As always No right turn sums it up in a very sensible manor. Too which I totally agree. The Tories in this country are running scared, and they should be, austerity has created a bloody shambles.
I’d like to add, around the wharves, you may have had stuff nicked from the wharf when you imported it, (which you’d get your money back if it happened – never happened to me so I think van Beynen is full of it on this one) now we just have thieves with their hands out taking you money off you when you import anything via a process called ‘handling’. Biggest rout around, they same companies who unload your products are now got their hands in the pot charging you more.
Really this pretend division between the generations is just another round in the tired old game of divide and conquer.
Beynen is full of it; but so is the idea that all Boomers somehow set out to fuck up their own children. On the face of it this has to be an absurdist notion.
What many of us do see, and does concern us deeply … is a world in which our children and grandchildren are not doing as well as us. Yes in many ways we were a fortunate generation and I’ll not duck that. But the idea it was all handed to us on a silver plate is a risible nonsensensical delusion.
The real divide in this world is between the tiny handful of uber-wealthy who control the vast majority of the world’s wealth and exert a grossly disproportionate political influence … and the rest of us unwashed plebs of any age. There lies your real inequality, one that will persist and perpetuate long after my generation has died out. Anything else is a distraction.
Beynen is full of it; but so is the idea that all Boomers somehow set out to fuck up their own children. On the face of it this has to be an absurdist notion.
It’s hard to say that the Boomers aren’t actively working against the young on the stats of who votes for whom.
But the idea it was all handed to us on a silver plate is a risible nonsensensical delusion.
It wasn’t all handed to the oldies on a silver platter but they’re definitely pulling up the ladder behind them. They may not mean to do that but that is what they’re doing when they vote National.
The real divide in this world is between the tiny handful of uber-wealthy who control the vast majority of the world’s wealth and exert a grossly disproportionate political influence … and the rest of us unwashed plebs of any age. There lies your real inequality, one that will persist and perpetuate long after my generation has died out.
But it shouldn’t last and the Boomers should be the ones trying hardest to get rid of it rather than perpetuating it. They’re supposed to know better but the majority prove that they know far, far less and vote with that ignorance.
Do you realise how many “boomers” have put their mortgage free properties up as security so their kids can buy a grossly overvalued house?
How do you think the property market has been propped up for so long?
When this property bubble bursts it’s going to affect so many people it’s not funny,
It’s quite normal for some people (by no means everyone, or even a majority of people) to become more politically conservative as they get older. This happens regardless of what ‘generation’ you are born into.
Keep in mind that if 60% of us voted progressive as young things, it only takes 20% of us to shift over the years, for 60% to be voting conservative in later life. That’s just people for you, it’s not some weird conspiracy to fuck over our children.
Also I have to say it, there are too many of my generation who still remember Rogernomics and are still waiting for Labour to make an unequivocal break with it’s toxic past. It’s this legacy that Winston dines out on.
And if all of us boomers were to die tommorrow, do you imagine the world would suddenly be a wonderful perfectly equitable place?
(Also I have to say it, there are too many of my generation who still remember Rogernomics and are still waiting for Labour to make an unequivocal break with it’s toxic past. )
I could not agree more. When they return to a true left wing party they will get my vote again until then no chance.
I vote for what I see as best for All the people of the country, nor what is best for me. If more folks looked at voting in this way we may have a different country /world.
I vote for what I see as best for All the people of the country, nor what is best for me.
What is best for the community is what’s best for you.
The problem is that we’ve been trained over the centuries to believe that what the individual wants is what’s best for the community and that’s not actually true.
Still, van Beynen is right about one thing. If you’re under 40 (or even 45), you’ve never really known anything but NeoLiberalism and austerity. And its pretty clear that those don’t work for anyone but greedy old Boomers. Boomers like van Beynen would like us to accept this as unchangeable, but its not. Low wages are a political choice.
I should also like to point out that Corbyn (and the likes of Diane Abbott) are also boomers. While the majority of older folks voted Tory, the likes of Corbyn, Abbott, and many of us boomers who have always voted left, are glad others are picking up some of the values we have subscribed to most of our lives.
I’m very glad to see large numbers of young people picking up on those values, and adapting them to the 21st century context.
“Constantly anxious” should not be the default mindset for a deputy leader
Depends upon where you are on the Dunning-Kreuger effect I suppose. RWNJs who are too stupid to realise that they’re ignorant schmucks probably won’t have any while while everyone else would.
If you’re not confident or riddled with self-doubt you’re no leader.
I think Jacinda has realised she’s not leadership material and is currently in a position where she’s not comfortable being, nothing wrong with that though being honest with your abilities and knowing what your skills and weaknesses are is a very valuable skill to have.
Compassion is though. So is self awareness and a willingness to see things from the point of view of those who are most disadvantaged by one’s actions. Key, English et al lack these qualities entirely.
She’s anxious about letting people down which is actually an attribute that you want in someone in power. There’s no self-doubt.
People who don’t give a shit, the people who aren’t anxious about anything, are the people who will trample over anything and everything to get things the way they think they should be – and the end result will be atrocities and an oppressive regime.
Crikey BM, this kind of fishing reminds me of the nosey gossip that lives around the corner, real sad. Anyways thought I’d shine a lil light on your bait.
After Jacindas highest preferred PM polling last time around even she said her popularity would drop, she said the only reason she was polling high was because of the spot light being on her re Mt Albert byelection. Paddy Gower mentions it at the start of the clip you posted.
2. Jacinda doesn’t want to be the PM and has made that clear more than once.
Not everyone wants to lead BM, some are more than content to help a leader, it’s not a race dude, not everyone models themselves on Frank Underwood. Often the best leaders are the ones who do not want the job.
3. BM, are there any other deputy party leaders even featuring on the preferred PM poll? Mhmm Jacinda is the only one, kudos to her for that achievement. I have never ever seen Paula feature on that poll not ever. JS
Before sensitive information is shared between shopper and online shop, the two exchange a complicated number that is then used to scramble the subsequent characters. It also hides the key that will allow the shop to unscramble the text securely.
The weakness is that the number itself can be intercepted, and with enough computing power, cracked.
Quantum cryptography, as it is called, goes one step further, by using the power of quantum science to hide the key.
Quantum communications takes another step toward practicality.
She’s arranged tournaments at Trump golf courses, served as the liaison to the Trump family during his presidential campaign, and even arranged Eric Trump’s wedding.
Now President Trump has appointed longtime loyalist Lynne Patton — who has zero housing experience and claims a law degree the school says she never earned — to run the office that oversees federal housing programs in New York.
Perhaps the Donald shouldn’t have hung up….
Aussies M T on “Winning in the Polls”
Malcolm Turnbull’s told a room of journalists, advisers, and politicians that “the Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls. We are winning so much! We are winning like we have never won before. We are winning in the polls. We are! Not the fake polls. Not the fake polls. They’re the ones we’re not winning in. We’re winning in the real polls.”
“You know the online polls. they are so easy to win. I know that. Did you know that? I kind of know that. They are so easy to win. I have this Russian guy. Believe me it’s true, it is true,”
Is this the laziest government in New Zealand history?
The number of instances where National Party ministers have no idea what is happening in their ministries and offices is unbelievable.
Two more today. Coleman distancing himself from bad news by ‘berating officials’ apparently in the dark on figures, and Bridges also conveniently knowing nothing about what his own office is doing on OIA requests.
Why is it you have to read the foreign media to find the truth about New Zealand?
What’s behind New Zealand’s shocking youth suicide rate?
Think of New Zealand and what likely comes to mind is beautiful nature – fjords, mountains and magnificent landscapes, vast, empty and endless.
But for years already, the country has been struggling with another form of isolation – depression and suicide.
A new report by Unicef contains a shocking statistic – New Zealand has by far the highest youth suicide rate in the developed world.
A shock but no surprise – it’s not the first time the country tops that table.
The Unicef report found New Zealand’s youth suicide rate – teenagers between 15 and 19 – to be the highest of a long list of 41 OECD and EU countries.
The rate of 15.6 suicides per 100,000 people is twice as high as the US rate and almost five times that of Britain.
Why New Zealand?
There’s a combination of reasons, and it’s important not to only focus on one statistic, warns Dr Prudence Stone of Unicef New Zealand.
The high suicide rate ties in with other data, showing for instance child poverty, high rates of teenage pregnancies or families where neither of the parents have work.
New Zealand also has “one of the world’sworst records for bullying in school”, says Shaun Robinson of the Mental Health Foundations New Zealand.
He explains there is a “toxic mix” of very high rates of family violence, child abuse and child poverty that need to be addressed to tackle the problem.
The announcement that the Queens Speech is next Weds is about the only good thing to have happened to Theresa May since she squandered David Cameron’s majority in the Commons last Thursday.
Because it is confirmation of a blood oath by the DUP’s 10 MPs to sustain the Tories in power – the Tories, NOT her – and keep Labour out, for the next five years.
Now to be clear I am not saying it is remotely likely this government will survive five years. I give it two years at best.
But I am saying the DUP has committed to do its darnedest to prop up the Conservatives until 2022 – including by more-or-less integrating the two parties’ respective whips offices (which manage how their MPs vote, to minimise the risk of defeats).
There is a double bonus for May in the deal, which is that a DUP source told me – and was very keen to be quoted on this – that his party completely backs her vision of Brexit.
He wanted to knock down speculation that the DUP would like the UK to stay in the Customs Union, the arrangement that obviates the need for border checks on goods leaving the country.
He said the DUP was 100% committed to the UK leaving the single market AND the customs union – which is music to the ears of May and her Brexit minister David Davis, and a slap to the chancellor Philip Hammond …
… But it will be Tuesday or Thursday that we will get a short statement about what the DUP has extracted by way of dowry for Northern Ireland from the marriage of convenience.
You can assume there’ll be lots of lovely investment in public services and infrastructure. So at least one part of the UK will enjoy an end to austerity!
“Bugger the pollsters!”WHEN EVERYBODY LIVED in villages, and every village had a graveyard, the expression “whistling past the graveyard” made more sense. Even so, it’s hard to describe the Coalition Government’s response to the latest Taxpayers’ Union/Curia Research poll any better. Regardless of whether they wanted to go there, or ...
Prof Jane Kelsey examines what the ACT party and the NZ Initiative are up to as they seek to impose on the country their hardline, right wing, neoliberal ideology. A progressive government elected in 2026 would have a huge job putting Humpty Dumpty together again and rebuilding a state that ...
See I try to make a differenceBut the heads of the high keep turning awayThere ain't no useWhen the world that you love has goneOoh, gotta make a changeSongwriters: Arapekanga Adams-Tamatea / Brad Kora / Hiriini Kora / Joel Shadbolt.Aotearoa for Sale.This week saw the much-heralded and somewhat alarming sight ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...
By international standards the New Zealand healthcare system appears satisfactory – certainly no worse generally than average. Yet it is undergoing another redisorganisation.While doing some unrelated work, I came across some international data on the healthcare sector which seemed to contradict my – and the conventional wisdom’s – view of ...
When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he knew that he was upending Europe’s security order. But this was more of a tactical gambit than a calculated strategy ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Over the last year, I’ve been warning about Luxon’s pitch to privatise our public assets.He had told reporters in October that nothing was off the cards:Schools, hospitals, prisons, and ...
When ASPI’s Cyclone Tracy: 50 Years On was published last year, it wasn’t just a historical reflection; it was a warning. Just months later, we are already watching history repeat itself. We need to bake ...
1. Why was school lunch provider The Libelle Group in the news this week?a. Grand Winner in Pie of The Yearb. Scored a record 108% on YELP c. Bought by Oravida d. Went into liquidation2. What did our Prime Minister offer prospective investors at his infrastructure investment jamboree?a. The Libelle ...
South Korea has suspended new downloads of DeepSeek, and it was were right to do so. Chinese tech firms operate under the shadow of state influence, misusing data for surveillance and geopolitical advantage. Any country ...
Previous big infrastructure PPPs such as Transmission Gully were fiendishly complicated to negotiate, generated massive litigation and were eventually rewritten anyway. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesLong stories shortest: The Government’s international investment conference ignores the facts that PPPs cost twice as much as vanilla debt-funded public infrastructure, often take ...
Woolworths has proposed a major restructure of its New Zealand store operating model, leaving workers worried their hours and pay could be cut. Public servants are being asked how productive their office is, how much they use AI, and whether they’re overloaded with meetings as part of a “census”. An ...
Robert Kaplan’s book Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis paints a portrait of civilisation in flux. Drawing insights from history, literature and art, he examines the effect of modern technology, globalisation and urbanisation on ...
Sexuality - Strong and warm and wild and freeSexuality - Your laws do not apply to meSexuality - Don't threaten me with miserySexuality - I demand equalitySong: Billy Bragg.First, thank you to everyone who took part in yesterday’s survey. Some questions worked better than others, but I found them interesting, ...
Hi,I just got back from a week in Japan thanks to the power of cheap flights and years of accumulated credit card points.The last time I was in Japan the government held a press conference saying they might take legal action against me and Netflix, so there was a little ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including Donald Trump’s wrecking of the post-WW II political landscape; andHealth Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Lisa ...
Hi,I just got back from a short trip to Japan, mostly spending time in Tokyo.I haven’t been there since we shot Dark Tourist back in 2017 — and that landed us in a bit of hot water with the Japanese government.I am glad to report I was not thrown into ...
I’ve been on Substack for almost 8 months now.It’s been good in terms of the many great individuals that populate its space. So much variety and intelligence and humour and depth.I joined because someone suggested I should ‘start a Substack,’ whatever that meant.So I did.Turning on payments seemed like the ...
Open access notables Would Adding the Anthropocene to the Geologic Time Scale Matter?, McCarthy et al., AGU Advances:The extraordinary fossil fuel-driven outburst of consumption and production since the mid-twentieth century has fundamentally altered the way the Earth System works. Although humans have impacted their environment for millennia, justification for ...
Australia should buy equipment to cheaply and temporarily convert military transport aircraft into waterbombers. On current planning, the Australian Defence Force will have a total of 34 Chinook helicopters and Hercules airlifters. They should be ...
Indonesia’s government has slashed its counterterrorism (CT) budgets, despite the persistent and evolving threat of violent extremism. Australia can support regional CT efforts by filling this funding void. Reducing funding to the National Counterterrorism Agency ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Resource Management (Prohibition on Extraction of Freshwater for On-selling) Amendment Bill (Debbie Ngarewa-Packer) The bill does exactly what it says on the label, and would effectively end the rapacious water-bottling industry ...
Twilight Time Lighthouse Cuba, Wigan Street, Wellington, Sunday 6 April, 5:30pm for 6pm start. Twilight Time looks at the life and work of Desmond Ball, (1947-2016), a barefooted academic from ‘down under’ who was hailed by Jimmy Carter as “the man who saved the world”, as he proved the fallacy ...
Foreign aid is being slashed across the Global North, nowhere more so than in the United States. Within his first month back in the White House, President Donald Trump dismantled the US Agency for International ...
Nicola Willis has proposed new procurement rules that unions say will lead to pay cuts for already low-paid workers in cleaning, catering and security services that are contracted by government. The Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment Bill passed its third reading with support from all the opposition parties and NZ ...
Most KP readers will not know that I was a jazz DJ in Chicago and Washington DC while in grad school in the early and mid 1980s. In DC I joined WPFW as a grave shift host, then a morning drive show host (a show called Sui Generis, both for ...
Long stories shortest: The IMF says a capital gains tax or land tax would improve real economic growth and fix the budget. GDP is set to be smaller by 2026 than it was in 2023. Compass is flying in school lunches from Australia. 53% of National voters say the new ...
Last year in October I wrote “Where’s The Opposition?”. I was exasperated at the relative quiet of the Green Party, Labour and Te Pati Māori (TPM), as the National led Coalition ticked off a full bingo card of the Atlas Network playbook.1To be fair, TPM helped to energise one of ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkGood data visualizations can help make climate change more visceral and understandable. Back in 2016 Ed Hawkins published a “climate spiral” graph that ended up being pretty iconic – it was shown at the opening ceremony of the Olympics that year – and ...
An agreement to end the war in Ukraine could transform Russia’s relations with North Korea. Moscow is unlikely to reduce its cooperation with Pyongyang to pre-2022 levels, but it may become more selective about areas ...
This week, the Government is hosting a grand event aimed at trying to interest big foreign capital players in financing capital works in New Zealand, particularly its big rural motorway programme. Financing vs funding: a quick explainer The key word in the sentence above is financing. It is important ...
In a month’s time, the Right Honourable Winston Peters will be celebrating his 80th birthday. Good for him. On the evidence though, his current war on “wokeness” looks like an old man’s cranky complaint that the ancient virtues of grit and know-how are sadly lacking in the youth of today. ...
As noted, early March has been about moving house, and I have had little chance to partake in all things internet. But now that everything is more or less sorted, I can finally give a belated report on my visit to the annual Regent Booksale (28th February and 1st March). ...
Information operations Australia has banned cybersecurity software Kaspersky from government use because of risks of espionage, foreign interference and sabotage. The Department of Home Affairs said use of Kaspersky products posed an unacceptable security ...
The StrategistBy Linus Cohen, Astrid Young and Alice Wai
One of the best understood tropes of screen drama is the scene where the beloved family dog is barking incessantly and cannot be calmed. Finally, somebody asks: What is it, girl? Has someone fallen down a well? Is there trouble at the old John Key place?One is reminded of this ...
The ’ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, plays a significant role in the global cocaine trade and is deeply entrenched in Australia, influencing the cocaine trade and engaging in a variety of illicit activities. A range of ...
In the US, the Trump regime is busy imposing tariffs on its neighbours and allies, then revoking them, then reimposing them, permanently poisoning relations with Canada and Mexico. Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs on agricultural goods, which will affect Aotearoa's exports. National's response? To grovel for an exemption, ...
Troy Bowker’s Caniwi Capital’s Desmond Gittings, former TradeMe and Warehouse executive Simon West, former anonymous right wing blogger / Labour attacker & now NZ On Air Board member / Waitangi Tribunal member Philip Crump, Canadian billionaire Jim Grenon who used to run vaccine critical, Treaty of Waitangi critical, and trans-rights ...
The free school lunch program was one of Labour's few actual achievements in government. Decent food, made locally, providing local employment. So naturally, National had to get rid of it. Their replacement - run by Compass, a multinational which had already been thrown out of our hospitals for producing inedible ...
New draft government procurement guidelines will remove living wage protections for thousands of low-paid workers in Aotearoa New Zealand, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff. “The Minister of Finance Nicola Willis has proposed a new rule saying that the Living Wage no longer needs to be paid in ...
The Trump administration’s effort to divide Russia from China is doomed to fail. This means that the United States is destroying security relationships based on a delusion. To succeed, Russia would need to overcome more ...
Māori workers now hold more high-skilled jobs than low-skilled jobs with 46 percent in high-skilled jobs, 14 percent in skilled jobs, and 40 percent in low-skilled jobs. Resource teachers of literacy and Te Reo Māori are “devastated” by a proposal from the Education Minister to stop funding 174 roles from ...
Knowing what is going on in orbit is getting harder—yet hardly less necessary. But new technologies are emerging to cope with the challenge, including some that have come from Australian civilian research. One example is ...
This is a guest post by Malcolm McCracken. It previously appeared on his blog Better Things Are Possible and is shared by kind permission. New Zealand’s largest infrastructure project, the City Rail Link (CRL), is expected to open in 2026. This will be an exciting step forward for Auckland, delivering better ...
“The reality is I'm just saying to you I'm proud of the work we're doing. We're doing a great job”, said Luxon, pushing back at Auckland Council’s reports of rising homelessness and pleas for help. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest:Christopher Luxon denies his Government caused a ...
Should I stay, or should I go now?Should I stay, or should I go now?If I go, there will be troubleAnd if I stay, it will be doubleSo come on and let me knowSongwriters: Topper Headon, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Joe Strummer.Christopher,Tomorrow marks seventeen months since the last election. We’re ...
Homelessness in Auckland has risen by 53% in 4 months - that’s 653 peopleliving in cars, on streets and in parks.The city’s emergency housing numbers have fallen by about 650 under National too - now at record lows.Housing First Auckland is on the frontlines: There is “more and more ...
A growing consensus holds that the future of airpower, and of defense technology in general, involves the interplay of crewed and uncrewed vehicles. Such teaming means that more-numerous, less-costly, even expendable uncrewed vehicles can bring ...
Only two more sleeps to the Government’s Jamboree Investor Extravaganza! As a proud New Zealander I’m very much hoping for the best: Off-shore wind farms! Solar power! Sustainable industry powered by the abundant energy we could be producing!I wonder, will they have a deal already lined up, something to announce ...
After decades of gradual decline, Australia’s manufacturing capability is no longer mission-fit to meet national security needs. Any whole-of-nation effort to arrest this trend needs to start by making the industrial operating environment more conducive ...
Back in October 2022, Restore Passenger Rail hung banners across roads in Wellington to protest against the then-Labour government's weak climate change policy. The police responded by charging them not with the usual public order offences, but with "endangering transport", a crime with a maximum sentence of 14 years in ...
Luxon’s popularity continues to fall, and a new survey shows voters rank fixing the health system as the top priority. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesLong stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning: National’s pollster finds Christopher Luxon has fallen behind Chris Hipkins as preferred PM for the first ...
The CTU is calling for an apology from Nicola Willis after her office made a false characterisation of CTU statements, which ultimately saw him blocked from future Treasury briefings. New data shows that Māori make up 83% of those charged under new gang laws. Financial incentives are being offered to ...
Australia’s cyber capabilities have evolved rapidly, but they are still largely reactive, not preventative. Rather than responding to cyber incidents, Australian law enforcement agencies should focus on dismantling underlying criminal networks. On 11 December, Europol ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters Finally, there’s some good news to report from NOAA, the parent organization of the National Hurricane Center, or NHC: During the highly active 2o24 Atlantic hurricane season, the NHC made record-accurate track forecasts at every time interval (12-, ...
The Australian government has prioritised enhancing Australia’s national resilience for many years now, whether against natural disasters, economic coercion or hostile armed forces. However, the public and media response to the presence of Chinese naval ...
It appears that Auckland Transport is finally set to improve Auckland’s busiest non-frequent bus route, the 120. As highlighted in my post a month ago on Auckland’s busiest bus routes, the 120 is the busiest route that doesn’t already run frequently all day/week and carries more passengers than many other ...
Economists have earned their reputation for jargon and tunnel vision, but sometimes, it takes an someone as perceptive as Simplicity economist Shamubeel Eaqub to identify something simple and devastating. As he pointed out recently, the coalition government is trying to attract foreign investment here to generate economic growth, while – ...
Opinion & AnalysisSimeon Brown, left, and Deloitte partner David LovattIn September 2024, Deloitte Partner David Lovatt, was contracted by the National Government to help National ostensibly understand “the drivers behind HNZ’s worsening financial performance”.1 i.e. deficit.The report shows the last version was dated December 2024.It was formally released this week ...
This cobbled-together government was altogether more the beneficiary of Labour getting turfed out than anything it managed to do itself. Even the worthless cheques they were writing didn't buy all that much favour.How’s it all looking now?Shall we take a look at a Horizon poll?The Government’s performance is making only ...
There's horrible news from the US today, with the Trump regime disappearing Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student, for protesting against genocide in Gaza. Its another significant decline in US human rights, and puts them in the same class as the authoritarian dictatorships they used to sponsor in South ...
Yesterday National announced plans to amend the Public Works Act to "speed up" land acquisition for public works. Which sounds boring and bureaucratic - except its not. Because what "land acquisition" means is people's homes being compulsorily acquired by the state - which is inherently controversial, and fairly high up ...
Contenders: The next question after “Will Luxon really go?” is, of course, “Will that work?” The answer to that question lies not so much in the efficacy of Luxon’s successor as it does in the perceived strength of the Centre-Left alternative.AT LEAST TWO prominent political commentators are alluding publicly to the ...
Ice will melt, water will boilYou and I can shake off this mortal coilIt's bigger than usYou don't have to worry about itIt's circumstantialIt's nothing written in the skyAnd we don't even have to trySongwriters: Neil Finn / Tim Finn.Preparing for the future.Many of you will be familiar with the ...
In my post last Thursday I offered some thoughts on changes that should be initiated by the government in the wake of the Governor’s surprise resignation. (Days on we still have no real explanation as to why he just resigned with no notice, disappearing out the door and (eg) leaving ...
In late February a Chinese navy flotilla including a cruiser, a frigate and a replenishment ship began to circle Australia, conducting a live fire exercise in the Tasman Sea along the way. The Strategist featured ...
China’s deployment of a potent surface action group around Australia over the past two weeks is unprecedented but not unique. Over the past few years, China’s navy has deployed a range of vessels in Australia’s ...
Long stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning: Within months and before Parliamentary approval is obtained, the Government plans to strip non-Maori landowners of the right to use the Environment Court to stop compulsory acquisition for fast-track projects and big new motorways.The Government also wants to buy off landowners ...
Labour does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure like schools, hospitals and prisons, which will only see worse outcomes for Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...
With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...
Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...
Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...
This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will ensure employment decisions in the public service are based on merit and not on forced woke ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ targets. “This Bill would put an end to the woke left-wing social engineering and diversity targets in the public sector. ...
Police have referred 20 offenders to Destiny Church-affiliated programmes Man Up and Legacy as ‘wellness providers’ in the last year, raising concerns that those seeking help are being recruited into a harmful organisation. ...
Te Pāti Māori welcomes the resignation of Richard Prebble from the Waitangi Tribunal. His appointment in October 2024 was a disgrace- another example of this government undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi by appointing a former ACT leader who has spent his career attacking Māori rights. “Regardless of the reason for ...
Police Minister Mark Mitchell is avoiding accountability by refusing to answer key questions in the House as his Government faces criticism over their dangerous citizen’s arrest policy, firearm reform, and broken promises to recruit more police. ...
The number of building consents issued under this Government continues to spiral, taking a toll on the infrastructure sector, tradies, and future generations of Kiwi homeowners. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Prime Minister to rule out joining the AUKUS military pact in any capacity following the scenes in the White House over the weekend. ...
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As always No right turn sums it up in a very sensible manor. Too which I totally agree. The Tories in this country are running scared, and they should be, austerity has created a bloody shambles.
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2017/06/the-boomers-are-afraid.html
I’d like to add, around the wharves, you may have had stuff nicked from the wharf when you imported it, (which you’d get your money back if it happened – never happened to me so I think van Beynen is full of it on this one) now we just have thieves with their hands out taking you money off you when you import anything via a process called ‘handling’. Biggest rout around, they same companies who unload your products are now got their hands in the pot charging you more.
Really this pretend division between the generations is just another round in the tired old game of divide and conquer.
Beynen is full of it; but so is the idea that all Boomers somehow set out to fuck up their own children. On the face of it this has to be an absurdist notion.
What many of us do see, and does concern us deeply … is a world in which our children and grandchildren are not doing as well as us. Yes in many ways we were a fortunate generation and I’ll not duck that. But the idea it was all handed to us on a silver plate is a risible nonsensensical delusion.
The real divide in this world is between the tiny handful of uber-wealthy who control the vast majority of the world’s wealth and exert a grossly disproportionate political influence … and the rest of us unwashed plebs of any age. There lies your real inequality, one that will persist and perpetuate long after my generation has died out. Anything else is a distraction.
Worth a read. I bookmarked this a while back:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/12/millennial-baby-boomer-trade-places-stab-envy
You did see this graph didn’t you?
It’s hard to say that the Boomers aren’t actively working against the young on the stats of who votes for whom.
It wasn’t all handed to the oldies on a silver platter but they’re definitely pulling up the ladder behind them. They may not mean to do that but that is what they’re doing when they vote National.
But it shouldn’t last and the Boomers should be the ones trying hardest to get rid of it rather than perpetuating it. They’re supposed to know better but the majority prove that they know far, far less and vote with that ignorance.
Do you realise how many “boomers” have put their mortgage free properties up as security so their kids can buy a grossly overvalued house?
How do you think the property market has been propped up for so long?
When this property bubble bursts it’s going to affect so many people it’s not funny,
It’s quite normal for some people (by no means everyone, or even a majority of people) to become more politically conservative as they get older. This happens regardless of what ‘generation’ you are born into.
Keep in mind that if 60% of us voted progressive as young things, it only takes 20% of us to shift over the years, for 60% to be voting conservative in later life. That’s just people for you, it’s not some weird conspiracy to fuck over our children.
Also I have to say it, there are too many of my generation who still remember Rogernomics and are still waiting for Labour to make an unequivocal break with it’s toxic past. It’s this legacy that Winston dines out on.
And if all of us boomers were to die tommorrow, do you imagine the world would suddenly be a wonderful perfectly equitable place?
Also what BM said.
(Also I have to say it, there are too many of my generation who still remember Rogernomics and are still waiting for Labour to make an unequivocal break with it’s toxic past. )
I could not agree more. When they return to a true left wing party they will get my vote again until then no chance.
There are also class differences between boomers, as with all generations. The life expectancy of low income people, the 10% of the population on lowest incomes, in the UK is on average about 62 years – so more wealthy people are living longer. That will also be impacting on voting stats for the elderly.
That’s very intriguing Carolyn.
I vote for what I see as best for All the people of the country, nor what is best for me. If more folks looked at voting in this way we may have a different country /world.
What is best for the community is what’s best for you.
The problem is that we’ve been trained over the centuries to believe that what the individual wants is what’s best for the community and that’s not actually true.
Well, this:
I should also like to point out that Corbyn (and the likes of Diane Abbott) are also boomers. While the majority of older folks voted Tory, the likes of Corbyn, Abbott, and many of us boomers who have always voted left, are glad others are picking up some of the values we have subscribed to most of our lives.
I’m very glad to see large numbers of young people picking up on those values, and adapting them to the 21st century context.
Tom Walker aka Jonathan Pie talks seriously – post UK election and pre Grenfell Tower fire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtPWRHz7kCw
Good stuff.
Property watchdog warning from Hobanz president John Gray: NZ buildings have fire risk due to cost cutting.
https://soundcloud.com/nzherald/john-gray-speaks-to-newstalk-zb
An interesting interview. Hobanz president John Gray puts it down to “willful negligence”.
“Constantly anxious” should not be the default mindset for a deputy leader
I expect to see Ardern bow out of politics after this year’s election, leadership material she most certainly isn’t.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/06/poll-jacinda-ardern-s-popularity-plummets.html
Depends upon where you are on the Dunning-Kreuger effect I suppose. RWNJs who are too stupid to realise that they’re ignorant schmucks probably won’t have any while while everyone else would.
If you’re not confident or riddled with self-doubt you’re no leader.
I think Jacinda has realised she’s not leadership material and is currently in a position where she’s not comfortable being, nothing wrong with that though being honest with your abilities and knowing what your skills and weaknesses are is a very valuable skill to have.
You can be anxious and confident at the same time.
Self-doubt is not a desired skill to have in a leader.
Compassion is though. So is self awareness and a willingness to see things from the point of view of those who are most disadvantaged by one’s actions. Key, English et al lack these qualities entirely.
Too much compassion and empathy can end up crushing an individual if you’re that way inclined.
Sometimes a leader has to make hard decisions and make them quickly, people that get too emotionally involved are not people you want as leaders.
Nah its the other way round. True leadership involves the emotional aspect. We generally make decisions emotionally then justify them rationally.
Who said, “too much”?
Keep it real, BM. Your use of absolutes is disingenuous and a time-waster for those who want to talk about the real world.
You rarely discuss homelessness, child poverty and inequality, but always talk polls and personality politics.
Does this show what you care about?
To be blunt Ed I try not to get too involved in the emotional stuff.bad shit happens, that’s life.
So that’s a yes.
You don’t care about bad stuff.
Its part and parcel of life.
And we should not care about others in need?
What is “self-doubt” apart from a worry the mask might slip ?
She’s anxious about letting people down which is actually an attribute that you want in someone in power. There’s no self-doubt.
People who don’t give a shit, the people who aren’t anxious about anything, are the people who will trample over anything and everything to get things the way they think they should be – and the end result will be atrocities and an oppressive regime.
True and I’m not sure a magazine article chocka full of those thoughts just before an election is so wise either.
Let me guess, you read that in Reader’s Digest.
Spoken like a confidence man.
Who’s talking about Ardern as a leader ?
anxiety and self-doubt aren’t the same thing.
Neither should fatuous and callous, to be fair.
Crikey BM, this kind of fishing reminds me of the nosey gossip that lives around the corner, real sad. Anyways thought I’d shine a lil light on your bait.
After Jacindas highest preferred PM polling last time around even she said her popularity would drop, she said the only reason she was polling high was because of the spot light being on her re Mt Albert byelection. Paddy Gower mentions it at the start of the clip you posted.
2. Jacinda doesn’t want to be the PM and has made that clear more than once.
Not everyone wants to lead BM, some are more than content to help a leader, it’s not a race dude, not everyone models themselves on Frank Underwood. Often the best leaders are the ones who do not want the job.
3. BM, are there any other deputy party leaders even featuring on the preferred PM poll? Mhmm Jacinda is the only one, kudos to her for that achievement. I have never ever seen Paula feature on that poll not ever. JS
4. Heaven forbid politician answered a question honestly, can’t have that can we? And by crikey no common ground, please, politicians aren’t supposed to show feelings, showing feelings of an almost human nature.. this will not do.
Who is your favourite deputy leader BM and why?
China’s quantum satellite in big leap
Quantum communications takes another step toward practicality.
More crony capitalism from Trump:
And there’s this:
Perhaps the Donald shouldn’t have hung up….
Aussies M T on “Winning in the Polls”
Well at least he has a sense of humour.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/15/asia/turnbull-trump-australia-speech/index.html
Is this the laziest government in New Zealand history?
The number of instances where National Party ministers have no idea what is happening in their ministries and offices is unbelievable.
Two more today. Coleman distancing himself from bad news by ‘berating officials’ apparently in the dark on figures, and Bridges also conveniently knowing nothing about what his own office is doing on OIA requests.
Why is it you have to read the foreign media to find the truth about New Zealand?
What’s behind New Zealand’s shocking youth suicide rate?
Think of New Zealand and what likely comes to mind is beautiful nature – fjords, mountains and magnificent landscapes, vast, empty and endless.
But for years already, the country has been struggling with another form of isolation – depression and suicide.
A new report by Unicef contains a shocking statistic – New Zealand has by far the highest youth suicide rate in the developed world.
A shock but no surprise – it’s not the first time the country tops that table.
The Unicef report found New Zealand’s youth suicide rate – teenagers between 15 and 19 – to be the highest of a long list of 41 OECD and EU countries.
The rate of 15.6 suicides per 100,000 people is twice as high as the US rate and almost five times that of Britain.
Why New Zealand?
There’s a combination of reasons, and it’s important not to only focus on one statistic, warns Dr Prudence Stone of Unicef New Zealand.
The high suicide rate ties in with other data, showing for instance child poverty, high rates of teenage pregnancies or families where neither of the parents have work.
New Zealand also has “one of the world’sworst records for bullying in school”, says Shaun Robinson of the Mental Health Foundations New Zealand.
He explains there is a “toxic mix” of very high rates of family violence, child abuse and child poverty that need to be addressed to tackle the problem.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-40284130
So in one word….
Neoliberalism
But how do we compare with other third world nations?
ITV’s Robert Peston
DUP BACKS MAY’S BREXIT VISION, NOT CHANCELLOR’S
http://www.itv.com/news/2017-06-15/dup-backs-theresa-mays-vision-of-brexit-not-philip-hammonds/