JA’s tour of the US includes a spot on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and the Today Show with Christiane Amanpour. Great coverage for NZ into the living rooms and streams of decent Americans.
Well she’ll hold herself a lot better than Key, not mincing up the catwalk or hopping in a cage for a drop the soap gag.
Oh, and was it you who hauled be up for being sexist earlier? You RWNJs all look alike to me so apologies if it wasn’t but that there is belittling what a lot of women like.
I think our PM will be treated as some kind of curiosity rather than being compared with POTUS or other leaders. Have Theresa May or Angela Merkel been on those shows?
Personally, I doubt that. I mean, how many Americans would think “if only our President was like that nice woman from Aotearoa – New Zealand”. I think it’s too much of a stretch of the imagination to ‘parachute’ (or rather, ‘beam’) Jacinda Ardern into the Oval Office in the White House. It reminds me of people advocating social policies of the so-called Nordic countries and all will be here as it is over there. Life is just not that simple but that said, it’s nice to fantasise sometime and ponder what-if’s. That’s what entertainment is for too.
Will she be wearing the Maori cloak she wore to meet the Queen ? It would be photogenic and reference North American and New Zealand histories of treaty making with indigenous peoples.
Made Twyford look like the useless fuckwit that he is, no wonder he no longer appears on the AM show on Friday, Collins continually makes him look like a fool.
Perhaps Twyford no longer wanted to be seen to be legitimising that kind of poison and he is right if today is anything to go by.
Everyone knows it was National’s drive to sell social housing stock which prompted the action on false meth testing. This is now in the rooted in public perception and no amount of bluster from a corrupt opposition spokesman in Judith Collins is going to change it.
This is now in the rooted in public perception and no amount of bluster from a corrupt opposition spokesman in Judith Collins is going to change it.
Nope, all that’s happened is the public perception that Labour has a raging hard-on for criminals is once again reinforced.
I don’t get why Labour thinks criminals are a winning strategy? is it some religious bull shit thing? criminals are like lepers and we need to anoint oil upon theirfeet?
That’s funny because all the headlines over the last six months on this are about National apologising for the scandal and protesting that the dog ate their homework. Collins was at it again today.
As ever, explaining is losing and the Nats have lost this one.
That’s a really cynical and odd way of thinking BM. It’s been conclusively (and scientifically) proved that the methodology for testing was not only dubious, but inaccurate. A number of people were wronged. Imagine the furore if a similar amount of people were ticketed for exceeding 50km/hr on a road that was later shown to have been legally 100km/hr. There would be an expectation of compensation. Now imagine if their cars were all seized and destroyed. Now take it back to the housing situation. A large amount of people, through no fault of their own, found themselves in a house that tested for meth contamination, and ended up evicted and barred from housing corporation houses. This was completely unjust. The responsible ministers should consider themselves very lucky that they aren’t following the lead of former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley and standing in the dock.
Nope. What the public would notice, if they cared, is that BM has a “raging hardon” for violations of natural justice, as long as the the victims are unlike him.
But you do – the former government were as crooked as they come and you never stop licking their feet like the servile hench-creature you are.
A straightup government would’ve thrown the lot in jail while the fraud squad went through their dirt. That’s what Korea would’ve done to the Key Kletocracy – and they wouldn’t have got out for decades.
And you come here whining about the odd overdue parking meter or Winston putting Bridges in his place when it should’ve been Jacinda – you’re a bad joke on your best day.
Problem is…there are some people that due to no fault of their own were caught out that had the misfortune of moving into a house after a meth smoking tenant.
However, there are more that did smoke or cook P that will be getting paid out as well.
Having seen first hand the damage P causes this is going to be counterproductive to controlling/ending the P epidemic.
On the contrary. It’ll let a lot of people know this government isn’t like the last and there is a way forward.
It’s up to the police to catch the criminals, not HNZ and the National Party. It’s once again left to Labour to clean up the meth mess National left behind even after they supposedly waged a war on it.
Problem is…there are some people that due to no fault of their own were caught out that had the misfortune of moving into a house after a meth smoking tenant.
The bigger problem was it was all done in a Kangaroo court instead of a real one.
They were guilty until proven innocent.
Housing NZ was Judge, Jury, and executioner with no way to dispute their decision without spending money they did not have.
Proving you are not guilty of something is a lot harder to do than them proving you are actually guilty in a real court of law.
National bypassed the real justice system to get people out so they could sell the houses to their mates at bargain basement prices.
BM did you see the 80 something year old woman interviewed on prime who was evicted from her home due to bogus meth testing. She stated she’d never used drugs………..
eg. It’s the retirement funds like Kiwisaver buying the biggest part of trillions of fresh US debt each year.
When the US-Fed-bond-bubble bursts, no more money for hemorrhoid cream. Our politicians make p dealers look like school girls. P is certainly less addictive than finance.
Spent the early evening with my 97year mum. So watched tv news, a rare event.
Item about Pike River Recovery, and up pops Rob Fyfe (ex air NZ and known as “Fyfe the knife) as some sort of expert consultant. WTF ??
Then some poor Chch woman built a granny flat for her deaf brother and was charged a gazillion dollars by the council. She could have spent a third of the cost on a motor home, parked it on the section and Bob’s your uncle
Kiwis greatest skill was commonsense.
Seems to be a fast diminishing asset.
Perhaps they really truly need, in the Christchurch case, to spend a quarter of a billion dollars on a stadium?
Or in Auckland’s case there is the $4,000,000,000.00 or so for a tram to the Airport.
And in Wellington they really must spend about $7,000,000.00 to have another go at the almost totally unused cycle lane in Island Bay. The thing that they have already stuffed up once.
I do like the cartoon you put at the front of this.
The answer of course that this Government wants to keep that doddery old pensioner, “Sir” Michael Cullen in the luxury that he has enjoyed since 1981. Earns much more now from the quangoes that he gets appointed to by our beloved leaders than he did as a Minister.
Can’t we just dump the silly old sod?
eg. It’s the retirement funds like Kiwisaver buying the biggest part of trillions of fresh US debt each year.
When the US-Fed-bond-bubble bursts, no more money for hemorrhoid cream. Our politicians make p dealers look like school girls. P is certainly less addictive than finance.
We’ll retire Sir Michael once the plans are in place to tax you to the hilt and take all your stuff and give it to the ‘bloody Mowrees’. We know how much you’d hate that – so even suggesting it is a lot of fun.
To the people who say it can’t be done can take a back seat to those who are actually doing it.
The wonderful Laura Flanders new show: The Trump administration claims its response to Hurricane Maria was a “tremendous,” “unsung” success. Yet, what has been truly tremendous in the year since the hurricane is the will of Puerto Ricans building, organizing, and recovering on the island
Simon Bridges going full Jordan Peterson again calling the PM weak, and then err coming up with a clumsy rugby analogy.
“It’s like a rugby team with even fewer players on the field. That leads to actually not just weak leadership [and] weak government, but a weaker country.”
Oh dear, your analogy to Jordan is not better. Jordan puts up solid intellectual arguments. Simon is just a clown, filling the gap, til the next JK (I’m expecting a Chinese Jew next time), falls from the skies of hell.
Simon is doing a good job to make both sides look incompetent, including himself. Shameless stuff, but it programs folk to accept governance by the capital markets rather than the state, thus a vote for the gnats, even though we all know they are just clowns of empty rhetoric.
“Jordan puts up solid intellectual arguments.”
Don’t agree. He meanders along and strings analogies together so that you think you are agreeing with him. Then he uses a further analogy as evidence, and you don’t notice that that is an intellectual fail.
(A young man staying with us became enamoured with his rhetoric, and I took some time to have a look. He is not an in-depth thinker, he takes time to restrict the issue to certain parameters, and then delivers a concise – seemingly elegant – solution. )
Hmmmm, I’ve only seen one video, debating with Stephen Fry against two Americans… Jordon did alright. The otherside where clearly traumatised and chasing pies in the sky. People don’t like hearing that life chances are all relative and subjective, life never was or will be “fair”. So he talks around, waiting for the pennies to drop.
One challenge of being white and privileged is the test of money and power – Satan is attracted to that – mistakes are often public and embarrassing (eg. Catholic Church and miss-conduct) Being born at the top or bottom of the pyramid is just a different set of challenges. Those who waste their chances will loose points for when it comes to the next cycle-of-life. Those who suffer austerity with dignity will come back with handsome blessing in the next.
Simon should be praising JA for offering us Kiwis a good chance to suffer austerity with dignity 😉
That article reflects Thomas’s own position. There appears to be significant backlash against her from within MU itself, and rightly so. She has mislead her colleagues, and brought MU into disrepute.
The good news is that her dishonesty and poorly reasoned actions seem to have brought the issue of free speech on campus into the spotlight.
“I have absolutely tried to live my life, and particularly my professional life, with a level of integrity and I think those emails don’t necessarily reflect my fundamental belief in that, that I have held throughout my entire career, so I regret that” Dr Thomas told the crowd.
“I particularly regret that it has caused a lot of distress and potentially distrust in my leadership – so it is what it is, I accept that, and I take full responsibility for it,” Dr Thomas said.
Hmm… Thomas admits her leadership as the VC is now in question, and then says “I take full responsibility for it”.
If Thomas genuinely took responsibility for her lies, then a resignation would have been tendered. If Massey wanted to give her another go then they could reject her offer to resign.
$5T has been spent by companies on stock buybacks over the past 10 years.
Bosses like to do this as it means they get huge bonuses by inflating the share price (by reducing the number of shares on the public market), but workers are denied wage increases.
Of course shareholders gain (only 15% CGT in the USA) by the practice – taxes would be immediate and higher on dividend payouts.
The practice of buybacks was made illegal in 1934 as it was blamed for the 1929 market crash. It’s resumption is one factor in the inflated stockmarket today.
Corporations are using the tax cut money to fuel another share buyback binge. While this will keep the market rising, the merry go around will have its end.
Well here’s a couple of CC events happening atm, A drought in Indonesia atm and there has been one the PNG Highlands over a number yrs which doesn’t get in the media all the often a enough and this one about NT Mango’s arriving a mth early than normal, but the yield is going to be bit lower than last yr. Which is not surprising considering that the build up has started a couple mths early as well.
Trouble with ‘early arrival’ of this or that is often its done for commercial advantage.
Some farmers do it for ‘early lambs’ too.
Its because suppliers have better knowledge of prices and timing.
Yes you are correct, but as time goes on it becomes the new norm and sometime way down the track they may have to give up mango farming altogether or keep moving further Sth as the climate/ environment changes.
So what becomes of you, my love?When they have finally stripped you ofThe handbags and the gladragsThat your poor old granddadHad to sweat to buy you, babySongwriter: Mike D'aboIn yesterday’s newsletter, I expressed sadness at seeing Golriz Ghahraman back on the front pages for shoplifting. As someone who is no ...
It’s Friday and time for another roundup of things that caught our attention this week. This post, like all our work, is brought to you by a largely volunteer crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and fans. If you’d like to support our work, you can join ...
Note: This Webworm discusses sexual assault and rape. Please read with care.Hi,A few weeks ago I reported on how one of New Zealand’s richest men, Nick Mowbray (he and his brother own Zuru and are worth an estimated $20 billion), had taken to sharing posts by a British man called ...
The final Atlas Network playbook puzzle piece is here, and it slipped in to Aotearoa New Zealand with little fan fare or attention. The implications are stark.Today, writes Dr Bex, the submission for the Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill closes: 11:59pm January 16, 2025.As usual, the language of the ...
Excitement in the seaside village! Look what might be coming! 400 million dollars worth of investment! In the very beating heart of the village! Are we excited and eager to see this happen, what with every last bank branch gone and shops sitting forlornly quiet awaiting a customer?Yes please, apply ...
Much discussion has been held over the Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB), the latest in a series of rightwing attempts to enshrine into law pro-market precepts such as the primacy of private property ownership. Underneath the good governance and economic efficiency gobbledegook language of the Bill is an interest to strip ...
We are concerned that the Amendment Bill, as proposed, could impair the operations and legitimate interests of the NZ Trade Union movement. It is also likely to negatively impact the ability of other civil society actors to conduct their affairs without the threat of criminal sanctions. We ask that ...
I can't take itHow could I fake it?How could I fake it?And I can't take itHow could I fake it?How could I fake it?Song: The Lonely Biscuits.“A bit nippy”, I thought when I woke this morning, and then, soon after that, I wondered whether hell had frozen over. Dear friends, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Asheville, North Carolina, was once widely considered a climate haven thanks to its elevated, inland location and cooler temperatures than much of the Southeast. Then came the catastrophic floods of Hurricane Helene in September 2024. It was a stark reminder that nowhere is safe from ...
Early reports indicate that the temporary Israel/Hamas ceasefire deal (due to take effect on Sunday) will allow for the gradual release of groups of Israeli hostages, the release of an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails (likely only a fraction of the total incarcerated population), and the withdrawal ...
My daily news diet is not what it once was.It was the TV news that lost me first. Too infantilising, too breathless, too frustrating.The Herald was next. You could look past the reactionary framing while it was being a decent newspaper of record, but once Shayne Currie began unleashing all ...
Hit the road Jack and don't you come backNo more, no more, no more, no moreHit the road Jack and don't you come back no moreWhat you say?Songwriters: Percy MayfieldMorena,I keep many of my posts, like this one, paywall-free so that everyone can read them.However, please consider supporting me as ...
This might be the longest delay between reading (or in this case re-reading) a work, and actually writing a review of it I have ever managed. Indeed, when I last read these books in December 2022, I was not planning on writing anything about them… but as A Phuulish Fellow ...
Kia Ora,I try to keep most my posts without a paywall for public interest journalism purposes. However, if you can afford to, please consider supporting me as a paid subscriber and/or supporting over at Ko-Fi. That will help me to continue, and to keep spending time on the work. Embarrassingly, ...
There was a time when Google was the best thing in my world. I was an early adopter of their AdWords program and boy did I like what it did for my business. It put rocket fuel in it, is what it did. For every dollar I spent, those ads ...
A while back I was engaged in an unpleasant exchange with a leader of the most well-known NZ anti-vax group and several like-minded trolls. I had responded to a racist meme on social media in which a rightwing podcaster in the US interviewed one of the leaders of the Proud ...
Hi,If you’ve been reading Webworm for a while, you’ll be familiar with Anna Wilding. Between 2020 and 2021 I looked at how the New Zealander had managed to weasel her way into countless news stories over the years, often with very little proof any of it had actually happened. When ...
It's a long white cloud for you, baby; staying together alwaysSummertime in AotearoaWhere the sunshine kisses the water, we will find it alwaysSummertime in AotearoaYeah, it′s SummertimeIt's SummertimeWriters: Codi Wehi Ngatai, Moresby Kainuku, Pipiwharauroa Campbell, Taulutoa Michael Schuster, Rebekah Jane Brady, Te Naawe Jordan Muturangi Tupe, Thomas Edward Scrase.Many of ...
Last year, 292 people died unnecessarily on our roads. That is the lowest result in over a decade and only the fourth time in the last 70 years we’ve seen fewer than 300 deaths in a calendar year. Yet, while it is 292 people too many, with each death being ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob HensonFlames from the Palisades Fire burn a building at Sunset Boulevard amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The fast-moving wildfire had destroyed thousands of structures and ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The Regulatory Standards Bill, as I understand it, seeks to bind parliament to a specific range of law-making.For example, it seems to ensure primacy of individual rights over that of community, environment, te Tiriti ...
Happy New Year!I had a lovely break, thanks very much for asking: friends, family, sunshine, books, podcasts, refreshing swims, barbecues, bike rides. So good to step away from the firehose for a while, to have less Trump and Seymour in your day. Who needs the Luxons in their risible PJs ...
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the Auckland City Centre Advisory Panel and a director of Greater Auckland In 2003, after much argument, including the election of a Mayor in 2001 who ran on stopping it, Britomart train station in downtown Auckland opened. A mere 1km twin track terminating branch ...
For the first time in a decade, a New Zealand Prime Minister is heading to the Middle East. The trip is more than just a courtesy call. New Zealand PMs frequently change planes in Dubai en route to destinations elsewhere. But Christopher Luxon’s visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 5, 2025 thru Sat, January 11, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The decade between 1952 and the early 1960s was the peak period for the style of music we now call doo wop, after which it got dissolved into soul music, girl groups, and within pop music in general. Basically, doo wop was a form of small group harmonising with a ...
The future teaches you to be aloneThe present to be afraid and coldSo if I can shoot rabbits, then I can shoot fascists…And if you tolerate thisThen your children will be nextSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Do you remember at school, studying the rise ...
When National won the New Zealand election in 2023, one of the first to congratulate Luxon was tech-billionaire and entrepreneur extraordinaire Elon Musk.And last year, after Luxon posted a video about a trip to Malaysia, Musk came forward again to heap praise on Christopher:So it was perhaps par for the ...
Hi,Today’s Webworm features a new short film from documentary maker Giorgio Angelini. It’s about Luigi Mangione — but it’s also, really, about everything in America right now.Bear with me.Shortly after I sent out my last missive from the fires on Wednesday, one broke out a little too close to home ...
So soon just after you've goneMy senses sharpenBut it always takes so damn longBefore I feel how much my eyes have darkenedFear hangs in a plane of gun smokeDrifting in our roomSo easy to disturb, with a thought, with a whisperWith a careless memorySongwriters: Andy Taylor / John Taylor / ...
Can we trust the Trump cabinet to act in the public interest?Nine of Trump’s closest advisers are billionaires. Their total net worth is in excess of $US375b (providing there is not a share-market crash). In contrast, the total net worth of Trump’s first Cabinet was about $6b. (Joe Biden’s Cabinet ...
Welcome back to our weekly roundup. We hope you had a good break (if you had one). Here’s a few of the stories that caught our attention over the last few weeks. This holiday period on Greater Auckland Since our last roundup we’ve: Taken a look back at ...
Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partnerSometimes I feel like my only friendIs the city I live in, The City of AngelsLonely as I am together we crySong: Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith, Flea, John Frusciante.A home is engulfed in flames during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area. ...
Open access notablesLarge emissions of CO2 and CH4 due to active-layer warming in Arctic tundra, Torn et al., Nature Communications:Climate warming may accelerate decomposition of Arctic soil carbon, but few controlled experiments have manipulated the entire active layer. To determine surface-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide and ...
It's election year for Wellington City Council and for the Regional Council. What have the progressive councillors achieved over the last couple of years. What were the blocks and failures? What's with the targeting of the mayor and city council by the Post and by central government? Why does the ...
Over the holidays, there was a rising tide of calls for people to submit on National's repulsive, white supremacist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, along with a wave of advice and examples of what to say. And it looks like people rose to the occasion, with over 300,000 ...
The lie is my expenseThe scope of my desireThe Party blessed me with its futureAnd I protect it with fireI am the Nina The Pinta The Santa MariaThe noose and the rapistAnd the fields overseerThe agents of orangeThe priests of HiroshimaThe cost of my desire…Sleep now in the fireSongwriters: Brad ...
This is a re-post from the Climate BrinkGlobal surface temperatures have risen around 1.3C since the preindustrial (1850-1900) period as a result of human activity.1 However, this aggregate number masks a lot of underlying factors that contribute to global surface temperature changes over time.These include CO2, which is the primary ...
There are times when movement around us seems to slow down. And the faster things get, the slower it all appears.And so it is with the whirlwind of early year political activity.They are harbingers for what is to come:Video: Wayne Wright Jnr, funder of Sean Plunket, talk growing power and ...
Hi,Right now the power is out, so I’m just relying on the laptop battery and tethering to my phone’s 5G which is dropping in and out. We’ll see how we go.First up — I’m fine. I can’t see any flames out the window. I live in the greater Hollywood area ...
2024 was a tough year for working Kiwis. But together we’ve been able to fight back for a just and fair New Zealand and in 2025 we need to keep standing up for what’s right and having our voices heard. That starts with our Mood of the Workforce Survey. It’s your ...
Time is never time at allYou can never ever leaveWithout leaving a piece of youthAnd our lives are forever changedWe will never be the sameThe more you change, the less you feelSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan.Babinden - Baba’s DayToday, January 8th, 2025, is Babinden, “The Day of the baba” or “The ...
..I/We wish to make the following comments:I oppose the Treaty Principles Bill."5. Act binds the CrownThis Act binds the Crown."How does this Act "bind the Crown" when Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which the Act refers to, has been violated by the Crown on numerous occassions, resulting in massive loss of ...
Everything is good and brownI'm here againWith a sunshine smile upon my faceMy friends are close at handAnd all my inhibitions have disappeared without a traceI'm glad, oh, that I found oohSomebody who I can rely onSongwriter: Jay KayGood morning, all you lovely people. Today, I’ve got nothing except a ...
Welcome to 2025. After wrapping up 2024, here’s a look at some of the things we can expect to see this year along with a few predictions. Council and Elections Elections One of the biggest things this year will be local body elections in October. Will Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Canadians can take a while to get angry – but when they finally do, watch out. Canada has been falling out of love with Justin Trudeau for years, and his exit has to be the least surprising news event of the New Year. On recent polling, Trudeau’s Liberal party has ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Much like 2023, many climate and energy records were broken in 2024. It was Earth’s hottest year on record by a wide margin, breaking the previous record that was set just last year by an even larger margin. Human-caused climate-warming pollution and ...
Submissions on National's racist, white supremacist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill are due tomorrow! So today, after a good long holiday from all that bullshit, I finally got my shit together to submit on it. As I noted here, people should write their own submissions in their own ...
Ooh, baby (ooh, baby)It's making me crazy (it's making me crazy)Every time I look around (look around)Every time I look around (every time I look around)Every time I look aroundIt's in my faceSongwriters: Alan Leo Jansson / Paul Lawrence L. Fuemana.Today, I’ll be talking about rich, middle-aged men who’ve made ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 29, 2024 thru Sat, January 4, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Hi,The thing that stood out at me while shopping for Christmas presents in New Zealand was how hard it was to avoid Zuru products. Toy manufacturer Zuru is a bit like Netflix, in that it has so much data on what people want they can flood the market with so ...
And when a child is born into this worldIt has no conceptOf the tone of skin it's living inAnd there's a million voicesAnd there's a million voicesTo tell you what you should be thinkingSong by Neneh Cherry and Youssou N'Dour.The moment you see that face, you can hear her voice; ...
While we may not always have quality political leadership, a couple of recently published autobiographies indicate sometimes we strike it lucky. When ranking our prime ministers, retired professor of history Erik Olssen commented that ‘neither Holland nor Nash was especially effective as prime minister – even his private secretary thought ...
Baby, be the class clownI'll be the beauty queen in tearsIt's a new art form, showin' people how little we care (yeah)We're so happy, even when we're smilin' out of fearLet's go down to the tennis court and talk it up like, yeah (yeah)Songwriters: Joel Little / Ella Yelich O ...
Open access notables Why Misinformation Must Not Be Ignored, Ecker et al., American Psychologist:Recent academic debate has seen the emergence of the claim that misinformation is not a significant societal problem. We argue that the arguments used to support this minimizing position are flawed, particularly if interpreted (e.g., by policymakers or the public) as suggesting ...
What I’ve Been Doing: I buried a close family member.What I’ve Been Watching: Andor, Jack Reacher, Xmas movies.What I’ve Been Reflecting On: The Usefulness of Writing and the Worthiness of Doing So — especially as things become more transparent on their own.I also hate competing on any day, and if ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by John Wihbey. A version of this article first appeared on Yale Climate Connections on Nov. 11, 2008. (Image credits: The White House, Jonathan Cutrer / CC BY 2.0; President Jimmy Carter, Trikosko/Library of Congress; Solar dedication, Bill Fitz-Patrick / Jimmy Carter Library; Solar ...
Morena folks,We’re having a good break, recharging the batteries. Hope you’re enjoying the holiday period. I’m not feeling terribly inspired by much at the moment, I’m afraid—not from a writing point of view, anyway.So, today, we’re travelling back in time. You’ll have to imagine the wavy lines and sci-fi sound ...
Completed reads for 2024: Oration on the Dignity of Man, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola A Platonic Discourse Upon Love, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Of Being and Unity, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola The Life of Pico della Mirandola, by Giovanni Francesco Pico Three Letters Written by Pico ...
Welcome to 2025, Aotearoa. Well… what can one really say? 2024 was a story of a bad beginning, an infernal middle and an indescribably farcical end. But to chart a course for a real future, it does pay to know where we’ve been… so we know where we need ...
Welcome to the official half-way point of the 2020s. Anyway, as per my New Years tradition, here’s where A Phuulish Fellow’s blog traffic came from in 2024: United States United Kingdom New Zealand Canada Sweden Australia Germany Spain Brazil Finland The top four are the same as 2023, ...
Completed reads for December: Be A Wolf!, by Brian Strickland The Magic Flute [libretto], by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Emanuel Schikaneder The Invisible Eye, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Owl’s Ear, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Waters of Death, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Spider, by Hanns Heinz Ewers Who Knows?, by Guy de Maupassant ...
Well, it’s the last day of the year, so it’s time for a quick wrap-up of the most important things that happened in 2024 for urbanism and transport in our city. A huge thank you to everyone who has visited the blog and supported us in our mission to make ...
Leave your office, run past your funeralLeave your home, car, leave your pulpitJoin us in the streets where weJoin us in the streets where weDon't belong, don't belongHere under the starsThrowing light…Song: Jeffery BuckleyToday, I’ll discuss the standout politicians of the last 12 months. Each party will receive three awards, ...
Hi,A lot’s happened this year in the world of Webworm, and as 2024 comes to an end I thought I’d look back at a few of the things that popped. Maybe you missed them, or you might want to revisit some of these essay and podcast episodes over your break ...
Hi,I wanted to share this piece by film editor Dan Kircher about what cinema has been up to in 2024.Dan edited my documentary Mister Organ, as well as this year’s excellent crowd-pleasing Bookworm.Dan adores movies. He gets the language of cinema, he knows what he loves, and writes accordingly. And ...
Without delving into personal details but in order to give readers a sense of the year that was, I thought I would offer the study in contrasts that are Xmas 2023 and Xmas 2024: Xmas 2023 in Starship Children’s Hospital (after third of four surgeries). Even opening presents was an ...
Heavy disclaimer: Alpha/beta/omega dynamics is a popular trope that’s used in a wide range of stories and my thoughts on it do not apply to all cases. I’m most familiar with it through the lens of male-focused fanfic, typically m/m but sometimes also featuring m/f and that’s the situation I’m ...
Hi,Webworm has been pretty heavy this year — mainly because the world is pretty heavy. But as we sprint (or limp, you choose) through the final days of 2024, I wanted to keep Webworm a little lighter.So today I wanted to look at one of the biggest and weirdest elements ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 22, 2024 thru Sat, December 28, 2024. This week's roundup is the second one published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, ...
The Green Party has welcomed the provisional ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and reiterated its call for New Zealand to push for an end to the unlawful occupation of Palestine. ...
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JA’s tour of the US includes a spot on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and the Today Show with Christiane Amanpour. Great coverage for NZ into the living rooms and streams of decent Americans.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/107252971/jacinda-ardern-to-appear-on-stephen-colberts-tv-show
What a contrast it will be for them when they consider their own leader.
Would imagine the whole of the interviews will be about having a baby and piss all about NZ coverage, but good on her.
Key did it with Letterman so it seems it has turned into a bit of a tradition
But Letterman laughed at Key, as did his audience. That won’t be happening this time.
Of course not
They will be too busy fawning and doing group “aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh… cuuuuttttteeeee”s over baby pics.
And I bet there are at least 2 “YOU GO GIIIIRRRRLLLL!!!”s
Well she’ll hold herself a lot better than Key, not mincing up the catwalk or hopping in a cage for a drop the soap gag.
Oh, and was it you who hauled be up for being sexist earlier? You RWNJs all look alike to me so apologies if it wasn’t but that there is belittling what a lot of women like.
No I hauled you up for looking a bit hypocritical.
And saying the interviews will be mainly about the baby isn’t sexist.
It is criticising the American medias fixation with Ardern and the baby.
In fact I said good on her, as I did when Key did the same thing
But I apologise if you found it offensive in some way.
No, you trivialised women’s reactions to babies. That is sexist.
I didn’t find it offensive, I just think you’re a dick.
“Trivialising women’s reaction to babies”
Lol
Geezes
“trivialised women’s reaction to babies” – point out where he did that.
Wrong log-in, Serena.
I think our PM will be treated as some kind of curiosity rather than being compared with POTUS or other leaders. Have Theresa May or Angela Merkel been on those shows?
No but a lot of Americans will look at JA and imagine if there isn’t another way.
Personally, I doubt that. I mean, how many Americans would think “if only our President was like that nice woman from Aotearoa – New Zealand”. I think it’s too much of a stretch of the imagination to ‘parachute’ (or rather, ‘beam’) Jacinda Ardern into the Oval Office in the White House. It reminds me of people advocating social policies of the so-called Nordic countries and all will be here as it is over there. Life is just not that simple but that said, it’s nice to fantasise sometime and ponder what-if’s. That’s what entertainment is for too.
Will she be wearing the Maori cloak she wore to meet the Queen ? It would be photogenic and reference North American and New Zealand histories of treaty making with indigenous peoples.
Wtf?
6:15 RNZ “compensating p users will be unpopular”. Who is this git?
Agree taxing Kiwisaver (capital gains which let’s be honest is one of the few reasons to stay in NZ) etc is stupid. TG for Winston for now at least
Compensating p users will be unpopular.
He’s not wrong.
Once again, Labour’s all about the crims.
Here’s your phantom P cook, BM. Y’know one of the criminals Judith Collins accused Phil Twyford of funding back into production.
That corrupt and venal woman has to go, and I will dance a jig when it happens.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/107241075/i-felt-victimised-pensioner-evicted-over-meth-test-happy-with-hnz-apology
She did a great interview on Newstalk ZB
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings/audio/judith-collins-bites-back-over-claims-national-is-to-blame-for-meth-saga/#ath
Made Twyford look like the useless fuckwit that he is, no wonder he no longer appears on the AM show on Friday, Collins continually makes him look like a fool.
Perhaps Twyford no longer wanted to be seen to be legitimising that kind of poison and he is right if today is anything to go by.
Everyone knows it was National’s drive to sell social housing stock which prompted the action on false meth testing. This is now in the rooted in public perception and no amount of bluster from a corrupt opposition spokesman in Judith Collins is going to change it.
This is now in the rooted in public perception and no amount of bluster from a corrupt opposition spokesman in Judith Collins is going to change it.
Nope, all that’s happened is the public perception that Labour has a raging hard-on for criminals is once again reinforced.
I don’t get why Labour thinks criminals are a winning strategy? is it some religious bull shit thing? criminals are like lepers and we need to anoint oil upon theirfeet?
That’s funny because all the headlines over the last six months on this are about National apologising for the scandal and protesting that the dog ate their homework. Collins was at it again today.
As ever, explaining is losing and the Nats have lost this one.
That’s a really cynical and odd way of thinking BM. It’s been conclusively (and scientifically) proved that the methodology for testing was not only dubious, but inaccurate. A number of people were wronged. Imagine the furore if a similar amount of people were ticketed for exceeding 50km/hr on a road that was later shown to have been legally 100km/hr. There would be an expectation of compensation. Now imagine if their cars were all seized and destroyed. Now take it back to the housing situation. A large amount of people, through no fault of their own, found themselves in a house that tested for meth contamination, and ended up evicted and barred from housing corporation houses. This was completely unjust. The responsible ministers should consider themselves very lucky that they aren’t following the lead of former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley and standing in the dock.
Well said riffer, cue BM to disappear from the thread now.
Nope. What the public would notice, if they cared, is that BM has a “raging hardon” for violations of natural justice, as long as the the victims are unlike him.
BM has a raging hard on for something alright, and that something is Cankles Collins.
Oooo-er. That’s just wrong Muttonbird. 😉
But you do – the former government were as crooked as they come and you never stop licking their feet like the servile hench-creature you are.
A straightup government would’ve thrown the lot in jail while the fraud squad went through their dirt. That’s what Korea would’ve done to the Key Kletocracy – and they wouldn’t have got out for decades.
And you come here whining about the odd overdue parking meter or Winston putting Bridges in his place when it should’ve been Jacinda – you’re a bad joke on your best day.
Here’s another one of Judith’s criminal P cooks.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018663425/meth-eviction-compo-an-absolute-joke-tenant
Looks like a real hard-arse felon doesn’t he.
Problem is…there are some people that due to no fault of their own were caught out that had the misfortune of moving into a house after a meth smoking tenant.
However, there are more that did smoke or cook P that will be getting paid out as well.
Having seen first hand the damage P causes this is going to be counterproductive to controlling/ending the P epidemic.
On the contrary. It’ll let a lot of people know this government isn’t like the last and there is a way forward.
It’s up to the police to catch the criminals, not HNZ and the National Party. It’s once again left to Labour to clean up the meth mess National left behind even after they supposedly waged a war on it.
The bigger problem was it was all done in a Kangaroo court instead of a real one.
They were guilty until proven innocent.
Housing NZ was Judge, Jury, and executioner with no way to dispute their decision without spending money they did not have.
Proving you are not guilty of something is a lot harder to do than them proving you are actually guilty in a real court of law.
National bypassed the real justice system to get people out so they could sell the houses to their mates at bargain basement prices.
BM did you see the 80 something year old woman interviewed on prime who was evicted from her home due to bogus meth testing. She stated she’d never used drugs………..
Public servants, what do you expect, not a lot of common sense there.
The private contractors that did the misleading testing? Lot of personal profit seeking at the expense of the taxpayer there.
You’ve got to do something with cops that have perfed out of the force.
Either ‘P cleanups’ or workplace drug testing….
The unarrested untried unconvicted crims BMmer?/
Kiwisaver always was a neo-liberal con-job.
eg. It’s the retirement funds like Kiwisaver buying the biggest part of trillions of fresh US debt each year.
When the US-Fed-bond-bubble bursts, no more money for hemorrhoid cream. Our politicians make p dealers look like school girls. P is certainly less addictive than finance.
https://wolfstreet.com/2018/09/18/who-bought-1-47-trillion-of-new-us-national-debt-past-12-months/
Nearest to an ethical fund option I found was the opt out form:
https://www.ird.govt.nz/forms-guides/keyword/kiwisaver/ks10-form-ks-optout.html
Great to see Meka Whaitiri being acted on faster.
Bit of spine top work PM Ardern.
Spent the early evening with my 97year mum. So watched tv news, a rare event.
Item about Pike River Recovery, and up pops Rob Fyfe (ex air NZ and known as “Fyfe the knife) as some sort of expert consultant. WTF ??
Then some poor Chch woman built a granny flat for her deaf brother and was charged a gazillion dollars by the council. She could have spent a third of the cost on a motor home, parked it on the section and Bob’s your uncle
Kiwis greatest skill was commonsense.
Seems to be a fast diminishing asset.
Councils are broke, apart from continuing to hike rates this sort of stuff is the only way councils can bring in revenue.
You may want to ask yourself why councils are broke and 100’s of millions of dollars in debt?
All the roads getting chewed up by trucks BMmer?
Not quite.
Big clue, Aunty Helen
Perhaps they really truly need, in the Christchurch case, to spend a quarter of a billion dollars on a stadium?
Or in Auckland’s case there is the $4,000,000,000.00 or so for a tram to the Airport.
And in Wellington they really must spend about $7,000,000.00 to have another go at the almost totally unused cycle lane in Island Bay. The thing that they have already stuffed up once.
Closer to half a billion on the stadium when the insurance payout from Lancaster Park is included.
I do like the cartoon you put at the front of this.
The answer of course that this Government wants to keep that doddery old pensioner, “Sir” Michael Cullen in the luxury that he has enjoyed since 1981. Earns much more now from the quangoes that he gets appointed to by our beloved leaders than he did as a Minister.
Can’t we just dump the silly old sod?
Here a napkin,
your dribbling again.
Al sounds almost envious – maybe he’s going Green?
Alywyn. Mr Cullen brought in KiwiSaver so at least he did something of benefit for the country unlike the national meth testing debacle.
Kiwisaver always was a neo-liberal con-job.
eg. It’s the retirement funds like Kiwisaver buying the biggest part of trillions of fresh US debt each year.
When the US-Fed-bond-bubble bursts, no more money for hemorrhoid cream. Our politicians make p dealers look like school girls. P is certainly less addictive than finance.
https://wolfstreet.com/2018/09/18/who-bought-1-47-trillion-of-new-us-national-debt-past-12-months/
Nearest to an ethical fund option I found was the opt-out form:
https://www.ird.govt.nz/forms-guides/keyword/kiwisaver/ks10-form-ks-optout.html
Pot/kettle alwyn?
OK. Couldn’t resist it. Not trying to be a clever clogs. Honest. 😀
We’ll retire Sir Michael once the plans are in place to tax you to the hilt and take all your stuff and give it to the ‘bloody Mowrees’. We know how much you’d hate that – so even suggesting it is a lot of fun.
Wow, he must be worrying some pretty rich and powerful people to make the trolls lay down such obnoxious taradiddle.
To the people who say it can’t be done can take a back seat to those who are actually doing it.
The wonderful Laura Flanders new show: The Trump administration claims its response to Hurricane Maria was a “tremendous,” “unsung” success. Yet, what has been truly tremendous in the year since the hurricane is the will of Puerto Ricans building, organizing, and recovering on the island
Submissions asked for the Tasman District Council (Waimea Water Augmentation Scheme) Bill
The fuckwit farmers continue to demand that they be allowed to fuckup our land.
Be nice.
Simon Bridges going full Jordan Peterson again calling the PM weak, and then err coming up with a clumsy rugby analogy.
“It’s like a rugby team with even fewer players on the field. That leads to actually not just weak leadership [and] weak government, but a weaker country.”
I mean what is this clown trying to say here?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/09/simon-bridges-chides-weak-jacinda-ardern-over-meka-whaitiri-scandal.html
I know!
A rugby team with fewer players is a league team, so with Ms Curran in the sin bin and Ms Whaitiri sent off, it’s time for cricket.
Damn, had a good set-up, just lacked a punch line.
Wernt they saying back last year the ‘team had too many players’
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/10/the_largest_ever_executive.html
Oh dear, your analogy to Jordan is not better. Jordan puts up solid intellectual arguments. Simon is just a clown, filling the gap, til the next JK (I’m expecting a Chinese Jew next time), falls from the skies of hell.
Simon is doing a good job to make both sides look incompetent, including himself. Shameless stuff, but it programs folk to accept governance by the capital markets rather than the state, thus a vote for the gnats, even though we all know they are just clowns of empty rhetoric.
“Jordan puts up solid intellectual arguments.”
Don’t agree. He meanders along and strings analogies together so that you think you are agreeing with him. Then he uses a further analogy as evidence, and you don’t notice that that is an intellectual fail.
(A young man staying with us became enamoured with his rhetoric, and I took some time to have a look. He is not an in-depth thinker, he takes time to restrict the issue to certain parameters, and then delivers a concise – seemingly elegant – solution. )
Hmmmm, I’ve only seen one video, debating with Stephen Fry against two Americans… Jordon did alright. The otherside where clearly traumatised and chasing pies in the sky. People don’t like hearing that life chances are all relative and subjective, life never was or will be “fair”. So he talks around, waiting for the pennies to drop.
One challenge of being white and privileged is the test of money and power – Satan is attracted to that – mistakes are often public and embarrassing (eg. Catholic Church and miss-conduct) Being born at the top or bottom of the pyramid is just a different set of challenges. Those who waste their chances will loose points for when it comes to the next cycle-of-life. Those who suffer austerity with dignity will come back with handsome blessing in the next.
Simon should be praising JA for offering us Kiwis a good chance to suffer austerity with dignity 😉
Also I see Jan Thomas is staying put. That’s another fail for Bridges and his corrupt followers.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/366920/massey-uni-vice-chancellor-has-no-intention-of-resigning
That article reflects Thomas’s own position. There appears to be significant backlash against her from within MU itself, and rightly so. She has mislead her colleagues, and brought MU into disrepute.
The good news is that her dishonesty and poorly reasoned actions seem to have brought the issue of free speech on campus into the spotlight.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12128794
Nice
Jan Thomas says,
“I have absolutely tried to live my life, and particularly my professional life, with a level of integrity and I think those emails don’t necessarily reflect my fundamental belief in that, that I have held throughout my entire career, so I regret that” Dr Thomas told the crowd.
“I particularly regret that it has caused a lot of distress and potentially distrust in my leadership – so it is what it is, I accept that, and I take full responsibility for it,” Dr Thomas said.
Hmm… Thomas admits her leadership as the VC is now in question, and then says “I take full responsibility for it”.
If Thomas genuinely took responsibility for her lies, then a resignation would have been tendered. If Massey wanted to give her another go then they could reject her offer to resign.
$5T has been spent by companies on stock buybacks over the past 10 years.
Bosses like to do this as it means they get huge bonuses by inflating the share price (by reducing the number of shares on the public market), but workers are denied wage increases.
Of course shareholders gain (only 15% CGT in the USA) by the practice – taxes would be immediate and higher on dividend payouts.
The practice of buybacks was made illegal in 1934 as it was blamed for the 1929 market crash. It’s resumption is one factor in the inflated stockmarket today.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/07/are-stock-buybacks-starving-the-economy/566387/
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/2/17639762/stock-buybacks-tax-cuts-trump-republicans
Corporations are using the tax cut money to fuel another share buyback binge. While this will keep the market rising, the merry go around will have its end.
Well here’s a couple of CC events happening atm, A drought in Indonesia atm and there has been one the PNG Highlands over a number yrs which doesn’t get in the media all the often a enough and this one about NT Mango’s arriving a mth early than normal, but the yield is going to be bit lower than last yr. Which is not surprising considering that the build up has started a couple mths early as well.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-20/drought-in-australia-spreading-to-indonesia/10249940
http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-09-20/mango-season-heats-up-in-northern-territory/10283106
Trouble with ‘early arrival’ of this or that is often its done for commercial advantage.
Some farmers do it for ‘early lambs’ too.
Its because suppliers have better knowledge of prices and timing.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/104798289/south-canterbury-sheep-farmer-trialing-early-lambing-season
2 months !!
Yes you are correct, but as time goes on it becomes the new norm and sometime way down the track they may have to give up mango farming altogether or keep moving further Sth as the climate/ environment changes.
Very pleased to see Russell Norman and company did not get convicted.