I actually don't mind Ng. Meet him a few times, but I think he missed the bit where the renters are normally renting because they can't afford to buy a house, so his fluffy renters buying the house is a bit scewwiff
If an increased number of amateur investors exited the market because they couldn't be bothered to provide a warm, dry house to rent there would certainly be an increased number of houses available for young families. This of course would see house prices stabilise and become more affordable.
Don’t worry. You are still anonymous. Just slightly less anonymous than before.
[I don’t know what is going on here, but it is in no way acceptable to break someone’s pseudonym on TS. Chris T isn’t anonymous, he’s pseudonymous. I suggest you read the Gosman Hypocrisy Ruling in the site Policy. If you have a genuine concern about someone’s pseudonym, then grab the attention of a moderator. – weka]
Mod note for you Muttonbird, you're in premod until I see an acknowledgement you have read the note and the Policy and agree to abide by the site rules.
Ok, well your reply just read like you think you know better than a moderator, so I've put those two comments and your other comments into Spam and left you in premod until this gets sorted out. Basically we're in wasting moderator time now, and I'm sick of chasing round after regulars who should know better. If you don't understand a moderation, ask for clarification, I'm always happy to explain. But there is no good reason why any of us giving our time here should engage in an argument about moderation.
The points about other people's commenting styles can be made in more direct ways within the site's rules. Or as I said, flag a passing mod.
I thought I did bring attention to posting style last time but as you admitted you don't always read replies to your own demands so commenters don't know where they stand.
It’s particularly relevant at this point in time because there is increasing awareness of right wing attack strategy of which deliberate dumbing down is a part. I have a lot of interest and a lot to say about it. Honestly, how can they claim to be interested in better education for people when the communicate in sloppy and false memes?
Still not sure how I broke the Gosman rule other than using the word "anonymous" instead of "pseudo-anonymous" but if it gets my posts uncensored then yes, I have re-read the rules and I will adhere to them in the future.
I know you're trying here MB, and I really wish I didn't have to be spending time on this, but your first paragraph needs a link so I know what you are referring to. I generally look at the replies list when I am on TS and read what people say to me, so I don't know what you mean. Please clarify. I'll respond to the rest of your comment and the other when we've got this sorted.
The reference was around a previous clash where I said had replied to one of your requests and you said, "you lost track of time". This seemed to mean it wasn't important to you.
Well you would be wrong about my priorities MB. I’m putting you onto the blacklist in the meantime, just to keep the comments moderation list clear. I will come back to this later, because I don’t want to spend my Sat morning chasing around after this. Reminder (to everyone) that in the end moderation comes down to shortening my time being sucked up. All people have to do is acknowledge the first moderation request and we can move on. Pick a fight with a moderator and this is what happens instead. It’s not personal to you MB, there’s been a run of this lately. If regulars aren’t going to respect moderation maybe I should just go back to banning instead of trying to sort things out.
Muttonbird, you said (comment copied from Trash because I can't move it to the front end),
Um. So basically I have been banned but you decline to give me any information on how long or why.
You've also not called it a ban but a blacklist. Could you please explain to the commenters what the difference is.
Sure. You're not banned. If you were banned I would have said so and told you the length of time. You're still in premod, but I have used the blacklist tool in the back end to manage this because it's less work for me. This means that the system sends all your comments to trash (before they were being held in the Pending queue and I was pushing them to Spam until we sorted the moderation issue out).
The reason you are in premod is because I moderated some comments of yours (about anonymity) and you chose to litigate that and now we're in a process of sorting all the things out that have arisen from that. Part of that is because the last time I moderated you, you also argued about it, so to limit the amount of time I have to spend on moderating you in the future it's better to get it all sorted once and for all now.
I've been busy and my attention is elsewhere and my priority on TS is finishing a draft post that's been sitting there for a week. None of that is personal to you, you're just the regular who happened to coincide with me running out of patience.
So, I will get back to this, I don't know when but I'm unlikely to let it drag on for days and days. I want you and I to come to an understanding on where the boundaries are for moderation so neither of us have to go through this in the future. Or next time I just issue a ban and sort it out that way. My preference is for the former because you've been here a long time and your comments fit with the site except sometimes when you overstep the bounds like this one (your original comment, and how you've handle moderation).
In other words, I'm putting time in here so that you don't get banned. There's an opportunity to get on board with that. It's election year and once things heat up with that I won't have this degree of leeway for sorting things out.
1. it's not ok to criticise people for anonymity, nor to try and connect up people's different IDs between here and elsewhere on the internet. On TS anonymity isn't allowed, pseudonimity is. Trying to break someone's pseudonomity will get serious moderator attention.
2. You have a history of abusive comments that have nothing to do with politics, and this needs to stop.
3. Next time you get moderated by me, if you argue about it, I will just ban in order to limit my time being used up. Asking for clarification is ok by me, taking pot shots at the moderator or moderation is not. How other moderators deal with moderating you is up to them, but I have made my notes and links in the back end if other mods want to refer to that.
I will assume you have read and understood these three points unless you ask for clarification, including the understanding that they will form the basis of moderation going forward.
The Gosman Hypocrisy Ruling basically says if you call someone using a pseudonym 'anonymous', while using a pseudonym, then you will be banned. As above and stated in the Policy, there are good reasons for understanding the difference between those two things.
1a. I didn't criticise anonymity – just let that commenter know we were co-commenters once before elsewhere. The anonymous/pseudo-anonymous differentiation is lost on me, and I suspect others.
1b. "Connecting people's different IDs". New rule and the forum rules need to be updated. How are commenters supposed to know this?
2. Accepted and I will adjust.
3. This is an issue but I will be the one to adjust because I must in order to keep my commenting privilege.
Otherwise, thank you for giving up your Sunday to address this and I look forward to the post you are working on.
Muttonbird.
1a. I told you in the original moderation I didn't know what was going on (still don't), but pointed you to the Policy and pointed out that there were problems with what you were doing.
Pseudonymity and anonymity are two different things. Anonymity is when the comment has no handle attached to it so two anonymous comments could be from the same person or two different people and there is no way to know. Think about that with a 200 comment post and what might happen. This is why anonymous comments aren't allowed on site. They're open to abuse and they make conversations confusing. Blogspot blogging platform used to allow anonymous comments (don't know if it still does, and it was an admin chosen setting) and it was really hard to follow complex conversations.
Pseudonymity is when people choose a pseudonym, like weka or Muttonbird, and use it consistently. Some people use that pseudonym across the internet (I use weka on twitter and FB for instance). Some people like to use different handles in different places, for lots of reasons, some quite legitimate. The continuity means that conversations are easy to follow, we get to know people and this creates a better political debate culture. It's also means it's harder for people to troll or flame.
Breaking Pseudonymity, either by directly doxxing someone (publishing their real life name or details online), or by sharing information so that different IDs can be linked up, is not ok because you have absolutely no way to know the person's reasons. This is a big issue for some people online eg feminists in political spaces who get threatened online and in RL when someone doxxes them. Or someone works in a job which would be at risk if their political views were known (and again, it's not usually possible to see the risk). This is why I take it very seriously.
1b. When I first moderated, all you had to do was ask for clarification instead of arguing about it. Not all moderators will explain things, but most will if asked politely. A lot of moderation comes from individual moderators making judgements in the moment based on a range of things to do with the safety of the site and the wellbeing of the community. Listening to what they say as they say things makes things clearer.
Finding the middle ground between ignoring bad behaviour and flat out banning isn't easy. It's time and energy consuming, and prone to not having the desired outcome.
Still can I sincerely say I fully support what you are trying to do. Best wishes.
My reading of 'anonymous' is that that personal details are unknown. I didn't think my original series of comments violated that but if you say there is a risk to commenters here if their handle from elsewhere is known, I accept that.
For reasons weka outlined, we don’t condone people using different user handles (AKA pseudonyms) here. You suspected that this was the case with two commenters and asked us to look into this. I did and found not a hint of this being the case. FYI, I’m particularly allergic to sockpuppetry, bordering on going anaphylactic, and I always keep an eye on this behaviour but it is easily missed too. I think that your judgement and behaviour were clouded by your opinion of and attitude towards those alleged sockpuppets. IMO, it’s perfectly ok to flag suspected sockpuppets but then let Moderators deal with it and accept their decision as they can see and do a lot more behind the scenes than you can.
There's a lot of cross over between the forum I mentioned, by the way. Three or four commenters here are active there on the 574 page NZ Politics Thread
I'm not one for linking other forums but I think it has value in the context of this argument. The Standard is referenced there quite a lot. Some here may find it childish (a lot of it is!) but there’s significant commentary about NZ Politics from domestic and largely ex-pat communities.
We don't post in a bubble and commenters' history, while considered sacrosanct here for some reason, is fair game as far as I'm concerned.
How do you build up knowledge and experience of and about a person without referencing previous behaviour?
[FFS! One Moderator is working hard to douse this fire and you come along with your typical wind-up act to flare it up again. Banned for a week – Incognito]
Comment received from Chris T after he was banned:
I haven't fucking done anything
You’re fucking fool for saying that. You’re a spray & walk away wind-up troll and you need to learn to shut the fuck up and especially not fuck with Moderators about moderation. I’m fucked off by your moronic behaviour and add another fucking week to your ban for fucking good measure. So, fuck off for a fortnight!
Thanks for the heads up gsays. I've not been around much today.
Note the statement from the Greens says… some political parties have a vested interest in the status quo.
Lets be crystal clear, they are: National and ACT.
While it looks like the NZ First Foundation may have dabbled in the behaviour to some extent, it will be nothing compared to the conduct of National and ACT over many years. There is no evidence that Labour and the Greens indulged in such arrangements.
The LP pledge card fiasco manufactured by the Nats had none of this subterfuge attached to it. It had been approved by Parliamentary Services – a fact the Nat complicit media of the time conveniently glossed over.
My friend's family were political refugees from Pinochet, but in recent years have returned to visit extended family in Chile.
Chilean housing policy history – not without problems but interesting to read, particularly in relation to housing activists operating before Pinochet's rule.
They assessed whether the pobladores had the right kind of family, were good workers, and acted in solidarity with their neighbors. They also investigated whether pobladores were “homeless” (sin casa). In the Chilean case, being homeless did not mean living on the street but rather that one was either living in substandard housing, renting a temporary residence, or staying in the home of extended family members or fictive kin.
Those who seized land sought the housing benefits they believed they were entitled to as citizens. Housing activists justified the seizures as an attempt to overcome a contradictory shortcoming of citizenship, which had made many Chileans “homeless”. At the same time, the seizures also expanded the boundaries of permissible activism.
Everyone’s really giving it their all linking the opposition to the Chinese.
good to see the left trudge down the same path UK labour did on their way to electoral defeat. Denying it’s racist all the way, because it’s true apparently that the cccp gave donation to National and not Labour and Chinese people buy houses.
have fun hugging the corpse that is Winston first all the way to the opposition benches again
I imagine that we can expect some sackings at Middlemore Hospital.
They have, in effect, called the PM a liar with her claims that sewage was running down the walls at the Hospital. How Dare They!
'There was "no sewage spilling into the building" and leaks were "immediately repaired", CMDHB's spokeswoman said.'
This is the second time that they have had to correct the erroneous statements by Government MPs. They have already pointed out the falsity of such statements back in 2019 apparently.
The PM is repeating a lie. A bit rich to call her a liar. When are you lefties going to start putting the boot into dairy farmers again. Starting to feel ignored down on the farm. Can't wait for the tax cuts next year.
So how much extra money are you getting from poisoning our rivers?
You know they let people put what they like in the rivers in places like Somalia? I bet their rivers are basically open sewers. That is what a country with no regulations has.
"Health Minister David Clark said all the stories about sewage had originated from the DHB"
"DHB acting chief executive Gloria Johnson declined to be interviewed but confirmed to RNZ on March 28 that there had been sewage leaks and said she believed other buildings at Middlemore could be affected"
A very brief reply. I never actually said the PM lied. It was the DHB which certainly implied it.
However. The first story you link to quotes the then acting, now long departed CEO. It was a story from March 2018. Did you notice the date? The CoL Health Minister grabbed the story, embroidered it and then spun it as being part of his spiel that National were Evil. Ms Ardern is continuing to tell the tale, as recently as last week in fact.
The DHB concerned denied that anything like what he claimed had happened and that the claims were vastly exaggerated. They did this in 2019. Ms Ardern took no notice and simply spun the story again last week. The DHB have repeated the fact that the original story was rubbish. I doubt if the current CoL will take any notice of course. Truth is irrelevant.
They are quite used to continuing to spread rubbish stories after they have been shown to be false of course. Remember how the outgoing Head of Treasury claimed to have had their system hacked? What actually happened of course was vastly simpler. His staff had put the material on-line in such a way that the general public, using Treasury supplied tools, could see what was in the Budget. Robertson continued the tale of the "hack" long after the way the provision of the data to the Public was demonstrated. He knew that the "hack" had never happened but sticking to the truth wasn't of overriding importance.
The one here spreading rubbish is you and you did imply that "government mps" that no doubt includes the PM are lying in your final paragraph prior to "edit" and you have completely missed the point where the spokesperson admits that there were sewage leaks.
The PM and her govt were told by the DHB. You trying to spin it to suit doesnt alter those facts.
Probably nobody will see my comment here as it is late on Wednesday night and I have only just caught this article
At a daily news briefing on Wednesday, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the credentials would be revoked in retaliation for a headline for an essay that ran in The Journal’s editorial pages earlier this month. The headline read, “China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia.”
Chinese officials have “demanded that The Wall Street Journal recognize the seriousness of the error, openly and formally apologize, and investigate and punish those responsible, while retaining the need to take further measures against the newspaper,” Geng Shuang, the ministry spokesman, said in a transcript provided by the Chinese government.
“The Chinese people do not welcome media that publish racist statements and smear China with malicious attacks,” he added.
Further down the article was a development that feels a bit off (to me anyway…but wth would I know about who/how rules are applied to journalists…)
It also comes less than one day after American officials in Washington said they would treat five government-controlled Chinese news organizations — Xinhua, CGTN, China Radio, China Daily and People’s Daily — as foreign government functionaries, subject to similar rules as diplomats stationed in the United States.
“We knew fossil fuel extraction – including fracking – was a major part of global methane emissions, but this impressive study suggests it is a far bigger culprit in human-induced climate change than we had ever thought,” he said.
“If correct, gas, coal and oil extraction and distribution around the world are responsible for almost half of all human-induced methane emissions. Add to that all the carbon dioxide that is then emitted when the fossil fuels are burned, and you need look no further for the seat of the climate emergency fire.”
And given that solar PV installations currently depend on co-located natural gas plants to fill in for the evening peak loads … this is the unspoken Archilles Heel of many so called 'renewable' sources. Without mass scale fuel/energy storage both wind and solar are not really as carbon zero as their advocates like to pretend:
A recent study published in the scientific journal Environmental Research Letters found that natural-gas use has grown so quickly that emissions from gas over the past six years have surpassed the decline in emissions resulting from a reduced use of coal. The study found that fossil fuel emissions grew at a slower rate in 2019 than in previous years but did not account for methane emissions from fossil fuel production and shipping.
Which is part of the teething issues of a new technology, not an endemic problem. Solutions are appearing, from Musks aussie battery to hydro stations using surplus power to pump water back into the upper reservoir.
Incidentally I worked at a mine site that was seriously planning a wind generator combined with energy storage in an unused drift (Cavern Energy Storage) which looked extremely promising. … but only made sense if you already had a decent sized non-leaky hole to start with.
What does irk me a bit is when PV/Wind advocates chirp on about how cheap their source of energy has become, without factoring in the storage and grid costs that need to be incurred to make it all work reliably.
Fair call on advocates for alternative (or any) tech – "support" tends to become "blinkered idolatry".
Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong, sometimes they're just outright lying (ISTR the wonderfully named "T Boone Pickens" advocating for fracking in the continental US as a means of energy self-sufficiency. He wasa publicising a book, and it was one of the few interviews done by Jon Stewart that made me feel outright dirty. He said he'd never heard of any problems with fracking, ever, and it went unchallenged).
Which is part of the teething issues of a new technology, not an endemic problem. Solutions are appearing,
Without wanting to run a 'gotcha' moment, can I say this is pretty much the same argument I was running for the new generations of MSR fission generators a few weeks back.
Like all new tech has it's blinkered zealots, but that's the nature of innovation, much of it is going to prove a dead-end but there is really only one way to find out.
lol I was trying to avoid doing the gotcha thing in the opposite direction, too.
The worst case scenario for wind farm hazards being understated is dead birds and a hum. Worst case for MSR hazard understatement is a spontaneous twenty-mile-radius bird sanctuary.
Unsurprisingly the tangental foray into solar and wind generation ignores the fact that methane form non biological sources is higher than previously thought suggesting the impact of biologic methane is less…but never mind it is all moot in any case as there is no will (political or otherwise) to actually do anything about it.
and you're welcome Robert , for all the good it will do.
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Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
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. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
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 ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Even if some students are now just texting on their laptops. Stewart Sowman-Lund writes in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Councils from Horowhenua, Kāpiti, Wairarapa, the Hutt Valley, Porirua and Wellington City will meet this Friday to work together on a plan for a Greater Wellington region water deal. ...
Renowned musician, advocate, and proud born and raised daughter of Tauranga, Ria Hall, is announcing her candidacy for Mayor of Tauranga and Pāpāmoa Ward for the upcoming election on July 20th. ...
The new Aotearoa histories curriculum is rich with potential. There’s still work to be done, but the education minister’s criticisms about ‘balance’ miss the mark, argues primary school teacher Jessie Moss. In 2015, Ōtorohanga College students presented to parliament a petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for a ...
For too long our so-called national bird has maintained its stranglehold on the economy of regional New Zealand. Thanks to the fast track legislation, we will have our revenge. Theories abound on what ails New Zealand’s economy. National leader Chris Luxon has posited that we’re negative, wet, whiny, and inward-looking; ...
If building one of Auckland’s possible waterfront stadiums was funded privately, it would need to hold a sold-out Ed Sherran concert every weekday for 25 years. That’s Rob Hamlin’s finding – he’s a senior marketing lecturer at the University of Otago. “It’s not going to happen; forget about it,” he ...
Comment: The debate over the future relationship between news and social media is bringing us closer to a long-overdue reckoning. Social media isn’t trying to kill journalism, because social media has never really cared about journalism. Social media is resolutely in the attention business. News propels some attention — perhaps ...
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For the past 12 years, Georgia-Rose Brown has balanced on the brink of making an Olympic Games – but always landed gracefully on the wrong side. Reaching the Olympics is a dream the gymnast has harboured since she was a six-year-old; a dream that would dwindle every four years, yet ...
Late one afternoon in March 1860 a man in a thin green velveteen jacket and a wide-awake hat arrived on foot at a sheep station named Glenmark, about 65 kilometres north of Christchurch. The man was in his mid-fifties but he looked older. Several people who met him that day ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
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Leilani Farha.
Anyone?
Damns our housing crisis as a human rights issue.
'Successive governments have created a perfect storm…'
Simon Wilson's article in the Herald, as well as The Guardian and Newshub.
Hang me for not linking …but a bit difficult from phone parked up with the other Bus dwellers
Homelessness: Housing a human right, make evictions illegal, UN visitor says
Thanks Alice Tectonite.
Struck us as weird that Farha sees Newzild's lack of accessible housing as an issue…as the issue.
It is simply par for the course.
She is certainly direct.
Good on her.
Great article..
nice tweet from Keith Ng
https://twitter.com/keith_ng/status/1229898843572981760
I actually don't mind Ng. Meet him a few times, but I think he missed the bit where the renters are normally renting because they can't afford to buy a house, so his fluffy renters buying the house is a bit scewwiff
Everyone is a renter before they buy their first house. People don't emerge into adulthood fully formed as house buyers.
The Greens have a rent to buy scheme in the works
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/greens-push-rent-buy-schemes
Actually don't think rent to buy is a bad idea.
Only because the houses are unavailable, TMAB.
If an increased number of amateur investors exited the market because they couldn't be bothered to provide a warm, dry house to rent there would certainly be an increased number of houses available for young families. This of course would see house prices stabilise and become more affordable.
Do you you mind clarifying what you mean by tmab?
To make a….
Sure.
Don’t worry. You are still anonymous. Just slightly less anonymous than before.
[I don’t know what is going on here, but it is in no way acceptable to break someone’s pseudonym on TS. Chris T isn’t anonymous, he’s pseudonymous. I suggest you read the Gosman Hypocrisy Ruling in the site Policy. If you have a genuine concern about someone’s pseudonym, then grab the attention of a moderator. – weka]
Fantastic
You are delusional and to be avoided
Ok, Dark.
Yeah ok Swandri
Earlier on another forum you wrote
"Jacinda is shit"
Are you guys flirting now?
No idea
Just thought I would join in with whatever he is on about
Mod note for you Muttonbird, you're in premod until I see an acknowledgement you have read the note and the Policy and agree to abide by the site rules.
Ok, well your reply just read like you think you know better than a moderator, so I've put those two comments and your other comments into Spam and left you in premod until this gets sorted out. Basically we're in wasting moderator time now, and I'm sick of chasing round after regulars who should know better. If you don't understand a moderation, ask for clarification, I'm always happy to explain. But there is no good reason why any of us giving our time here should engage in an argument about moderation.
The points about other people's commenting styles can be made in more direct ways within the site's rules. Or as I said, flag a passing mod.
I thought I did bring attention to posting style last time but as you admitted you don't always read replies to your own demands so commenters don't know where they stand.
It’s particularly relevant at this point in time because there is increasing awareness of right wing attack strategy of which deliberate dumbing down is a part. I have a lot of interest and a lot to say about it. Honestly, how can they claim to be interested in better education for people when the communicate in sloppy and false memes?
Still not sure how I broke the Gosman rule other than using the word "anonymous" instead of "pseudo-anonymous" but if it gets my posts uncensored then yes, I have re-read the rules and I will adhere to them in the future.
Thank you!
I know you're trying here MB, and I really wish I didn't have to be spending time on this, but your first paragraph needs a link so I know what you are referring to. I generally look at the replies list when I am on TS and read what people say to me, so I don't know what you mean. Please clarify. I'll respond to the rest of your comment and the other when we've got this sorted.
Specifically "but as you admitted you don't always read replies to your own demands"
Please don't patronise me, weka.
The reference was around a previous clash where I said had replied to one of your requests and you said, "you lost track of time". This seemed to mean it wasn't important to you.
Well you would be wrong about my priorities MB. I’m putting you onto the blacklist in the meantime, just to keep the comments moderation list clear. I will come back to this later, because I don’t want to spend my Sat morning chasing around after this. Reminder (to everyone) that in the end moderation comes down to shortening my time being sucked up. All people have to do is acknowledge the first moderation request and we can move on. Pick a fight with a moderator and this is what happens instead. It’s not personal to you MB, there’s been a run of this lately. If regulars aren’t going to respect moderation maybe I should just go back to banning instead of trying to sort things out.
Muttonbird, you said (comment copied from Trash because I can't move it to the front end),
Sure. You're not banned. If you were banned I would have said so and told you the length of time. You're still in premod, but I have used the blacklist tool in the back end to manage this because it's less work for me. This means that the system sends all your comments to trash (before they were being held in the Pending queue and I was pushing them to Spam until we sorted the moderation issue out).
The reason you are in premod is because I moderated some comments of yours (about anonymity) and you chose to litigate that and now we're in a process of sorting all the things out that have arisen from that. Part of that is because the last time I moderated you, you also argued about it, so to limit the amount of time I have to spend on moderating you in the future it's better to get it all sorted once and for all now.
I've been busy and my attention is elsewhere and my priority on TS is finishing a draft post that's been sitting there for a week. None of that is personal to you, you're just the regular who happened to coincide with me running out of patience.
So, I will get back to this, I don't know when but I'm unlikely to let it drag on for days and days. I want you and I to come to an understanding on where the boundaries are for moderation so neither of us have to go through this in the future. Or next time I just issue a ban and sort it out that way. My preference is for the former because you've been here a long time and your comments fit with the site except sometimes when you overstep the bounds like this one (your original comment, and how you've handle moderation).
In other words, I'm putting time in here so that you don't get banned. There's an opportunity to get on board with that. It's election year and once things heat up with that I won't have this degree of leeway for sorting things out.
Here's the final moderation.
1. it's not ok to criticise people for anonymity, nor to try and connect up people's different IDs between here and elsewhere on the internet. On TS anonymity isn't allowed, pseudonimity is. Trying to break someone's pseudonomity will get serious moderator attention.
2. You have a history of abusive comments that have nothing to do with politics, and this needs to stop.
3. Next time you get moderated by me, if you argue about it, I will just ban in order to limit my time being used up. Asking for clarification is ok by me, taking pot shots at the moderator or moderation is not. How other moderators deal with moderating you is up to them, but I have made my notes and links in the back end if other mods want to refer to that.
I will assume you have read and understood these three points unless you ask for clarification, including the understanding that they will form the basis of moderation going forward.
The Gosman Hypocrisy Ruling basically says if you call someone using a pseudonym 'anonymous', while using a pseudonym, then you will be banned. As above and stated in the Policy, there are good reasons for understanding the difference between those two things.
Once I see that you have read that moderation I will take you out of the blacklist.
You,
1a. I told you in the original moderation I didn't know what was going on (still don't), but pointed you to the Policy and pointed out that there were problems with what you were doing.
Pseudonymity and anonymity are two different things. Anonymity is when the comment has no handle attached to it so two anonymous comments could be from the same person or two different people and there is no way to know. Think about that with a 200 comment post and what might happen. This is why anonymous comments aren't allowed on site. They're open to abuse and they make conversations confusing. Blogspot blogging platform used to allow anonymous comments (don't know if it still does, and it was an admin chosen setting) and it was really hard to follow complex conversations.
Pseudonymity is when people choose a pseudonym, like weka or Muttonbird, and use it consistently. Some people use that pseudonym across the internet (I use weka on twitter and FB for instance). Some people like to use different handles in different places, for lots of reasons, some quite legitimate. The continuity means that conversations are easy to follow, we get to know people and this creates a better political debate culture. It's also means it's harder for people to troll or flame.
Breaking Pseudonymity, either by directly doxxing someone (publishing their real life name or details online), or by sharing information so that different IDs can be linked up, is not ok because you have absolutely no way to know the person's reasons. This is a big issue for some people online eg feminists in political spaces who get threatened online and in RL when someone doxxes them. Or someone works in a job which would be at risk if their political views were known (and again, it's not usually possible to see the risk). This is why I take it very seriously.
1b. When I first moderated, all you had to do was ask for clarification instead of arguing about it. Not all moderators will explain things, but most will if asked politely. A lot of moderation comes from individual moderators making judgements in the moment based on a range of things to do with the safety of the site and the wellbeing of the community. Listening to what they say as they say things makes things clearer.
2. Thank-you, that will be appreciated.
3. Yep, that's pretty much what it boils down to.
Finding the middle ground between ignoring bad behaviour and flat out banning isn't easy. It's time and energy consuming, and prone to not having the desired outcome.
Still can I sincerely say I fully support what you are trying to do. Best wishes.
Thanks for the detailed info, weka.
My reading of 'anonymous' is that that personal details are unknown. I didn't think my original series of comments violated that but if you say there is a risk to commenters here if their handle from elsewhere is known, I accept that.
I’ll add a personal note or observation rather.
For reasons weka outlined, we don’t condone people using different user handles (AKA pseudonyms) here. You suspected that this was the case with two commenters and asked us to look into this. I did and found not a hint of this being the case. FYI, I’m particularly allergic to sockpuppetry, bordering on going anaphylactic, and I always keep an eye on this behaviour but it is easily missed too. I think that your judgement and behaviour were clouded by your opinion of and attitude towards those alleged sockpuppets. IMO, it’s perfectly ok to flag suspected sockpuppets but then let Moderators deal with it and accept their decision as they can see and do a lot more behind the scenes than you can.
There's a lot of cross over between the forum I mentioned, by the way. Three or four commenters here are active there on the 574 page NZ Politics Thread
I'm not one for linking other forums but I think it has value in the context of this argument. The Standard is referenced there quite a lot. Some here may find it childish (a lot of it is!) but there’s significant commentary about NZ Politics from domestic and largely ex-pat communities.
We don't post in a bubble and commenters' history, while considered sacrosanct here for some reason, is fair game as far as I'm concerned.
How do you build up knowledge and experience of and about a person without referencing previous behaviour?
We do it in real life…
Not being funny, but you seem a tad obsessed.
[FFS! One Moderator is working hard to douse this fire and you come along with your typical wind-up act to flare it up again. Banned for a week – Incognito]
See my Moderator note @ 3:11 PM.
Comment received from Chris T after he was banned:
You’re fucking fool for saying that. You’re a spray & walk away wind-up troll and you need to learn to shut the fuck up and especially not fuck with Moderators about moderation. I’m fucked off by your moronic behaviour and add another fucking week to your ban for fucking good measure. So, fuck off for a fortnight!
Hi Anne, I see one of the other posts is the Green Party saying:
"“It’s clear that Parliament is incapable of meaningful reforms to itself, as some political parties have a vested interest in the status quo,”
Even though I saw it was about party funding I immediately thought of the landlord class.
Squatters rights might shake things up.
Thanks for the heads up gsays. I've not been around much today.
Note the statement from the Greens says… some political parties have a vested interest in the status quo.
Lets be crystal clear, they are: National and ACT.
While it looks like the NZ First Foundation may have dabbled in the behaviour to some extent, it will be nothing compared to the conduct of National and ACT over many years. There is no evidence that Labour and the Greens indulged in such arrangements.
The LP pledge card fiasco manufactured by the Nats had none of this subterfuge attached to it. It had been approved by Parliamentary Services – a fact the Nat complicit media of the time conveniently glossed over.
My friend's family were political refugees from Pinochet, but in recent years have returned to visit extended family in Chile.
Chilean housing policy history – not without problems but interesting to read, particularly in relation to housing activists operating before Pinochet's rule.
Adolph Reed on his concern that the left doesn't appreciate what it is up against. The interview as a whole meanders a bit – but this piece is interesting.
Heh. Some intrepid researcher delved through the archives to determine the exact moment Bernie turned into a 78 year old.
https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/02/when-did-bernie-turn-78-investigation.html
Spoiler: it was sometime in 1987.
He has a look as consistent as his policy positions.
His delivery and the way he interacts with people hasn't changed a bit, either.
Everyone’s really giving it their all linking the opposition to the Chinese.
good to see the left trudge down the same path UK labour did on their way to electoral defeat. Denying it’s racist all the way, because it’s true apparently that the cccp gave donation to National and not Labour and Chinese people buy houses.
have fun hugging the corpse that is Winston first all the way to the opposition benches again
Thanks for that, Climinaction.
I imagine that we can expect some sackings at Middlemore Hospital.
They have, in effect, called the PM a liar with her claims that sewage was running down the walls at the Hospital. How Dare They!
'There was "no sewage spilling into the building" and leaks were "immediately repaired", CMDHB's spokeswoman said.'
This is the second time that they have had to correct the erroneous statements by Government MPs. They have already pointed out the falsity of such statements back in 2019 apparently.
Edit. Sorry, didn’t add link to story.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12310024
The PM is repeating a lie. A bit rich to call her a liar. When are you lefties going to start putting the boot into dairy farmers again. Starting to feel ignored down on the farm. Can't wait for the tax cuts next year.
So how much extra money are you getting from poisoning our rivers?
You know they let people put what they like in the rivers in places like Somalia? I bet their rivers are basically open sewers. That is what a country with no regulations has.
@Ian The PM neither lied nor repeated a lie. Please refer to 5.2
@alwyn
The PM didnt lie.
Read your linked article, despite the headline, Middlemore officials admit to sewage leaks, also take note of all the repair work that was mentioned.
"Raw sewage has been leaking into the walls of Middlemore Hospital's Scott building, on top of all the other problems with its buildings"
"Counties-Manukau DHB acting chief executive Dr Gloria Johnson told Morning Report today"
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/353602/sewage-leaking-into-middlemore-building-s-walls
"The busiest emergency department in the country had to close a procedure room for a week after sewage leaked through the ceiling"
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/115311750/sewage-coming-through-the-ceiling-closed-room-in-middlemore-hospitals-emergency-department
"Middlemore Hospital knew about extensive leaks, rot and mould at its main building two years before it says it did"
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/356501/middlemore-problems-highlighted-in-2010-report
"Health Minister David Clark said all the stories about sewage had originated from the DHB"
"DHB acting chief executive Gloria Johnson declined to be interviewed but confirmed to RNZ on March 28 that there had been sewage leaks and said she believed other buildings at Middlemore could be affected"
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12036681
There was no sewage leaking down walls, just through the ceiling. Therefore the PM is lying. [headdesk]
A very brief reply. I never actually said the PM lied. It was the DHB which certainly implied it.
However. The first story you link to quotes the then acting, now long departed CEO. It was a story from March 2018. Did you notice the date? The CoL Health Minister grabbed the story, embroidered it and then spun it as being part of his spiel that National were Evil. Ms Ardern is continuing to tell the tale, as recently as last week in fact.
The DHB concerned denied that anything like what he claimed had happened and that the claims were vastly exaggerated. They did this in 2019. Ms Ardern took no notice and simply spun the story again last week. The DHB have repeated the fact that the original story was rubbish. I doubt if the current CoL will take any notice of course. Truth is irrelevant.
They are quite used to continuing to spread rubbish stories after they have been shown to be false of course. Remember how the outgoing Head of Treasury claimed to have had their system hacked? What actually happened of course was vastly simpler. His staff had put the material on-line in such a way that the general public, using Treasury supplied tools, could see what was in the Budget. Robertson continued the tale of the "hack" long after the way the provision of the data to the Public was demonstrated. He knew that the "hack" had never happened but sticking to the truth wasn't of overriding importance.
@ alwayn
The one here spreading rubbish is you and you did imply that "government mps" that no doubt includes the PM are lying in your final paragraph prior to "edit" and you have completely missed the point where the spokesperson admits that there were sewage leaks.
The PM and her govt were told by the DHB. You trying to spin it to suit doesnt alter those facts.
Caption contest:
A picture is worth 100050 words.
Probably nobody will see my comment here as it is late on Wednesday night and I have only just caught this article
Further down the article was a development that feels a bit off (to me anyway…but wth would I know about who/how rules are applied to journalists…)
“We knew fossil fuel extraction – including fracking – was a major part of global methane emissions, but this impressive study suggests it is a far bigger culprit in human-induced climate change than we had ever thought,” he said.
“If correct, gas, coal and oil extraction and distribution around the world are responsible for almost half of all human-induced methane emissions. Add to that all the carbon dioxide that is then emitted when the fossil fuels are burned, and you need look no further for the seat of the climate emergency fire.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/19/oil-gas-industry-far-worse-climate-impact-than-thought-fossil-fuels-methane
Thanks Pat.
And given that solar PV installations currently depend on co-located natural gas plants to fill in for the evening peak loads … this is the unspoken Archilles Heel of many so called 'renewable' sources. Without mass scale fuel/energy storage both wind and solar are not really as carbon zero as their advocates like to pretend:
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/natural-gas-bridge-nearing-end
Which is part of the teething issues of a new technology, not an endemic problem. Solutions are appearing, from Musks aussie battery to hydro stations using surplus power to pump water back into the upper reservoir.
All these are good things, another is the global HVDC supergrid that I've spoken to before.
Incidentally I worked at a mine site that was seriously planning a wind generator combined with energy storage in an unused drift (Cavern Energy Storage) which looked extremely promising. … but only made sense if you already had a decent sized non-leaky hole to start with.
What does irk me a bit is when PV/Wind advocates chirp on about how cheap their source of energy has become, without factoring in the storage and grid costs that need to be incurred to make it all work reliably.
Fair call on advocates for alternative (or any) tech – "support" tends to become "blinkered idolatry".
Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong, sometimes they're just outright lying (ISTR the wonderfully named "T Boone Pickens" advocating for fracking in the continental US as a means of energy self-sufficiency. He wasa publicising a book, and it was one of the few interviews done by Jon Stewart that made me feel outright dirty. He said he'd never heard of any problems with fracking, ever, and it went unchallenged).
Which is part of the teething issues of a new technology, not an endemic problem. Solutions are appearing,
Without wanting to run a 'gotcha' moment, can I say this is pretty much the same argument I was running for the new generations of MSR fission generators a few weeks back.
Like all new tech has it's blinkered zealots, but that's the nature of innovation, much of it is going to prove a dead-end but there is really only one way to find out.
lol I was trying to avoid doing the gotcha thing in the opposite direction, too.
The worst case scenario for wind farm hazards being understated is dead birds and a hum. Worst case for MSR hazard understatement is a spontaneous twenty-mile-radius bird sanctuary.
Worst cases with two rather different frequencies ….
Let's be environmentally friendly and not recycle this one 🙂
Unsurprisingly the tangental foray into solar and wind generation ignores the fact that methane form non biological sources is higher than previously thought suggesting the impact of biologic methane is less…but never mind it is all moot in any case as there is no will (political or otherwise) to actually do anything about it.
and you're welcome Robert , for all the good it will do.