who understand them could guide them with the proper aid and respect of government for those who were successful in this.
Thanks, Red. I really appreciate that.
After 55 years, they are very wedded to the place (particularly my Mother … my Father's an Aussie who, deep down, always wanted to return to the Lucky Country but has slowly reconciled himself to remaining in "the Shaky Isles"). They also have a wider support network of neighbours & friends in the area (their long-term neighbours across the road have been brilliant & have called the police on their behalf on several occasions).
And it's by no means a depressing or unattractive suburb. Hills/Beaches/Sea … arguably one of the more attractive & liveable lower income areas in the Country. Their street is very well established, most houses have trees / a lot of greenery in front yard and so on … about 80% Privately-owned / 20% pepper-potted Social housing … and they have beautiful sea views out to the South Island. So they've been very happy there … until very recently.
And, of course, as Age Concern chief executive Stephanie Clare emphasised in the Listener a few weeks back,
In the same article, Ruth Nichol cited a range of scholarly literature to argue that elderly people who continue to live in their own house generally have much happier and healthier outcomes (all in line with the Country's Positive Ageing Strategy).
So, you know, I don't give up without a fight. When this violent, sadistic, malevolent little prick was being born in the early 90s, my Parents would've already been living there for about 30 years … I'll be fucked if I'm just going to allow him to turn up, make their life hell, and force them out. It's not right (quite apart from the question of just who is going to buy a house with that kind of in-your-face noise and malevolent atmosphere nextdoor … Maybe HNZ has some sort of cunning Baldrick-like plan to buy up private neighbouring units at bargain basement prices ?)
So, I really feel like publicising this and putting as much pressure as possible on HNZ (& MSD) to do the right thing. Sunlight as the best disinfectant. I might start by laying out some of the more shocking details on my Blog, then move on to contacting local Media. Local City Councillors, Age Concern, Retirement Commission … I'm not against shaming a few hypocrites who need to be shamed.
But I hear what you're saying: essentially hopeless cause / naive to think otherwise / just prolonging the agony.
I'll just have to try and get it sorted as quickly as poss … if worst comes to worst, I'll encourage them to move. Can't force them though and don't want to. It'll have to be their decision … they're not too far off 90 … but still as mentally alert as ever.
Pisses me off so much. Both of them still grieving over the death of my older brother in 2016, both have undergone major surgery for bowel cancer in the last 5 years … then just callously thrown to the wolves.
I had all those thoughts too, we lived just up the road in Tawa for many years and I know the area you indicate well. Every reason not to want to move, and if you're going to into battle for them I absolutely wish you the best with it.
Still if you're going to do that, make sure you have a solid Plan B and a clear cut idea of what the threshold of tolerable is. That will give everyone a sense of control and the sense that you are doing things on your terms not theirs.
Sound advice. Thanks, Red. Always appreciate your very solid, feet-on-the-ground approach … anchored in realism and universalism – rather than the highly selective morality / ethics / empathy of some. Cheers.
My mother was in a similar situation in West Auckland. Same thing, HNZ unit through the wall and all good, actually really good, up until 10 years ago. Over 3 or 4 years and a succession of tenants it got to a point where Mum’s health, physical and mental, was in a very bad place. HNZ had no interest at all, your problem.
Fortunately we were able to get mum out of there and build a unit on our property for her, wasn’t easy, but Mum’s come out of it really well. The town planning side of building the unit was tricky, but a logical argument to council got a non-compliant application through quite easily and with out consultants.
Thanks, Graeme. Sounds very similar … almost identical situation … and pretty similar timing.
Glad to hear your mother's recovered from what sounds like an awful ordeal. But it must still be a bit upsetting for her to have been (for all practical purposes) forced out of her home through absolutely no fault of her own. Some anti-social little shit just gets to come in, take over, and destroy her quality of life. It's so fucking wrong that this is allowed to even remotely happen. Really rough-as-guts, out of control people who have absolutely no boundaries or social norms, treat 3am as if it's 3pm, innately violent impulses … get to just suddenly turn up, call the shots and ride roughshod at will. They have 100% of the rights, zero consequences, your Parent(s) have no rights at all.
I mean reasonable sleep, safety from violence & relaxation in your own home … especially for older people … should be a fundamental human right. HNZ Tenancies need to be contingent on tenants respecting those basic rights of their neighbours … and if they don't over a prolonged period then OUT.
I certainly wouldn't be opposed to the State forcing one or two prominent, well-healed, Intersectionals on the 'Left' (increasingly, I'm thinking this particular faction comprises an elitist, self-interested Faux Left) to live in the sort of intolerable situation your / my Parent(s) have had to endure … maybe every day & night for a year or two … might just lead to a little less ostentatious virtue-signalling, less paternalistic romanticisation / sacralization of particular demographics, less of a tendency to adopt the role of heroic Rescuer in a housing context & social situation that they're completely bloody ignorant of … and, who knows, maybe even a little less obsessive focus on 'microaggression' and a little more focus on the rather more pressing MACROaggression
“an ignorant (& really quite callous) Luvvie Paternalism”
Good description. Sorry to hear about your folks.
Cheers, Sacha … appreciate your support.
I wish I could have written your last two paragraphs.
Born of anger
What’s going on here?
Did Bob Jones lift his skeletal frame out of the lazy-boy in order to tear down tax fairness?
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/112077063/billboard-promoting-tax-fairness-removed-without-permission
TRP …… Anyone can use google …. but I have trouble searching The Standard site and could not find the Link that The Al1en was selectively misrepresenting, … and James was tag teaming him with …. with ‘ rape apologist’ insults at me.
I found it now https://thestandard.org.nz/julian-assange-journeys-end/#comment-1505841
While I was Abused, discredited …. and goaded …. I note you never provided the link either …. yet TRP asks me for an apology ? …. For something I summarized ( I had no link ), and the Al1en pretended I’d quoted ver-batum
You’ll note when I paraphrased your / TRP s, ‘ You were rude to me ‘, statement I did not use direct quotation marks …. this is because I could not find the thread.
The Al1en however did use exact quote marks” ” …. claiming I was quoting you ver batum. ….. was he being dishonest? … probably .
But ‘ you were rude / rude to me ‘ was exactly your message …. and excuse,,, to set The Al1ens dishonest and survivor / victim abuse stand .
” [Given that you’d normally be banned for calling an author an arsehole, I think you should take the same charitable approach to al1en’s reply.”
I’m very disappointed you’ve let victim denial and abuse go unchecked against me in your thread ….. and then expect I should apologized to you.
You’ve got as much as an apology as you will ever get out of me ……
In the post of mine …. you used to ban me with.
Bollocks to “selectively misrepresenting”.
All quotes I made can all be found in the very old thread, and whatever you wrote the other day.
Lying is just sad, as it trying to get out of it.
Give it up.
https://thestandard.org.nz/julian-assange-journeys-end/
To get it to link directly to the comment you need to embed the link. Instructions are on the FAQ page, then click the link for How do I put links in comments cleanly. There’s the whole palaver of a href= and you have to have the quote marks and stuff (and just one space) but it works in the end.
Thanks, but it’ll do as it is. Good to note for future ref.
Looking at (un)reason’s rant, it might also work if the link is part of a sentence like this https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-16-04-2019/#comment-1608499 instead of separating it with an enter like it’s a new paragraph.
edit: yup, seems to be leaving the link complete instead of deleting the hash and comment number after it.
Well I might have to use it because the allegation that “The Al1en however did use exact quote marks” ” …. claiming I was quoting you ver batum. ….. was he being dishonest? … probably .” is just more bull shit.
In the recent thread, any instance of ” ‘Yup … you were rude to me.” has been from a quote from that days thread, such as…
The Al1en …
14 April 2019 at 3:41 pm
“I asked TRP if he was going to let that stand …… his reply ‘Yup … you were rude to me.”
I’ve directly quoted from the posts in that thread. Nowhere in the exchange did TRP ever write ‘Yup … you were rude to me.
That’s a lie, isn’t it?
The Al1en …
14 April 2019 at 4:14 pm
I’ve quoted directly from the thread. No argument from me. It’s black and white.
“I asked TRP if he was going to let that stand …… his reply ‘Yup … you were rude to me.”
That was never posted in the whole exchange. Link to it.
The Al1en 3.1.4.2.1.1
14 April 2019 at 5:02 pm
Find your own thread. I did. Maybe you can too. But I can tell you for sure there’s no “I asked TRP if he was going to let that stand …… his reply ‘Yup … you were rude to me.” in there.
As for all the ban crap, Since last July I’ve had exchanges with reason. At no time has this been mentioned before. 🙄
Get a room, you two. This is boring.
Yeah, but definitely not the same one Shane Jones had. Eeeewww
But seriously, what should I do? What’s the consensus here?
Should I rebut the reaching lies from reason, or just ignore it and accept it for what it is – Another internet troll with a grudge?
After a while, shit gets circular, and reason is to incoherent to actually provide any laughs by contradicting themself or suddenly not understanding basic English. Just my opinion.
I suspect that reason feels aggrieved because double quotes got put around what they originally used single quotes for, but frankly their summary (“yup” etc) is so far off the mark of what the mod note said as to be a damned lie anyway.
But “lie” implies that they don’t have an honest delusion that what they thought they remembered reading is actually what was on the screen in the first place.
I hear you, though as the quotes above show, With that ‘yup’ line, I was quoting from the recent thread and at no time put quote marks around reason’s ‘yup’ summary. Aggrieved, or not, it’s totally misplaced in this case, and yes, far off what was actually said as to be a damn lie.
The point about it being a lie and delusion, is after I posted in this thread, where all the info was available, reason reposted the same crud in the recent assange topic. It’s like it didn’t happen.
I call that completely untruthful and malicious in intent.
In that thread I wrote my conscience is clear, and it still is.
I think I’ll just leave it. It’s all out there.
No worries. Cray-cray be cray-cray, in the patois of the street 😉
Thing is, if he’s not Phil, then I really would apologise for last July. That’s a terrible insult for anyone. 😉
Maybe it’s more that there is a timeless ur-phil that naturally populates pols blogs, rather than a single phil ure 🙂
Scary thought, but probably true.
‘what should I do.?’
Since you asked.
reason said they were sexually abused.
You could show some compassion and empathy and back away.
Stop trying to be right and do the correct thing.
When the Prime Minister asks for kindness, it’s not just for people you like.
Jesus, Phil get a fucking grip.
if there’s one stand out reason why weed shouldn’t be legalised, it’s YOU.
Who is Phil?
Phil’s a long time commenter on NZ blogs with a thing for ellipses.
But I don’t think it is Phil because despite his ellipses and weird AF syntax, Phil’s screeds make sense.
Y’know, we all missed a very important detail in Barr’s 4 page whitewash of Mueller’s report. In particular, in Mueller’s line ‘[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.’
[T]he???? What exactly was the word that came before that [T]he? Perhaps it was ‘Although’ ?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/george-conway-william-barr-mueller-report_n_5cb3f09be4b098b9a2d5a0ef
“It would be ridiculous to claim that t[he] …”
Wingnut fight!
https://twitter.com/gatewaypundit/status/1117907874519240704
“As the environmental crisis accelerates, and as protest movements like YouthStrike4Climate and Extinction Rebellion make it harder not to see what we face, people discover more inventive means of shutting their eyes and shedding responsibility. Underlying these excuses is a deep-rooted belief that if we really are in trouble, someone somewhere will come to our rescue: “they” won’t let it happen. But there is no they, just us.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/15/rebellion-prevent-ecological-apocalypse-civil-disobedience
“This is less daunting than we might imagine. As Erica Chenoweth’s historical research reveals, for a peaceful mass movement to succeed, a maximum of 3.5% of the population needs to mobilise. Humans are ultra-social mammals, constantly if subliminally aware of shifting social currents. Once we perceive that the status quo has changed, we flip suddenly from support for one state of being to support for another. When a committed and vocal 3.5% unites behind the demand for a new system, the social avalanche that follows becomes irresistible.”
Only 3.5%….I thought it was 15%, and that always made me realise how precarious our ordered lives were
Good stuff, here’s the guts: “I collected data on all major nonviolent and violent campaigns for the overthrow of a government or territorial liberation since 1900. The data cover the entire world and include every known campaign that consists of at least a thousand observed participants, which constitutes hundreds of cases.”
“Then I analyzed the data, and the results blew me away. From 1900 to 2006, nonviolent campaigns worldwide were twice as likely to succeed outright as violent insurgencies. And there’s more. This trend has been increasing over time—in the last fifty years civil resistance has become increasingly frequent and effective, whereas violent insurgencies have become increasingly rare and unsuccessful. This is true even in extremely repressive, authoritarian conditions where we might expect nonviolent resistance to fail.”
“In fact, no campaigns failed once they’d achieved the active and sustained participation of just 3.5% of the population—and lots of them succeeded with far less than that”. Keywords are “active and sustained”.
Teams are active and sustained while playing. Task-forces are active and sustained until they produce the output designed for. Forget political parties – few members are ever able to sustain activity. Only one way for a mass movement to succeed in making the world a better place: ensure that it forms more than 3.5% of global population, and contract those members to sustain their collaborative endeavour until their goal is achieved.
175000 New Zealanders…not so many
Trying to fill a hall over something that deserves consideration but hasn’t reached enough people’s anxiety trigger point or pocket indicates that a relatively small number of determined people in NZ with good planning and strategies could do much.
How many men to spread the unsettling word around that the NZ$ was to be devalued which started the capital flight?
John Roughan’s 2005 NZ Herald backgrounder:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/john-roughan/news/article.cfm?a_id=5&objectid=3576219
In 1984 David Lange’s … theme – ironically, it would turn out – was about “bringing the country together”, dispelling the nastiness of the Muldoon years and returning to the politics of consensus.
It was a message borrowed wholesale from the Australian Labor Party’s successful campaign the previous year. Like Bob Hawke, Lange was carefully dressed in authoritative dark suits and Labour promised nothing more than to copy the ALP’s “economic summit conference”.
But behind the warm rhetoric, something else was happening. Word was around the business world that Labour’s finance spokesman, Roger Douglas, favoured devaluing the dollar, as the ALP had done.
The more likely Labour’s victory became, the more dollars were sold. And since the currency had to be traded at a fixed rate through the Reserve Bank, the flight from the dollar rapidly depleted the bank’s foreign currency reserves….
Before the day was out Muldoon capitulated. The dollar was devalued by 20 per cent and the exchange re-opened. But the dye was cast. The fourth Labour Government had been hijacked by the crisis.
And far more importantly, the extraordinary sequence of events had given the public a sharpened sense of the economy’s fragility, creating a climate receptive as never before to drastic change…
There were advocates of those [neoliberal economic] policies within the conservative governments of New Zealand and Australia in the early 1980s. Derek Quigley, Ian McLean, George Gair, Hugh Templeton and Jim McLay were among those doing what they could to liberalise the economy in the Muldoon years, and they had some achievements.
How many in a Labour government ostensibly with goodwill towards the ordinary working man and woman?
Tim Shadbolt in 2015 names the few men who gained the most notoriety and set smugly enjoying some element of leadership in the eyes of the pragrmatic and comfortably off:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/opinion/73077140/null
But lurking in the shadows, behind the euphoria of our Kiwi Spring,
was Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble, Michael Bassett, Mike Moore and almost the entire Auckland University, Princess St branch of the New Zealand Labour Party who were about 200km to the right of the National Party. They called themselves “the fish and chip brigade”. A name that sounded working class but was yet another disguise for this bunch of ruthless, well-educated right wing revolutionaries.
Here s the thing ….
Gummy Bear posting involves the tactic to keep pushing your argument while ignoring personal attacks …. even ones abusing and calling you dishonest over your sexual abuse survivor / victims status ……….. Like The Al1en does ,,,, and TRP allows him to
With The L1ar AL1en …. If it was anyone other poster in the world apart from Phil Ure ….
Would he not have called them a spreader of fucking lies … and Faux Bullshit ?
Really ??
I may think the L1ar Al1en is standing on liquid ground ….
Anyway back to more evidence …. and discrediting the political use of rape allegations against wikileaks
Gummy bear styles 🙂
https://thestandard.org.nz/julian-assange-journeys-end/#comment-1505777
If you want people to stop thinking of you as a rape apologist- stop making excuses for a rapist.
He is accused of doing the crime by real victims they deserve their day in court.
….Who used sleazy rape culture posts to diminish the woman involved in the waikato cheifs sexual assault controversy.
….Who uses and advocates for the lawless rapey company ‘uber’.
….who advocated for public toilet sex … he did this when defending some other over-sexed rugby player.
….who thought it fair enough Oxfam should lose funding ……… for two sacked workers who allegedly used prostitutes
….He who who called right wing Brazilian leader and rape celebrator Jair Bolsonaro “charismatic”
James ….Who ran around with glee …. trying to smear Labour as ‘rape apologists’ …. over a drunk committing assults at a Labour youth event …
And has run around the Assange thread.. trying to label everyone ‘rape apologists’…
lets have a laugh at the Tory party and bbc James …. David cameron 5 mins 😉
nothing You posted takes away the fact you are a rape apologist.
Own it reason.
James ….Who used sleazy rape culture posts to diminish the woman involved in the waikato cheifs sexual assault controversy….
Women posters and authors left this site over that … and roast busters … and other bits of NZ culture … that james usually joined in and posted in a rapey way in
Own it Jair James
David Cameron 20 mins to 25 mins in the Frankie Boyle vid 🙂
funny stuff 🙂 ;0 🙂
[You were put on notice the other day to show some restraint in your comments. You’ve ignored that advice. Banned till May 1. TRP]
To be fair James has delighted in poking the bear continuously and will now be crowing over his days of deliberate provocation.
You could do a far better job, or is this the controversy TS seeks – listening to James shit talk, followed by people saying, you talk shit.
Stunning media.
In fairness I was ignoring reasons post /incoherent rants until they started writing comments about me and I had nothing to do with it.
“I may think the L1ar Al1en is standing on liquid ground ….”
lol