On YouTube there are a series of excellent documentaries by Anne Sneddon called Bad News, it's a Spinoff & RNZ thing. 4 episodes so far, she's abrasive, smart, funny, fearless & asks some very good questions. Sex trade, TERFS, Church & Charity & Equity in Healthcare. Thoroughly recommend & very keen to see what she does next.
I find the term "TERF" quite problematic. It is often used as a term of abuse towards women, and frequently accompanied by threats of violence (not saying that's how you have used it above). I've never found that using such terminology has expanded anyone's understanding of the issues that women and girls face in patriarchal society.
I am deliberately not watching anything of Sneddons’ due to the use of the term ‘TERF’. The reek of misogyny permeates from the headline and that’s as close as I’m willing to go.
The lockdown Court finding is wonderfully head-of-a-pin – enforced Level 4 bubbles were not lawful but would have been had Ashley Bloomfield specifically issued an order he didn't realise was needed, and in any case did end up doing.
It’s a shambles, I say! We need more accountability and transparency and somebody’s head should roll to send a signal to all those nameless and faceless bureaucrats that incompetency is not tolerated in this country! \sarc
"I have been waiting for the experience of isolation under lockdown to articulate itself, as though someone would telepathically read my thoughts and, crucially, resolve them in a piece of writing. Yet all our lockdowns are different versions of the same restrictions, from flats ringed with police to suburban houses and beyond. We’re trapped with each other without the possibility of solitude. As the online world takes over many of our social rituals, we are also lonely without privacy.
Our loneliness is one of observed isolation; we float in the aquarium of our screens. We are seen without seeing and, waiting for the virus to disappear, acted upon without acting. There is a peculiar temporality to the lockdown as well. News is urgent, the consequences are punitive or deadly, but there persists the sense that there is nothing we can do but wait and be watched. We are being told constantly to stay in place, giving the repeated message and the monotony of our surroundings a daily sense of déjà vu."
Here's NZF's though. I really hope this spanner gets thrown out on October 17. He wants to build permanent prefabs to house returnees at Waiouru, Ohakea, and Burnham. Perhaps they shall diet on gristle and mung beans? Do a bit of boot-camp and rifle training at the same time?
Rimmer meanwhile suddenly wants huge government, presumably with precise access to every and all movements of citizens. Could be useful for separating the ‘useless’ weak from the herd, I suppose…
We are so poorly served by our political parties on the right.
Am I missing something here? I see some sense in moving quarantine out of our major cities to save lockdown ( not necessarily to an army base) so why does it seem to be immediately conflated and criticised on the grounds that it would be some cross between a boot camp and a prison?
At half a billion a week for locking down Auckland we could build a gold plated motor camp somewhere out of town – give people more facilities and space – and then relocate it at some later stage, when no longer needed, to be granny flats. Must be a spare golf course around somewhere.
"At half a billion a week for locking down Auckland we could build a gold plated motor camp somewhere out of town – give people more facilities and space – and then relocate it at some later stage, when no longer needed, to be granny flats. Must be a spare golf course around somewhere."
and the PM could cut the ribbon when it was ready…sometime in 2023
Factory prefab and above ground hook up of services would be faster. And give us a re useable asset.
Leaving people to cook and clean for themselves during quarantine would reduce the needed workforce. Don't know if they are UV'ing the rooms after people leave – that would then leave security and health staff.
But I am not suggesting the army training ground – just somewhere away from the largest cities in the country – to try to reduce the pass through of infection if it arrives. There are parts of NZ outside Auckland .
Or we could cut our spaces to a number like the 4000 Australia has for a larger population.
The National Protection Policy is coming out tomorrow Thursday. I think they will claim extreme means of protection which they can do without having to action anything the say.
The Nats (with hindsight benefit) will roll out a border policy tomorrow. Whatever it may be, it wont be the one they would have had if they were the Government, because we all know how they wanted an open border with plenty of rich kid students coming in, prepare for some hypocrisy.
Whatever it may be, it wont be the one they would have had if they were the Government.
I won't even be the one they, themselves had yesterday. And that would have differed from the one they had the day before, different too from the day before that.
Scott you were saying on open mic today that the covid 19 situation is a shambles.
definition of a shambles total lack of control. I think you are incorrect when you describe it as a shambles. Much almost all the response really tight. Contract tracing and testing short of incredible. Great genome testing and working with patients with covid to get them to quarantine seems to be going well. Local level three good call, level two for the rest of us…… new returnees getting regular tests. Security stepped up and appears to be stopping absconders. Wage subsidy extended for business effected……
rest homes promptly put into lockdown
it appears maintenance guys not wearing ppc. So govt responding promptly. Still don’t know why the tests at border not rolled out quicker.
but it looks like a well oiled machine that was set up in emergency situations. And of course things will hick up. But it gets fixed quickly.
No Scott, not stewing. Busy work day, but did want to reply as I thought it was inaccurate to call it a shambles, when so much this Govt has done has gone well and they always correct mistakes………..So jumped back onto the Standard when I had a chance………
A shambles describes US and UK's response to the virus………that's IMHO
I thought as soon as I saw that announcement – "Well that figures!" . Obviously a sop to his base support, but I fail to see how it will grow his popularity. Certainly a turn off for many Black Americans.
Well, that whole "stand and defend your ground" idea has a lot of support, including in some areas and demographics that would seem surprising looking from here. But given the last few years, and the last few months in particular, it's hard to imagine that anyone who might possibly be influenced by that hasn't already firmly made up their mind.
Andre you forgot to mention today that the Bipartisan Senate Report on Russian election interference in 2016 is out, and of course backs up what Mueller said in his own report.
Of course, the Committee gets to see the unredacted versions of near everything, so Committee vice chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, said with good reason that investigators found “a breathtaking level of contacts between Trump officials and Russian government operatives” and that he hoped Americans will read the report for themselves.
That seemed to me a little more appropriate to leave until someone posts yet another lengthy video from some random internet kook babbling about how Russiagate is a hoax because of … some minute detail they've spotted somewhere that somehow invalidates the entire big picture..
That's pretty much how I see it too. The country has changed a lot in recent years. As you say there are those who support the "stand and defend your ground" ideology but there is a growing well spring of support for the other, and more just ideology, of fairness for all.
There is no denying the continual solid support for T of around 40%, but the undecided vote is not nearly as large as it was at this time in 2016. I can't find the reference on 538, but I recall reading an Article there just the other day, that reported a poll where a large percentage of likely voters were reported as having already made up their mind, and it was pretty much 53 – 43 in favour of Biden. A popularity for Biden which has been averaging around those figures for some months now.
The inclusion of both Sanders and Kasich in the DNC convention shows that the DNC are after a variety of voters. A broad church. The T church is pretty much the Fundamental Right Wing moral conservative – of which there a many loyal parishioners – but even some amongst them are beginning to doubt.
There are reserve legal powers I don't think most people would wish to use, but if Australia is a precedent we could see the royal prerogative, state necessity, and possibly Martial Law invoked – until a magic bullet vaccine.
An update in regards trying to lower speed limit on Railway Road in Palmy.
The Bunnythorpe Community Group met last night and roading – speed and the new transport hub were on the agenda.
Usually there would be up to a dozen attending, last night the classroom was chocked to the gunnels. Local MPs were invited. To his credit Ian McKelvie showed.
A few passionate presentations from affected parties and a couple of PNCC representatives. The conclusion appeared to be for an emergency maximum speed can be posted for up to 12 months. As to the proposed rail hub, a sticking point is where the ring road goes in respect to Bunnythorpe.
My thoughts are to do a knitting bomb, and get 60km speed signs knitted up and slip them over the existing road signs. No-one can hate knitting….
Seriously, get to NZTA. That's where the money and the power for transport is.
Also you have an election on. Call your candidates and let them know you will be sending their reactions to the local papers and local Facebook groups.
No one hates knitting, but also at 100k's no one can see it either.
"Australian Border Force has announced plans to reopen Australia’s immigration detention centre on Christmas Island, citing capacity issues in the onshore detention system. Global COVID-19 measures such as reduced flights and border closures, the ABF says, have delayed numerous deportations; this has placed Australia’s onshore immigration detention network under increased pressure and necessitated the reopening of the Christmas Island facility.
Crowding is certainly an issue within the detention system, and urgent action is needed to reduce the threat of a COVID-19 outbreak. Reopening the Christmas Island detention facility, however, is not the solution. Safer, more humane and more fiscally responsible alternatives exist."
God used Trump, and now God is testing him. Job was a low energy loser compared to how Trump is being tested, but Trump is greater than anyone in the Bible, people are saying he's even greater than God …
Here is Miles Taylor (a Republican) Trump's Former Dept of Homeland Security Chief of Staff, declaring his support for Joe Biden and describing Trump's presidency as "terrifying" and "actively doing damage to our security."
Why is he and many other Republicans coming out against Trump?
Here is what Miles Taylor who worked for 2 1/2 years in the Trump Administration has to say about why he is opposed to any further continuation of this regime:
Taylor alleged that Trump sought to stop the Federal Emergency Management Agency from sending wildfire relief funds to California because “he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn’t support him, and that politically it wasn’t a base for him.”
Taylor also claimed that Trump wanted to restart the “zero tolerance” policy that led to family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018, and wanted to go even further by having a “deliberate policy of ripping children away from their parents” in order to deter illegal immigration.
What he’s saying: “What we saw week in and week out, and for me after two and a half years in that administration, was terrifying. We would go in to try to talk to him about a pressing national security issue: A cyberattack, terrorism threat. He wasn’t interested in those things.”
“The president wanted to exploit the Department of Homeland Security for his own political purposes and to fuel his own agenda.”
“A lot of times the things he wanted to do not only were impossible but in many cases illegal. He didn’t want us to tell him it was illegal anymore because he knew, and these were his words, he knew that he had ‘magical authorities.’ He was one of the most unfocused and undisciplined senior executives I’ve ever encountered.”
“I came away completely convinced based on firsthand experience that the president was ill-equipped, wouldn’t become equipped to do his job effectively and what’s worse, was actively doing damage to our security.”
The bottom line: “Even though I’m not a Democrat, even though I disagree on key issues, I’m confident that Joe Biden will protect the country, and I’m confident he won’t make the same mistakes as this president,” Taylor said.
NEW: Testimonial ad from Trump's Former DHS Chief of Staff @MilesTaylorUSA, declaring his support for Joe Biden and describing Trump's presidency as "terrifying" and "actively doing damage to our security."
So Hamish Walker has raised his head again to blame "bad advice". Because he needed advice on whether emailing patient records to journalists was a stupid, outrageous, and gratuitous abuse of his parliamentary position.
This dickhead should never again be in a position to handle confidential information. He can't be trusted.
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The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Duncan Greive and Leonie Hayden were young hip hop heads and music journalists during the era captured in a new documentary about the rise and fall of South Auckland hip hop label Dawn Raid. Here they discuss the film and their memories (what’s left of them) of that time. Warning: contains ...
Houses might be the most popular and inflated purchases in New Zealand, but there are plenty of other products that are seeing soaring demand and prices over the past few months. Here’s a list of what New Zealanders are spending their money on with international travel out of the picture.Used ...
"The young boy leaps, the muscles in his thighs tensing and twisting as he lifts from the handrail": the noble art of bombing, by Pātea writer Airana Ngarewa A beautifully muscled boy is posted on the side of a pool, his feet fixed to the top of a pair of ...
How Waiwera Hot Pools went from New Zealand’s most visited water park to dereliction and decay. Many who grew up in Auckland likely have fond memories of Waiwera Hot Pools. Like me, they remember summer days spent racing down the slides and playing in the naturally hot pools. But how did ...
A government contract for a P rehab programme was canned after half a million dollars of taxpayer money was given out. Aaron Smale investigates. The Ministry of Health spent over half a million dollars on a P Rehab contract before pulling the pin because there were no results or progress reports. ...
Kia Koropp and her husband John Daubeny have been cruising the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean over the past decade with their two children onboard their 50ft yacht, Atea. Starting in 2011 from Auckland, New Zealand, they have sailed more than 64,000 kilometres and just completed their longest ...
We are drowning out the natural world with synthetic sounds, and it’s getting worse, writes Michelle Langstone.It used to be quiet once. Remember that? Remember the hush that settled over the cities like the silence that comes down in a snowstorm? It’s less than a year since Aotearoa first locked ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden in the latest episode of On the Rag as they examine the topic of boobs from every possible angle. First published November 16, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Seventy-five years after the US detonated the first nuclear tests in the Pacific, New Zealand pledges its support to Joe Biden's first tentative step towards disarmament. Today, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons comes into effect, making it illegal for New Zealand and the 50 other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Terry, Professor of Psychology, University of Southern Queensland The challenge of bringing the world’s best tennis players and support staff, about 1,200 people in all, from COVID-ravaged parts of the world to our almost pandemic-free shores was always going to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoffrey Browne, Research Fellow in International Urban Development, University of Melbourne The Victorian government has committed to removing 75 road/rail level crossings across Melbourne by 2025. That’s the fastest rate of removal in the city’s history. The scale of the investment — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Stevens, Lecturer in History, University of Waikato In a year of surprises, one of the more pleasant was the recent runaway viral popularity of 19th century sea shanties on TikTok. A collaborative global response to pandemic isolation, it saw singers and ...
The sudden departure of Graine Moss from her Chief Executive role at Oranga Tamariki is a vital first step in a sequence of changes that must take place at the Ministry according to a group of wahine Māori leaders. Dame Naida Glavish, Dame Tariana Turia, ...
A new poem from Dunedin poet Jenny Powell.Her uncle’s eyeShe introduced us to her uncle’s eye floating in a jar.Lost in an accident, he hadn’t wanted to lose it again. He left it to her in his will.We must have looked shocked. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I turn him to ...
The chief executive of Oranga Tamariki is quitting, leaving behind an agency she’s admitted suffers from structural racism. Justin Giovannetti looks at the future of Oranga Tamariki.Grainne Moss’s tenure as head of Oranga Tamariki has been untenable since November when the government’s senior Māori minister wouldn’t express any confidence in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sainsbury, Senior Lecturer Composition, Australian National University Despite having different cultural backgrounds and experiences — Indigenous composers with an Indigenous mentor, and a pianist descended from Anglo-colonial history — it is nevertheless possible to create a project that can serve as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Applied Mathematics, University of Canterbury With new, more infectious variants of COVID-19 detected around the world, and at New Zealand’s border, the risk of further level 3 or 4 lockdowns is increased if those viruses get into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Hogg, Lecturer in Psychology, Charles Sturt University Horse racing is an ethical hotbed in Australia. The Melbourne Cup alone has seen seven horses die after racing since 2013, and animal cruelty protesters have become a common feature at carnivals. The latest ...
Right now, our most fiery national debate is over whether New Zealanders were nice to the singer Amanda Palmer in a café. Desperate to restore peace in our nation, Hayden Donnell went in search of the truth.Joe Biden had barely finished calling for unity when Amanda Palmer posted a tweet ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut (Pushkin Press, $37)Maths, cyanide, suicide, gardening; ye ...
Wellington artist Estère isn’t just breaking boundaries, she’s dissecting them. Maddi Rowe spoke to her about her new album, Archetypes.“That’s the story of pelicans, they’ll stab themselves in the heart to feed their young.”Despite the somewhat dark subject matter, Estère Dalton’s eyes sparkle with fascination. We’ve met to discuss Archetypes, ...
Cycling advocates are welcoming new advice from the Transport Agency on safe cycling. "Cyclists hate it when drivers pass too close. That's scary and dangerous," said Patrick Morgan from Cycling Action Network. "So it's encouraging to see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tilman Ruff, Honorary Principal Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne Today, many around the world will celebrate the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to enter into force in 50 years. The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the creation of a Chief Executive role to lead the public service’s pay equity work, and the appointment of Grainne Moss to this position. "Unions and public service employers are currently working ...
The Council of Trade Unions is warning that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures out today illustrate that the cost of living is increasing disproportionately for those on lower incomes; resulting in the poor getting poorer. CTU Economist Craig ...
Why are there so many offensive comments on the New Zealand Police Facebook page and are they breaking the law? Janaye Henry investigates. New Zealand Police Facebook pages – there are a number of them, for different regional police districts around the country – are an interesting place to spend ...
Our guide to stopping procrastinating and actually (finally) getting on top of investing. Because there’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you don’t know a single thing about it.In part one, we covered some of the basic things you need to know about investing – why do it? ...
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft acknowledges the huge effort and commitment of departing Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive Grainne Moss and says her decision to resign today was principled. “The issues facing Oranga Tamariki are beyond individual ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. With Covid19, Italy shows the classic European pattern, with its early outbreak, substantial recovery thanks to lockdowns and other public health measures, and resurgence thanks to complacency ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW This year has already seen significant progress in the government’s commitment to establish a body – a “Voice” – that would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say when the government ...
Northland farmer Derek Robinson was sentenced earlier today by the District Court in Whangarei for two offences of ill-treating animals at rodeo events. Mr Robinson was found guilty in November last year, following a defended hearing. The charges ...
Under fire Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will resign, effective February 28, Marc Daalder reports After four and a half years at the helm of child protection agency Oranga Tamariki, chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will be leaving the position at the end of ...
The Department of Internal Affairs and New Zealand Police acknowledge the sentencing of 36-year-old Aaron Joseph Hutton on charges relating to the possession of child sexual exploitation material, and entering into a dealing involving the sexual exploitation ...
Ngā Tāngata Microfinance (NTM) is calling for tougher penalties for those caught promoting pyramid schemes. Such business models are illegal under the Fair Trading Act 1986. This call comes after the Commerce Commission issued a ‘stop now’ notice ...
British High Commissioner to New Zealand Laura Clarke is calling on young women aged 17 to 25 to apply for the annual ‘Be British High Commissioner for the Day’ competition. The winner will have the opportunity to become an ‘honorary High Commissioner’, ...
The Māori Party is welcoming the resignation of Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss after sustained pressure from leading figures within the Māori Party. This resignation is the result of the continued strong pressure of the Māori Party ...
In a historic corner of Dunedin, startup culture is thriving. Catherine McGregor visited the city’s Warehouse Precinct to meet the people driving the movement. When Jason and Kate Lindsey bought the four storey building now known as Petridish, it was an absolute wreck. Once home to a thriving hat and textiles ...
Summer reissue: The Fold’s very first guest is back to tell Duncan Greive how she pulled off the media deal of the year.The chaotic couple of weeks which finally saw the end of the Stuff-NZME saga were riveting and strange, replete with stock exchange announcements, legal challenges and finally the ...
Chris Liddell has dropped his candidacy to become director-general of the Paris-based OECD. Without support from the Ardern government and vilified in the media as somehow being involved in the encouragement by Donald Trump of the Washington riots, he plainly saw he had little chance of crowning his stellar career ...
Tara Ward hands out her first impression roses as she dives deep into the sea of single men vying to win The Bachelorette NZ’s heart. While the world burns in a searing fireball of unpredictability, we can take comfort in the fact that some things never change. The heart still yearns, ...
People from all around New Zealand will be converging on the super-secret Waihopai satellite interception spybase, in Marlborough, on Saturday January 30th. ...
In its Thursday editorial the NZ Herald speaks an important truth: “Investment important to stay on track”. This won’t have startled its more literate readers but in its text it notes the strong result in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, which prompted Westpac to raise its forecast for dairy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Craig Mark, Professor, Faculty of International Studies, Kyoritsu Women’s University With the spread of COVID-19 steadily worsening in Japan since the onset of winter — daily records for infections and deaths continue to be broken — the fate of the Tokyo Summer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Taylor, Early Career Research Leader, Emerging Viruses, Inflammation and Therapeutics Group, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University All eyes are on COVID-19 vaccines, with Australia’s first expected to be approved for use shortly. But their development in record time, without compromising ...
Yesterday’s government announcement on new state housing is a pathetic response to the biggest housing crisis in New Zealand since the 1940s. At a time when the country needs an industrial-scale state house building programme, the government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Obadiah Mulder, PhD Candidate in Computational Biology, University of Southern California Australia is in the midst of tropical cyclone season. As we write, a cyclone is forming off Western Australia’s Pilbara coast, and earlier in the week Queenslanders were bracing for a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynette Vernon, School of Education – VC Research Fellow, Edith Cowan University When the holidays end, barring a fresh outbreak of COVID-19, teenagers across Australia will head back to school. Some will bounce out of bed well before the alarm goes off, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology Twenty years ago, on January 25 2001, a virtually unknown German supermarket chain quietly opened its first stores in Australia. The two stores – one in Sydney’s inner-west suburb of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney Bluey is easily the most successful Australian television show of the last decade. A record-breaking success for its local broadcaster the ABC, as well as production partners BBC Studios and Screen Australia, ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permissionIt will take $3 million to clean up 1 million litres of abandoned toxic waste from a property in Ruakaka - three times more than the last big chemical clean-up undertaken by government agencies A two-year mission to clean up 1 million ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The action Biden took on just his first afternoon in office demonstrates a radical shift in priority for the US when it comes to its efforts to combat the climate crisis. It could put more pressure on New Zealand to step up. ...
Ban Bomb Day event at the New Brighton Pier, 9am, on January 22nd, 2021 January 22nd, 2021, marks the first day the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) Enters into Force and becomes international law. Aotearoa NZ is one of the ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve BrauniasFICTION 1 Tell Me Lies by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $29.99) Every January, there's a new best-selling crime thriller by the New Zealand-born author who lives in Melbourne. Pomare is ...
Our approach so far in trying to end what Dr Collin Tukuitonga describes as a 'racist' disease - rheumatic fever - has not worked. It's time we try something new, he writes. Acute rheumatic fever and the rheumatic heart disease it causes, long-known as a disease of poverty, is a blight on ...
New Zealand triple-code star, Anna Harrison, can't stop returning to the courts - whether it's netball or beach volleyball. She tells Ashley Stanley what keeps drawing her back. The day before Anna Harrison leaps back into netball, she will have one more hit-out at another of her favourite old sports ...
The lights are burning into the night at the New York Yacht Club's America's Cup base as they race to fix their damaged boat. And Suzanne McFadden discovers something surprising may emerge. Out of American Magic’s calamity may come opportunity - for even more speed. While the lights burn bright ...
New to sailing? With the Prada Cup resuming this weekend, here’s how to bluff your way into sounding like a pro. When I was 10, my mum made my brother and I join the local sailing club. It was a favourite pastime of families in Kerikeri, and my brother was actually ...
A formal complaint to the UN, signed by a NZ Muslim group, says France’s Islamophobic laws and policies are entrenching discrimination and breaching human rights laws. The Khadija Leadership Network has joined a global coalition of Muslim organisations to formally complain about the French government’s systemic entrenchment of Islamophobia and discrimination against ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and a lineup of incredibly successful New Zealand women as they confront their imposter syndrome once and for all. First published 20 October, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members ...
With criticism from National piling on over the property market, the prime minister has detailed when the government will make housing announcements. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marco Rizzi, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Western Australia Some Australians could be receiving a COVID-19 vaccine within weeks. Amid the continued spread of the virus and emergence of highly contagious variants, the federal government has accelerated the start of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Australia’s Threatened Species Strategy — a five-year plan for protecting our imperilled species and ecosystems — fizzled to an end last year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Lecturer, General Dentist & PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Baby teeth, or milk teeth, act like lighthouses to guide the adult ones to their correct destination. A baby tooth will become wobbly and fall out because the adult tooth ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he’s joined by Simon Coley, co-founder of All Good and Karma Drinks.Bananas are one of the ...
On YouTube there are a series of excellent documentaries by Anne Sneddon called Bad News, it's a Spinoff & RNZ thing. 4 episodes so far, she's abrasive, smart, funny, fearless & asks some very good questions. Sex trade, TERFS, Church & Charity & Equity in Healthcare. Thoroughly recommend & very keen to see what she does next.
I have a problem with a woman who refers to other women as 'bitches'. There's more than enough misogyny around without women joining the pile on.
Watched that particular wee piece this morning, and if that's the best RNZ can do then I might be breaking a half century long habit.
No comments allowed on Youtube, but someone whose reading on the issue is sparse might like to read the comments here….https://www.facebook.com/RadioNewZealand/videos/2712068612406992/
(The comments that the moderators have allowed of course.)
Fair enough Rosemary, I disagree, there's more than just someone calling women 'bitches', she swears at everyone, but appreciate your POV.
I find the term "TERF" quite problematic. It is often used as a term of abuse towards women, and frequently accompanied by threats of violence (not saying that's how you have used it above). I've never found that using such terminology has expanded anyone's understanding of the issues that women and girls face in patriarchal society.
I am deliberately not watching anything of Sneddons’ due to the use of the term ‘TERF’. The reek of misogyny permeates from the headline and that’s as close as I’m willing to go.
NZ 🙂
It’s a shambles, I say! We need more accountability and transparency and somebody’s head should roll to send a signal to all those nameless and faceless bureaucrats that incompetency is not tolerated in this country! \sarc
Won at law and lost on the facts aha.
And anyone who complains too bitterly should be promptly reminded that their other lawful option was death.
Scott Robinson on Australian lockdown
"I have been waiting for the experience of isolation under lockdown to articulate itself, as though someone would telepathically read my thoughts and, crucially, resolve them in a piece of writing. Yet all our lockdowns are different versions of the same restrictions, from flats ringed with police to suburban houses and beyond. We’re trapped with each other without the possibility of solitude. As the online world takes over many of our social rituals, we are also lonely without privacy.
Our loneliness is one of observed isolation; we float in the aquarium of our screens. We are seen without seeing and, waiting for the virus to disappear, acted upon without acting. There is a peculiar temporality to the lockdown as well. News is urgent, the consequences are punitive or deadly, but there persists the sense that there is nothing we can do but wait and be watched. We are being told constantly to stay in place, giving the repeated message and the monotony of our surroundings a daily sense of déjà vu."
https://overland.org.au/2020/08/loneliness-without-privacy-on-isolation-under-lockdown/
Heather Duplicity-Allan was toothless tonight on the radio. Jack Tame had her eating out of his hand.
Back to the drawing board, National.
Still no sign of National’s Border Protection Policy?
Here's NZF's though. I really hope this spanner gets thrown out on October 17. He wants to build permanent prefabs to house returnees at Waiouru, Ohakea, and Burnham. Perhaps they shall diet on gristle and mung beans? Do a bit of boot-camp and rifle training at the same time?
Rimmer meanwhile suddenly wants huge government, presumably with precise access to every and all movements of citizens. Could be useful for separating the ‘useless’ weak from the herd, I suppose…
We are so poorly served by our political parties on the right.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/08/new-zealand-first-wants-quarantine-shifted-to-military-facilities-long-term-alternative-to-lockdowns.html
Am I missing something here? I see some sense in moving quarantine out of our major cities to save lockdown ( not necessarily to an army base) so why does it seem to be immediately conflated and criticised on the grounds that it would be some cross between a boot camp and a prison?
At half a billion a week for locking down Auckland we could build a gold plated motor camp somewhere out of town – give people more facilities and space – and then relocate it at some later stage, when no longer needed, to be granny flats. Must be a spare golf course around somewhere.
"At half a billion a week for locking down Auckland we could build a gold plated motor camp somewhere out of town – give people more facilities and space – and then relocate it at some later stage, when no longer needed, to be granny flats. Must be a spare golf course around somewhere."
and the PM could cut the ribbon when it was ready…sometime in 2023
Factory prefab and above ground hook up of services would be faster. And give us a re useable asset.
Leaving people to cook and clean for themselves during quarantine would reduce the needed workforce. Don't know if they are UV'ing the rooms after people leave – that would then leave security and health staff.
But I am not suggesting the army training ground – just somewhere away from the largest cities in the country – to try to reduce the pass through of infection if it arrives. There are parts of NZ outside Auckland .
Or we could cut our spaces to a number like the 4000 Australia has for a larger population.
For that camp you'd have to have another camp for workers and their families.
Be patient, Shane can’t do everything all at once.
The National Protection Policy is coming out tomorrow Thursday. I think they will claim extreme means of protection which they can do without having to action anything the say.
The Nats (with hindsight benefit) will roll out a border policy tomorrow. Whatever it may be, it wont be the one they would have had if they were the Government, because we all know how they wanted an open border with plenty of rich kid students coming in, prepare for some hypocrisy.
I won't even be the one they, themselves had yesterday. And that would have differed from the one they had the day before, different too from the day before that.
Gee have you been stewing on that all afternoon anker?
No Scott, not stewing. Busy work day, but did want to reply as I thought it was inaccurate to call it a shambles, when so much this Govt has done has gone well and they always correct mistakes………..So jumped back onto the Standard when I had a chance………
A shambles describes US and UK's response to the virus………that's IMHO
Mer too Anker.
It's on the way. Chequebook Gerry!
Excellent article on the presidential race with a powerful message at the end:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12357680
“Three huge danger signs for Donald Trump from day one of Democratic convention.”
They've got an awesome line-up of speakers sorted for the Repugnant National Convention.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/17/politics/patricia-mark-mccloskey-rnc-st-louis-couple-guns-protesters/index.html
Some very fine people on both sides.
I've given up trying to understand American politics. They're all mad. Well, most of them anyway.
They seem to have decided that rich people obviously know best so leave running the place to them.
Very fine people indeed. Kindred spirits of the Fraud from Fifth Avenue, even. It's easy to see why they'd get a speaking slot.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/506916-st-louis-couple-who-pointed-guns-at-protesters-have-a-history-of-suing
I thought as soon as I saw that announcement – "Well that figures!" . Obviously a sop to his base support, but I fail to see how it will grow his popularity. Certainly a turn off for many Black Americans.
Well, that whole "stand and defend your ground" idea has a lot of support, including in some areas and demographics that would seem surprising looking from here. But given the last few years, and the last few months in particular, it's hard to imagine that anyone who might possibly be influenced by that hasn't already firmly made up their mind.
Andre you forgot to mention today that the Bipartisan Senate Report on Russian election interference in 2016 is out, and of course backs up what Mueller said in his own report.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-russia-collusion_n_5f3c44b2c5b61551404e7071
Of course, the Committee gets to see the unredacted versions of near everything, so Committee vice chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, said with good reason that investigators found “a breathtaking level of contacts between Trump officials and Russian government operatives” and that he hoped Americans will read the report for themselves.
That seemed to me a little more appropriate to leave until someone posts yet another lengthy video from some random internet kook babbling about how Russiagate is a hoax because of … some minute detail they've spotted somewhere that somehow invalidates the entire big picture..
Yes Ad that Report is pretty damning.
That's pretty much how I see it too. The country has changed a lot in recent years. As you say there are those who support the "stand and defend your ground" ideology but there is a growing well spring of support for the other, and more just ideology, of fairness for all.
There is no denying the continual solid support for T of around 40%, but the undecided vote is not nearly as large as it was at this time in 2016. I can't find the reference on 538, but I recall reading an Article there just the other day, that reported a poll where a large percentage of likely voters were reported as having already made up their mind, and it was pretty much 53 – 43 in favour of Biden. A popularity for Biden which has been averaging around those figures for some months now.
The inclusion of both Sanders and Kasich in the DNC convention shows that the DNC are after a variety of voters. A broad church. The T church is pretty much the Fundamental Right Wing moral conservative – of which there a many loyal parishioners – but even some amongst them are beginning to doubt.
There are reserve legal powers I don't think most people would wish to use, but if Australia is a precedent we could see the royal prerogative, state necessity, and possibly Martial Law invoked – until a magic bullet vaccine.
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/04/guest_post_is_martial_law_next.html https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/00DBHOH_BILL7791_1/armed-forces-law-reform-bill
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-TurEpit-t1-g1-t1-g1-t3-g1-t27-g1-t2.html
Just sounds like Kiwiblog hyper-ventilating for no apparent reason.
In other words, perfectly normal practice for the bunch of unhinged conspiracy theorists that frequent that particular cesspool.
Jacinda is wanting to take our 'personal sheep' !!!! (very funny thread)
https://twitter.com/grahamsurrey/status/1295908010338873344
Light entertainment on twitter tonight.
Off to the back paddock with him.
nope. Trailing cables are an OSH issue. Someone's been letting things slip in the lobby.
An update in regards trying to lower speed limit on Railway Road in Palmy.
The Bunnythorpe Community Group met last night and roading – speed and the new transport hub were on the agenda.
Usually there would be up to a dozen attending, last night the classroom was chocked to the gunnels. Local MPs were invited. To his credit Ian McKelvie showed.
A few passionate presentations from affected parties and a couple of PNCC representatives. The conclusion appeared to be for an emergency maximum speed can be posted for up to 12 months. As to the proposed rail hub, a sticking point is where the ring road goes in respect to Bunnythorpe.
My thoughts are to do a knitting bomb, and get 60km speed signs knitted up and slip them over the existing road signs. No-one can hate knitting….
My thoughts are to do a knitting bomb, and get 60km speed signs knitted up and slip them over the existing road signs.
Seriously, get to NZTA. That's where the money and the power for transport is.
Also you have an election on. Call your candidates and let them know you will be sending their reactions to the local papers and local Facebook groups.
No one hates knitting, but also at 100k's no one can see it either.
Contacted Emma Speight @ NZTA, she said it was a PNCC issue.
So it doesn't intersect with the NZTA highway network?
and then there is Christmas Island …
"Australian Border Force has announced plans to reopen Australia’s immigration detention centre on Christmas Island, citing capacity issues in the onshore detention system. Global COVID-19 measures such as reduced flights and border closures, the ABF says, have delayed numerous deportations; this has placed Australia’s onshore immigration detention network under increased pressure and necessitated the reopening of the Christmas Island facility.
Crowding is certainly an issue within the detention system, and urgent action is needed to reduce the threat of a COVID-19 outbreak. Reopening the Christmas Island detention facility, however, is not the solution. Safer, more humane and more fiscally responsible alternatives exist."
https://overland.org.au/2020/08/the-true-cost-of-reopening-the-christmas-island-detention-centre/
We're building a decent runway on the Chatham Islands.
Better Paua than Rydges, just sayin'.
They probably don't.
It's not really the detention centre that's the issue – its how its run and the necessary processes being in place to prevent abuse.
A few more Americans would have heard of New Zealand I guess:
Another interesting discussion with retired firefighter Mark Taylor. It touches on Trump being used by God among other things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwfOTFf91o4
God used Trump, and now God is testing him. Job was a low energy loser compared to how Trump is being tested, but Trump is greater than anyone in the Bible, people are saying he's even greater than God …
Here is Miles Taylor (a Republican) Trump's Former Dept of Homeland Security Chief of Staff, declaring his support for Joe Biden and describing Trump's presidency as "terrifying" and "actively doing damage to our security."
Why is he and many other Republicans coming out against Trump?
Here is what Miles Taylor who worked for 2 1/2 years in the Trump Administration has to say about why he is opposed to any further continuation of this regime:
So Hamish Walker has raised his head again to blame "bad advice". Because he needed advice on whether emailing patient records to journalists was a stupid, outrageous, and gratuitous abuse of his parliamentary position.
This dickhead should never again be in a position to handle confidential information. He can't be trusted.