I was just following the market’s orders

Written By: - Date published: 11:48 am, July 14th, 2010 - 31 comments
Categories: capitalism, class war, health - Tags:

Should be no surprise to anyone that the Nats and Maori Party are cutting help for tabacco addicts while upping the cost of their ciggies. They don’t care about better health. Don’t care about helping poor people get off an expensive habit. It’s all about sopping the poor and give aways for the rich. But you know who did grind my gears? Those tobacco execs the other week.

At the select committee hearing they admitted their product is addictive and it kills. Claimed they weren’t trying to hook new customers. The execs didn’t smoke themselves. So why sell ciggies at all when they know they’re bad and don’t think people should smoke?

‘Because the demand’s there’ was the answer. ‘It’s a legal product’.

They’re just supplying the market. They’re just doing their jobs. In other words ‘we’re just following orders’.

Scum.

You’re not meant to compare your opponents to fascists. But it’s hard to think of any other comparison than to those killers who, 60-odd years ago, tried to excuse their acts by saying they were just doing their jobs. It was established then and it’s true now: just because it’s legal, just because it’s your job, doesn’t make it moral, doesn’t make it right.

The tobacco execs have a moral duty to not do their jobs. Even if they lose the fancy home and the trophy wife.

To not do so is to profit from killing others. Time was, that kind of behaviour got you a date with the hangman’s noose.

31 comments on “I was just following the market’s orders ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Lanthanide 1
    14 July 2010 at 12:39 pm

    “Health Minister Tony Ryall said the cuts were part of a shift from “lower-value spending” to improve frontline services.

    “For example, the amount spent on nicotine replacement drugs is expected to cost $7.5 million this year, which is significantly more than the $2 million less of advertising that the HSC will be doing.””

    It’s not entirely clear if that is $7.5m of new spending, or just $7.5m of existing spending. If it is indeed new spending, then total spending is increasing, and spending money on anti-addiction treatments that people have to actively use (therefore are more committed to quitting) probably has a greater return than a scatter-shot advertising campaign that may not convince anyone to do anything.

  2. Butyeahbutnahyeahnah 2
    14 July 2010 at 12:47 pm

    and all those companies using sweat shop labour? (Microsoft, Apple, etc)
    What about child slave labour chocolate beans? How about the oil companies? Are you going to stop using electricity because it kills the very earth we stand on? No no no, just find a diversion from the fact that the whole western world, the economic and “defensive” sytems that support it are corrupt to the core.
    Those thing in life that cost you nothing, are any of them good?
    At least ALL smokers and the people that work for the companies that make them, go into that contract with eyes open, alot more morally correct than someone sitting in an Ivory tower, surveying the desolation of the white mans dominace, and calling the bad bits someone elses fault.
    Do me a favour – learn about realitive values. Who’s to say that at least SOME of the heart disease and cancer in NZ is not caused by diet (of salt, sugar and fat) and genetic pre-disposition? What about the harms that alcohol does – with none of the rescritions that smokes have (even though alcohol casuses more economic and social harm).

    • Lanthanide 2.1
      14 July 2010 at 1:09 pm

      As my boyfriend rather astutely (he’s like that) observed, globalisation since 1980 has been a huge deflationary force on the western world, but now that China and India and the other out-sourced countries are demanding higher wages, we’re going to be in for a sustained period of high inflation. Along with the coming oil crunch driving up transport prices this’ll result in a massive re-adjustment to more local production for goods.

  3. michaeljsavage 3
    14 July 2010 at 1:11 pm

    But yeahnah yeah (i lost track of how many nah yeahs) … is quite right.

    I’ve seen churchgoers who dont drink, smoke dont chew and dont do things to the girls who do … and several have died of believe it or not … lung cancer and other related cancers.

    Its like the road toll – and the extensive wasted funding on EECA who advertise on expensive TV to tell us to save energy. Most cant afford the bills to begin with …. as for the road toll – they are urinating into a gale force wind. reductions are due to other factors .. like a lot of people cant afford to drive on a holiday somewhere so they stay home … presto instant reduced toll. The agencies say its their effective advertising.

    Rubbish.

    Give people the ability to live and prosper – stop preaching about all the evil things they are doing – even though they have the freedom to choose.

    Tobacco execs are no worse than merchant bankers, loan sharks, debt collectors, politicians, overpaid media whores (judy bailey got paid $800,000 a year for being nothing more than a teleprompter reader … but shes the “mother of the nation”)

    • Butyeahbutnahyeahnah 3.1
      14 July 2010 at 1:26 pm

      Yeahnah, yeah I loose track myself – have always thought that the policy (comments) are more important than the personality (handle).
      Yeah, nah, yeah nah. (I once listen to my uncle and his farmer mates have a whole conversation made up of only…Yeah, nah, but really, yeah nah).
      And just one more little thing. You can’t have a proper discussion about any sort of enviromentalism without including population and birth control. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a lier.
      It’s not earth thats in trouble, it’s the people who live on it. The earth will be here long after we’ve all gone the way of the Do-do.

      • michaeljsavage 3.1.1
        14 July 2010 at 2:06 pm

        I’ve heard similar country conversations….’too right’ … yeah nah right yeah….

        I have a rural background. funniest places are pubs in the backblocks …. guys in work socks with cowshitty gummies at the door – perched on a barstool communicating matters of import with about 10 distinct words and meaningful silences. Amazing. Best reprise of that was a while ago in the Whangamomona pub (an independant NZ republic complete with passports). Brilliant!

        Birth control – couldnt agree more – I would put something in the water supply of selected areas – including key electorates.

  4. American Gardener 4
    14 July 2010 at 1:19 pm

    Senior management not using the product because it is dangerous is very unusual. Tobacco needs to be banned: it is a dangerous product that would never make it to the market if it was launched now.

    • Butyeahbutnahyeahnah 4.1
      14 July 2010 at 1:28 pm

      Prohibition Promotes Harm.

      • michaeljsavage 4.1.1
        14 July 2010 at 2:09 pm

        Prohibition created the forerunner to the mafia.

        Tell a child dont touch … they immediately want to touch. Adults never grow out of it

  5. Rosy 5
    14 July 2010 at 1:47 pm

    $205 million increase in tobacco tax and a $12m cut anti-smoking initiatives, where’s the logic in that?

  6. ieuan 6
    14 July 2010 at 2:41 pm

    Another post that continues the steady decline of ‘the Standard’ from a respectable voice from the left wing of the blogosphere to a bunch of sad old socialists ranting about the evils of capitalism.

  7. tsmithfield 7
    14 July 2010 at 5:40 pm

    People don’t need any special help to give up smoking. The cost of nicotine patches is probably less than the cost of the smoking habit for many smokers. So it should cost people little, nothing, or perhaps even save them money by moving to a substitute that helps them quit for good.

  8. Nick C 8
    14 July 2010 at 9:28 pm

    You attempt to depersonalise demand by calling it ‘the markets orders’.

    Have a guess who those orders are coming from. They are coming from hundreds of thousands of kiwis all over New Zealand who simply like a product and want to buy it, every one of them a concenting adult.

    Why do you think you should have the right to tell them all what to do? Are these people all too stupid to run their own lives? Can they only have fulfilling experiences when Master Zetetic is telling them what to do?

    • Armchair Critic 8.1
      14 July 2010 at 9:44 pm

      And you attempt to depersonalise addiction to a carcinogen by calling it ‘demand’.
      The orders are coming from people who are addicted to a product and have no choice but to buy it, due to their addiction. Not all of them are adults.
      Your third paragraph is total BS.

      • Nick C 8.1.1
        14 July 2010 at 11:16 pm

        You talk about addiction as if it were a life support machine. I’m a student, and I know smokers who go cold turkey every few months for a few weeks for financial reasons, its painful but by no means impossible. If the problem is that people find it difficult to excersize their choice because of addiction then change that by offering services which make it easier to quit. Of course the government already does this.

        Any measures beyond that are a limitation on choice- there are plenty of people out there who choose to smoke. Why should be stop them?

  9. butnahyeahnah 9
    15 July 2010 at 12:18 am

    “addicted people have no choice but to buy it”
    This i simply a loop hole of logic to bury your will in.
    There are more people on the face of the planet that have given up tobacco than continue to use it. This challenges the very assumption that it is addictive – the same cannot be said for ANY other addictive substance, from Heroin to Alcohol – most people who are addicted continue to use.

    Habit forming maybe, but no where near or in the same league as alcohol, to my mind maybe about the same as caffeine.

    Captcha: answered

    • Pascal's bookie 9.1
      15 July 2010 at 7:28 am

      I know a few people that have kicked heroin. Same people can’t kick their ciggies.

      • Butyeahbutnahyeahnah 9.1.1
        15 July 2010 at 8:08 am

        I thought bs arguments didn’t hold much water around here, looks like Pascal the sweetie has has enlightened us all.
        What, because these people are personally known to you, that some how trumps the WORLD wide, scientifically proven fact I am refering to?
        Gee it must be great to have such power that even peer-reviewed science takes a back seat to you and your mates.
        But just keep playing your ‘Project Camelot’ deflation routine, it is nice to see some old fashion bigotry, narrow mindedness and adhesion to the Banksters properganda.

        Child slavery chocolate just tastes better, and since I know a few ex-child slaves who tell me that they would have never made (refugee) to NZ without that gross interuption to their lives, I guess we are all better off ahe Pascal?

        • Pascal's bookie 9.1.1.1
          15 July 2010 at 4:40 pm

          Really, this peer reviewed science that challenges the very assumption that nicotine is addictive/ I’d like to see that. That’s what I was responding to by making the observation that I know people with experieance of both that think nicotine is harder to kick than heroin. Maybe heroin isn’t addictive either. I wasn’t making any sort of argument at all. Just an observation that countered your assertion that nicotine isn’t addictive.

          If you stand by that assertion, and can produce the peer reviewed research to that effect that you claim exists, I’ll gladly concede the point, and let me mates know they are imagining it to boot.

            • Pascal's bookie 9.1.1.1.1.1
              15 July 2010 at 7:30 pm

              I like ya, and I hope you stick around, I’ll just get that out of the way.

              I am saying that your two or so mates that were junkies and haven’t given up cigs are statistical outliers.

              ‘cept I’m not making any universal claim based on them. All they are doing is countering the idea that nicotine isn’t addictive.

              They are not meant to dispute the fact that baccy use has declined in the west over the last half century. My point is that you can’t go from the fact of that decline to saying that nicotine isn’t addictive. The tobacco companies admit that it’s addictive for one thing, but here’s some other things to think about.

              Patterns of use. Smokers tend to smoke at a fairly regular rate, whatever it is for the individual, usually between say 10 and 30 a day. When they quit, they usually stop completely. If they relapse, more often than not, they are back into at their previous rate quite quickly and stopping is just as hard as it was before. That pretty much looks like addiction. If it wasn’t addictive, users would have regular periods (days, weeks whatever) of non use, use would be sporadic, cutting down would =be more common than quitting etc.

              Comparing declining usage rates to alcohol misses those pattern issues. That most alcohol users are in fact sporadic, regularly miss a day or a week without any real concerns, change the amount they use from day to day and so on. You can’t say that most alcohol users have the same pattern of use with alcohol, that most smokers have with baccy.

              Comparing them with illegal drug users has other problems. Most importantly, data is real hard to come by. The sample you have to work with is by definition not representative of the population of users. We know almost nothing about the siaze of the problem because almost all users go to great pain to conceal the fact that they are using. Most of the people available to get data off, are the ones having the most problems.

              That’s not to say that herion et al, aren’t addictive, or anything else. I’m just saying that the data on usage rates is poor at best, so data on declining use is even worse.

              • butnahyeahnah …
                16 July 2010 at 1:23 am

                Captcha is producing so omens arise, or is it actually my mind bending meaning and relevance towards it? I think that some people are pretty much born addicts, when they come from rich white families we call it obsessive compulsive, manic, things like that. If you grew up in P town, we just called them druggies and criminals.How many prisoners are just compulsive or bi-polar busted for getting treatment the Whiskey Tango way? So firstly I refute the very basis of your definition of addiction I guess.
                Addiction forces compulsion to do it again. By your definitions I can think of a number of incidentals (coffee, sugar, certain ratios of protein/salt/fat, complex carbos) that are time dependent and lead to long term addiction with dependance lasting a life time.
                The true and only secret to giving up smoking, is never ever having a another cigarette. Once you have transitioned to ‘given up’ you are no longer an addict, you revert back to being an inactive compulsive eying up some shinny new thing. I bet I could cure smoking with heroin, but please go ask your mates if this isn’t the case.
                I object your assertion that “just because global smoking rate are declining doesn’t mean there’s more people have given up’ jive spin and ripe bs. I said it’s not addictive, habit forming maybe, but not addictive because I believe its the people who are addictive and what do you think has happened to all those people who use to smoke?
                I don’t think hiding and saying that you weren’t putting up the fact of your couple of mates obsessions when you were so obviously doing in contradiction to my affirmation is well, lacking in both skill and wit.
                You have trusted the word of junkies when, in fact, every scientific look into the use of torture has found that information extracted under duress is scripted by the victim to suit the interrogator.
                And again you can Google that last one yerself.

                • Pascal's bookie …
                  16 July 2010 at 5:16 am

                  Yeak ok mate. If you want to insist that the science reckons tobbacco isn’t addictive then I don’t see much point in going around in circles about it.

                  • butnahyeahnah …
                    16 July 2010 at 7:42 am

                    The mountains are only ever and have always resided solely in your mind. So yes your mates are imagining it, addiction is a function of imagination.
                    If you can’t accept the facts I have produced, that world wide more people have given up tobacco than continue to smoke, and that this is itself a good indication that most people who have smoked DONT find it addictive –
                    It’s a matter of objective though and breaking the shackles of proper gander. If you cannot reason and put together an argument without resorting to imaginary mates – why say anything at all?
                    All it takes is one decision, a lot guts and a little vision to give up. Who gains the most from it being “addictive”? That’s right the govt. Who’s running a reverse placebo effect on the packets? That’s right the govt. Show someone the same message over and over and it matters not how factual it is, they will believe it.

                    • Pascal's bookie …
                      16 July 2010 at 8:56 am

                      Not very good at thinking are you?

                      Even by your own definition of addiction (“a function of imagination”) if people are imagining it, then they are, according top you, addicted.

                      But your defintion is retarded.

                      Read page 3 of this report:

                      http://www.nida.nih.gov/PDF/TobaccoRRS_v16.pdf

                      pay particular attention the neurological effects nicotine produces in the brain. It effects how your brain operates. These are physical events, not ‘imaginings’.

                      See also this:

                      http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/287555-overview

                      Nicotine exerts its neurophysiologic action principally through the brain’s reward center. This neuroanatomical complex, otherwise known as the mesolimbic dopamine system, stretches from the ventral tegmental area to the basal forebrain. The nucleus accumbens, a dopamine-rich area, is an intersection where all addictive behaviors meet. The release of dopamine at this site promotes pleasure and reinforces the associated behaviors, such as the use of alcohol and drugs, to replicate the positive experience. Other factors may also promote nicotine dependence such as nicotine’s reduction in the monamine oxidase inhibitor enzyme. This enzyme is involved in the metabolism of catecholamines, to include dopamine. The net affect would be a lingering presence of the stimulating dopamine at the nucleus accumbens.4

                      A closer inspection of nicotine’s neurophysiology reveals a much more complex system. In particular, researchers continue to study the brain’s neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs).The nAChRs are a central component involved in nicotine’s widespread influence on brain chemistry. Researchers have identified nAChR subtypes, most prominently labeled as alpha and beta subunits. The alpha – 4 and beta – 2 subunits are the most widely expressed in the brain. Acting through the nAChRs, nicotine influences glutamate, GABA, acetylcholine, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.5

                      Nicotine also releases corticosteroids and endorphins that act on various receptors in the brain. Nicotine use results in more efficient processing of information and reduction of fatigue. In addition, nicotine has a sedative action, reduces anxiety, and induces euphoria. Nicotine effects are related to absolute blood levels and to the rate of increase in drug concentration at receptors.

                      Nicotine stimulates the hypothalamic-pituitary axis; this, in turn, stimulates the endocrine system. Continually increasing dose levels of nicotine are necessary to maintain the stimulating effects. With regards to dependence, some experts rank nicotine ahead of alcohol, cocaine, and heroin. A teenager who smokes as few as 4 cigarettes might develop a lifelong addiction to nicotine.

                      Small rapid doses of nicotine produce alertness and arousal, as opposed to long drawn-out doses, which induce relaxation and sedation. Nicotine has a pronounced effect on the major stress hormones. Nicotine stimulates hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), and it increases levels of endorphins, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and arginine vasopressin in a dose-related manner. Corticosteroids also are released in proportion to plasma nicotine concentration.

                      Nicotine alters the bioavailability of dopamine and serotonin and causes a sharp increase in heart rate and blood pressure. Nicotine acts on brain reward mechanisms, indirectly through endogenous opioid activity and directly through dopamine pathways.

                      But seeing you can’t seem to piece together an argument that isn’t just accusing me of lying I’m not sure that will convince you. Maybe I’m just in on the conspiracy along with all those researchers who seem to think nicotine is addictive. Yeah, that’ll be it.

  10. butnahyeahnah 10
    15 July 2010 at 12:20 am

    oh, ans as for carinogen – what do you think of the level of carbon monoxide you expose yourself (and any children you have) whenever you take them out in the car? Or as so many hav said before me – what exactly in this day and age doesn’t cause cancer?

  11. Eric Crampton 11
    15 July 2010 at 6:29 am

    Well, I suppose I better understand now where the anti-tobacco side is coming from. If you reckon that there’s little difference between rounding people up at gun point and throwing them into gas chambers, and selling cigarettes to people who voluntarily decide to buy them, well, wow.

    • Bright Red 11.1
      15 July 2010 at 8:22 pm

      there’s little difference morally in saying ‘well, i try to sell a product to people that will kill half its users but, you know, i’m just doing my job’ and the guy who says ‘yeah, i just load these people on a train, don’t care about where they’re going, although i’ve got a fair idea, i’m just doing my job’

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    Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #48 2023
    Open access notables From this week's government/NGO section, longitudinal data is gold and Leisorowitz, Maibachi et al. continue to mine ore from the US public with Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Fall 2023: Drawing on a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, the authors describe how registered ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • ELE LUDEMANN: It wasn’t just $55 million
    Ele Ludemann writes –  Winston Peters reckons media outlets were bribed by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund. He is not the first to make such an accusation. Last year, the Platform outlined conditions media signed up to in return for funds from the PJIF: . . . ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 1-December-2023
    Wow, it’s December already, and it’s a Friday. So here are few things that caught our attention recently. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt covered the new government’s coalition agreements and what they mean for transport. On Tuesday Matt looked at AT’s plans for fare increases ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago

  • Shane MacGowan Is Gone.
    Late 1996, The Dogs Bollix, Tamaki Makaurau.I’m at the front of the bar yelling my order to the bartender, jostling with other thirsty punters on a Friday night, keen to piss their wages up against a wall letting loose. The black stuff, long luscious pints of creamy goodness. Back down ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 1
    Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop and other National, ACT and NZ First MPs applaud the signing of the coalition agreements, which included the reversal of anti-smoking measures while accelerating tax cuts for landlords. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • 2023 More Reading: November (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for November: A Modern Utopia, by H.G. Wells The Vampire (poem), by Heinrich August Ossenfelder The Corpus Hermeticum The Corpus Hermeticum is Mead’s translation. Now, this is indeed a very quiet month for reading. But there is a reason for that… You see, ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    4 days ago

  • Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. They also describe the processes of the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    5 days ago

  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Finally
    Henry Kissinger is finally dead. Good fucking riddance. While Americans loved him, he was a war criminal, responsible for most of the atrocities of the final quarter of the twentieth century. Cambodia. Bangladesh. Chile. East Timor. All Kissinger. Because of these crimes, Americans revere him as a "statesman" (which says ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • Government in a hurry – Luxon lists 49 priorities in 100-day plan while Peters pledges to strength...
    Buzz from the Beehive Yes, ministers in the new government are delivering speeches and releasing press statements. But the message on the government’s official website was the same as it has been for the past several days, when Point of Order went looking for news from the Beehive that had ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • DAVID FARRAR: Luxon is absolutely right
    David Farrar writes  –  1 News reports: Christopher Luxon says he was told by some Kiwis on the campaign trail they “didn’t know” the difference between Waka Kotahi, Te Pūkenga and Te Whatu Ora. Speaking to Breakfast, the incoming prime minister said having English first on government agencies will “make sure” ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Top 10 at 10 am for Thursday, Nov 30
    There are fears that mooted changes to building consent liability could end up driving the building industry into an uninsured hole. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Thursday, November 30, including:The new Government’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on how climate change threatens cricket‘s future
    Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, M Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else, and complaining that he has inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” – which is how most of us are ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    5 days ago

  • We need to talk about Tory.
    The first I knew of the news about Tory Whanau was when a tweet came up in my feed.The sort of tweet that makes you question humanity, or at least why you bother with Twitter. Which is increasingly a cesspit of vile inhabitants who lurk spreading negativity, hate, and every ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Dangling Transport Solutions
    Cable Cars, Gondolas, Ropeways and Aerial Trams are all names for essentially the same technology and the world’s biggest maker of them are here to sell them as an public transport solution. Stuff reports: Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr has launched its case for adding aerial cable cars to New ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    5 days ago

  • November AMA
    Hi,It’s been awhile since I’ve done an Ask-Me-Anything on here, so today’s the day. Ask anything you like in the comments section, and I’ll be checking in today and tomorrow to answer.Leave a commentNext week I’ll be giving away a bunch of these Mister Organ blu-rays for readers in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago

  • National’s early moves adding to cost of living pressure
    The cost of living grind continues, and the economic and inflation honeymoon is over before it began. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: PM Christopher Luxon unveiled his 100 day plan yesterday with an avowed focus of reducing cost-of-living pressures, but his Government’s initial moves and promises are actually elevating ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Backwards to the future
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed that it will be back to the future on planning legislation. This will be just one of a number of moves which will see the new government go backwards as it repeals and cost-cuts its way into power. They will completely repeal one ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • New initiatives in science and technology could point the way ahead for Luxon government
    As the new government settles into the Beehive, expectations are high that it can sort out some  of  the  economic issues  confronting  New Zealand. It may take time for some new  ministers to get to grips with the range of their portfolio work and responsibilities before they can launch the  changes that  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    6 days ago

  • Treaty pledge to secure funding is contentious – but is Peters being pursued by a lynch mob after ...
    TV3 political editor Jenna Lynch was among the corps of political reporters who bridled, when Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told them what he thinks of them (which is not much). She was unabashed about letting her audience know she had bridled. More usefully, she drew attention to something which ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • How long does this last?
    I have a clear memory of every election since 1969 in this plucky little nation of ours. I swear I cannot recall a single one where the question being asked repeatedly in the first week of the new government was: how long do you reckon they’ll last? And that includes all ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • National’s giveaway politics
    We already know that national plans to boost smoking rates to collect more tobacco tax so they can give huge tax-cuts to mega-landlords. But this morning that policy got even more obscene - because it turns out that the tax cut is retrospective: Residential landlords will be able to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER: Who’s driving the right-wing bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In 2023, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • GRAHAM ADAMS:  Media knives flashing for Luxon’s government
    The fear and loathing among legacy journalists is astonishing Graham Adams writes – No one is going to die wondering how some of the nation’s most influential journalists personally view the new National-led government. It has become abundantly clear within a few days of the coalition agreements ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    6 days ago

  • Top 10 news links for Wednesday, Nov 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere for Wednesday November 29, including:The early return of interest deductibility for landlords could see rebates paid on previous taxes and the cost increase to $3 billion from National’s initial estimate of $2.1 billion, CTU Economist Craig Renney estimated here last ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Smokefree Fallout and a High Profile Resignation.
    The day after being sworn in the new cabinet met yesterday, to enjoy their honeymoon phase. You remember, that period after a new government takes power where the country, and the media, are optimistic about them, because they haven’t had a chance to stuff anything about yet.Sadly the nuptials complete ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • As Cabinet revs up, building plans go on hold
    Wellington Council hoardings proclaim its preparations for population growth, but around the country councils are putting things on hold in the absence of clear funding pathways for infrastructure, and despite exploding migrant numbers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Cabinet meets in earnest today to consider the new Government’s 100-day ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • National takes over infrastructure
    Though New Zealand First may have had ambitions to run the infrastructure portfolios, National would seem to have ended up firmly in control of them.  POLITIK has obtained a private memo to members of Infrastructure NZ yesterday, which shows that the peak organisation for infrastructure sees  National MPs Chris ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • At a glance – Evidence for global warming
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    7 days ago

  • Who’s Driving The Right-Wing Bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In ...
    Bowalley Road
    7 days ago

  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago

  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    7 days ago

  • National’s murderous smoking policy
    One of the big underlying problems in our political system is the prevalence of short-term thinking, most usually seen in the periodic massive infrastructure failures at a local government level caused by them skimping on maintenance to Keep Rates Low. But the new government has given us a new example, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    7 days ago

  • NZ has a chance to rise again as our new government gets spending under control
    New Zealand has  a chance  to  rise  again. Under the  previous  government, the  number of New Zealanders below the poverty line was increasing  year by year. The Luxon-led government  must reverse that trend – and set about stabilising  the  pillars  of the economy. After the  mismanagement  of the outgoing government created   huge ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    7 days ago

  • KARL DU FRESNE: Media and the new government
    Two articles by Karl du Fresne bring media coverage of the new government into considerations.  He writes –    Tuesday, November 28, 2023 The left-wing media needed a line of attack, and they found one The left-wing media pack wasted no time identifying the new government’s weakest point. Seething over ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago

  • PHILIP CRUMP:  Team of rivals – a CEO approach to government leadership
    The work begins Philip Crump wrote this article ahead of the new government being sworn in yesterday – Later today the new National-led coalition government will be sworn in, and the hard work begins. At the core of government will be three men – each a leader ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago

  • Black Friday
    As everyone who watches television or is on the mailing list for any of our major stores will confirm, “Black Friday” has become the longest running commercial extravaganza and celebration in our history. Although its origins are obscure (presumably dreamt up by American salesmen a few years ago), it has ...
    Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
    7 days ago

  • In Defense of the Media.
    Yesterday the Ministers in the next government were sworn in by our Governor General. A day of tradition and ceremony, of decorum and respect. Usually.But yesterday Winston Peters, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, of our nation used it, as he did with the signing of the coalition ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago

  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Tuesday, Nov 28
    Nicola Willis’ first move was ‘spilling the tea’ on what she called the ‘sobering’ state of the nation’s books, but she had better be able to back that up in the HYEFU. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago

  • PT use up but fare increases coming
    Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    1 week ago

  • The very opposite of social investment
    Nicola Willis (in blue) at the signing of the coalition agreement, before being sworn in as both Finance Minister and Social Investment Minister. National’s plan to unwind anti-smoking measures will benefit her in the first role, but how does it stack up from a social investment viewpoint? Photo: Lynn Grieveson ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • Giving Tuesday
    For the first time "in history" we decided to jump on the "Giving Tuesday" bandwagon in order to make you aware of the options you have to contribute to our work! Projects supported by Skeptical Science Inc. Skeptical Science Skeptical Science is an all-volunteer organization but ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Let's open the books with Nicotine Willis
    Let’s say it’s 1984,and there's a dreary little nation at the bottom of the Pacific whose name rhymes with New Zealand,and they've just had an election.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, will you look at the state of these books we’ve opened,cries the incoming government, will you look at all this mountain ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • Climate Change: Stopping oil
    National is promising to bring back offshore oil and gas drilling. Naturally, the Greens have organised a petition campaign to try and stop them. You should sign it - every little bit helps, and as the struggle over mining conservation land showed, even National can be deterred if enough people ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Don’t accept Human Rights Commission reading of data on Treaty partnership – read the survey fin...
    Wellington is braced for a “massive impact’ from the new government’s cutting public service jobs, The Post somewhat grimly reported today. Expectations of an economic and social jolt are based on the National-Act coalition agreement to cut public service numbers in each government agency in a cost-trimming exercise  “informed by” head ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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