Yep and opening the borders without MIQ great idea.
We're frogs in a pot. By the time most of realise that this pandemic has a long game (much longer than our feelings about Christmas) we will be used to death and disability and in adaptation mode. The government is easing us into it.
the pull to BAU is strong. I think because people don't practicing imagining other ways of living that are good. We're focused on the bad stuff and it makes use afraid and reaching for the familiar. Lots of people see covid/let it rip vs covid/protect at all costs, and Labour are trying to find a middle ground. There are other options that we refuse to look at.
Falling further and further behind in managing Covid is the bit that unsettles me. Ad's comment @2 is the reality.
I have also been thinking about needing Covid hospitals, that Covid is a medical speciality of its own and who will and will not have access to ICU/HDU.
I thought about middle ground maybe there is no middle ground.
Covid variants of concern is what has taken freedom away. When a person's health is impacted, (chronic/just treating the symptoms) freedom becomes limited due to not being able to afford more than a basic existence.
To weka ,and everyone,apparently the "frogs in a pot" analogy is just an old wives tale. Experiments done have found the frogs jump out as the water heats. I was glad when I recently learned this because I like frogs.
Well the fairy bread we had as a part of any childhood birthday party was white bread, thinly sliced, no crusts, lightly buttered with hundreds and thousands on it.
When having extended parties with dolls and other toys my Mum would make fairy bread AND rose petal sandwiches to be served. I made mud pies once and put them on baking trays and into a still warm oven. Not sure who was getting those!
Rose petal sandwiches is very cool. We had hundred and thousands on white bread, don't remember if we called it fairy bread. I was a fan of sliced banana in white bread.
Quietly scrolling down Stuff as one does at the end of a long day with only quick attention breaks, I saw an odd opinion piece:
How to use gratitude marketing to make easy sales
Apparently one should treat people with courtesy and express gratitude because it can be profitable.
This struck me as odd- who doesn't know that people like working with people who are friendly and normal?
Then it struck me as odd – who is friendly just to make sales?
And why is this considered normal in today's society? Shouldn't gratitude and courtesy just be genuine expressions?
But viewing people (and every basic interaction with another person) primarily as opportunities to gain resources was described a hundred and fifty years ago: Marx called it "alienation".
His solutions to the problem of capitalism were wavy-handed, but his descriptions of the problems it causes have examples every day.
His solutions to the problem of capitalism were wavy-handed, but his descriptions of the problems it causes have examples every day.
Ok, now I understand Marx and why I've never been impressed with what people say about his ideas. Your synopsis makes so much more sense (I hope it's true, lol)
From a wider perspective, his predictions about societal progression aren't any more wrong than, say, Orwell or Huxley. Assuming we don't make ourselves extinct beforehand, there will probably be a time when we have the technology where scarcity becomes obsolete. And then there will be no objective for most competition and exploitation of others. Overconsumption would be encouraged because the profit it creates will be meaningless. The Star Trek original series (and Next Generation) was close to that.
But the problem is that Marx followed in the tradition of Hegel, which weirds me out. The upshot is that Marx had the endgame outlined (communist utopia), and some steps along the way, but the trouble is that there's no testability for each step as it progresses. Which means if it doesn't go on to the next step, it wasn't really a problem with marx's ideas about social progression, it was actually just a fraudulent regimemasquerading as a step towards societal progression.
So every revolution is the communist revolution, then it massacres a bunch of folks (as most revolutions of any flavour tend to do), and good communists say "well, I guess it was a false start, #no_true_communist_society".
What do you think is going on with the false starts? Just that there is no testability? Or that the people with power don't really get it? Or human inclination to grab power?
Well, there's always a gap between the pre-revolution "the world would be much better if everyone did this", and the post-revolution realities of running a society and trying to get people to do it.
Especially if the revolution succeeded after a long and bloody civil war, there's a certain brutality of the spirit that taints the winners. Same reason cops and military should always be separate.
Then there are the opportunists and bad-faith actors who latch on to the winning side, say all the right things, but are all about benefitting themselves.
But actually pinning down when the thing goes awry compared to just being a tough bit of "the dictatorship of the proletariat" before everything becomes wonderful, there's no way to distinguish between them at that point. AFAIK, not Marx or anyone since has managed to make a checklist of features one way or the other, where someone can go "ok, the dude that suggested expanding the gulags? Bad idea, that's feature #5 of a false start rather than true social reform".
But I'm not even sure Marx was on board with the idea that a revolution would drive societal change. My vibe of it was more that society would change so much, and the elites would keep resisting it so much, that eventually the revolution would be forced up from society (rather than a cadre of revolutionaries changing the society). But again, good luck figuring out exactly when any society is precisely at that point.
Marx was very committed to the idea of progress, and that it is the modes of production throughout history that defines the way a society functions. This is now known as historical materialism and is essentially the reason there is a non-prescriptive or hand-wavy sort of inevitability to his idea of the transition to post-capitalist technological utopia.
Absolutely, some of those who tried to theorise about the true socialist revolution were much more prescriptive and as you say, there was/is significant differences in approach.
That's why Marx was mostly concerned about critiquing capitalism, the idea being that people need to know about it's inherent problems.
Marx definitely thought capitalism, as it existed then, wouldn't be able to withstand it's own contradictions but it's obvious it has shown it's resilience and adaptability. Even Adam Smith thought it inevitable that as productivity increased people would need to work less hours for their living. That this isn't the reality definitely has it's roots in the decline of unionisation and the rise of globalisation. More democratic workplaces and more worker coordination would help us correct the ship back towards a more equitable shore.
If the good guy husband with a gun threatened the bad guy ex and the bad guy ex was legally armed and shot the good guy husband dead, would the bad guy ex get off the hook pleading self defence?
A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 13, 2025 thru Sat, April 19, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
“What I’d say to you is…” our Prime Minister might typically begin a sentence, when he’s about to obfuscate and attempt to derail the question you really, really want him to answer properly (even once would be okay, Christopher). Questions such as “Why is a literal election promise over ...
Ruth IrwinExponential Economic growth is the driver of Ecological degradation. It is driven by CO2 greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel extraction and burning for the plethora of polluting industries. Extreme weather disasters and Climate change will continue to get worse because governments subscribe to the current global economic system, ...
A man on telly tries to tell me what is realBut it's alright, I like the way that feelsAnd everybody singsWe are evolving from night to morningAnd I wanna believe in somethingWriter: Adam Duritz.The world is changing rapidly, over the last year or so, it has been out with the ...
MFB Co-Founder Cecilia Robinson runs Tend HealthcareSummary:Kieran McAnulty calls out National on healthcare lies and says Health Minister Simeon Brown is “dishonest and disingenuous”(video below)McAnulty says negotiation with doctors is standard practice, but this level of disrespect is not, especially when we need and want our valued doctors.National’s $20bn ...
Chris Luxon’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister has been a masterclass in incompetence, marked by coalition chaos, economic lethargy, verbal gaffes, and a moral compass that seems to point wherever political expediency lies. The former Air New Zealand CEO (how could we forget?) was sold as a steady hand, ...
Has anybody else noticed Cameron Slater still obsessing over Jacinda Ardern? The disgraced Whale Oil blogger seems to have made it his life’s mission to shadow the former Prime Minister of New Zealand like some unhinged stalker lurking in the digital bushes.The man’s obsession with Ardern isn't just unhealthy...it’s downright ...
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. Is climate change a net benefit for society? Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of ...
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...
Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
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 ...
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...
It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Four eighty-year-old books which are still vitally relevant today. Between 1942 and 1945, four refugees from Vienna each published a ground-breaking – seminal – book.* They left their country after Austria was taken over by fascists in 1934 and by Nazi Germany in 1938. Previously they had lived in ‘Red ...
Good Friday, 18th April, 2025: I can at last unveil the Secret Non-Fiction Project. The first complete Latin-to-English translation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s twelve-book Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem (Disputations Against Divinatory Astrology). Amounting to some 174,000 words, total. Some context is probably in order. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) ...
National MP Hamish Campbell's pathetic attempt to downplay his deep ties to and involvement in the Two by Twos...a secretive religious sect under FBI and NZ Police investigation for child sexual abuse...isn’t just a misstep; it’s a calculated lie that insults the intelligence of every Kiwi voter.Campbell’s claim of being ...
New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has long styled himself as the “Prince of the Provinces,” a champion of regional development and economic growth. But beneath the bluster lies a troubling pattern of behaviour that reeks of cronyism and corruption, undermining the very democracy he claims to serve. Recent revelations and ...
Give me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundGive me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundSaid I don't want to leave you lonelyYou got to make me change my mindSongwriters: Tracy Chapman.Morena, and Happy Easter, whether that means to you. Hot cross buns, ...
New Zealand’s housing crisis is a sad indictment on the failures of right wing neoliberalism, and the National Party, under Chris Luxon’s shaky leadership, is trying to simply ignore it. The numbers don’t lie: Census data from 2023 revealed 112,496 Kiwis were severely housing deprived...couch-surfing, car-sleeping, or roughing it on ...
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 a global survey of over 3,000 economists and scientists showing a significant divide in views on green growth; and ...
Simeon Brown, the National Party’s poster child for hubris, consistently over-promises and under-delivers. His track record...marked by policy flip-flops and a dismissive attitude toward expert advice, reveals a politician driven by personal ambition rather than evidence. From transport to health, Brown’s focus seems fixed on protecting National's image, not addressing ...
Open access notables Recent intensified riverine CO2 emission across the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region, Mu et al., Nature Communications:Global warming causes permafrost thawing, transferring large amounts of soil carbon into rivers, which inevitably accelerates riverine CO2 release. However, temporally and spatially explicit variations of riverine CO2 emissions remain unclear, limiting the ...
Once a venomous thorn in New Zealand’s blogosphere, Cathy Odgers, aka Cactus Kate, has slunk into the shadows, her once-sharp quills dulled by the fallout of Dirty Politics.The dishonest attack-blogger, alongside her vile accomplices such as Cameron Slater, were key players in the National Party’s sordid smear campaigns, exposed by Nicky ...
Once upon a time, not so long ago, those who talked of Australian sovereign capability, especially in the technology sector, were generally considered an amusing group of eccentrics. After all, technology ecosystems are global and ...
The ACT Party leader’s latest pet project is bleeding taxpayers dry, with $10 million funneled into seven charter schools for just 215 students. That’s a jaw-dropping $46,500 per student, compared to roughly $9,000 per head in state schools.You’d think Seymour would’ve learned from the last charter school fiasco, but apparently, ...
India navigated relations with the United States quite skilfully during the first Trump administration, better than many other US allies did. Doing so a second time will be more difficult, but India’s strategic awareness and ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is concerned for low-income workers given new data released by Stats NZ that shows inflation was 2.5% for the year to March 2025, rising from 2.2% in December last year. “The prices of things that people can’t avoid are rising – meaning inflation is rising ...
Last week, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recommended that forestry be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme. Its an unfortunate but necessary move, required to prevent the ETS's total collapse in a decade or so. So naturally, National has told him to fuck off, and that they won't be ...
China’s recent naval circumnavigation of Australia has highlighted a pressing need to defend Australia’s air and sea approaches more effectively. Potent as nuclear submarines are, the first Australian boats under AUKUS are at least seven ...
In yesterday’s post I tried to present the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement for 2025-30, as approved by the Minister of Finance and the Bank’s Board, in the context of the previous agreement, and the variation to that agreement signed up to by Grant Robertson a few weeks before the last ...
Australia’s bid to co-host the 31st international climate negotiations (COP31) with Pacific island countries in late 2026 is directly in our national interest. But success will require consultation with the Pacific. For that reason, no ...
Old and outdated buildings being demolished at Wellington Hospital in 2018. The new infrastructure being funded today will not be sufficient for future population size and some will not be built by 2035. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Thursday, April 17:Simeon Brown has unveiled ...
The introduction of AI in workplaces can create significant health and safety risks for workers (such as intensification of work, and extreme surveillance) which can significantly impact workers’ mental and physical wellbeing. It is critical that unions and workers are involved in any decision to introduce AI so that ...
Donald Trump’s return to the White House and aggressive posturing is undermining global diplomacy, and New Zealand must stand firm in rejecting his reckless, fascist-driven policies that are dragging the world toward chaos.As a nation with a proud history of peacekeeping and principled foreign policy, we should limit our role ...
Sunday marks three months since Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president. What a ride: the style rude, language raucous, and the results rogue. Beyond manners, rudeness matters because tone signals intent as well as personality. ...
There are any number of reasons why anyone thinking of heading to the United States for a holiday should think twice. They would be giving their money to a totalitarian state where political dissenters are being rounded up and imprisoned here and here, where universities are having their funds for ...
Taiwan has an inadvertent, rarely acknowledged role in global affairs: it’s a kind of sponge, soaking up much of China’s political, military and diplomatic efforts. Taiwan soaks up Chinese power of persuasion and coercion that ...
The Ukraine war has been called the bloodiest conflict since World War II. As of July 2024, 10,000 women were serving in frontline combat roles. Try telling them—from the safety of an Australian lounge room—they ...
Following Canadian authorities’ discovery of a Chinese information operation targeting their country’s election, Australians, too, should beware such risks. In fact, there are already signs that Beijing is interfering in campaigning for the Australian election ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). From "founder" of Tesla and the OG rocket man with SpaceX, and rebranding twitter as X, Musk has ...
Back in February 2024, a rat infestation attracted a fair few headlines in the South Dunedin Countdown supermarket. Today, the rats struck again. They took out the Otago-Southland region’s internet connection. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360656230/internet-outage-hits-otago-and-southland Strictly, it was just a coincidence – rats decided to gnaw through one fibre cable, while some hapless ...
I came in this morning after doing some chores and looked quickly at Twitter before unpacking the groceries. Someone was retweeting a Radio NZ story with the headline “Reserve Bank’s budget to be slashed by 25%”. Wow, I thought, the Minister of Finance has really delivered this time. And then ...
So, having teased it last week, Andrew Little has announced he will run for mayor of Wellington. On RNZ, he's saying its all about services - "fixing the pipes, making public transport cheaper, investing in parks, swimming pools and libraries, and developing more housing". Meanwhile, to the readers of the ...
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming, 1921ALL OVER THE WORLD, devout Christians will be reaching for their bibles, reading and re-reading Revelation 13:16-17. For the benefit of all you non-Christians out there, these are the verses describing ...
Give me what I want, what I really, really want: And what India really wants from New Zealand isn’t butter or cheese, but a radical relaxation of the rules controlling Indian immigration.WHAT DOES INDIA WANT from New Zealand? Not our dairy products, that’s for sure, it’s got plenty of those. ...
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 ...
Yesterday, 5,500 senior doctors across Aotearoa New Zealand voted overwhelmingly to strike for a day.This is the first time in New Zealand ASMS members have taken strike action for 24 hours.They are asking the government tofund them and account for resource shortfalls.Vacancies are critical - 45-50% in some regions.The ...
For years and years and years, David Seymour and his posse of deluded neoliberals have been preaching their “tough on crime” gospel to voters. Harsher sentences! More police! Lock ‘em up! Throw away the key. But when it comes to their own, namely former Act Party president Tim Jago, a ...
Judith Collins is a seasoned master at political hypocrisy. As New Zealand’s Defence Minister, she's recently been banging the war drum, announcing a jaw-dropping $12 billion boost to the defence budget over the next four years, all while the coalition of chaos cries poor over housing, health, and education.Apparently, there’s ...
I’m on the London Overground watching what the phones people are holding are doing to their faces: The man-bun guy who could not be less impressed by what he's seeing but cannot stop reading; the woman who's impatient for a response; the one who’s frowning; the one who’s puzzled; the ...
You don't have no prescriptionYou don't have to take no pillsYou don't have no prescriptionAnd baby don't have to take no pillsIf you come to see meDoctor Brown will cure your ills.Songwriters: Waymon Glasco.Dr Luxon. Image: David and Grok.First, they came for the Bottom FeedersAnd I did not speak outBecause ...
The Health Minister says the striking doctors already “well remunerated,” and are “walking away from” and “hurting” their patients. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Wednesday, April 16:Simeon Brown has attacked1 doctors striking for more than a 1.5% pay rise as already “well remunerated,” even ...
The time is ripe for Australia and South Korea to strengthen cooperation in space, through embarking on joint projects and initiatives that offer practical outcomes for both countries. This is the finding of a new ...
Hi,When Trump raised tariffs against China to 145%, he destined many small businesses to annihilation. The Daily podcast captured the mass chaos by zooming in and talking to one person, Beth Benike, a small-business owner who will likely lose her home very soon.She pointed out that no, she wasn’t surprised ...
National’s handling of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis is an utter shambles and a gutless betrayal of every Kiwi scraping by. The Coalition of Chaos Ministers strut around preaching about how effective their policies are, but really all they're doing is perpetuating a cruel and sick joke of undelivered promises, ...
Most people wouldn't have heard of a little worm like Rhys Williams, a so-called businessman and former NZ First member, who has recently been unmasked as the venomous troll behind a relentless online campaign targeting Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle.According to reports, Williams has been slinging mud at Doyle under ...
Illustration credit: Jonathan McHugh (New Statesman)The other day, a subscriber said they were unsubscribing because they needed “some good news”.I empathised. Don’t we all.I skimmed a NZME article about the impacts of tariffs this morning with analysis from Kiwibank’s Jarrod Kerr. Kerr, their Chief Economist, suggested another recession is the ...
Let’s assume, as prudence demands we assume, that the United States will not at any predictable time go back to being its old, reliable self. This means its allies must be prepared indefinitely to lean ...
Over the last three rather tumultuous US trade policy weeks, I’ve read these four books. I started with Irwin (whose book had sat on my pile for years, consulted from time to time but not read) in a week of lots of flights and hanging around airports/hotels, and then one ...
Indonesia could do without an increase in military spending that the Ministry of Defence is proposing. The country has more pressing issues, including public welfare and human rights. Moreover, the transparency and accountability to justify ...
Former Hutt City councillor Chris Milne has slithered back into the spotlight, not as a principled dissenter, but as a vindictive puppeteer of digital venom. The revelations from a recent court case paint a damning portrait of a man whose departure from Hutt City Council in 2022 was merely the ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
The economy is not doing what it was supposed to when PM Christopher Luxon said in January it was ‘going for growth.’ Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short from our political economy on Tuesday, April 15:New Zealand’s economic recovery is stalling, according to business surveys, retail spending and ...
This is a guest post by Lewis Creed, managing editor of the University of Auckland student publication Craccum, which is currently running a campaign for a safer Symonds Street in the wake of a horrific recent crash.The post has two parts: 1) Craccum’s original call for safety (6 ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff has published an opinion piece which makes the case for a different approach to economic development, as proposed in the CTU’s Aotearoa Reimagined programme. The number of people studying to become teachers has jumped after several years of low enrolment. The coalition has directed Health New ...
The growth of China’s AI industry gives it great influence over emerging technologies. That creates security risks for countries using those technologies. So, Australia must foster its own domestic AI industry to protect its interests. ...
Unfortunately we have another National Party government in power at the moment, and as a consequence, another economic dumpster fire taking hold. Inflation’s hurting Kiwis, and instead of providing relief, National is fiddling while wallets burn.Prime Minister Chris Luxon's response is a tired remix of tax cuts for the rich ...
Girls who are boys who like boys to be girlsWho do boys like they're girls, who do girls like they're boysAlways should be someone you really loveSongwriters: Damon Albarn / Graham Leslie Coxon / Alexander Rowntree David / Alexander James Steven.Last month, I wrote about the Birds and Bees being ...
Australia needs to reevaluate its security priorities and establish a more dynamic regulatory framework for cybersecurity. To advance in this area, it can learn from Britain’s Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which presents a compelling ...
Deputy PM Winston Peters likes nothing more than to portray himself as the only wise old head while everyone else is losing theirs. Yet this time, his “old master” routine isn’t working. What global trade is experiencing is more than the usual swings and roundabouts of market sentiment. President Donald ...
President Trump’s hopes of ending the war in Ukraine seemed more driven by ego than realistic analysis. Professor Vladimir Brovkin’s latest video above highlights the internal conflicts within the USA, Russia, Europe, and Ukraine, which are currently hindering peace talks and clarity. Brovkin pointed out major contradictions within ...
In the cesspool that is often New Zealand’s online political discourse, few figures wield their influence as destructively as Ani O’Brien. Masquerading as a champion of free speech and women’s rights, O’Brien’s campaigns are a masterclass in bad faith, built on a foundation of lies, selective outrage, and a knack ...
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. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As it seeks to gain some momentum for its campaign, the Coalition on Monday will focus on law and order, announcing $355 million for a National Drug Enforcement and Organised Crime Strike Team to fight ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne With less than two weeks to go now until the federal election, the polls continue to favour the government being returned. ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone Israel assassinated a photojournalist in Gaza in an airstrike targeting her family’s home on Wednesday, the day after it was announced that a documentary she appears in would premier in Cannes next month. Her name was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Whittaker, Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University Darryl Fonseka/Shutterstocl What do you think of when it comes to extra terrestrial life? Most popular sci-fi books and TV shows suggest humanoid beings could live on other planets. But when astronomers ...
By Colin Peacock, RNZ Mediawatchpresenter In 1979, Sam Neill appeared in an Australian comedy movie about hacks on a Sydney newspaper. The Journalist was billed as “a saucy, sexy, funny look at a man with a nose for scandal and a weakness for women”. That would probably not fly ...
The governments blueprint of how it will invest $12 billion over the next four years into the New Zealand Defence Force mentions climate change twice. ...
Protesters are occupying the site of a proposed fast-tracked coal mine on the Denniston Plateau, near Westport. The 70-strong group, organised by climate activism group 350Aotearoa, says this is just the first of a series of protest actions they are prepared to take against the mining company, Bathurst Resources Ltd., if ...
In an art world context, photography has evolved significantly over the years pushing boundaries in both technique and concept. No longer the poor cousin of painting, but still much more affordable thanks to photographs being sold in numbered editions, an art photograph doesn’t merely capture a moment—artists use the medium ...
Last year, 20,000 observations of Christchurch species were made during the annual City Nature Challenge, a way for anyone to get involved in biodiversity. It’s back again this month. Even in suburbia, even on grey autumn weekends, there is biodiversity. You just need the time to look for it: to ...
Asia Pacific Report Peaceful protesters in Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest city Auckland held an Easter prayer vigil honouring Palestinian political prisoners and the sacrifice of thousands of innocent lives as relentless Israeli bombing of displaced Gazans in tents killed at least 92 people in two days. Organisers of the rally ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Nicholls, Senior Research Associate in Media and Communications, University of Sydney Tech giant Google has just suffered another legal blow in the United States, losing a landmark antitrust case. This follows on from the company’s loss in a similar case last ...
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Glen Eden gang stoush: Handguns, machetes in Head Hunter, Comancheros confrontation – NZ Herald
Police in Glen Eden are now armed full time throughout tonight. Never happened before there.
This is after the Commancheros attacked the Head Hunters on Tuesday.
This is on top of five further fire arms attacks in the New Lynn-Glen Eden area since the end of October this year. Four deaths, now six attacks.
Unprecedented in my lifetime in the west.
Do we need to underscore that Glen Eden has the Labour Minister of Social Development, New Lynn has a Labour MP?
And both have massive Labour majorities in their local boards?
And in Glen Eden we have a Labour Councillor?
Oh and we have a Labour government?
Are they incapable of organising together?
And a massively accelerating gang and illegal firearms problem in west Auckland?
Is law and order just too hard for Labour?
It's almost as if a once in a century pandemic might cause social unrest..
Is it the pandemic or the subjugation?
I'm sorry, I'd forgotten all about you poor dears being loaded into cattle wagons and sent east.
/
Fucked if I know why Sepulponi still has that job. From the WINZ side it's just daft. I'm guessing that transfers across.
Thanks Scomo.
Thanks Scomo.
Well the B11529 COVID variant looks like a barrel o'laughs.
What we know so far about the B.1.1.529 COVID variant causing concern in South Africa | Euronews
Yep and opening the borders without MIQ great idea.
As for gangs and guns we would have less police softer gun laws.
Since 501's have been coming from Australia gangs the anti has been upped.
Illegal Drug's are where the gangs are funding their lifestyle.
Until we decriminalise and supply by prescription with rehabilitation services the gang problem is only going to get worse.
The Police say they are making big inroads into supply ,they always say that and the problem only gets worse.
Every govt since back in Muldoon days has said its going to get tough on gangs none have succeeded.
With the housing crisis its going to get a lot worse and maybe not get better as intergenerational poverty ,abuse and neglect take decades to solve.
We're frogs in a pot. By the time most of realise that this pandemic has a long game (much longer than our feelings about Christmas) we will be used to death and disability and in adaptation mode. The government is easing us into it.
I just made a comment to someone that I do not know how people who are now age 35 – 40 are going to be like when they are age 60.
Madness to open up the borders when there is not enough information on how concerning, new variants could affect people.
the pull to BAU is strong. I think because people don't practicing imagining other ways of living that are good. We're focused on the bad stuff and it makes use afraid and reaching for the familiar. Lots of people see covid/let it rip vs covid/protect at all costs, and Labour are trying to find a middle ground. There are other options that we refuse to look at.
Falling further and further behind in managing Covid is the bit that unsettles me. Ad's comment @2 is the reality.
I have also been thinking about needing Covid hospitals, that Covid is a medical speciality of its own and who will and will not have access to ICU/HDU.
I thought about middle ground maybe there is no middle ground.
Covid variants of concern is what has taken freedom away. When a person's health is impacted, (chronic/just treating the symptoms) freedom becomes limited due to not being able to afford more than a basic existence.
To weka ,and everyone,apparently the "frogs in a pot" analogy is just an old wives tale. Experiments done have found the frogs jump out as the water heats. I was glad when I recently learned this because I like frogs.
💚
Yuss! New cartoon by First Dog on Moon! 🙂
https://twitter.com/firstdogonmoon/status/1464101679393951745?s=20
do I want to know what fairy bread is?
Well the fairy bread we had as a part of any childhood birthday party was white bread, thinly sliced, no crusts, lightly buttered with hundreds and thousands on it.
When having extended parties with dolls and other toys my Mum would make fairy bread AND rose petal sandwiches to be served. I made mud pies once and put them on baking trays and into a still warm oven. Not sure who was getting those!
Rose petal sandwiches is very cool. We had hundred and thousands on white bread, don't remember if we called it fairy bread. I was a fan of sliced banana in white bread.
At our exercise dance group this am the first two songs were
Hey Jude
and
Hit the road Jude
Nice!
I wasn't around yesterday, has Puckish Rogue been crying into his beer?
That would only dilute perfectly good beer.
He told me it was all part of a very long and cunning plan … and seemed quite perky about it.
good on him for putting on a brave face.
I'm sorry for your pain.
Some country music for a laid-back Friday evening.
I Like Smoking Pot (A Lot)
by Wheeler Walker Jr.
Not bad, getting a real Willie Nelson vibe. Hows this for a bit of life on the edges of society:
Look up Wheeler Walker Jr. "Redneck Shit" song on YouTube. (Warning: Adults only and will offend most people).
PR – I'll try to never say a bad word about you again now that I know your a Townes fan.
I came to him through the usual way of Steve Earle
Quietly scrolling down Stuff as one does at the end of a long day with only quick attention breaks, I saw an odd opinion piece:
Apparently one should treat people with courtesy and express gratitude because it can be profitable.
This struck me as odd- who doesn't know that people like working with people who are friendly and normal?
Then it struck me as odd – who is friendly just to make sales?
And why is this considered normal in today's society? Shouldn't gratitude and courtesy just be genuine expressions?
But viewing people (and every basic interaction with another person) primarily as opportunities to gain resources was described a hundred and fifty years ago: Marx called it "alienation".
His solutions to the problem of capitalism were wavy-handed, but his descriptions of the problems it causes have examples every day.
'the secret to selling is …sincerity…fake that ..and you've got ..it made'!
Ok, now I understand Marx and why I've never been impressed with what people say about his ideas. Your synopsis makes so much more sense (I hope it's true, lol)
That was my takeaway, anyway.
From a wider perspective, his predictions about societal progression aren't any more wrong than, say, Orwell or Huxley. Assuming we don't make ourselves extinct beforehand, there will probably be a time when we have the technology where scarcity becomes obsolete. And then there will be no objective for most competition and exploitation of others. Overconsumption would be encouraged because the profit it creates will be meaningless. The Star Trek original series (and Next Generation) was close to that.
But the problem is that Marx followed in the tradition of Hegel, which weirds me out. The upshot is that Marx had the endgame outlined (communist utopia), and some steps along the way, but the trouble is that there's no testability for each step as it progresses. Which means if it doesn't go on to the next step, it wasn't really a problem with marx's ideas about social progression, it was actually just a fraudulent regime masquerading as a step towards societal progression.
So every revolution is the communist revolution, then it massacres a bunch of folks (as most revolutions of any flavour tend to do), and good communists say "well, I guess it was a false start, #no_true_communist_society".
that makes sense too.
What do you think is going on with the false starts? Just that there is no testability? Or that the people with power don't really get it? Or human inclination to grab power?
Well, there's always a gap between the pre-revolution "the world would be much better if everyone did this", and the post-revolution realities of running a society and trying to get people to do it.
Especially if the revolution succeeded after a long and bloody civil war, there's a certain brutality of the spirit that taints the winners. Same reason cops and military should always be separate.
Then there are the opportunists and bad-faith actors who latch on to the winning side, say all the right things, but are all about benefitting themselves.
But actually pinning down when the thing goes awry compared to just being a tough bit of "the dictatorship of the proletariat" before everything becomes wonderful, there's no way to distinguish between them at that point. AFAIK, not Marx or anyone since has managed to make a checklist of features one way or the other, where someone can go "ok, the dude that suggested expanding the gulags? Bad idea, that's feature #5 of a false start rather than true social reform".
But I'm not even sure Marx was on board with the idea that a revolution would drive societal change. My vibe of it was more that society would change so much, and the elites would keep resisting it so much, that eventually the revolution would be forced up from society (rather than a cadre of revolutionaries changing the society). But again, good luck figuring out exactly when any society is precisely at that point.
Marx was very committed to the idea of progress, and that it is the modes of production throughout history that defines the way a society functions. This is now known as historical materialism and is essentially the reason there is a non-prescriptive or hand-wavy sort of inevitability to his idea of the transition to post-capitalist technological utopia.
Fair point, but it leads to the real-world conundrum of "we are the true socialist revolution" – "no, we are the true socialist revolution", etc.
Whereas capitalism is more "I haz all the gold, do what I say. Look, I used a small portion of my gold to hire men with guns, see? Believe me now?"
Absolutely, some of those who tried to theorise about the true socialist revolution were much more prescriptive and as you say, there was/is significant differences in approach.
That's why Marx was mostly concerned about critiquing capitalism, the idea being that people need to know about it's inherent problems.
Marx definitely thought capitalism, as it existed then, wouldn't be able to withstand it's own contradictions but it's obvious it has shown it's resilience and adaptability. Even Adam Smith thought it inevitable that as productivity increased people would need to work less hours for their living. That this isn't the reality definitely has it's roots in the decline of unionisation and the rise of globalisation. More democratic workplaces and more worker coordination would help us correct the ship back towards a more equitable shore.
Jono & Ben. Hey Judith song.
https://www.facebook.com/TheHitsNZ/videos/577448973533656/?
Brilliant.
'are we meant to take more than…we give.'
https://youtu.be/FFNXnd0cPb8
Normal self defence in Texas.
Texas man claims self-defence after shooting woman's ex-husband in filmed confrontation – NZ Herald
If the good guy husband with a gun threatened the bad guy ex and the bad guy ex was legally armed and shot the good guy husband dead, would the bad guy ex get off the hook pleading self defence?
Buckle up!! The new variant is in 6 countries already. We don't know how lucky we are.
Jim Boult will sort it.