Fiddling while the world burns
Written By:
- Date published:
7:58 am, March 5th, 2009 - 79 comments
Categories: climate change, Environment -
Tags:
The latest New Scientist brings together the work of thousands of scientists to describe what would happen to the world if the global temperature rises by 4 degrees, which is the mid-range for the projected increases due to climate change.
Many of you will simply continue to reject the notion of climate change and its consequences as you must because it poses a fatal challenge to the viability of free-market ideology. Our Prime Minister is with you, just this week he was still casting doubt on whether climate change is real. But, I’m sorry, this is happening, we are doing it, and the consequences within our lifetimes will be terrible beyond words… unless we act with the necessary speed and on the necessary scale, which we show no signs of doing.
The world heated 4 degrees is a vision of hell. The Amazon will burn. The Sahara will spread into southern Europe and down south of the Congo. Deserts will also spread through the Americas and Asia. The glaciers that feed the great rivers of Asia will be gone. The tropics will be largely uninhabitable.
The human population may fall below 1 billion, confined to overcrowded, often infertile lands near the poles. New Zealand will be one of the few countries still in relatively good shape climatically but I’m sure you can imagine the ramifications of being one of the few desirable pieces of real estate in a collapsing, desperate world.
I’m going to reproduce New Scientist‘s lead article in full below. I recommend you read it.
___________________________________________________
ALLIGATORS basking off the English coast; a vast Brazilian desert; the mythical lost cities of Saigon, New Orleans, Venice and Mumbai; and 90 per cent of humanity vanished. Welcome to the world warmed by 4 °C.
Clearly this is a vision of the future that no one wants, but it might happen. Fearing that the best efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions may fail, or that planetary climate feedback mechanisms will accelerate warming, some scientists and economists are considering not only what this world of the future might be like, but how it could sustain a growing human population. They argue that surviving in the kinds of numbers that exist today, or even more, will be possible, but only if we use our uniquely human ingenuity to cooperate as a species to radically reorganise our world.
The good news is that the survival of humankind itself is not at stake: the species could continue if only a couple of hundred individuals remained. But maintaining the current global population of nearly 7 billion, or more, is going to require serious planning.
Four degrees may not sound like much – after all, it is less than a typical temperature change between night and day. It might sound quite pleasant, like moving to Florida from Boston, say, or retiring from the UK to southern Spain. An average warming of the entire globe by 4 °C is a very different matter, however, and would render the planet unrecognisable from anything humans have ever experienced. Indeed, human activity has and will have such a great impact that some have proposed describing the time from the 18th century onward as a new geological era, marked by human activity. “It can be considered the Anthropocene,” says Nobel prizewinning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzenof the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany.
A 4 °C rise could easily occur. The 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose conclusions are generally accepted as conservative, predicted a rise of anywhere between 2 °C and 6.4 °C this century. And in August 2008, Bob Watson, former chair of the IPCC, warned that the world should work on mitigation and adaptation strategies to “prepare for 4 °C of warming”.
A key factor in how well we deal with a warmer world is how much time we have to adapt. When, and if, we get this hot depends not only on how much greenhouse gas we pump into the atmosphere and how quickly, but how sensitive the world’s climate is to these gases. It also depends whether “tipping points” are reached, in which climate feedback mechanisms rapidly speed warming. According to models, we could cook the planet by 4 °C by 2100. Some scientists fear that we may get there as soon as 2050.
If this happens, the ramifications for life on Earth are so terrifying that many scientists contacted for this article preferred not to contemplate them, saying only that we should concentrate on reducing emissions to a level where such a rise is known only in nightmares.
“Climatologists tend to fall into two camps: there are the cautious ones who say we need to cut emissions and won’t even think about high global temperatures; and there are the ones who tell us to run for the hills because we’re all doomed,” says Peter Cox, who studies the dynamics of climate systems at the University of Exeter, UK. “I prefer a middle ground. We have to accept that changes are inevitable and start to adapt now.”
Bearing in mind that a generation alive today might experience the scary side of these climate predictions, let us head bravely into this hotter world and consider whether and how we could survive it with most of our population intact. What might this future hold?
The last time the world experienced temperature rises of this magnitude was 55 million years ago, after the so-called Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum event. Then, the culprits were clathrates – large areas of frozen, chemically caged methane – which were released from the deep ocean in explosive belches that filled the atmosphere with around 5 gigatonnes of carbon. The already warm planet rocketed by 5 or 6 °C, tropical forests sprang up in ice-free polar regions, and the oceans turned so acidic from dissolved carbon dioxide that there was a vast die-off of sea life. Sea levels rose to 100 metres higher than today’s and desert stretched from southern Africa into Europe.
While the exact changes would depend on how quickly the temperature rose and how much polar ice melted, we can expect similar scenarios to unfold this time around. The first problem would be that many of the places where people live and grow food would no longer be suitable for either. Rising sea levels – from thermal expansion of the oceans, melting glaciers and storm surges – would drown today’s coastal regions in up to 2 metres of water initially, and possibly much more if the Greenland ice sheet and parts of Antarctica were to melt. “It’s hard to see west Antarctica’s ice sheets surviving the century, meaning a sea-level rise of at least 1 or 2 metres,” says climatologist James Hansen, who heads NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. “CO2 concentrations of 550 parts per million [compared with about 385 ppm now] would be disastrous,” he adds, “certainly leading to an ice-free planet, with sea level about 80 metres higher… and the trip getting there would be horrendous.”
Half of the world’s surface lies in the tropics, between 30° and -30° latitude, and these areas are particularly vulnerable to climate change. India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, for example, will feel the force of a shorter but fiercer Asian monsoon, which will probably cause even more devastating floods than the area suffers now. Yet because the land will be hotter, this water will evaporate faster, leaving drought across Asia. Bangladesh stands to lose a third of its land area – including its main bread basket.
The African monsoon, although less well understood, is expected to become more intense, possibly leading to a greening of the semi-arid Sahel region, which stretches across the continent south of the Sahara desert. Other models, however, predict a worsening of drought all over Africa. A lack of fresh water will be felt elsewhere in the world, too, with warmer temperatures reducing soil moisture across China, the south-west US, Central America, most of South America and Australia. All of the world’s major deserts are predicted to expand, with the Sahara reaching right into central Europe.
Glacial retreat will dry Europe’s rivers from the Danube to the Rhine, with similar effects in mountainous regions including the Peruvian Andes, and the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, which as result will no longer supply water to Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Bhutan, India and Vietnam.
Along with the exhaustion of aquifers, all this will lead to two latitudinal dry beltswhere human habitation will be impossible, say Syukuro Manabe of Tokyo University, Japan, and his colleagues. One will stretch across Central America, southern Europe and north Africa, south Asia and Japan; while the other will cover Madagascar, southern Africa, the Pacific Islands, and most of Australia and Chile (Climatic Change, vol 64, p 59).
The high life
The only places we will be guaranteed enough water will be in the high latitudes. “Everything in that region will be growing like mad. That’s where all the life will be,” says former NASA scientist James Lovelock, who developed the “Gaia” theory, which describes the Earth as a self-regulating entity. “The rest of the world will be largely desert with a few oases.”
So if only a fraction of the planet will be habitable, how will our vast population survive? Some, like Lovelock, are less than optimistic. “Humans are in a pretty difficult position and I don’t think they are clever enough to handle what’s ahead. I think they’ll survive as a species all right, but the cull during this century is going to be huge,” he says. “The number remaining at the end of the century will probably be a billion or less.”
John Schellnhuber of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research in Germany is more hopeful. The 4 °C warmer world would be a huge challenge, he says, but one we could rise to. “Would we be able to live within our resources, in this world? I think it could work with a new division of land and production.”
In order to survive, humans may need to do something radical: rethink our society not along geopolitical lines but in terms of resource distribution. “We are locked into a mindset that each country has to be self-sustaining in food, water and energy,” Cox says. “We need to look at the world afresh and see it in terms of where the resources are, and then plan the population, food and energy production around that. If aliens came to Earth they’d think it was crazy that some of the driest parts of the world, such as Pakistan and Egypt, grow some of the thirstiest crops for export, like rice.”
Taking politics out of the equation may seem unrealistic: conflict over resources will likely increase significantly as the climate changes, and political leaders are not going to give up their power just like that. Nevertheless, overcoming political hurdles may be our only chance. “It’s too late for us,” says President Anote Tong of Kiribati, a submerging island state in Micronesia, which has a programme of gradual migration to Australia and New Zealand. “We need to do something drastic to remove national boundaries.”
Cox agrees: “If it turns out that the only thing preventing our survival was national barriers then we would need to address this – our survival is too important,” he says.
Imagine, for the purposes of this thought experiment, that we have 9 billion people to save – 2 billion more than live on the planet today. A wholescale relocation of the world’s population according to the geography of resources means abandoning huge tracts of the globe and moving people to where the water is. Most climate models agree that the far north and south of the planet will see an increase in precipitation. In the northern hemisphere this includes Canada, Siberia, Scandinavia and newly ice-free parts of Greenland; in the southern hemisphere, Patagonia, Tasmania and the far north of Australia, New Zealand and perhaps newly ice-free parts of the western Antarctic coast.
If we allow 20 square metres of space per person – more than double the minimum habitable space allowed per person under English planning regulations – 9 billion people would need 180,000 square kilometres of land to live on. The area of Canada alone is 9.1 million square kilometres and, combined with all the other high-latitude areas, such as Alaska, Britain, Russia and Scandinavia, there should be plenty of room for everyone, even with the effects of sea-level rise.
These precious lands with access to water would be valuable food-growing areas, as well as the last oases for many species, so people would be need to be housed in compact, high-rise cities. Living this closely together will bring problems of its own. Disease could easily spread through the crowded population so early warning systems will be needed to monitor any outbreaks.
It may also get very hot. Cities can produce 2 °C of additional localised warming because of energy use and things like poor reflectivity of buildings and lower rates of evaporation from concrete surfaces, says Mark McCarthy, an urban climate modeller at the UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre. “The roofs could be painted a light, reflective colour and planted with vegetation,” McCarthy suggests.
Since water will be scarce, food production will need to be far more efficient. Hot growing seasons will be more common, meaning that livestock will become increasinglystressed, and crop growing seasons will shorten, according to David Battisti of the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues (Science, vol 323, p 240). We will need heat and drought-tolerant crop varieties, they suggest. Rice may have to give way to less thirsty staples such as potatoes.
Vegetarian dystopia
This will probably be a mostly vegetarian world: the warming, acidic seas will be largely devoid of fish, thanks to a crash in plankton that use calcium carbonate to build shells. Molluscs, also unable to grow their carbonate shells, will become extinct. Poultry may be viable on the edges of farmland but there will simply be no room to graze cattle. Livestock may be restricted to hardy animals such as goats, which can survive on desert scrub. One consequence of the lack of cattle will be a need for alternative fertilisers – processed human waste is a possibility. Synthetic meats and other foods could meet some of the demand. Cultivation of algal mats, and crops grown on floating platforms and in marshland could also contribute.
Supplying energy to our cities will also require some adventurous thinking. Much of it could be covered by a giant solar belt, a vast array of solar collectors that would run across north Africa, the Middle East and the southern US. Last December, David Wheeler and Kevin Ummel of the Center for Global Development in Washington DC calculated that a 110,000-square-kilometre area of solar panels across Jordan, Libya and Morocco would be “sufficient to meet 50 to 70 per cent of worldwide electricity production, or about three times [today’s] power consumption in Europe”. High-voltage direct current transmission lines could relay this power to the cities, or it could be stored and transported in hydrogen – after using solar energy to split water in fuel cells.
If the comparatively modest level of solar installation that Wheeler and Ummel propose were to begin in 2010, the total power delivery by 2020 could be 55 terawatt hours per year – enough to meet the household electricity demand of 35 million people. This is clearly not enough to provide power for our future 9 billion, but improving efficiency would reduce energy consumption. And a global solar belt would be far larger than the one Wheeler and Ummel visualise.
Nuclear, wind and hydropower could supplement output, with additional power from geothermal and offshore wind sources. Each high-rise community housing block could also have its own combined heat and power generator, running on sustainable sources, to supply most household energy.
If we use land, energy, food and water efficiently, our population has a chance of surviving – provided we have the time and willingness to adapt. “I’m optimistic that we can reduce catastrophic loss of life and reduce the most severe impacts,” says Peter Falloon, a climate impacts specialist at the Hadley Centre. “I think there’s enough knowledge now, and if it’s used sensibly we could adapt to the climate change that we’re already committed to for the next 30 or 40 years.”
This really would be survival, though, in a world that few would choose to live. Large chunks of Earth’s biodiversity would vanish because species won’t be able to adapt quickly enough to higher temperatures, lack of water, loss of ecosystems, or because starving humans had eaten them. “You can forget lions and tigers: if it moves we’ll have eaten it,” says Lovelock. “People will be desperate.”
Still, if we should find ourselves in such a state you can bet we’d be working our hardest to get that green and pleasant world back, and to prevent matters getting even worse. This would involve trying to limit the effects climate feedback mechanisms and restoring natural carbon sequestration by reinstating tropical forest. “Our survival would very much depend on how well we were able to draw down CO2to 280 parts per million,” Schellnhuber says. Many scientists think replanting the forests would be impossible above a certain temperature, but it may be possible to reforest areas known as “land-atmosphere hotspots”, where even small numbers of trees can change the local climate enough to increase rainfall and allow forests to grow.
Ascension Island, a remote outpost buffeted by trade winds in the mid-Atlantic, may be a blueprint for this type of bioengineering. Until people arrived in the 17th century, vegetation was limited to just 25 scrubby species. But plantings by British servicemen posted there produced a verdant cloud forest. “It shows that if you have rainfall, forest can grow within a century,” says ecologist David Wilkinsonof Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, who studied the phenomenon.
Even so, the most terrifying prospect of a world warmed by 4 °C is that it may be impossible to return to anything resembling today’s varied and abundant Earth. Worse still, most models agree that once there is a 4 °C rise, the juggernaut of warming will be unstoppable, and humanity’s fate more uncertain than ever.
“I would like to be optimistic that we’ll survive, but I’ve got no good reason to be,” says Crutzen. “In order to be safe, we would have to reduce our carbon emissions by 70 per cent by 2015. We are currently putting in 3 per cent more each year.”
Explore an interactive map of the world warmed by 4 °C
___________________________________________________
What an amazing species we are, to have to power to change the world so drastically so quickly by accident, to have the wisdom to see the changes coming, but to not have the courage to do anything about it.
79 comments on “Fiddling while the world burns ”
- Comments are now closed
- Comments are now closed
Recent Comments
- NZ’s trans lobby is fighting a rearguard action
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...3 hours ago - Your mandate is imaginary
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...8 hours ago - 14,000 unemployed under National
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...11 hours ago - Bryce Edwards: Discontent and gloom dominate NZ’s political mood
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...11 hours ago - Taking Tea with 42 & 38.
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...12 hours ago - Beware political propaganda: statistics are pointing to Grant Robertson never protecting “Lives an...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”. As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...12 hours ago - Winding back the hands of history’s clockChris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...12 hours ago
- Paula Bennett’s political appointment will challenge public confidence
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...13 hours ago - Business confidence sliding into winter of discontent
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...14 hours ago - Gordon Campbell on the coalition’s awful, not good, very bad poll results
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...16 hours ago - New HOP readers for future payment options
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...17 hours ago - 2024 Reading Summary: April (+ Writing Update)
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...1 day ago - At a glance – Clearing up misconceptions regarding 'hide the decline'
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...1 day ago - Road photos
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...1 day ago - Bryce Edwards: Paula Bennett’s political appointment will challenge public confidenceThe list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...1 day ago
- NZDF is still hostile to oversightNewsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...1 day ago
- Winding Back The Hands Of History’s Clock.
Holding On To The Present: The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...1 day ago - Sweet Moderation? What Christopher Luxon Could Learn From The Germans.1 day ago
- A clear warningThe unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...1 day ago
- Poll results and Waitangi Tribunal report go unmentioned on the Beehive website – where racing tru...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...1 day ago - Listening To The Traffic.1 day ago
- Comity Be Damned! The State’s Legislative Arm Is Flexing Its Constitutional Muscles.Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...1 day ago
- Ending The Quest.Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...1 day ago
- Will political polarisation intensify to the point where ‘normal’ government becomes impossible,...Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...1 day ago
- Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Tuesday, April 30
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:30am on Tuesday, May 30:Scoop: NZ 'close to the tipping point' of measles epidemic, health experts warn NZ Herald Benjamin PlummerHealth: 'Absurd and totally unacceptable': Man has to wait a year for ...2 days ago - Why Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating in the countryBryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...2 days ago
- Worst poll result for a new Government in MMP history2 days ago
- Pinning down climate change's role in extreme weatherThis is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...2 days ago
- Serving at Seymour's pleasure.
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...2 days ago - Webworm LA Pop-Up
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...2 days ago - “Feel good” school is outEducation Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...2 days ago
- 6 Months in, surely our Report Card is “Ignored all warnings: recommend dismissal ASAP”?
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy. Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...2 days ago - Bread, and how it gets buttered
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...2 days ago - Bryce Edwards: Why Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating in the countryPolling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...2 days ago
- Justice for Gaza?The New York Times reports that the International Criminal Court is about to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over their genocide in Gaza: Israeli officials increasingly believe that the International Criminal Court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials on ...2 days ago
- If there has been any fiddling with Pharmac’s funding, we can count on Paula to figure out the fis...Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...2 days ago
- FastTrackWatch – The case for the Government’s Fast Track BillBryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...3 days ago
- Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Monday, April 29
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...3 days ago - Gordon Campbell on Iran killing its rappers, and searching for the invisible Dr. Retispan class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...3 days ago
- Auckland Rail Electrification 10 years oldYesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...3 days ago
- Coalition's dirge of austerity and uncertainty is driving the economy into a deeper recession3 days ago
- Disability Funding or Tax Cuts.
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...3 days ago - Of the Goodness of Tolkien’s Eru
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...3 days ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #17A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...3 days ago
- Pastor Who Abused People, Blames People
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...3 days ago - Vic Uni shows how under threat free speech isThe new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...4 days ago
- Winston remembers Gettysburg.
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...4 days ago - 25
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...4 days ago - Fact Brief – Is Antarctica gaining land ice?Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...4 days ago
- Policing protests.
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading ...4 days ago - Open letter to Hon Paul GoldsmithBarrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...4 days ago
- Bryce Edwards: FastTrackWatch – The Case for the Government’s Fast Track BillMany criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...4 days ago
- Luxon gets out his butcher’s knife – brieflyPeter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...5 days ago
- More tax for lessEle Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...5 days ago
- Real News vs Fake News.
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...5 days ago - Another way to roll
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Share ...5 days ago - Simon Clark: The climate lies you'll hear this yearThis video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...5 days ago
- Cutting the Public Service
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...5 days ago - Luxon’s demoted ministers might take comfort from the British politician who bounced back after th...Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...5 days ago
- This is how I roll over
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...5 days ago - The Waitangi Tribunal is not “a roving Commission”……it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisition NOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...6 days ago
- Is Oranga Tamariki guilty of neglect?Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same? Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...6 days ago
- Three Strikes saw lower reoffendingDavid Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ruthless show of strength is perfect for our angry eraBryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...6 days ago
- 'Lacks attention to detail and is creating double-standards.'TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...6 days ago
- One Night Only!Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...6 days ago
- What did Melissa Lee do?It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...6 days ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #17 2024Open access notables Ice acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment: In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...6 days ago
- Maori Party (with “disgust”) draws attention to Chhour’s race after the High Court rules on Wa...Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...6 days ago
- Who’s Going Up The Media Mountain?Mr Bombastic: Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...7 days ago
- “That's how I roll”
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...7 days ago - “Comity” versus the rule of lawIn 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...7 days ago
- Aotearoa: a live lab for failed Right-wing socio-economic zombie experiments once more…
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder. In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...1 week ago - Water is at the heart of farmers’ struggle to survive in BeninThis is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére Sosou Market gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...1 week ago
- At a time of media turmoil, Melissa had nothing to proclaim as Minister – and now she has been dem...Buzz from the Beehive
Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ... 1 week ago
- Release: 130,000 cattle saved from live export
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...10 hours ago - Central Bank makes clear Government is pouring fuel on housing crisis fire
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...11 hours ago - New unemployment figures paint bleak pictureThe Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...12 hours ago
- Release: National’s job cuts already starting to bite as unemployment risesUnemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...12 hours ago
- Release: National hiking transport costs for families and young New ZealandersWeekly expenses will grow for more than 1.6 million New Zealanders as the Government ends free and half price public transport fares tomorrow. ...1 day ago
- Release: Labour welcomes EU free trade agreementThe New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...1 day ago
- Surprise: Landlord tax cuts don’t trickle downThe Green Party is renewing its call for rent controls following reports of rental prices hitting an all-time high. ...2 days ago
- Release: $1.7b for no increase in access to medicineThe National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...2 days ago
- Release: National should heed Tribunal warning and scrap coalition commitment with ACTThis afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...2 days ago
- Release: More accountability for preventable workplace deaths this Workers’ Memorial DayLabour is calling for more accountability for preventable workplace deaths because everybody who goes to work deserves to come home safely. ...3 days ago
- Gaza: Aotearoa Must Support Independent Investigation into Mass GravesTe Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...5 days ago
- Release: Working together on consistent support for veterans this Anzac DayOur two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...1 week ago
- Release: Penny drops – but what about Seymour and Peters?Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...1 week ago
- Another ‘Stolen Generation’ enabled by court ruling on Waitangi Tribunal summonsTonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...1 week ago
- Release: Budget blunder shows Nicola Willis could cut recovery fundingIt appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...1 week ago
- Further environmental mismanagement on the cardsThe Government’s resource management reforms will add to the heavy and ever-growing burden this Government is loading on to our environment. ...1 week ago
- Release: RMA changes will be a disaster for environmentThe Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...1 week ago
- Release: Labour supports urgent changes to emergency management systemLabour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...1 week ago
- Release: Labour calls for New Zealand to recognise PalestineThe Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...1 week ago
- Release: Three strikes law political posturing of worst kindThe Government is bringing back a law that has little evidential backing just to look tough, Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...1 week ago
- Release: Government cuts unbelievably target child exploitation, violent extremism, ports and airpor...Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...1 week ago
- Three strikes has failed before and will fail againResurrecting the archaic three-strikes legislation is an unwelcome return to a failed American-style approach to justice. ...1 week ago
- Release: Environmental protection vital, not ‘onerous’The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...1 week ago
- Ferris – Three Strikes targets those ‘too brown to be white’The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt cuts doctors and nurses in hiring freezeCuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...2 weeks ago
- Fast-track submissions period must be extendedThe Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Progress on climate will be undone by GovtNew Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Dark day for Kiwi kids as a third of Govt cuts affect themNews that 1000 jobs at the Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki could go is devastating for future generations of New Zealanders. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Alarm as Government signals further blow to school lunchesMore essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...2 weeks ago
- Oranga Tamariki cuts commit tamariki to state abuseTe Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Quick, submit – stop Govt’s dodgy approvals billThe Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...2 weeks ago
- Government throws coal on the climate crisis fireThe Government’s policy announced today to ease consenting for coal mining will have a lasting impact across generations. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Public transport costs to double as National looks at unaffordable roading project insteadCancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Cost of living in Auckland still not a priorityA laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori to visit Queensland to strengthen ties with Māori in AustraliaTe Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...3 weeks ago
- Greens look to fast-track submissions on harmful lawThe Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...3 weeks ago
- Minister acknowledges passing of Sir Robert Martin (KNZM)
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...7 hours ago - Speech to New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Parliament – Annual Lecture: Challenges ...Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...7 hours ago
- Accelerating airport security linesFrom today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...9 hours ago
- Community hui to talk about kina barrensPeople with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...15 hours ago
- Kiwi exporters win as NZ-EU FTA enters into forceKiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...15 hours ago
- Mining resurgence a welcome signThere are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...17 hours ago
- Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill passes first readingThe return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...1 day ago
- Government to boost public EV charging networkEnergy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...1 day ago
- Residential Property Managers Bill to not progressThe coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...1 day ago
- Independent review into disability support servicesThe Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...2 days ago
- Justice Minister updates UN on law & order planJustice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...2 days ago
- Ending emergency housing motels in RotoruaThe Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...2 days ago
- Trade Minister travels to Riyadh, OECD, and DubaiTrade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...2 days ago
- Education priorities focused on lifting achievementEducation Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...2 days ago
- NZTA App first step towards digital driver licenceThe new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...2 days ago
- Supporting whānau out of emergency housingWhānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...2 days ago
- Tribute to Dave O'SullivanRacing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...2 days ago
- Speech – Eid al-FitrAssalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...3 days ago
- Government saves access to medicinesAssociate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...3 days ago
- Pharmac Chair appointedHon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...4 days ago
- Taking action on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum DisorderHundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...5 days ago
- New sports complex opens in KaikoheRegional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...5 days ago
- Diplomacy needed more than everForeign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...5 days ago
- Anzac Commemorative Address, Buttes New British Cemetery BelgiumAmbassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...5 days ago
- Anzac Commemorative Address – NZ National Service, Chunuk BairDistinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...6 days ago
- Anzac Commemorative Address – Dawn Service, Gallipoli, TürkiyeMai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...6 days ago
- PM announces changes to portfoliosPaul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...1 week ago
- New catch limits for unique fishery areasRecreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...1 week ago
- Minister welcomes hydrogen milestoneEnergy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...1 week ago
- Urgent changes to system through first RMA Amendment BillThe coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...1 week ago
- Overseas decommissioning models consideredOverseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...1 week ago
- Release of North Island Severe Weather Event InquiryEmergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...1 week ago
- Justice Minister to attend Human Rights CouncilJustice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...1 week ago
- Patterson reopens world’s largest wool scouring facilityAssociate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...1 week ago
- Speech to the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective Summit, 18 April 2024Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...1 week ago
- Government to introduce revised Three Strikes lawThe Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...1 week ago
- New diplomatic appointmentsForeign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...1 week ago
- Humanitarian support for Ethiopia and SomaliaNew Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...1 week ago
- Arts Minister congratulates Mataaho CollectiveMinister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...1 week ago
- Supporting better financial outcomes for KiwisThe Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...2 weeks ago
- Green MP Julie Anne Genter apologises for 'intimidating' actions in Parliament
Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter has apologised in Parliament after National accused her of intimidating and attacking one of its ministers in the House. ...2 hours ago - Politics with Michelle Grattan: Anne Summers says we need much more information on male perpetrators...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Prime Minister and state and territory leaders met on Wednesday as the national cabinet to discuss a crisis gripping Australia – the horrific number of women murdered this year. The killings have shocked ...3 hours ago - Live cattle exports help farmers diversify income – Associate Agriculture MinisterThe government is hoping live animal exports will resume next year, but with a strict gold standard in place. ...4 hours ago
- Who were the real courtesans at the heart of Netflix’s Heeramandi?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Radhika Raghav, Teaching Fellow, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Otago Netflix Indian director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known for his big-budget Bollywood production, featuring grand sets, star casts, meticulously choreographed dance sequences and lavish costumes, jewellery and furnishings. ...5 hours ago
- Police Minister Mark Mitchell heads to Australia to discuss crime trends, youth offendersMark Mitchell will be chewing the fat with police chiefs as officers in this country talk openly about the appeal of crossing the Tasman. ...6 hours ago
- Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission Pays Tribute To Sir Robert Martin MNZM
Sir Robert devoted his life to disability rights after living in institutions in his younger years, says Kaihautū Tika Hauātanga | Disability Rights Commissioner Prudence Walker. ...6 hours ago - Passing Of Sir Robert Martin KNZMPeople First New Zealand Ngā Tāngata Tuatahi is deeply saddened by the passing of Life Member Sir Robert Martin KNZM. ...6 hours ago
- James Shaw's valedictory – and his new roleShaw has bowed out of Parliament, and has already revealed details of what he is doing next. ...6 hours ago
- James Shaw's valedictory – and his new rolesShaw has bowed out of Parliament, and has already revealed details of what he is doing next. ...6 hours ago
- AUKUS: Winston Peters says NZ 'long way' from deciding on Pillar 2Peters spoke about the military pact in an annual 'scene setter' speech at Parliament on Wednesday evening. ...6 hours ago
- National Cabinet has committed to a range of strategies to stop violence against women, but has it d...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University Violence against women is not a women’s problem to solve, it is a whole of society problem to solve; and men in particular have to take responsibility. Those were the ...7 hours ago
- Is bioenergy ever truly green? It depends on 5 key questionsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Allen, Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Newcastle Snapshot freddy/Shutterstock Plans to revive an old coal-fired power station using bioenergy are being considered in the Hunter region of New South Wales. Similar plans for the station ...7 hours ago
- Free school lunches scheme to get temporary funding until review is completeFunding for the scheme is set to continue for the "immediate few years" while officials work out what the alternative programme will look like. ...7 hours ago
- Taxpayers’ Union Slams Secret List Of Judges’ PerksResponding to the long-awaited release of judges’ special allowances, including free air travel and hotels for spouses, generous sabbaticals, and access to limousines, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Alex Murphy said: “In what world does your employer ...7 hours ago
- Winston Peters expected to give update on AUKUS talks in speechAnalysis - The United States has unveiled plans to boost the weapons trade with Australia and the UK, on the same day that Winston Peters is expected to sketch NZ's position on AUKUS. ...7 hours ago
- Why did the Voice referendum fail? We crunched the data and found 6 reasonsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Carson, Professor of Political Communication, Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe University Since Australia’s First Nations Voice to Parliament referendum in October 2023, diverse commentaries have sought to explain why it failed. But what does an analysis of media ...8 hours ago
- Court hears appeal of Waitangi Tribunal summons decision
Lawyers representing two iwi as well as the Māori Women’s Welfare League on Wednesday asked the Court of Appeal to overturn last week’s High Court decision on the Waitangi Tribunal’s decision to summons Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Tribunal is currently investigating the Government’s decision to repeal section 7AA of ...8 hours ago - Former MPs Louisa Wall, Simon O'Connor claim to be targets of China-backed cyber attackThe spy agencies are being questioned after two former MPs claim they were never informed they were victims of a China-backed cyber-attack. ...8 hours ago
- Kāinga Ora home vacancies 'trending downwards' after minister's letterThe agency recently changed the way it counts vacancies so it is more accurate. ...9 hours ago
- Albanese government flags measures to tackle online misogyny in the battle against violence towards ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will introduce legislation to ban deepfake pornography and provide more funding for the eSafety Commission to pilot age-assurance technologies. The contribution of internet sites to gender-based violence was one major issue ...9 hours ago
- Average Hourly Earnings Up 5.2 Percent Annually – Stats NZAverage ordinary time hourly earnings, as measured by the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), increased 5.2 percent in the year to the March 2024 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. Annual wage cost inflation, as measured by the ...9 hours ago
- Job scams are on the rise. What are they, and how can you protect yourself?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dimitrios Salampasis, FinTech Capability Lead | Senior Lecturer, Emerging Technologies and FinTech, Swinburne University of Technology Clem Onojeghuo/Unsplash In the digital era, the job market is increasingly becoming a minefield – demanding and difficult to navigate. According to the Australian Bureau ...9 hours ago
- Two Decades Of Youth Employment And Education – Stats NZAs of the March 2024 quarter, we can now look back on 20 years of data related to youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET), as collected by the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), according to figures released by Stats NZ today. "The ...9 hours ago
- May Day: The Biggest Threat To NZ Workers In 2024 Is Our GovernmentThousands of workers attended public events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch today to celebrate International Workers’ Day (May Day), but union representatives are urging caution and vigilance over the Government’s blatantly "anti-worker" ...9 hours ago
- Unemployment Rate At 4.3 Percent – Stats NZThe seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in the March 2024 quarter, compared with 4.0 percent in the previous quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. ...10 hours ago
- David Seymour wants to stop 'lazily' categorising by raceThe ACT leader rails against "lazily looking at everyone through the lens of race" in latest episode of RNZ's new in depth interview show. ...10 hours ago
- Private Info Of New Zealanders Will Be Breached By Latest Government CutsThe PSA is warning the Government that the sensitive information of New Zealanders held by various agencies will fall into the wrong hands if the latest round of proposed cuts goes ahead. ...10 hours ago
- Curious Kids: how do sugar rushes work?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Talitha Best, Professor of Psychology, CQUniversity Australia Victoria Rodriguez/Unsplash How do sugar rushes work? – W.H, age nine, from Canberra What a terrific question W.H! Let’s explore this, starting with some of the basics. What is sugar? ...10 hours ago
- Our research shows a strong link between unemployment and domestic violence: what does this mean for...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karinna Saxby, Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne MART PRODUCTION/Pexels Increasing income support could help keep women and children safe according to new work demonstrating strong links between financial insecurity and domestic violence. ...10 hours ago
- From Gallipoli to Gaza: remembering the Anzacs not as a ‘coming of age’ tale but as a lesson for...ANALYSIS: By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...10 hours ago
- ‘A major shakeup’: the Optus outage has been investigated. What’s going to change now?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark A Gregory, Associate Professor, School of Engineering, RMIT University The telecommunications industry faces a major shakeup following the release of the post-incident report on last November’s 12-hour Optus outage. Telecommunications companies will have to share more information with customers during future ...11 hours ago
- ‘There is some properly foul content in this book’: What a bookseller reads
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Eden Denyer, bookseller at Unity Books Auckland. Weirdest question/request you’ve had on the shop floor A mother came in looking for anything we might have on Alaskan bison as that was her little boy’s ...11 hours ago - Unemployment Data Shows Need For Govt To Act NowNZCTU Economist Craig Renney said new data released by Statistics New Zealand shows the need for Government to act now, with unemployment rising from 3.4% to 4.3%. ...11 hours ago
- Polls are nothing if not a bit of political theatre The outpouring of anger over Maiki Sherman’s hyperbolic presentation of this week’s ‘nightmare’ poll is itself an overreaction, argues Stewart Sowman-Lund. Politicians love nothing more than to pretend they don’t care about polls. This week, deputy prime minister Winston Peters said he didn’t give a “rat’s derriere” about a TVNZ ...11 hours ago
- Ngāti Kahungunu becomes NZ’s first iwi to call for a Gaza ceasefireAsia Pacific Report Ngāti Kahungunu in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay region has become the first indigenous Māori iwi (tribe) to sign a resolution calling for a “ceasefire in Palestine”, reports Te Ao Māori News. Reporter Te Aniwaniwa Paterson talked to Te Otāne Huata, who has been organising peace rallies ...11 hours ago
- PNG businesses want grants, not loans over Black Wednesday riotsBy Dale Luma in Port Moresby “We want grants and not concessional loans,” is the crisp message from Papua New Guinea businesses directly affected by the Black Wednesday looting four months ago. The businesses, which lost millions after the January 10 rioting and looting, say they need grants as part ...11 hours ago
- Pay bump for politicians: What you need to knowExplainer - MPs are about to get a pay bump, but is it fair and how does it compare to other countries? ...12 hours ago
- School lunches funding likely to be time-limitedIt's an approach to funding the government has spent months criticising Labour over - calling them "fiscal cliffs" . ...12 hours ago
- Cum chairs, stolen pay and shitting bans: Workers share their horror stories with usHappy May Day. Join a union. Q: What’s worse than a staff break room where the only place to sit and have a cup of tea is on a teetering stack of old pornography magazines? A: Your boss replacing the magazine stacks with chairs that are “heartily encrusted with ...12 hours ago
- Landlord Government Once Again Pushes Renters Into The ColdThe Coalition is trying to axe yet another opportunity to improve rentals by dropping the Residential Property Managers Bill. ...13 hours ago
- Ready, set, go in Solomons PM race – Jeremiah Manele vs Matthew WaleBy Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Former opposition leader Matthew Wale has been announced as the second prime ministerial candidate ahead of the election in Solomon Islands tomorrow. He will face off against former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele, who was announced by the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation ...13 hours ago
- Unemployment rate rises to 4.3%Fewer jobs are created and immigration is increasing the size of the workforce, Stats NZ says. ...14 hours ago
- The art of the three-day birthdayWe get but one birthday a year – why not make it last as long as possible by scheduling as many meals with friends and family as you can? This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you celebrate at ...14 hours ago
- If the industry is to survive, journalists need to convince the public of their worthA Koi Tū discussion paper released today proposes sweeping changes to New Zealand’s media industry. The principal’s key author, Gavin Ellis, explains how journalists have a key role to play in making others value their role in society. This is an abridged version of a piece first published on knightlyviews.com ...14 hours ago
- Government Risks Wellbeing Of Māori With Proposed Cuts To Te Puni KōkiriThe Government’s spending cuts are again targeting support for Māori with proposed reform of the agency charged with advising on Māori wellbeing and development. ...14 hours ago
- What just happened to Bonza? Why new budget airlines always struggle in AustraliaSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Douglas, Honorary Senior Lecturer, UNSW Aviation., UNSW Sydney The history of budget jet airlines in Australia is a long road littered with broken dreams. New entrants have consistently struggled to get a foothold. Low-cost carrier Bonza has just become the industry’s ...15 hours ago
- Free trade deal with the European Union comes into forceThe European Union ambassador says the FTA will have immediate wins for kiwifruit, apple, and onion growers. ...16 hours ago
- Violence against women is both a legal and cultural problem. What can we do to address it?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosalind Dixon, Director, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, UNSW Sydney Australia is finally having a sustained conversation about violence against women and what we can do about it. It is more than time. Australian women and girls continue to experience ...16 hours ago
- GP clinics are going to pay more payroll tax, which could reduce bulk billingSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne stockfour/Shutterstock Preliminary bulk billing data released this week shows a 2.1% rise in bulk billing up to March. ...16 hours ago
- ‘Make me a sandwich’: our survey’s disturbing picture of how some boys treat their teachersSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Schulz, Senior Lecturer, University of Adelaide Australia is once again grappling with how we can stop gendered violence in our country. Protests over the weekend show there is enormous community anger over the number of women who are dying and National ...16 hours ago
- Australians lose $5,200 a minute to scammers. There’s a simple thing the government could do to re...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University AnastasiaDudka/Shutterstock What if the government was doing everything it could to stop thieves making off with our money, except the one thing that could really work? That’s how it ...16 hours ago
- Psychological drama, wilderness reality and everyone’s favourite dog: the best of streaming this M...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Harrington, Senior Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies, University of Canterbury The Conversation It seems to be a time of old favourites. This month our experts have recommended two new seasons – the second season of Alone Australia (although ...16 hours ago
- Te Tiriti o Waitangi could be heading home after 'long and arduous journey'After 184 years, Te Tiriti o Waitangi may be on its way home. ...16 hours ago
- The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is about to peak and could be the best this century – here’s how ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland A bright Eta Aquariid meteor photobombed this photo of comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) in May 2020. Jonti Horner Meteors – commonly known as shooting stars – can be seen on any night of the ...16 hours ago
- Wondering what Australia might look like in a hotter world? Take a glimpse into the distant pastSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Flannery, Honorary fellow, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Current concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in Earth’s atmosphere are unprecedented in human history. But CO₂ levels today, and those that might occur in coming decades, did occur millions of years ago. ...16 hours ago
- Foreign minister speech tipped to shed light on Aukus involvementWinston Peters has been keen to dismiss speculation on our involvement in Aukus but will give a speech tonight on the direction of our foreign policy, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...17 hours ago
- Will New Zealand’s school phone ban work? Let’s see what it does for students’ curiositySource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Usmar, Lecturer in Critical Media Literacies, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images With the coalition government’s ban of student mobile phones in New Zealand schools coming into effect this week, reaction has ranged from the sceptical (kids will just get ...17 hours ago
- School's struggle with asbestos removal: 'It's destroyed me'An Auckland school's efforts to get rid of asbestos has been so tough its principal thought of quitting the job. ...17 hours ago
- Hospital hiring has to go through head office in 'short term' budget moveHospitals around the country are not allowed to make a single hiring decision without the approval of Te Whatu Ora's head office, including for cleaners and administration staff. ...18 hours ago
- Urgent democratic need to save NZ’s journalism ecosystemA new report on protecting journalism and democracy in New Zealand recommends a levy be charged on global platforms like Facebook and Google to fund media firms undertaking public interest reporting. It also calls for the reinstatement of a powerful Broadcasting Commission to distribute public funding for journalism and other ...18 hours ago
- Unions Celebrate May Day During Tough Time For Working PeopleOn International Workers' Day, also known as May Day, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi and the wider union movement are celebrating the proud history of the labour movement during a tough time for working people. ...18 hours ago
- 'Never a right time' – MPs respond to pay rise newsThe pay rises are not particularly great timing when the public is doing it tough, ACT Party leader David Seymour says. ...19 hours ago
- The highs and lows of James Shaw’s 10 years in parliamentFrom bills to beards, a walk through the former Green co-leader’s time in politics. After close to a decade in politics, James Shaw is preparing to bid farewell to parliament. Tonight will see the former minister deliver his valedictory address, certain to be a speech filled with Shaw’s trademark wit ...20 hours ago
- Efeso Collins deserved better than what parliament offered yesterdayTwo months ago, MPs unanimously voted to give themselves a week off in Efeso Collins’ honour. On Tuesday, most were too busy to give even an hour of their time. The day Fa’anānā Efeso Collins died, parliament felt different. In a building that operates at a breakneck pace, everyone stopped ...20 hours ago
- What you need to know about the world’s biggest election, happening right nowIndia’s election involves hundreds of millions of people and is a months-long affair. Here’s how voting works and what’s at stake. The biggest-ever election in world history started on April 19, with more than 10% of the world’s population eligible to vote. Elections in India, the world’s most populous country ...20 hours ago
- When the doghouse is an upgrade, ECE is in troubleOpinion: The impression from the carpark is very inviting. The area is well fenced but barred so there is easy visibility of loved ones. Inside, the spaces are welcoming and clean and staff are friendly and clearly comfortable. I am greeted by ‘Kim’. She has worked here for three years, ...20 hours ago
- Daily crossword, Wednesday 1 MayThe post Daily crossword, Wednesday 1 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...20 hours ago
- Boards, don’t just wait for the axe to fallOpinion: Community organisation board members need to step up their strategic thinking The post Boards, don’t just wait for the axe to fall appeared first on Newsroom. ...20 hours ago
- We have an emergency emergencyAfter the Christchurch earthquake, the then-national civil defence boss compared his experience to “putting a team on the rugby field who have never ever played together before”. Now, eight years later – and following a damning inquiry into the emergency response of cyclones Gabrielle, Hale and the Auckland anniversary weekend floods – ...20 hours ago
- A body in Devonport“I had just come off the end of a major robbery case which I had been working on for six months when I got a call on the afternoon of September 1, 1992, that some remains had been found at a building site in Devonport, so I drove over with ...20 hours ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 1 MayLoading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 1 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...20 hours ago
- Beef and beliefs: EU diplomat on the NZ relationshipBrussels’ man in Wellington on our newly active trade deal and the shared values underpinning ties The post Beef and beliefs: EU diplomat on the NZ relationship appeared first on Newsroom. ...20 hours ago
- If not journalists, then who?Comment: Journalists are very good at telling other people’s stories, but they fall well short when writing about their own profession. Perhaps that is why it is so undervalued. Every successive poll on the public’s attitude toward journalism is more alarming than the last. In the last month we have ...20 hours ago
- Preterm babies deserve better careOpinion: A young Māori woman and her Pacific partner arrive at their local hospital by ambulance. She has gone into labour at just under 24 weeks, but the couple haven’t recognised the symptoms – and don’t know the risks of premature birth for their baby. By the time they arrive, ...20 hours ago
- Bishop backtracks after fast-track backlashBehind closed doors, NZ First will be arguing fiercely against any watering down of the ministerial decision-making powers in the Bill The post Bishop backtracks after fast-track backlash appeared first on Newsroom. ...20 hours ago
Bloody luddite communist dope smoking hippie Greenies
Freakin beardie weidies wanna take my WHEELS!!!!
Waaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!
these comments need to be deleted, is there no automatic transfer to kiwiblog?
God it’s a cesspit over at kiwiblog, just read the comments for anything about Obama, it’s like entering the twilight zone.
4 degrees = a version of hell
Seems to me that 4 degrees would actually make New Zealand a very agreeable place to live.
Sorry but ‘bullshit’, ‘over the top’ and ‘scare mongering’ are the only words that come to mind reading your post.
I’m not a climate change denier, I just don’t buy into any of these doomsday predictions and I actually think they are counter-productive as it turns people off from the debate as to what we should be doing.
[I didn’t write the New Scientist article, take it up with the scientists. SP]
Agree with ieuan. This alarmist approach puts most people off. Like a blue faced preacher warning of the approaching rapture. Dig a bit deeper & you should find the author of this piece is pushing a similar barrow.
[I didn’t write the New Scientist article, take it up with the scientists. SP]
“Seems to me that 4 degrees would actually make New Zealand a very agreeable place to live.”
Yeah – who cares if the entire east-coast becomes drought-afflicted for half the year …
“I just don’t buy into any of these doomsday predictions”
Well – do you have reasoning to back that up, or are you just going to clog up this blog with unsupported opinion?
Make a worth-while contribution or bugger-off.
ieuan
“4 degrees = a version of hell
Seems to me that 4 degrees would actually make New Zealand a very agreeable place to live.”
Yes…. and I’m sure a few very powerful military powers will think so too. Enjoy your sunny holiday in New China, mate.
“This alarmist approach puts most people off”
Just how do you tell people that they we are collectively screwing the planet without being alarmist?
What a cop out. Those people need to get over their fingers in ears reaction.
They should try getting those fingers out of their ears and doing something, no matter how small, or at least try keeping their trap’s shut and stop being counterproductive. Especially as they are, in general, about as informed as a garden snail.
So if the world wants to live in New Zealand because of global warming, it will be a good time to buy property then?
More like a good time to invest in a navy and hope we can deal with the sudden immigration explosion.
Yep, when push comes to shove we won’t be welcoming those refugees with open arms but sinking them before they get here. We won’t have any choice.
tongue in cheek there, brett.. consider enzed lan area approximates UK. They have 66mn people and fairly maxed out.. World population is…? Yeah, even the formerly livable world population that finally gets here would exceed that. Then there’s less, much less room for farming and food production,m so.. sorry buddie your argument is tapped out..
But o’course you can always pull yo tongue back out and talk sense..
Brett – you’re assuming that our version of property rights would still apply …
Japan’s boffins: Global warming isn’t man-made
Climate science is ‘ancient astrology’, claims report
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/25/jstor_climate_report_translation/
Thnx. That site is awesome, in a ‘fortean times’ kind of way.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/science/rotm/
Science headlines
High-speed train toilet attempts to eat Frenchman
Barcelona boffin births swarming microrobots
Fire-breathing black cabs: Shock eyewitness photo
And my fav:
Brain-plug weapons could provide war crime immunity
Lawyer spots future brainhat-slaughter atrocity loophole
R N: ‘Well – do you have reasoning to back that up, or are you just going to clog up this blog with unsupported opinion?’
Let me see:
(i) We have normal temperature variation in NZ of about 30 degrees min to max temperature so hard to see how 4 degrees = a version of hell
(ii) There have been times in human existence when the average temperature was hotter than it is now and colder than it is now and guess what – we are still here!
(iii) Even if the world did heat up by 4 degrees and this had an enormous effect on the human population not every change would be bad.
(iv) What can we actually do about it? Seems that enormous effects would be required to make even a small change in the predicted climate change, that does not mean we should do nothing but it does mean we should only do the things that make sense.
Like I said in my comment I don’t disagree with climate change and this being caused by human activities, I just don’t buy into the doomsday scenarios.
This is a magazine article that is designed to do one thing and that is sell magazines. Newspaper readership goes up in times of crises, basically it boils down to – there is no money in good news.
Now roger nome would you like to add something worth-while? Or are you just here to abuse me.
I see someone doesn’t understand trends. So say we currently vary from -15 of our average to +15. After a four degree temperature rise we’ll vary from -11 to +19 of our current average. You’re just trying to confuse people here.
Nobody is arguing that the human race will die. We’re arguing that the world will be a very uncomfortable place to live, with only New Zealand, Canada, and Russia able to produce food on the scale we currently do. (oh, and maybe some parts of northern Europe and Greenland)
Indeed not, as pointed out above, some regions- like ours- will come out ahead. But that’s not a good thing when both of the world’s biggest superpowers are likely to turn into deserts, and potentially have the power to invade all the nice areas- only one of which has any significant military power.
The cost of acting to prevent climate change could be as small overall as the amount we spent bailing out banks, and it would definitely seem worthwhile compared to living in the world that we’re predicting we’ll have if we don’t act.
It’s not easy, but it’s definitely possible and it’s the right thing to do.
Yeah, you may not have noticed, but the article is talking about the entire Earth, not just NZ.
But anyway, how is NZ going to get by if such a doomsday scenario were to come to pass? Just say “I’m alright Jack” while the rest of the planet goes to hell in a handbasket? Good luck with that.
Yeah, it may have escaped your notice but the article made the point that the human species will survive. I’m not sure what your point is there … would you not care if billions of people die so long as the species survives? That’s harsh, man, really harsh.
Yes every cloud has a silver lining and it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.. A change is as good as a rest.
And let me just add: “don’t count your chickens before they hatch!”, and also “birds of a feather flock together”.
Finally, the beef! We can ditch fossil fuels and switch to renewables. That’s it! That is literally all we have to do! Sure … it’s a big task, but it “makes sense” particularly if you consider the alternative, doesn’t it?
I agree that we have to switch to renewables but my understanding is that we can only slow projected climate change and not reverse it.
My point about every change not being bad is that certain parts of the planet that would become more hospitable like, say parts of Russia, the upside is always left out of alarmist doomsday scenerios like this.
As for the effect on the human population, this article is written like these things will happen overnight, the projected 4 degrees is over 100 years, which means that we will have time to adapt, humans are very resourceful.
ieuan: You are both correct and incorrect about places like Siberia, Alaska, and Canada.
Yes the climate change will make it warmer. That is not the good thing that you anticipate
Very large areas are flattish peat permafrost. The likely outcome is that they will become pretty good bogs and swamps as happens now in areas that defrost in summer. This is already having a substantial effect on the existing populations (there was a good BBC radio journo on National radio last week talking about the current effects). Most transport is done by rivers or in the freeze. As the latter gets shorter they’re starting to have to look at abandoning the areas too far from the rivers because they can’t supply them.
As permafrost peats defrost and resume putrefaction, they will then release large amounts of interesting greenhouse gases. This is one of the substantial risk areas because there is a hell of a lot of carbon locked up in those bogs. There are strong issues about the level of cascade that we likely to see as some areas get warmer.
Besides, you have to remember that the IPCC does conservative projections – ie what the vast majority in the IPCC advisory panel is willing to sign off on. From what I know of the issues (with a BSc in earth sciences 30 years ago and continued reading since), I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 3-4 degree C average warming in the next 30 years. But we’ll probably get a pretty good idea now that the climate down cycle is largely over.
i) The difference in average temperature between what is perceived as a “hot summer” and an “average summer” has been shown to be less than a degree.
A change in an average temperature always means that some places will show a much larger increase, while some a lot less. NZ is surrounded by a big, cold ocean so our temperatures will increase at a slower rate than the global average but at the other end of the scale some will increase at a much faster rate.
ii) This is why we discard outliers when looking at trends.
iii) It’s not just the temperature that affects us, ieuan. By warming the planet, we will end up with increased sea levels and increased sea temperatures. Also, by damaging Antarctica we interrupt the climate systems that have been moving hot and cool air around for millions of years.
Extreme weather events will become more extreme, powerful and common. 1-in-10-year droughts and floods could become annual before the next century doing untold damage to our agriculture-driven economy and the ability to provide for ourselves.
iv) You could be right. Our climate is driven by feedbacks to our input. Some are what’s called “positive feedbacks” and will feed off themselves even if we stop emitting immediately. If we emitted no more CO2 or warming agents, the globe would continue to warm for a number of years.
New Scientist is a respected source, it’s not a peer-reviewed journal though so you’re right to be skeptical.
I suggest you read the book Hot Topic, by Gareth Renowden. It’s a very good read with the main topics behind climate change and what’s in store for NZ. Here’s his site: http://hot-topic.co.nz/
hey ieuan, where’s the money in four degrees celsius higher..?
Yeah Steve, get with the program! Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. Just put these blinkers on, cover your ears with your hands and sing loudly “LA LA LA”. That’s what we really need to stimulate debate.
Is there Climate Change?
Is it man made?
Can we do anything about it?
We can argue as much as you like but it certainly is the opportunity for the Perfect Tax. collected by preying on the public’s guilt and without having to spend it on anything in particular.
In 1959 as part of the International Geophysical Year, I gave a very modest seminar about Global warming and the possible effects of an average 2 degree rise in temp with special focus on sea levels. My point is that nearly 50 years ago (help) the concerns were being examined and sadly still denied.
[deleted]
[lprent: deleted for writing after banned]
The sky is falling the sky is falling. you bet.. like smnoking as someone here said recently, the slowest most expensive suicide possible..
Time to quit.. the disgusting habit/s
[deleted]
[lprent: deleted for writing after banned]
Burt, would you prefer medical care from the 1970’s or medical care from today? Do you use computing technology from the 1970s or computing technology from today? You’re a cyclist Burt, how would you compare bicycles from the 1970s with bicycles from today?
The point being – we get better at stuff (some of it anyway), in some cases much much much better, and our understanding of climate change now is much better than it was. Plus, just because some experts were wrong 40 years ago does not mean that almost all the experts are wrong today…
[deleted]
[lprent: deleted for writing after banned]
I did. It’s about journalists, not scientists, so it’s of no use in determining whether we should be concerned about AGW, and the methodolgy section lacks detail on how their sample of stories was chosen.
[deleted]
[lprent: deleted for writing after banned]
Burt, you seem to have the idea that in the 70s there was a scientific consensus that the globe was cooling (because there was a media beat-up about it at the time). But this is actually not true. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Didn’t you read your own link burt? Or did you just not understand it?
It isn’t talking about what we ‘ultimately know ‘ at all. It’s about media coverage of climate issues.
Ianmac. It’s incredible, isn’t it?
Look, in the 148,500 odd years of my life I have seen a few civilisations come and go. The current one’s pretty average compared to some so don’t fret – the next one may be better for human kind.
There was a TV item recently about concerns that the Tuataru might be threatened due to global warming. Apparently sperm production in these critters decreases as temperature goes up. The DOC scientist was expressing her concerns, but then added at the end that the Tuatara has survived warm periods in the past and so somehow has found a way. Same with Polar Bears et al. me thinks.
We had the chance to limit human population back in the 1960s when we were warned that over population was bad. We didn’t and now we get to pay the price for our stupidity of maintaining massive population growth.
I have no qualms about the loss of a few billion people. I do have qualms about the loss of species. ^Shrug^. Life will go on and I can only hope that we will learn that we need to exist within the ecological limits.
I’m one of the people who think that 4 degrees is inevitable and we need to rapidly and drastically reduce our ecological footprint to prevent a 6 degree rise in average global temperatures.
Burt: Even if Global warming was a myth would you rather improve air quality, deal with water pollution, solve energy problems or just do as you say and deny that we have a problem and carry on as we are?
[deleted]
[lprent: deleted for writing after banned]
Huh? Haven’t they in fact moved to a consensus on global warming ?
I don’t think that the weight of knowledge moved away from my belifs of the 50’s. I think that there has been an explosion of knowledge that confirms, and that some people want to ignore it like the parent who ignored the child complaining of molestation.
[deleted]
[lprent: deleted for writing after banned]
So Burt. You favour ignoring the bad news because it might be wrong??
[deleted]
[lprent: deleted for writing after banned]
No Burt it’s you have no credibility.
You stated that the weight of the scientific community moved against global warming, but this is, in fact, a myth.
You were probably misled by paying too much attention to “scare” stories in the mass media. You should try reading the scientific literature if you want to know what the scientific community thinks.
Actually, the weight of the scientific community remained firmly tilted towards global warming during the 70s, and became stronger as time went on.
now yo see, burt, all these folks encouraging you quit the habit..
if yo don’t.. let me put it another way.. you’ll look like the cue tip aimed at the eight ball that just dropped out of sight unaided..
burt. Go read the new scientist article, then read new scientist’s climate change myths piece, and don’t come back until there’s something going on inseide that head of yours.
I mean it burt, you’re wrecking a very important thread you’re banned until till you can give us a cogent discussion of the science around climate change.
[deleted]
What a pathertic insecure little boy you are. Debate the changing state of climate change theroies or learn nothing from history – your choice tempa-tantrum-boy.
[lprent: Banned for 2 months – deleting graffitti]
I could direct you to any number of articles pointing out the stupidity of your doomsday cult but you’d be as keen to read them as I am to read that new scientist bullshit.
I see New Zealand is up for the wrong side of half a billion dollars because of the Kyoto Protocol(although National wants those figures checked).
Can anyone explain exactly how burning up all that money saves the planet?
Can anyone explain exactly how burning up all that(NZ) money saves the planet?
More to the point is you explain how not spending the money saves New Zealand..
Burt – as other people have pointed out, all you’ve proved is that there was a media bet-up about a possible up-coming ice-age. You need to provide some proof that the majority of the scientific community was in agreement with this.
So far all you’ve done is clog up this thread with nonsense and cry to steve about being banned. How old are you again?
[deleted]
[lprent: deleted for writing after banned]
Global warming will be armageddon just like Y2K – facetious I know, but I believe we should always ask if behind the actual science and good intentions there are groups who have an agenda that’s more to do with filling their own pockets than saving the planet.
HS – don’t be another Burt. Supply an ACTUAL argument please!
Obviously we don’t know how much money the researchers at private energy companies get paid, but do you think it is more, or less, than the people at NIWA?
If ‘less’,
and ‘AGW = Y2K’,
then NIWA style researchers are selling out their intellectual integrity for less money than they could get for telling the truth.
And the overwhelming majority of their international colleagues are taking the same deal.
Show us how clever you are hs.
Discuss.
quite right, HS, scepticism can be most healthy and constructive, whence it admits its limits.. (as with science and scientists)..
As to the Y2K issue I am less convinced that it was a cogent and relevant argument. At the time the truth appeared to be that no one knew whether ‘legacy code’ would cater to a millenial time change. Or not.
Including the then government computer wizz Minister-duly responsible for expending some $360+ mn on the supposed problem. By name Mr. Williamson, of National. Still there! But then in the glow of overall ignorance there can be no reason to honestly suggest he shouldn’t be. Because of it.
But Burt – where’s the proof? A few scientists don’t constitute a global majority (as exists today). Your argument is weak and nonsensical.
Anyway, you’re banned until you come back with a rational, fact-supported argument, remember?
[deleted]
[lprent: deleted for writing after banned]
Burt: Over 3000 scientists support the Intelligent Design. Therefore it must be right. Right?
However over 3,000,000 scientists support Evolution and the Natural Selection position.
For you the original 3,000 must be right. Right?
[deleted]
[lprent: deleted for writing after banned]
Hey burt,
Con has provided you with a couple of useful links but seeing as you can’t click on them (at least I assume that’s the case as you haven’t mentioned them) I’ll fill you in.
They relate to a study of the scientific articles on climate change published between 1965 and 1979. The results are:
“Between 1965 and 1979 we found (see table 1 for details):
* 7 articles predicting cooling
* 44 predicting warming
* 20 that were neutral
In other words, during the 1970s, when some would have you believe scientists were predicting a coming ice age, they were doing no such thing. The dominant view, even then, was that increasing levels of greenhouse gases were likely to dominate any changes we might see in climate on human time scales.”
burt, you weren’t banned for disagreeing with anything.
You were banned for deliberately derailing the thread. And now you’re arguing that scientific consensus is meaningless because no-one can be absolutely sure that there aren’t fairies at the bottom of the garden
Can someone ban this fuckwit properly?
[lprent: Did. I’ll keep a view on IP ranges as well]
[deleted]
[lprent: Added to auto-moderation. If you can’t control yourself, then I’ll just have to help…]
You can argue that you didn’t derail the thread but why are you trying to argue that that wasn’t the reason for your banning?
And you still haven’t bothered to read anything that’s been presented to you.
What do you think about the article that Con linked to twice and I quoted?
In case anyone hadn’t noticed, burt has been acting like a idiot. And has now been totally banned for it. In deference to his past contributions, I’m unwilling to ban him completely.
I suspect I probably killed messages prior to the time of the actual ban – but what the hell – it isn’t like he said anything that he hasn’t said a thousand times before.
However insulting my writers as a straight personal attack is a no-no…
I particularly don’t like the use of psuedo-science.
Pascals bookie said it correctly. When I did my earth science degree from 1978-1980, there were two contending trains of thought on future climate change amongst the academic community who looked at the subject. Most looked at the greenhouse gas effect as the likely outcome. A few thought an ice-age. The former dug around for evidence. The latter dug around for headlines because they couldn’t find any evidence outside of northern Europe and the north-east USA.
30 years later, we now have the data that was lacking in the early 1980’s, and we still get old fools like burt bringing up discarded headlines.
So perhaps you can explain. Exactly what is this money spent on and how does that save New Zealand?
Forests in Khazakstan?
Climate change eh? Reminds me of the horrors that engulfed the world when the y2k bug hit. Or the killer bees. Or the dreaded bird flu. Or when chicken little warned us that the sky was falling down. Oh yeah, that was a terrible day. ITS A SCAM.
[ Alex also beleives that he can never die because it hasn’t happened yet. Climate change myth debunked – http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11462 }
Can you remember why the y2k bug didn’t hit?
I’ll give you a hint: it involves a dedicated effort from governments and companies all over the world to co-operate by utilising the best relevant technical and scientific information available to address the problem to ensure it didn’t happen.
Oops I just gave you the answer, didn’t I?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/590932.stm
Similarly the bird flu outbreak was headed off by mass public health campaigns, including the wholesale slaughter of literally millions of poultry in China and other Asian countries.
Alex, you slacker, you missed a couple of hackneyed “Chicken Little” “the sky is falling” scares, Remember the dreaded Acid Rain scare? And the Ozone Hole? Can’t you whip up a bit of cynicism about those other atmospheric pollution scares, too? I’ve seen other AGW denialists play that card, and I’m disappointed you didn’t drag it out.
The interesting (and encouraging!) thing about those atmospheric pollution crises is that ultimately they were headed off by concerted international efforts, before their effects were too disastrous. At considerable expense, mind you. Who now misses CFCs? Surely the AGW denialists who so treasure their incandescent bulbs could muster up just a little nostalgic affection for those old CFC-powered spray cans?
Ah yes the old ‘Y2K didn’t happen nitwitery’. Felix’s answer is the brief version, and pretty much on the money. Here is a slightly longer version for future reference.
Computers generally only actually care about calendar time when they are dealing with money. This is because money is not only a store of value, it also has velocity. The primary tool for accounting the velocity of money is time, or more precisely, calendar days. All accounting systems use calendar time, all deposits, interests due, transfers, credits and debits are ALL dated. For this reason EVERY money transaction must record as a minimum, both the amount AND the date.
Early computer systems were a bit limited in memory, so it became common practise to save on memory by only using the last two digits of the calendar year, which of course created the now legendary ‘Y2K Crisis’. And a crisis it was, well for the banks, insurance companies, … any large commercial entity that used computers on a large scale to manage money. It got a lot of attention, and lots of resource was thrown at it to ensure that come the dreaded date, all the bugs had been ironed out.
But along the way, a technically illiterate media somehow got the idea that ALL computer systems must have this Y2K bug, and well what if the big computers that ran the power systems, the water, the phones, trains and so-on… what if they crashed too? What kind of huge disaster would that be? The answer of course was always… not at all likely.
Because in fact systems like power and water, are run not by ordinary computers as most people are familiar with, but by specialised real-time hardware usually called PLC’s (Programmable Logic Controllers) or DCS’s (Distributed Control Systems). There were two main reasons why these systems were almost completely immune to the Y2k issue.
1. Most real-time applications, ironically enough, are not the slightest bit interested in the calendar date/time. They handle state logic or physical variables like temperature, flow or pressure, which are rarely if ever related to calendar time. What is of interest is elapsed time (time intervals) almost always much less than a year long. So the year value hadly ever used.
2. And even if it was used most real-time control system (by the 90’s) used proper 4 digits for their year value anyhow.
Of course us real-time control system engineers always KNEW that the Y2K bug was totally irrelevant to our systems (although that didn’t stop a few from charging fees for mostly useless “Y2K Audits” )… yet because we are so much the poor cousins of our much more glamorous and better paid IT relations… no-one from the media ever bothered to ask us the truth.
And because I was on call – and I didn’t drink at all that night, honest.
felix. No felix, if something doesn’t happen, then it never would have happened whether or not you took measures to prevent it. It’s like how they don’t let me drive drunk, yet I’ve never once totalled my car.
I know it’s Godwin’s but stuff it – does Alex (and all the others) remind anyone of Chamberlain?
“There will be a stable climate in our time”…
Yes it does. And it reminds me that people will believe anthing – literally anything at all – if it fits with what they believe to be in their own interests.
This is how people can become convinced that they are inhabited by the spirits of ancient aliens who were kidnapped millions of years ago and trapped under a volcano by another alien called Xenu. Ludicrous, but once you’ve invested enough in it, it becomes obvious.
Similarly, people will try to cast doubt on anthropogenic global warming by pointing out that people have been wrong about other things before, or by pointing out that sometimes it still gets cold, or that the globe has been hotter in the far distant past, or that there was a hot spell in the 30s, or a cold spell a thousand years ago …
None of those “arguments” make any sense at all, but they don’t have to make sense … they just have to reassure people that actually everything is ok; they don’t have to do anything, and it’s not their fault the world is going to hell in a handbasket.