Daily Review 18/05/2017

Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, May 18th, 2017 - 60 comments
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Daily review is also your post.

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

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

Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

60 comments on “Daily Review 18/05/2017”

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  1. adam 1
    18 May 2017 at 6:04 pm

    So it’s now this, Turkish Goons beat up US citizens in the USA.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHxAeRwfyGs

    • Muttonbird 1.1
      18 May 2017 at 6:18 pm

      Holy shit, that was in America! I like the way the host suggested Trump would be taking notes from Erdogan on how to become more authoritarian.

      • NZJester 1.1.1
        18 May 2017 at 7:38 pm

        Have you never watched the TYT channel?
        That is not the first time they have suggested that about Trump.
        They are one of the few Independent News organizations left in the US not controlled by corporate money. A lot of the others are slowly being purged of most centrist and left-wing commentators.
        Cenk Uygur the owner of TYT is actually Turkish/American born in Istanbul, Turkey and is not a very big fan of what the Turkish government has done to his birth country either. For some time now he has been trying to pull Republicans and Democrats togeather to get the money out of Politics in the US. He is a champion of wolf-pac.com who are slowly gathering a number of states together to get an amendment to the US constitution to do just that.

    • joe90 1.2
      18 May 2017 at 8:15 pm

      A couple of arrests.

      .

      A Turkish state news agency acknowledged that guards for Erdogan, who had earlier met with President Trump at the White House, had targeted demonstrators. Many of the aggressors seen on video were wearing dark suits and ties, and several had guns. At least two of the guns were seen on video being dropped and then picked up during skirmishes.

      In a statement released Wednesday evening, the Turkish Embassy called the demonstration “unpermitted” and “provocative.” Officials alleged in the statement that the protesters were affiliated with the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States. A protest leader denied that any of the participants were involved with the PKK or sympathized with the group.

      “The demonstrators began aggressively provoking Turkish-American citizens” who had gathered to greet Erdogan, the statement said. “The Turkish-Americans responded in self defense and one of them was seriously injured.”

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/turkeys-presidential-guards-violently-clash-with-protesters-outside-embassy/2017/05/17/8420942a-3b05-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html

      • Bill 1.2.1
        18 May 2017 at 8:45 pm

        ‘Nice’ to see that American cops understand the concept of never pulling up the guy in the suit. 👿

    • Bill 1.3
      18 May 2017 at 8:29 pm

      Pretty sure similar happened during his 2016 visit to the US. Not new.

      edit – link

      2nd edit. I guess the reaction will be much the same too 😉 Fatih Oke, a spokesperson for the Turkish embassy in Washington, said he arrived at the event after the alleged incidents. “I can’t comment on what I didn’t see,” he said. “The meeting was wonderful.”

  2. bwaghorn 2
    18 May 2017 at 6:13 pm

    they are using north korea as a boogie man to get tpp over the line now, wtf ,please explain

    • Muttonbird 3.1
      18 May 2017 at 6:48 pm

      That might be so but the real purpose of Treveeits article was to promote invented discord in the Labour Green MOU and to paint opposition parties as hysterical left wingers overly obsessed with Trump and bitter that he won. She was obviously disappointed Labour and Greens weren’t on the same page on this. Disappointed that the Greens brought up Hitler but she couldn’t get Labour to do the same.

      I notice Farrar is all over it too, asking for Shaw to apologise. To who for fuck’s sake? Trump?

      • bwaghorn 3.1.1
        18 May 2017 at 6:59 pm

        well Shaw needs to leave the mad talk for us fringe ranters , so a good lesson for him to.

        • Muttonbird 3.1.1.1
          18 May 2017 at 7:03 pm

          Fair enough a bit naive, but he did reference that Backbenchers is a TV show filmed in a pub and pub talk is the whole point. Y’know, robust comedy, etc.

          It’s not naive like menacingly threatening NGOs with funding cuts at a major party conference…

      • weka 3.1.2
        18 May 2017 at 8:50 pm

        probably doesn’t hurt for the two parties to be seen to disagree and then keep working well together.

        Plus, Tr*mp probably is the most dangerous person since Hitler. And no, Andrew, you don’t lose the argument by mentioning Hitler when it’s an actual historical reference.

        • Bill 3.1.2.1
          18 May 2017 at 10:11 pm

          Hitler had a whole set of institutional enthusiasm behind him…and an international tendency to feed from – fascism being in the ascendancy and supported by a failing and flailing liberal establishment (Spanish Revolution knee capped by supposed liberal “non- involvement” – fascist leaders receiving Times “man of the year” endorsements etc)…

          Trump’s got none of that. Trump’s not dangerous. He’s an unpleasant and damaging flash in the pan is all.

          What comes after Trump is what we should be looking to. That’s where the danger lies.

          • weka 3.1.2.1.1
            18 May 2017 at 11:12 pm

            Well you and I will have to disagree on that. Both my own perception and the politicos I am following in the US see Tr*mp as legitimising a whole range of latent fascism in the US and the longer that goes on the harder it will be to roll back. There is also the issue of how fascism comes about and the process of normalising things that were even recently not considered normal. There’s plenty of commentary on that coming out of the US. ‘He’s not really fascist’ is part of how fascism comes about 😉

            And he is not on his own. Not only does he have his team of seriously fucked in the head powermongers and deathmongers, but there are other dangerous Republicans who will be perceived as less extreme than Tr*mp but only because he’s set a new standard. So there is the institutional enthusiasm.

            He has the nuclear launch codes, so that can’t be compared to Hitler’s time, but it’s one of the things that makes him so dangerous.

            “fascist leaders receiving Times “man of the year” endorsements etc”

            Tr*mp was Time’s ‘Person of Year’ last year.

            http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/

            I didn’t take Shaw as comparing Tr*mp with Hitler, or their respective milieu, but instead saying that Tr*mp is the most dangerous person since Hitler, including in terms of potential impact globally. I’d be interested to hear examples of other individuals that fit that bill better.

            • Bill 3.1.2.1.1.1
              18 May 2017 at 11:40 pm

              So okay, a president – any president of the USA is influential on the world stage…if they have institutional backing. Trump doesn’t have that. Both the Republican establishment and the Democratic establishment – with all their media and intelligence community networks, are working to bring him down.

              You want “normalisation” of fascism? Then look to how liberal msm report on the likes of UKIP or Le Pen.

              • weka …
                18 May 2017 at 11:50 pm

                Are you saying there is no normalising of fascism going on in the US?

                Hopefully Tr*mp will be brought down, because he is actually that dangerous. I don’t think those forces are working against him because he’s an unpleasant flash in the pan.

                • Bill …
                  19 May 2017 at 12:16 am

                  As I said elsewhere…I commented in the run-up to the US election that if Trump won, the opportunity would be there for the left to organise and mobilise, and that the danger to that would be coming from the wound licking democrats and their fellow travelers seeking to rehabilitate themselves.

                  Seems that danger’s risen up now – eg, vacuous ‘Russia meddling’ reports, bullshit CW reports, endless stream of baseless accusations feeding into general jagged finger pointing…and no-one’s calling it.

                  Which is potentially going to leave us with a ‘nice’ situation in the US whereby the forces of “anything but Trump” (the ‘establishment’ as personified by Cain/Clinton et al) are aligned against the “anything but the status quo” (swathes of the electorate) and “the left” will be nowhere to be seen.

                  • weka …
                    19 May 2017 at 12:37 pm

                    yes, and that’s not incompatible with Tr*mp being extremely dangerous.

                    • Red …
                      19 May 2017 at 4:14 pm

                      There is complete over reaction to trump, if he would just shut his stupid mouth, close down his twitter account, act like a president it would simply be business as usual re US presidents

                    • weka …
                      19 May 2017 at 5:08 pm

                      Except for the fascist bits.

                • reason …
                  19 May 2017 at 8:05 pm

                  The u.s.a has a long and brutal history of genocide, slavery and disregard of human rights towards those they consider untermensch ….

                  Their savagery is beyond normal http://withoutsanctuary.org/pics_38.html

                  Their rich in particular ….. have literally supported Nazis to the extent of helping exteriminate the jews and profiting from slave labour in the concentration camps …. not to mention supplying vital war material to the Nazis during the war.

                  Firms like IBM helped keep on top of the huge organisation which goes into killing millions and millions …..

                  I suspect they also made money from operation phoenix in vietnam ….

                  And operation Condor in south America…. when the generals ( with u.s.a backing ), had taken over Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and a few other countries …… In Nazi/facist style they killed unionist, intellectuals, land and human rights advocates etc .

                  u.s.a supplied the computers to keep track of all the unionists and those marked for death ….. no matter where they ran.

                  IBM computers probably,… as there were not to many computing companies in the early and mid 1970’s …..

                  Tax Havens are another thing with a strong Nazi association …. so most corporations ( IBM of course ), use them

                  The Nazis beat communisim/socialisim http://100photos.time.com/photos/kevin-carter-starving-child-vulture

                  This is what Victory looks like http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/world/82862438/banana-republic-the-ugly-story-behind-new-zealands-most-popular-fruit

                  http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/

                  And at the end of this video …. we get a look at our new Allies ….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkuonQCw_jg ….. we are supporting nazis ….. just like Nato and the U.s.a

                  Trump is made in the u.s.a …..

  4. Muttonbird 4
    18 May 2017 at 6:37 pm

    The stories of dairy hold-ups now come daily and it is bad news for the National Party which cut police services, increased inequality, removed surety of work hours, and treated the unemployed like criminals.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11858552

    There are a shitload of votes here for Labour which should be discussing loudly how they are going to reduce the crime and violence which has increased under National.

    • indiana 4.1
      18 May 2017 at 7:14 pm

      How about this, people know that robbing is wrong. If people didn’t think about robbing people, you wouldn’t need so much police as everyone behave harmoniously. But no, let’s make this a political issue, because a government doesn’t have enough police, that’s why there are so many robberies. Are you suggesting we need more police because people can’t help themselves? Instead of more police, let store keepers arm themselves. Then we’ll see how many people think about robbing someone else.

      • McFlock 4.1.1
        18 May 2017 at 7:15 pm

        yeah, because places where storekeepers arm themselves are crime free. Totally works every time.

        • David Mac 4.1.1.1
          18 May 2017 at 7:59 pm

          I agree McFlock, solutions need to be formed with the understanding that violence begets violence.

          Any solution that doesn’t drill down to the core of the problem is a Band Aid, the infection rages. Young people choosing to stick a knife in someone’s face is fixed by giving them something better to do.

          When one of our young people is sticking a knife in someone’s face, it’s our society, we created it, some of the buck stops with us. We’ve done a crap job of directing all that energy and adrenaline, geez it could be winning the Warriors games.

          If I was PM I’d be creating a Department of ‘Sorry you got such crap parents, pull on this wetsuit, pick up that spear-gun and follow me.’

      • In Vino 4.1.2
        18 May 2017 at 7:22 pm

        There will always be those people when you push policies that create poverty and hopelessness. Neo-liberalism has pushed us a long way down the path of creating a hell-hole of a society, and here you are putting up feeble, unrealistic arguments. Get real.

        • The decrypter 4.1.2.1
          18 May 2017 at 7:28 pm

          The answer lies in the —Budget.

        • Bill 4.1.2.2
          18 May 2017 at 8:24 pm

          It was a hell-hole of a society way back when Charles Dickens was writing. None of the fundamentals have changed – just some of the elastoplasts that had been applied have been stripped off these past decades.

          The answer now is no different to what it was then…

          • Stunned mullet 4.1.2.2.1
            18 May 2017 at 9:37 pm

            “..none of the fundamentals have changed since dickensian times..”

            I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt in that perhaps your definition of “the fundamentals” is quite narrow.

            • Bill 4.1.2.2.1.1
              18 May 2017 at 9:48 pm

              Market driven economy – capitalism. You think the rules have changed?

              • Stuart Munro …
                19 May 2017 at 2:01 am

                I’d suggest what Mayhew describes went a bit further than we’re used to.

                https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/16/rereading-henry-mayhew-london-poor

                Not for want of Gnats trying, or other parties failing to overturn their rorts mind.

                • Bill …
                  19 May 2017 at 11:31 am

                  Well, yes. What Mayhew describes is a situation that occurred in the absence of any welfare state.

                  But the economic rules that gave rise to that situation are the same rules our economy operates by today.

                  btw – ever been homeless without access to welfare, and tried hawking or peddling? You get lifted. Which offers an interesting twist in a situation where we’d dispensed with social welfare provisions – in some ways survival would be harder now than it was then, thanks to specific ‘regulations’ and ‘laws’…

      • Muttonbird 4.1.3
        18 May 2017 at 7:54 pm

        How very basic of you.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 4.1.4
        19 May 2017 at 8:20 am

        Rather than employing more police, it would be a lot cheaper (and better in so many other ways) to reduce income inequality, and you don’t want to do that either, assuming you are capable, which I don’t.

  5. Bill 5
    18 May 2017 at 7:44 pm

    And in shock breaking news, it seems the NZ Labour Party may have been paying attention to the SNP afterall!!!

    http://www.labour.org.nz/kiwibuild 🙂

  6. Glenn 6
    18 May 2017 at 8:14 pm

    Why if Myrtle Rust has been randomly “wind blown” from Australia to the Kermadecs and the NZ mainland is it being detected only (I think) in plant nurseries? Surely with NZ’s westerlys it would be showing up in Western NZ native bush and feijoa orchards yet the only references I see is to plant nurseries.

    • weka 6.1
      18 May 2017 at 8:40 pm

      Nurseries are probably good nurseries for MR if you get what I mean (i.e. ideal conditions).

  7. Whispering Kate 7
    18 May 2017 at 8:27 pm

    With the severity of the violence with dairy owners and cigarettes. As nicotine is an addicting substance why doesn’t the Government place all cigarettes and tobacco into the same category as methadone, the heroin substitute and have dedicated places where people can go and buy their fags in a controlled and secure area. I remember years ago hearing from the guy who rang Kingseat Hospital that nicotine was as difficult as heroin to withdraw from – why on earth isn’t it a controlled substance?

    I realise that supermarkets and dairies will loose a lot of income but surely with ingenuity they could come up with other ideas and products to get customers through the door. While I am on this I cannot see why booze can’t be also separated off from general food products in the supermarket like Australia does. To be honest – there could be a valid reason to separate off completely alcohol into secure areas like methadone and nicotine as well to do away with the numerous booze outlets.

    I am not a whowser – I enjoy my wine, but if push came to shove I would be prepared to purchase my alcohol in a secure environment and maybe that would stop all this terrible violence occurring to shop owners.

    Pigs might fly too.

    • weka 7.1
      18 May 2017 at 8:46 pm

      Bill wrote a post about that once (nicotine addicts being able to register and have access to supply).

      https://thestandard.org.nz/curing-tobacco/

      Don’t think it will solve the dairy robberies, they’re stealing for shit to sell to make money, and they’re amped up on the violence as far as I can tell. Take away the tobacco and they’ll steal something else.

      I have no problem with alcohol being restricted to licensed premises.

      • Bill 7.1.1
        18 May 2017 at 8:50 pm

        heh – I do believe that was before the advent of vapourising 🙂 (Nicotine habit satisfied for about $2 per week)

        I should edit. Edit. Vapourising paraphernalia should be available on script. It’s presently illegal to sell or supply nicotine in solution in NZ, meaning…all the government subsidies goes to pharma selling bullshit patches, gums, and pills.

  8. mauī 8
    18 May 2017 at 8:51 pm

    RIP Chris Cornell. For the rockers out there:

  9. joe90 9
    18 May 2017 at 8:58 pm

    Erdogan’s man in the White House succeeded.

    The plan to arm the Kurdish fighters had been seven months in the making when it was presented to Flynn.

    “Don’t approve it,” Flynn said, according to an account in The Washington Post that was included in a timeline prepared by the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. “We’ll make the decision.”

    http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article151149702.html

    • Bill 9.1
      18 May 2017 at 9:14 pm

      No, he didn’t succeed.

      The sad truth is that no-one wants to see the autonomous regions’ experiment with substantive forms of democratic governance persist…

      not the Turkish government.
      nor the US government
      nor the EU
      nor the Syrian government
      nor the traditional Arab structures of power in the region
      nor the government of Iraqi Kurdistan…

      Trump has finally agreed to supply light arms – oh, underwhelmed whoop. I think I may be right in saying that heavier weaponry will be supplied on a tightly monitored basis (ie – it gets ‘rented out’ for specific operations and then returned)

      This shit is like the Spanish revolution gone horribly wrong if you can imagine such a thing 🙁

  10. repateet 10
    18 May 2017 at 9:18 pm

    Just in case Steven Joyce is thinking of running with ‘Strong and Stable’ this year. The end part on here has so many elements which are ours; and his.

    • Bill 10.1
      18 May 2017 at 10:23 pm

      Was torturing myself trying to remember who else it was I’d seen punting on the “Strong and Stable” meme, then I remembered it was the “Brighter Future” meme being peddled by the UK’s Lib Dems …Go Teh Guardian! 😉

  11. keepcalmcarryon 11
    18 May 2017 at 9:47 pm

    Water is still a huge issue. Damien Oconnor spoke well on backbenchers the other night – except on water where he was worse than weak. Greens were good, NZ first lady mostly looked proud of herself for showing up, Chester Borrows a pillock.
    Everyone bar the greens patting themselves and fed farmers on the back about fencing watreways noone addressing the real issue of Nitrate leaching.
    And today the Nats go for the half billion with irrigation subsidies by throwing another 90 million in there
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/92742733/government-90m-boost-for-irrigation-to-produce-economic-and-environment-gains

    Incredibly this is spun as having environmental benefit by replenishing the aquifer!
    ” “At the same time these schemes can deliver real environmental benefits by maintaining river flows and recharging groundwater aquifers.””
    Really?

  12. Incognito 12
    18 May 2017 at 10:21 pm

    Although his writing is a little academic/intellectual in style I like his thinking: Max Harris on the unavoidable centrality of environmental politics

    https://impolitikal.com/2017/05/15/extract-max-harris-on-the-unavoidable-centrality-of-environmental-politics/

    • Robert Guyton 12.1
      18 May 2017 at 10:51 pm

      That’s very good.

    • Bill 12.2
      18 May 2017 at 11:02 pm

      Only about to read it.

      But punting it’ll be making the obvious point that all these house building proposals from the Libuorish Party and the Narsty Party are just so much bullshit riding alongside all their other inadequate and “reality defying” bullshit, yes?

      • weka 12.2.1
        18 May 2017 at 11:14 pm

        building housing is bullshit because of the environment?

        • Bill 12.2.1.1
          18 May 2017 at 11:29 pm

          Over 30 000 houses are under water according to Jan Wright’s (Commissioner for the Environment) report from 2015. Only 1000 odd of those fucked dwellings are in Auckland, yet the bulk of any party’s building programme is Auckland based.

          These fucking clowns (the politicians) might as well don a Donald wig as far as I’m concerned.

          • weka 12.2.1.1.1
            18 May 2017 at 11:47 pm

            Ah, CC. I’d gone down another track re housing and the environment.

            30,000, but not for a while right? Not sure what you are saying. The reason they’re focussing on Ak is because so much pressure is there right now.

            • Bill 12.2.1.1.1.1
              18 May 2017 at 11:59 pm

              Depends on whether you want to go with IPCC reports or not. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is running on prelim figures they gleaned from research on Antarctica just prior to the US elections that point to a possible 1.5m by as soon as 2050. Regardless of whether that pans out, “no-one” takes the IPCC suggestion of 1m by 2100 seriously any more.

              New Zealand assumes houses have to be around for 50 years.

              Jan Wright’s figures that I added up to be over 30 000 were based on a 1.5m sea level rise.

              edit. In the absence of serious measures being taken in other places that are ‘going under’, then the pressure in Auckland will be seriously exacerbated by what we might come to term as internal refugees.

              • weka …
                19 May 2017 at 12:35 pm

                Sure, and Labour and the Greens are looking at the housing crisis in NZ not just Ak, but I think everyone is very focussed on the people who are homeless this year.

                Still not sure what your point is. Is it that no-one is taking CC seriously enough? (agreed). Is it that people are still building in stupid places (agreed, and Dunedin is at least making moves on this). Is it that Ak is too low lying?

                • Bill …
                  19 May 2017 at 1:51 pm

                  The housing policies are nowhere near ambitious enough because they do not seem to be taking into account the huge and inevitable loss in housing stock that’s going to result from sea level rise.

                  We’re not looking at some distant tomorrow on that front and it’s going to be on-going. It’s a consideration that should be a part and parcel of any current housing policy.

                  edit – and a 10 year build as Labour proposes isn’t really doing much for those homeless today or this year.

                  • weka …
                    19 May 2017 at 2:23 pm

                    That’s why I’m voting Green 😉

                    I’m less worried about the actual number of houses re CC, because NZ has shit loads of empty houses. Stats NZ has occupancy rates for most places, all cities have empty houses.

                    “There are 46,590 occupied dwellings and 3,915 unoccupied dwellings in Dunedin City.
                    …
                    There are 186 dwellings under construction in Dunedin City, and 9,756 under construction in New Zealand.”

                    “There are 11,508 occupied dwellings and 4,467 unoccupied dwellings in Queenstown-Lakes District.
                    …
                    There are 237 dwellings under construction in Queenstown-Lakes District, and 9,756 under construction in New Zealand.”

                    https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-07042017/#comment-1318184

                    I’d put Dunedin at average and QLDC as high relative to NZ but normal relative to other tourist towns.

                    Lots of houses are under occupied too. And there will be a fair number of houses that can be moved. Which isn’t to say you aren’t right about political parties not designing policy around this properly (they’re not), just that I consider sea level rise to be one of NZ’s lesser problems (plenty of technical solutions for us and we have the wealth to do them, our problem is political and social).

      • Bill 12.2.2
        18 May 2017 at 11:23 pm

        Read it. Reaching for the puke bucket. Just another fluffy and clueless liberal seeking preservation through the variation of a theme that’s served them well.

        • Incognito 12.2.2.1
          19 May 2017 at 7:55 am

          [Max Harris is] Just another fluffy and clueless liberal seeking preservation through the variation of a theme that’s served [him] well

          Is that what you’re saying Bill? Because that’s what I think you’re saying but often I cannot tell …

          I do honestly think that Max Harris is genuinely trying to come up with solutions just like many others but of course this doesn’t mean he or anybody else will have (all) the answers let alone answers that’ll please or satisfy everyone. He’s not a policy-maker; he’s trying to stimulate debate in an open, honest and brave way and I think he should be applauded for this even, or perhaps especially (!), when you don’t agree with him or his thinking & ideas.

          • Bill 12.2.2.1.1
            19 May 2017 at 11:19 am

            Yeah – that was a rubbish and unfair comment. Retracted, withdrawn etc, etc.

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    Labour
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  • Labour’s plan the answer to motorway chaos
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    Labour
    2 weeks ago

  • Labour to build rail to Auckland Airport
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    Labour
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  • Waiting urology patients are the tip of the iceberg
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  • Maori Landowners Misled by Maori Party
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    Labour
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  • Government’s Johnny-come-lately approach to multinational tax won’t wash
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  • Auckland congestion up there with the world’s worst
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  • Labour backs renters’ call for warm, healthy homes
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  • We can – and must – do better for Kiwi jobs
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    3 weeks ago

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