"Sharma said his decision to resign was based on his concern that Hamilton West could be left without a representative. He said he would stand as an independent at the by-election …"
Hamilton West has an MP, Gaurav Sharma. So he resigns because they may not have the representation that they have, him, if he isn't in the job
And he's going to stand in the by-election, hoping to get to be the electorate's representative which he already is.
When he loses in the election I wonder if he's going to go back to being a GP and if he is, whether he'll be the best person to advise others that they need to get help.
When he loses the byelection he is going to blame it on Labour and Jacinda Ardern in particular. He will claim that there was a deceitful, underhand campaign against him with a view to discrediting him in the eyes of the voter.
The fact that he is the one who is deceitful and underhand will float over the top of him.
"Why would he be annoyed at his reputation being tarnished with electors?"
Never said he would. He will use it as an excuse however to justify him not winning. In other words, he will tarnish the reputation of the Labour Party. The Sharmas of this world are very good at projecting their own behaviour on to others.
That's why Labour would be better not to stand a candidate. Play him at his own game.
Labour could just signal they are going to boycott the by election, for all the obvious reasons, and not stand a candidate until the general election. Unless of course they had an incredibly well known and popular candidate who was guaranteed to win. Since there are no certainties in this world I suggest they call the Dr's bluff, it can only be sharmageddon in any event……….
I have had this sermon bubbling away for a wee while. The middle class whine-a-thon, known as The Panel on RNZ has motivated me to let it out.
Apparently 30 hospo businesses in Rotorua are going on strike on Monday to protest the government's lack of action in turning the migration tap on enough.
It has just occurred to me, usually when striking, there is a sacrifice for the strikers- going without income. This clown freely admitted that his business was closed Mondays due to a lack of staff.
I started in hospo in 1985 doing a cooking apprenticeship. City and Guilds 706/1 and 2. Took 8,000 hours (2,000 off coz I had School Cert). In the decades since then, I have worked here and overseas and had my own restaurant/bar but also seen the vocation I love decline from a highly skilled calling with pride and mana, to a trade, to skilled labour, to unskilled labour, to where it is now.
My reckons lay the blame at neo-liberalism (surprise surprise). At the start of my career, there was a career path, a chance to progress, with interesting side trips- sommelier, turophile, butchery, patissier etc. Now training is the occasional first aid course, the industry relies on employing someone who has been trained by someone else, either here or overseas. Because the pay has declined in real terms here, they tend to have to come from abroad.
We also had the the horrible trend of nouvelle cuisine in the late '80's/early '90's. I suppose the rise and rise of the cafe scene was a response to the pretentious overpriced food fashion. The boom of cafes in the '90's started to really undermine the industry's foudations, where anyone with a good muffin recipe and a Kruder and Dorfmeister CD could open up and trade, Nothing wrong with that, some school kids and Mums got jobs. Expectations were raised and lowered. Raised in that we could eat well for a good price, lowered because standards have dropped eg. plates not warm or wait staff bringing food to a table and running an auction – 'who had the fish?'
In short (too late), hospo industry ate itself.
Now I am in the building/construction industry and can see the same thing. So much sub-contracted out.
I think you're saying 'quality' no longer counts. Its all about quantity, and making money is the top priority. Pride in the standard of service and cuisine takes second place if it counts much at all.
I agree. That's neoliberalism for you and it rears its ugly head in all sectors of society. No wonder the world is going to hell in a hand basket.
It all went to shit in the 90's, when the bloody Tories 1st brought ECA in 91 & once they destroyed the unions.
Then came after the Trade Apprenticeships, Farm/ Horticulture Cadetships (me), Hospitality Sector & any other non tertiary sector in the mid 90's including the various Industry Training Broads which my Dad was the Union Rep on a couple & a observer on Coal Miner's Training Broad.
The Tories & their respective industry mates destroyed over a 100yr old Training System & Standards in one Great hit. Deregulated building/ Training & Research standards (leaky buildings anyone), training, workers safety etc.
And you wonder why you can't build anything in NZ to a certain standard or last for 50yrs+ now in NZ?
It all started back in the 90's & those chicken's are starting to home to roost now.
Shit even the big end of town, are even starting to understand this, but the stupid Tory Parties don't as they still regurgitating tax cuts will fix everything!!!
Basic Economic History, will tell you tax cuts & cuts to government spending can only go so far before it impacts the bottom half of the tax paying population. And when that happens 9 times out of the economy crashes as there is not a enough money in the system to go round. In other words the poor, the workers & lower middle classes are ones who spend the $$$ to keep the economy going. Because who's going to buy the bulk of the goods like food, water, milk, booze, clothes, eat out & other consumables.
Christ, this 4th- 5th form History. Wish I had the ability to draw to show Edgar Hoovers 29 US Federal Tax cuts which lead to the Great Crash 1930/31.
Truss's tax cuts wiil lead a mass run on the ounce, because of that stupidity it led a massive run on the banks, ounce, not seen the30_
Whatsee atm, is the deathbed of voodoo economics but there is going to some risk to this, but given stat e of most government agencies they are be short staffed people, or even got enough builds
While they're arguing the toss over whether or not the January insurrection was an attempted coup, there's an attempted coup underway.
The Moore case would in practice strip people of the right to fair elections by placing electoral power in the hands of a small group of officials at the state level who set district maps.
[…]
A supermajority of six, unelected ultraconservative justices – three of whom were put on the bench by a president who did not win the popular vote – have aggressively grabbed yet another batch of cases that will allow them to move American law to the extreme right and threaten US democracy in the process. The leading example of this disturbing shift is a little-known case called Moore v Harper, which could lock in rightwing control of the United States for generations.
The heart of the Moore case is a formerly fringe legal notion called the Independent State Legislature (ISL) theory. This theory posits that an obscure provision in the US constitution allowing state legislatures to set “time, place, and manner” rules for federal elections should not be subject to judicial oversight. In other words, state legislatures should have the absolute power to determine how federal elections are run without court interference.
many people in Auckland actually do depend on these train services.
these trains predominantly serve people that don't have cars.
bus services in auckland are shite.
these people now have a pretty shite service for the long weekend. The ones with cars will use these.
Essentially they are bit by bit removing access to train services. It is October now, by Jan 2023 they will be shutting down three lines, the western line was 'emergency shut down' last week. Not sure if it is back one.
So two things, either this is routine maintenance and badly advertised. Or the system is so fucked that they are shutting it down because it has become dangerous. Or Kiwirail hates its customers and is thus shutting down a much needed public transport system over a long weekend.
But, I am sure we are gonna have another wee little reminder by the people that glue themselves to stuff and throw tomato soup at stuff how we need to stop oil.
As i said, if it weren't so sad, it would be funny.
The bus services in Auckland are believe it or not the best in the country by a long way. Auckland has had a decade of HOP Card across its services, and Wellington's equivalent only started on trains last month.
The works also enable the faster City Rail Link train frequency which is coming up in 2 years for a 6 minute frequency.
No, it is not the Kiwirail maintenance announced last week.
The point is, that there currently is one lane out of order due to unforseen circumstances. Now you have the closure of these lines over the long weekend. then you have the closure of three lines from Jan onwards.
So either no one ever maintained these tracks to the point where all need to be closed at once, or they really don't care sabotaging the public transport network in Auckland.
again, let me remind you of two things. I don't / never have owned a car in NZ, and i have lived over two decades in Auckland including west Auckland.
If the Auckland bus system is the best in the country, then the rest of the countries bus system is totally fucked.
In the meantime there will be many people switching over to cars again. Someone call the dears from the stop oil troupe, they could block some bus ways. 🙂
The high rate of inflation continues to show why we must design a fairer tax system that addresses inequality, the Green Party says.
“Inflation impacts everyone – but not equally. We urgently need to redesign the tax system to provide strong public services and income support so everyone has enough to live on,” says Julie Anne Genter, the Green Party’s finance spokesperson.
“Inflation is reinforcing the imbalance in our economy.
“High inflation is forcing thousands of families to make sacrifices on basic essentials. Up and down the country it is getting harder and harder for families to put food on the table and pay the bills.
“At the same time, large corporations are boosting their profits and the wealthiest few continue to benefit from untaxed capital gains.
…
“But none of this is inevitable.
“We can make a choice to build a stronger, fairer and more resilient economy – and we can start by taxing wealth properly and using the additional revenue to support people living on the lowest incomes.
“Not only would this dampen inflation in the short-term, the additional revenue could lift every single family out of poverty,” says Julie Anne Genter.
Oxfam says the Government has made some progress since 2020 by slightly increasing the top income tax rate, but needs to do more by taxing wealth and exploring better ways to tax corporate profits.
Prick's spent years harassing people but he's off the hook because he was pissed.
ffs
A man sent to prison for sending death threats to New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has had his conviction overturned.
Michael Cruickshank was sentenced to 12 months in prison in March, for a series of emails in which he made violent threats against Ardern. He argued that he was so drunk he could not remember sending the threats, had no intention of seeing them through, and didn’t intend the recipients to take them seriously. On Wednesday, the court of appeal judged that there had been a miscarriage of justice in the case.
The overturning of his charges hinged on his alleged drunkenness, and whether it had been made clear to the jury that Cruickshank’s intoxication was relevant to his defence. Cruickshank said in police interviews: “To be perfectly frank I do not remember sending any emails … I was absolutely wasted so it’s possible I could’ve.”
It all went to shit in the 90's, when the bloody Tories 1st brought ECA in 91 & once they destroyed the unions.
Then came after the Trade Apprenticeships, Farm/ Horticulture Cadetships (me), Hospitality Sector & any other non tertiary sector in the mid 90's including the various Industry Training Broads which my Dad was the Union Rep on a couple & a observer on Coal Miner's Training Broad.
The Tories & their respective industry mates destroyed over a 100yr old Training System & Standards in one Great hit. Deregulated building/ Training & Research standards (leaky buildings anyone), training, workers safety etc.
And you wonder why you can't build anything in NZ to a certain standard or last for 50yrs+ now in NZ?
It all started back in the 90's & those chicken's are starting to home to roost now.
Shit even the big end of town, are even starting to understand this, but the stupid Tory Parties don't as they still regurgitating tax cuts will fix everything!!!
Basic Economic History, will tell you tax cuts & cuts to government spending can only go so far before it impacts the bottom half of the tax paying population. And when that happens 9 times out of the economy crashes as there is not a enough money in the system to go round. In other words the poor, the workers & lower middle classes are ones who spend the $$$ to keep the economy going. Because who's going to buy the bulk of the goods like food, water, milk, booze, clothes, eat out & other consumables.
Christ, this 4th- 5th form History. Wish I had the ability to draw to show Edgar Hoovers 29 US Federal Tax cuts which lead to the Great Crash 1930/31.
Truss's tax cuts wiil lead a mass run on the ounce, because of that stupidity it led a massive run on the banks, ounce, not seen the30_
Whatsee atm, is the deathbed of voodoo economics but there is going to some risk to this, but given stat e of most government agencies they are be short staffed people, or even got enough builds
They get it alright. From the Chicago boys in Chile, Reagan, Rogernomics, and the creation of Russia's oligarchy through to Truss and the GOP today their objective has always been the transfer of public wealth to their mates.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and other Republicans have recently backed proposals to make the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent, as well as to extend or expand several other corporate tax breaks.
[…]
In a Bloomberg Government article last week, the four Republican lawmakers interested in serving as House Budget Committee chairman in the next Congress all said they’d refuse to raise the debt ceiling next year unless Democrats agreed to entitlement cuts and work requirements on safety-net programs — that is, measures Dems would find abhorrent. This would set the stage for another high-stakes showdown.
Recall that when Republicans held the debt limit hostage in 2011, the United States’ credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history because we came perilously close to default. Since then, the GOP has become more politically unhinged, which means brinkmanship might well go further, which makes a debt default — even by accident — more likely.
In an interview in August, Johnson, who is seeking a third term in the Senate, lamented that the Social Security and Medicare programs automatically grant benefits to those who meet the qualifications — that is, to those who had been paying into the system over their working life.
“If you qualify for the entitlement, you just get it no matter what the cost,” Johnson said. “And our problem in this country is that more than 70 percent of our federal budget, of our federal spending, is all mandatory spending. It’s on automatic pilot. It never — you just don’t do proper oversight. You don’t get in there and fix the programs going bankrupt. It’s just on automatic pilot.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has proposed to “sunset” all federal programs after five years, meaning they would expire unless renewed. “If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” Scott says in his proposal.
Democracy and the liberal tradition have long been seen as among the most basic tenets of the American way of life. They are also the main reason the West has for the past 80 years ...
Nicola Willis continues to compare the economy to a household needing to tighten its belt to survive. Photo: Getty Images The key long stories short in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, April 29 are: Nicola Willis today announced a cut in the Government’s new spending ...
The Herald had another announcement today about a new solar farm being officially opened - this time the 63MW Lauriston solar farm in Canterbury. It is of course briefly "NZ’s biggest solar farm", but it will soon be overtaken by Kōwhai park at Christchurch airport (168MW) and Tauhei (202MW), both ...
I woke this morning to the shock news that Tory Whanau was no longer contesting the Wellington mayoralty, having stepped aside to leave the field clear for Andrew Little. Its like a perverse reversal of Little's 2017 decision to step aside for Jacinda - the stale, pale past rudely shoving ...
In a pre-Budget speech this morning the Minister of Finance announced that this year’s operating allowance – the net amount available for new initiatives – was being reduced from $2.4 billion to $1.3 billion (speech here, RNZ story here). Operating allowance numbers in isolation don’t mean a great deal (what ...
Of the two things in life that are certain, defence and national security concern themselves with death but need to pay more attention to taxes. Australia’s national security, defence and domestic policy obligations all need ...
The Coalition of Chaos is at it again with another half-baked underwhelming scheme that smells suspiciously like a rerun of New Zealand’s infamous leaky homes disaster. Their latest brainwave? Letting tradies self-certify their own work on so-called low-risk residential builds. Sounds like a great way to cut red tape to ...
Perfect by natureIcons of self indulgenceJust what we all needMore lies about a world thatNever was and never will beHave you no shame don't you see meYou know you've got everybody fooledSongwriters: Amy Lee / Ben Moody / David Hodges.“Vote National”, they said. The economic managers par excellence who will ...
The Australian Defence Force isn’t doing enough to adopt cheap drones. It needs to be training with these tools today, at every echelon, which it cannot do if it continues to drag its feet. Cheap drones ...
Hi,Just over a year ago — in March of 2024 — I got an email from Jake. He had a story he wanted to tell, and he wanted to find a way to tell it that could help others. A warning, of sorts. And so over the last year, as ...
Back in the dark days of the pandemic, when the world was locked down and businesses were gasping for air, Labour’s quick thinking and economic management kept New Zealand afloat. Under Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson, the Wage Subsidy Scheme saved 1.7 million jobs, pumping billions into businesses to stop ...
When I was fifteen I discovered the joy of a free bar. All you had to do was say Bacardi and Coke, thanks to the guy in the white shirt and bow tie. I watched my cousin, all private school confidence, get the drinks in, and followed his lead. Another, ...
The Financial Times reported last week that China’s coast guard has declared China’s sovereignty over Sandy Cay, posting pictures of personnel holding a Chinese flag on a strip of sand. The landing apparently took place ...
You might not know this, but New Zealand’s at the bottom of the global league table for electric vehicle (EV) chargers, and the National government’s policies are ensuring we stay there, choking the life out of our clean energy transition.According to the International Energy Agency’s 2024 Global EV Outlook, we’ve ...
We need more than two Australians who are well-known in Washington. We do have two who are remarkably well-known, but they alone aren’t enough in a political scene that’s increasingly influenced by personal connections and ...
When National embarked on slash and burn cuts to the public service, Prime Minister Chris Luxon was clear that he expected frontline services to be protected. He lied: The government has scrapped part of a work programme designed to prevent people ending up in emergency housing because the social ...
When the Emissions Trading Scheme was originally introduced, way back in 2008, it included a generous transitional subsidy scheme, which saw "trade exposed" polluters given free carbon credits while they supposedly stopped polluting. That scheme was made more generous and effectively permanent under the Key National government, and while Labour ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
The news of Virginia Giuffre’s untimely death has been a shock, especially for those still seeking justice for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. Giuffre, a key figure in exposing Epstein’s depraved network and its ties to powerful figures like Prince Andrew, was reportedly struck by a bus in Australia. She then apparently ...
An official briefing to the Health Minister warns “demand for acute services has outstripped hospital capacity”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāThe key long stories short in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, April 28 are: There’s a nationwide shortage of 500 hospital beds and 200,000 ...
We should have been thinking about the seabed, not so much the cables. When a Chinese research vessel was spotted near Australia’s southern coast in late March, opposition leader Peter Dutton warned the ship was ...
Now that the formalities of saying goodbye to Pope Francis are over, the process of selecting his successor can begin in earnest. Framing the choice in terms of “liberal v conservative” is somewhat misleading, given that all members of the College of Cardinals uphold the core Catholic doctrines – which ...
A listing of 30 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 20, 2025 thru Sat, April 26, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
Let’s rip the shiny plastic wrapping off a festering truth: planned obsolescence is a deliberate scam, and governments worldwide, including New Zealand’s, are complicit in letting tech giants churn out disposable junk. From flimsy smartphones that croak after two years to laptops with glued-in batteries, the tech industry’s business model ...
When I first saw press photos of Mr Whorrall, an America PhD entomology student & researcher who had been living out a dream to finish out his studies in Auckland, my first impression, besides sadness, was how gentle he appeared.Press released the middle photo from Mr Whorrall’s Facebook pageBy all ...
It's definitely not a renters market in New Zealand, as reported by 1 News last night. In fact the housing crisis has metastasised into a full-blown catastrophe in 2025, and the National Party Government’s policies are pouring petrol on the flames. Renters are being crushed under skyrocketing costs, first-time buyers ...
Would I lie to you? (oh yeah)Would I lie to you honey? (oh, no, no no)Now would I say something that wasn't true?I'm asking you sugar, would I lie to you?Writer(s): David Allan Stewart, Annie Lennox.Opinions issue forth from car radios or the daily news…They demand a bluer National, with ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Do the 31,000 signatures of the OISM Petition Project invalidate the scientific consensus on climate change? Climatologists made up only 0.1% of signatories ...
In the 1980s and early 1990s when I wrote about Argentine and South American authoritarianism, I borrowed the phrase “cultura del miedo” (culture of fear) from Juan Corradi, Guillermo O’Donnell, Norberto Lechner and others to characterise the social anomaly that exists in a country ruled by a state terror regime ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
Chris Bishop has unveiled plans for new roads in Tauranga, Auckland and Northland that will cost up to a combined $10 billion. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from Aotearoa political economy around housing, poverty and climate in the week to Saturday, April 26:Chris Bishop ploughed ahead this week with spending ...
Unless you've been living under a rock, you would have noticed that New Zealand’s government, under the guise of economic stewardship, is tightening the screws on its citizens, and using debt as a tool of control. This isn’t just a conspiracy theory whispered in pub corners...it’s backed by hard data ...
The budget runup is far from easy.Budget 2025 day is Thursday 22 May. About a month earlier in a normal year, the macroeconomic forecasts would be completed (the fiscal ones would still be tidying up) and the main policy decisions would have been made (but there would still be a ...
On 25 April 2021, I published an internal all-staff Anzac Day message. I did so as the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, which is responsible for Australia’s civil defence, and its resilience in ...
You’ve likely noticed that the disgraced blogger of Whale Oil Beef Hooked infamy, Cameron Slater, is still slithering around the internet, peddling his bile on a shiny new blogsite calling itself The Good Oil. If you thought bankruptcy, defamation rulings, and a near-fatal health scare would teach this idiot a ...
The Atlas Network, a sprawling web of libertarian think tanks funded by fossil fuel barons and corporate elites, has sunk its claws into New Zealand’s political landscape. At the forefront of this insidious influence is David Seymour, the ACT Party leader, whose ties to Atlas run deep.With the National Party’s ...
Nicola Willis, National’s supposed Finance Minister, has delivered another policy failure with the Family Boost scheme, a childcare rebate that was big on promises but has been very small on delivery. Only 56,000 families have signed up, a far cry from the 130,000 Willis personally championed in National’s campaign. This ...
This article was first published on 7 February 2025. In January, I crossed the milestone of 24 years of service in two militaries—the British and Australian armies. It is fair to say that I am ...
He shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.Age shall not weary him, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningI will remember him.My mate Keith died yesterday, peacefully in the early hours. My dear friend in Rotorua, whom I’ve been ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on news New Zealand abstained from a vote on a global shipping levy on climate emissions and downgraded the importance ...
Hi,In case you missed it, New Zealand icon Lorde has a new single out. It’s called “What Was That”, and has a very low key music video that was filmed around her impromptu performance in New York’s Washington Square Park. When police shut down the initial popup, one of my ...
A strategy of denial is now the cornerstone concept for Australia’s National Defence Strategy. The term’s use as an overarching guide to defence policy, however, has led to some confusion on what it actually means ...
The IMF’s twice-yearly World Economic Outlook and Fiscal Monitor publications have come out in the last couple of days. If there is gloom in the GDP numbers (eg this chart for the advanced countries, and we don’t score a lot better on the comparable one for the 2019 to ...
For a while, it looked like the government had unfucked the ETS, at least insofar as unit settings were concerned. They had to be forced into it by a court case, but at least it got done, and when National came to power, it learned the lesson (and then fucked ...
The argument over US officials’ misuse of secure but non-governmental messaging platform Signal falls into two camps. Either it is a gross error that undermines national security, or it is a bit of a blunder ...
Cost of living ~1/3 of Kiwis needed help with food as cost of living pressures continue to increase - turning to friends, family, food banks or Work and Income in the past year, to find food. 40% of Kiwis also said they felt schemes offered little or no benefit, according ...
Hi,Perhaps in 2025 it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the CEO and owner of Voyager Internet — the major sponsor of the New Zealand Media Awards — has taken to sharing a variety of Anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to his 1.2 million followers.This included sharing a post from ...
In the sprint to deepen Australia-India defence cooperation, navy links have shot ahead of ties between the two countries’ air forces and armies. That’s largely a good thing: maritime security is at the heart of ...
'Cause you and me, were meant to be,Walking free, in harmony,One fine day, we'll fly away,Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day?Songwriters: Paul David Godfrey / Ross Godfrey / Skye Edwards.I was half expecting to see photos this morning of National Party supporters with wads of cotton ...
The PSA says a settlement with Health New Zealand over the agency’s proposed restructure of its Data and Digital and Pacific Health teams has saved around 200 roles from being cut. A third of New Zealanders have needed help accessing food in the past year, according to Consumer NZ, and ...
John Campbell’s Under His Command, a five-part TVNZ+ investigation series starting today, rips the veil off Destiny Church, exposing the rot festering under Brian Tamaki’s self-proclaimed apostolic throne. This isn’t just a church; it’s a fiefdom, built on fear, manipulation, and a trail of scandals that make your stomach churn. ...
Some argue we still have time, since quantum computing capable of breaking today’s encryption is a decade or more away. But breakthrough capabilities, especially in domains tied to strategic advantage, rarely follow predictable timelines. Just ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Pearl Marvell(Photo credit: Pearl Marvell. Image credit: Samantha Harrington. Dollar bill vector image: by pch.vector on Freepik) Igrew up knowing that when you had extra money, you put it under a bed, stashed it in a book or a clock, or, ...
The political petrified piece of wood, Winston Peters, who refuses to retire gracefully, has had an eventful couple of weeks peddling transphobia, pushing bigoted policies, undertaking his unrelenting war on wokeness and slinging vile accusations like calling Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick a “groomer”.At 80, the hypocritical NZ First leader’s latest ...
It's raining in Cockermouth and we're following our host up the stairs. We’re telling her it’s a lovely building and she’s explaining that it used to be a pub and a nightclub and a backpackers, but no more.There were floods in 2009 and 2015 along the main street, huge floods, ...
A recurring aspect of the Trump tariff coverage is that it normalises – or even sanctifies – a status quo that in many respects has been a disaster for working class families. No doubt, Donald Trump is an uncertainty machine that is tanking the stock market and the growth prospects ...
The National Party’s Minister of Police, Corrections, and Ethnic Communities (irony alert) has stumbled into yet another racist quagmire, proving that when it comes to bigotry, the right wing’s playbook is as predictable as it is vile. This time, Mitchell’s office reposted an Instagram reel falsely claiming that Te Pāti ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
In a world crying out for empathy, J.K. Rowling has once again proven she’s more interested in stoking division than building bridges. The once-beloved author of Harry Potter has cemented her place as this week’s Arsehole of the Week, a title earned through her relentless, tone-deaf crusade against transgender rights. ...
Health security is often seen as a peripheral security domain, and as a problem that is difficult to address. These perceptions weaken our capacity to respond to borderless threats. With the wind back of Covid-19 ...
Would our political parties pass muster under the Fair Trading Act?WHAT IF OUR POLITICAL PARTIES were subject to the Fair Trading Act? What if they, like the nation’s businesses, were prohibited from misleading their consumers – i.e. the voters – about the nature, characteristics, suitability, or quantity of the products ...
Rod EmmersonThank you to my subscribers and readers - you make it all possible. Tui.Subscribe nowSix updates today from around the world and locally here in Aoteaora New Zealand -1. RFK Jnr’s Autism CrusadeAmerica plans to create a registry of people with autism in the United States. RFK Jr’s department ...
We see it often enough. A democracy deals with an authoritarian state, and those who oppose concessions cite the lesson of Munich 1938: make none to dictators; take a firm stand. And so we hear ...
370 perioperative nurses working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre will strike for two hours on 1 May – the same day senior doctors are striking. This is part of nationwide events to mark May Day on 1 May, including rallies outside public hospitals, organised by ...
Character protections for Auckland’s villas have stymied past development. Now moves afoot to strip character protection from a bunch of inner-city villas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest from our political economy on Wednesday, April 23:Special Character Areas designed to protect villas are stopping 20,000 sites near Auckland’s ...
Artificial intelligence is poised to significantly transform the Indo-Pacific maritime security landscape. It offers unprecedented situational awareness, decision-making speed and operational flexibility. But without clear rules, shared norms and mechanisms for risk reduction, AI could ...
For what is a man, what has he got?If not himself, then he has naughtTo say the things he truly feelsAnd not the words of one who kneelsThe record showsI took the blowsAnd did it my wayLyrics: Paul Anka.Morena folks, before we discuss Winston’s latest salvo in NZ First’s War ...
Britain once risked a reputation as the weak link in the trilateral AUKUS partnership. But now the appointment of an empowered senior official to drive the project forward and a new burst of British parliamentary ...
Australia’s ability to produce basic metals, including copper, lead, zinc, nickel and construction steel, is in jeopardy, with ageing plants struggling against Chinese competition. The multinational commodities company Trafigura has put its Australian operations under ...
Nicola Willis announced that funding for almost every Government department will be frozen in this year’s budget, costing jobs, making access to public services harder, and fuelling an exodus of nurses, teachers, and other public servants. ...
The Government’s Budget looks set to usher in a new age of austerity. This morning, Minister of Finance Nicola Willis said new spending would be limited to $1.4 billion, cut back from the original intended $2.4 billion, which itself was already $100 million below what Treasury said was needed to ...
The Green Party has renewed its call for the Government to ban the use, supply, and manufacture of engineered stone products, as the CTU launches a petition for the implementation of a full ban. ...
Te Pāti Māori are appalled by Cabinet's decision to agree to 15 recommendations to the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector following the regulatory review by the Ministry of Regulation. We emphasise the need to prioritise tamariki Māori in Early Childhood Education, conducted by education experts- not economists. “Our mokopuna deserve ...
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Led by the seven-metre-long Taxpayers' Union Karaka Nama (Debt Clock), the hīkoi highlights the Government's borrowing from our tamariki and mokopuna. ...
Wellington's deputy mayor is "absolutely gutted" by Tory Whanau's decision to not run for the mayoralty, but another councillor believes it is an opportunity for a fresh start. ...
Wellington's deputy mayor is "absolutely gutted" by Tory Whanau's decision to not run for the mayoralty, but another councillor believes it is an opportunity for a fresh start. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona MacDonald, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Northern British Columbia Canada’s 2025 federal election will be remembered as a game-changer. Liberal Leader Mark Carney is projected to have pulled off a dramatic reversal of political fortunes after convincing voters he was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hal Pawson, Professor of Housing Research and Policy, and Associate Director, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney Any doubts that Australia’s growing housing challenges would be a major focus of the federal election campaign have been dispelled over recent weeks. Both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tegan Cohen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology Ti Wi / Unsplash Another election, another wave of unsolicited political texts. Over this campaign, our digital mailboxes have been stuffed with a slew of political appeals and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tegan Cohen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology Ti Wi / Unsplash Another election, another wave of unsolicited political texts. Over this campaign, our digital mailboxes have been stuffed with a slew of political appeals and ...
Queenstown resident Ben Hildred just spent 100 days doing more uphill cycling than almost anyone else could imagine. He talks to Shanti Mathias about its psychological impact. Ben Hildred swings his leg over his bike, parks it, orders a kombucha and sits down opposite me at Bespoke, a Queenstown cafe. ...
Queenstown resident Ben Hildred just spent 100 days doing more uphill cycling than almost anyone else could imagine. He talks to Shanti Mathias about its psychological impact. Ben Hildred swings his leg over his bike, parks it, orders a kombucha and sits down opposite me at Bespoke, a Queenstown cafe. ...
Lawyers for Wellington City Council say councillors were given multiple options, and deny staff pushed them towards demolishing the City to Sea Bridge. ...
Lawyers for Wellington City Council say councillors were given multiple options, and deny staff pushed them towards demolishing the City to Sea Bridge. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Crosby, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, Macquarie University The Oscars have entered the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Last week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences explicitly said, for the first time, films using generative AI tools will not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Crosby, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, Macquarie University The Oscars have entered the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Last week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences explicitly said, for the first time, films using generative AI tools will not ...
$1.3bn in operating allowance isn’t enough to pay for cost pressures in health alone ($1.55bn). There is no money for cost pressures in education and other public services, or proposed defence spending. This is a Budget that will be built on cuts ...
Shane Jones says if the $2 million study proves it viable, it could turn Northland into a major power-exporting region and reduce prices nationally. ...
Shane Jones says if the $2 million study proves it viable, it could turn Northland into a major power-exporting region and reduce prices nationally. ...
Nicola Willis talks about ‘limited fiscal means’ forcing cuts to the operating allowance - well, she is the author of those, and it is a choice that she made.The PSA will strongly resist any further threats to the jobs of public service or health ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sue Hand, Professor Emeritus, Palaeontology, UNSW Sydney Mary_May/Shutterstock As the world’s only surviving egg-laying mammals, Australasia’s platypus and four echidna species are among the most extraordinary animals on Earth. They are also very different from each other. The platypus is well ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University When refugees flee their home country due to war, violence, conflict or persecution, they are often forced to leave behind their families. For more than 30,000 people who have sought asylum in ...
After nearly a decade of let’s-and-let’s-not, Wellington City Council has officially commenced work on the Golden Mile upgrade. It’s hard to imagine why city dwellers wouldn’t want a better place to live, argues Lyric Waiwiri-Smith. The truck carrying a load of port-a-loos had stopped at the least opportune time. Idling ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Gillespie, Professor of Management; Chair in Trust, Melbourne Business School Matheus Bertelli/Pexels Have you ever used ChatGPT to draft a work email? Perhaps to summarise a report, research a topic or analyse data in a spreadsheet? If so, you certainly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Kirkland, Professor of Geochronology, Curtin University Stoer Head lighthouse, Scotland.William Gale/Shutterstock We’ve discovered that a meteorite struck northwest Scotland 1 billion years ago, 200 million years later than previously thought. Our results are published today in the journal Geology. This ...
Poor performance reporting, difficulty tracing what government spending actually achieves and the erosion of trust in the public sector have been key concerns of outgoing Auditor-General John Ryan. ...
New Zealand is now running the worst primary deficit of any advanced economy, and government debt has exploded from $59 billion in 2017 to a projected $192 billion this year. Every dollar of new spending needs to be matched by savings — not a ...
Disruption during a traditional Welcome to Country at Melbourne’s Anzac Day dawn service has revealed the grim state of race relations across the ditch, writes Ātea editor Liam Rātana.It was 5.30am on Anzac Day. The sky was still dark, but 50,000 people had gathered at the Shrine of Remembrance ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena Wajrak, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, Edith Cowan University Arsenic is a nasty poison that once reigned as the ultimate weapon of deception. In the 18th century, it was the poison of choice for those wanting to kill their enemies and spouses, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Singh, Research Fellow, Allied Health & Human Performance, University of South Australia SarahMcEwan/Shutterstock If you’ve ever tried to build a new habit – whether that’s exercising more, eating healthier, or going to bed earlier – you may have heard the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Hegedus, Associate Professor, Griffith Film School, Griffith University Shutterstock The Australian screen industry is often associated with fun, creativity and perhaps even glamour. But our new Pressure Point Report reveals a more troubling reality: a pervasive mental health crisis, which ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a contractor explains how she went from living beyond her means in her 20s to being a dedicated saver in her 40s, with the help of finance podcasts and blogs. Want to be part of The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee Morgenbesser, Associate Professor, School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University Secret police are a quintessential feature of authoritarian regimes. From Azerbaijan’s State Security Service to Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation, these agencies typically target political opponents and dissidents through covert surveillance, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer in Marketing, Research School of Management, Australian National University In my time researching political advertising, one common communication method that often generates complaints is the proliferation of campaign corflutes. Politicians love them. Not so, many members of the general ...
"Sharma said his decision to resign was based on his concern that Hamilton West could be left without a representative. He said he would stand as an independent at the by-election …"
Hamilton West has an MP, Gaurav Sharma. So he resigns because they may not have the representation that they have, him, if he isn't in the job
And he's going to stand in the by-election, hoping to get to be the electorate's representative which he already is.
When he loses in the election I wonder if he's going to go back to being a GP and if he is, whether he'll be the best person to advise others that they need to get help.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130222437/gaurav-sharma-has-left-parliament-but-did-he-really-need-to
When he loses the byelection he is going to blame it on Labour and Jacinda Ardern in particular. He will claim that there was a deceitful, underhand campaign against him with a view to discrediting him in the eyes of the voter.
The fact that he is the one who is deceitful and underhand will float over the top of him.
Why would he be annoyed at his reputation being tarnished with electors?
If there is one thing he wanted, it was to ensure any future employers were informed about his staff "wasting tax payer money".
Surely he will welcome accusations he is "wasting tax payer money" with an unnecessary by election.
"Why would he be annoyed at his reputation being tarnished with electors?"
Never said he would. He will use it as an excuse however to justify him not winning. In other words, he will tarnish the reputation of the Labour Party. The Sharmas of this world are very good at projecting their own behaviour on to others.
That's why Labour would be better not to stand a candidate. Play him at his own game.
Labour could just signal they are going to boycott the by election, for all the obvious reasons, and not stand a candidate until the general election. Unless of course they had an incredibly well known and popular candidate who was guaranteed to win. Since there are no certainties in this world I suggest they call the Dr's bluff, it can only be sharmageddon in any event……….
no fucking way would I go to him as a GP, and it's nothing to do with party politics.
Genius.
https://twitter.com/JamesL1927/status/1582410548750479360
National have a long list of government policies (current or proposed) that they are promising to scrap.
Here are some of them.
On the other hand, if you want the list of policies that they're going to introduce …
You will have to wait for one more year.
This is absurd. Luxon is hoping to spend a year saying "Trust me". Even our dozy, docile media are going to get tired of that.
I have had this sermon bubbling away for a wee while. The middle class whine-a-thon, known as The Panel on RNZ has motivated me to let it out.
Apparently 30 hospo businesses in Rotorua are going on strike on Monday to protest the government's lack of action in turning the migration tap on enough.
It has just occurred to me, usually when striking, there is a sacrifice for the strikers- going without income. This clown freely admitted that his business was closed Mondays due to a lack of staff.
I started in hospo in 1985 doing a cooking apprenticeship. City and Guilds 706/1 and 2. Took 8,000 hours (2,000 off coz I had School Cert). In the decades since then, I have worked here and overseas and had my own restaurant/bar but also seen the vocation I love decline from a highly skilled calling with pride and mana, to a trade, to skilled labour, to unskilled labour, to where it is now.
My reckons lay the blame at neo-liberalism (surprise surprise). At the start of my career, there was a career path, a chance to progress, with interesting side trips- sommelier, turophile, butchery, patissier etc. Now training is the occasional first aid course, the industry relies on employing someone who has been trained by someone else, either here or overseas. Because the pay has declined in real terms here, they tend to have to come from abroad.
We also had the the horrible trend of nouvelle cuisine in the late '80's/early '90's. I suppose the rise and rise of the cafe scene was a response to the pretentious overpriced food fashion. The boom of cafes in the '90's started to really undermine the industry's foudations, where anyone with a good muffin recipe and a Kruder and Dorfmeister CD could open up and trade, Nothing wrong with that, some school kids and Mums got jobs. Expectations were raised and lowered. Raised in that we could eat well for a good price, lowered because standards have dropped eg. plates not warm or wait staff bringing food to a table and running an auction – 'who had the fish?'
In short (too late), hospo industry ate itself.
Now I am in the building/construction industry and can see the same thing. So much sub-contracted out.
Rant over.
I think you're saying 'quality' no longer counts. Its all about quantity, and making money is the top priority. Pride in the standard of service and cuisine takes second place if it counts much at all.
I agree. That's neoliberalism for you and it rears its ugly head in all sectors of society. No wonder the world is going to hell in a hand basket.
I heard the Rotorua guy. The Government should appease him.
1. Chuck all the 'guests of the state' out of the motels.
2. Let 2000 immigrants into Rotorua to staff the jobs they need done. (They can stay in the motels.)
3. Post 200 more cops in Rotorua.
Yep,
It all went to shit in the 90's, when the bloody Tories 1st brought ECA in 91 & once they destroyed the unions.
Then came after the Trade Apprenticeships, Farm/ Horticulture Cadetships (me), Hospitality Sector & any other non tertiary sector in the mid 90's including the various Industry Training Broads which my Dad was the Union Rep on a couple & a observer on Coal Miner's Training Broad.
The Tories & their respective industry mates destroyed over a 100yr old Training System & Standards in one Great hit. Deregulated building/ Training & Research standards (leaky buildings anyone), training, workers safety etc.
And you wonder why you can't build anything in NZ to a certain standard or last for 50yrs+ now in NZ?
It all started back in the 90's & those chicken's are starting to home to roost now.
Shit even the big end of town, are even starting to understand this, but the stupid Tory Parties don't as they still regurgitating tax cuts will fix everything!!!
Basic Economic History, will tell you tax cuts & cuts to government spending can only go so far before it impacts the bottom half of the tax paying population. And when that happens 9 times out of the economy crashes as there is not a enough money in the system to go round. In other words the poor, the workers & lower middle classes are ones who spend the $$$ to keep the economy going. Because who's going to buy the bulk of the goods like food, water, milk, booze, clothes, eat out & other consumables.
Christ, this 4th- 5th form History. Wish I had the ability to draw to show Edgar Hoovers 29 US Federal Tax cuts which lead to the Great Crash 1930/31.
Truss's tax cuts wiil lead a mass run on the ounce, because of that stupidity it led a massive run on the banks, ounce, not seen the30_
Whatsee atm, is the deathbed of voodoo economics but there is going to some risk to this, but given stat e of most government agencies they are be short staffed people, or even got enough builds
While they're arguing the toss over whether or not the January insurrection was an attempted coup, there's an attempted coup underway.
The Moore case would in practice strip people of the right to fair elections by placing electoral power in the hands of a small group of officials at the state level who set district maps.
[…]
A supermajority of six, unelected ultraconservative justices – three of whom were put on the bench by a president who did not win the popular vote – have aggressively grabbed yet another batch of cases that will allow them to move American law to the extreme right and threaten US democracy in the process. The leading example of this disturbing shift is a little-known case called Moore v Harper, which could lock in rightwing control of the United States for generations.
The heart of the Moore case is a formerly fringe legal notion called the Independent State Legislature (ISL) theory. This theory posits that an obscure provision in the US constitution allowing state legislatures to set “time, place, and manner” rules for federal elections should not be subject to judicial oversight. In other words, state legislatures should have the absolute power to determine how federal elections are run without court interference.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/06/the-most-terrifying-case-of-all-is-about-to-be-heard-by-the-us-supreme-court
this would be funny if it weren't so sad.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/10/19/no-auckland-trains-for-whole-long-weekend-kiwirail/
what's the problem exactly?
it is a long weekend.
many people in Auckland actually do depend on these train services.
these trains predominantly serve people that don't have cars.
bus services in auckland are shite.
these people now have a pretty shite service for the long weekend. The ones with cars will use these.
Essentially they are bit by bit removing access to train services. It is October now, by Jan 2023 they will be shutting down three lines, the western line was 'emergency shut down' last week. Not sure if it is back one.
So two things, either this is routine maintenance and badly advertised. Or the system is so fucked that they are shutting it down because it has become dangerous. Or Kiwirail hates its customers and is thus shutting down a much needed public transport system over a long weekend.
But, I am sure we are gonna have another wee little reminder by the people that glue themselves to stuff and throw tomato soup at stuff how we need to stop oil.
As i said, if it weren't so sad, it would be funny.
Train patronage is quite low in the weekends and even lower in weekends that fall in holidays and the like.
https://at.govt.nz/about-us/reports-publications/at-metro-patronage-report/
The bus services in Auckland are believe it or not the best in the country by a long way. Auckland has had a decade of HOP Card across its services, and Wellington's equivalent only started on trains last month.
The works also enable the faster City Rail Link train frequency which is coming up in 2 years for a 6 minute frequency.
No, it is not the Kiwirail maintenance announced last week.
The point is, that there currently is one lane out of order due to unforseen circumstances. Now you have the closure of these lines over the long weekend. then you have the closure of three lines from Jan onwards.
So either no one ever maintained these tracks to the point where all need to be closed at once, or they really don't care sabotaging the public transport network in Auckland.
again, let me remind you of two things. I don't / never have owned a car in NZ, and i have lived over two decades in Auckland including west Auckland.
If the Auckland bus system is the best in the country, then the rest of the countries bus system is totally fucked.
In the meantime there will be many people switching over to cars again. Someone call the dears from the stop oil troupe, they could block some bus ways. 🙂
No one is in Auckland over Labour Weekend, and it is an historical low point for public transport use.
This rail work accelerates a third rail line from Wiri to the Port which is dedicated to freight alone.
It isn't the deep maintenance stoppage announced by Kiwirail last week.
This work will when complete enable a passenger line uninterrupted and unimpeded by freight, and enable more freight from the port by rail.
So it is specifically for climate action goals.
The poor are in Auckland over the long weekend.
The families with limited resources are in Auckland over the long weekend.
All the people travelling to Auckland for the long weekend are in Auckland.
the working stiffs that man hospitals, businesses etc are in Auckland.
but hey, they may be 'no one' to you. The kindness is gushing all over the place.
https://www.greens.org.nz/redesign_the_tax_system_to_work_for_everyone
This comes after Oxfam 2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index shows our taxation system directly contributes to entrenching inequality:
https://www.oxfam.org.nz/news-media/aotearoa-top-10-in-global-inequality-index-but-tax-systems-inequality-impact-136th
Charming.
/
https://twitter.com/olgatokariuk/status/1582416971722723329
Prick's spent years harassing people but he's off the hook because he was pissed.
ffs
A man sent to prison for sending death threats to New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has had his conviction overturned.
Michael Cruickshank was sentenced to 12 months in prison in March, for a series of emails in which he made violent threats against Ardern. He argued that he was so drunk he could not remember sending the threats, had no intention of seeing them through, and didn’t intend the recipients to take them seriously. On Wednesday, the court of appeal judged that there had been a miscarriage of justice in the case.
The overturning of his charges hinged on his alleged drunkenness, and whether it had been made clear to the jury that Cruickshank’s intoxication was relevant to his defence. Cruickshank said in police interviews: “To be perfectly frank I do not remember sending any emails … I was absolutely wasted so it’s possible I could’ve.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/19/conviction-overturned-for-man-who-sent-death-threats-to-jacinda-ardern
Yep,
It all went to shit in the 90's, when the bloody Tories 1st brought ECA in 91 & once they destroyed the unions.
Then came after the Trade Apprenticeships, Farm/ Horticulture Cadetships (me), Hospitality Sector & any other non tertiary sector in the mid 90's including the various Industry Training Broads which my Dad was the Union Rep on a couple & a observer on Coal Miner's Training Broad.
The Tories & their respective industry mates destroyed over a 100yr old Training System & Standards in one Great hit. Deregulated building/ Training & Research standards (leaky buildings anyone), training, workers safety etc.
And you wonder why you can't build anything in NZ to a certain standard or last for 50yrs+ now in NZ?
It all started back in the 90's & those chicken's are starting to home to roost now.
Shit even the big end of town, are even starting to understand this, but the stupid Tory Parties don't as they still regurgitating tax cuts will fix everything!!!
Basic Economic History, will tell you tax cuts & cuts to government spending can only go so far before it impacts the bottom half of the tax paying population. And when that happens 9 times out of the economy crashes as there is not a enough money in the system to go round. In other words the poor, the workers & lower middle classes are ones who spend the $$$ to keep the economy going. Because who's going to buy the bulk of the goods like food, water, milk, booze, clothes, eat out & other consumables.
Christ, this 4th- 5th form History. Wish I had the ability to draw to show Edgar Hoovers 29 US Federal Tax cuts which lead to the Great Crash 1930/31.
Truss's tax cuts wiil lead a mass run on the ounce, because of that stupidity it led a massive run on the banks, ounce, not seen the30_
Whatsee atm, is the deathbed of voodoo economics but there is going to some risk to this, but given stat e of most government agencies they are be short staffed people, or even got enough builds
They get it alright. From the Chicago boys in Chile, Reagan, Rogernomics, and the creation of Russia's oligarchy through to Truss and the GOP today their objective has always been the transfer of public wealth to their mates.
https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot/status/1577583546524385280
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and other Republicans have recently backed proposals to make the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent, as well as to extend or expand several other corporate tax breaks.
[…]
In a Bloomberg Government article last week, the four Republican lawmakers interested in serving as House Budget Committee chairman in the next Congress all said they’d refuse to raise the debt ceiling next year unless Democrats agreed to entitlement cuts and work requirements on safety-net programs — that is, measures Dems would find abhorrent. This would set the stage for another high-stakes showdown.
Recall that when Republicans held the debt limit hostage in 2011, the United States’ credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history because we came perilously close to default. Since then, the GOP has become more politically unhinged, which means brinkmanship might well go further, which makes a debt default — even by accident — more likely.
https://archive.ph/EjoOd (wapo)
In an interview in August, Johnson, who is seeking a third term in the Senate, lamented that the Social Security and Medicare programs automatically grant benefits to those who meet the qualifications — that is, to those who had been paying into the system over their working life.
“If you qualify for the entitlement, you just get it no matter what the cost,” Johnson said. “And our problem in this country is that more than 70 percent of our federal budget, of our federal spending, is all mandatory spending. It’s on automatic pilot. It never — you just don’t do proper oversight. You don’t get in there and fix the programs going bankrupt. It’s just on automatic pilot.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has proposed to “sunset” all federal programs after five years, meaning they would expire unless renewed. “If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” Scott says in his proposal.
https://archive.ph/srwKv (wapo)
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/03/22/1087654279/how-shock-therapy-created-russian-oligarchs-and-paved-the-path-for-putin
The new religion is not so new after all.
Fascinating discussion involving Mark Blyth (always good value) well worth the 30 mins.
Pat