Lefties on The Standard redux

Written By: - Date published: 8:56 am, November 29th, 2019 - 66 comments
Categories: activism, election 2017, Left, Politics, The Standard - Tags: , ,

In 2017, during the election campaign, we ran a small handful of posts as dedicated discussion space for lefties. I introduced the first post with this,

I had a gratifying experience last month, a late night conversation on twitter about the left and the NZ election and what the Greens are up to. There were maybe half a dozen people in the conversation, and all of them were left wing. The conversation ranged over a number of areas and sub-threads and lasted several hours. At the end I came away feeling buoyed by the debate, that it was not only productive, and gave us food for thought, but that it fed us too. One thing I noticed was that none of us slagged each other off, nor was there a slagging off of our political allies.

We certainly weren’t all in agreement, and the conversation started with us disagreeing on a number of points around Green Party strategy – this was just after the first GP election campaign launch and Metiria Turei had just called Peters out on his racist rhetoric. But it was a conversation free of antagonism and instead explored political issues in depth and offered a chance for people to talk with their allies.

I’ve seen conversations like this on TS. We have a range of views here amongst the left wing commenters, and recently there have been spontaneous outbreaks of troll-free conversation and debate that were also abuse-free and full of considered and in depth comments.

So I’d like to try an experiment. I’d like us to try and have this kind of conversation here, intentionally.

I’m thinking it might be time to try this again.

The rules are:

– To comment you have to be left wing.

– No personal attacks at all  (not even if they are hidden in comments with good political points)

– Be kind. If you can’t be kind at least don’t be mean.

– Bear in mind the part of the Policy about not using language or tone that excludes others.

The usual Policy rules around robust debate still apply to everything else. If you’re not sure if you fit the criteria, there is always Open Mike.

We can talk about anything that’s relevant to the left or progressives, but I’m going to suggest if we want a starting point we consider that we are twelve months out from an election and what that might mean for the left as we prepare for the election campaign next year. Otherwise, grab whatever is of interest to you today and bring it to the conversation.

66 comments on “Lefties on The Standard redux ”

  1. roy cartland 1

    Great idea Weka.

    I just saw on the Guardian the tactics that the Tories (and presumably our Right) have come up with a 'smear' dossier:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/28/revealed-tory-candidates-issued-with-attack-manuals-on-how-to-smear-rivals

    How do we compete against this kind of thing? Do we fight fire with fire? Remain positive? Call them out every time eventually branding them unbelievable? Or ignore and harp on with our message?

    • weka 1.1

      Not sure this is exactly the same thing, but I liked Stephanie Rodger's tweets the other day,

      Seeing a lot of really good messaging around not boosting / repeating bad political takes, because they need oxygen. But I also know how frustrating it is seeing awful things and not responding / rejecting them (and of course that's how they're designed!)

      Here's my tip, which I will happily admit I am sometimes terrible at following: find the counter-message to boost instead. Don't acknowledge the nastiness – just put the positive out into the world, because it deserves to be there anyway.

      Find the politician or NGO or commentator putting the good messages and data forward. Or say it yourself. People who've seen the terrible take will know what you're responding to, people who haven't won't be exposed to it through you. AND you get to vent that frustration!

      https://twitter.com/bootstheory/status/1198368173801656320

      I think multiple strategies are needed, and it depends on who is being attacked and why. The Guardian article seems to be around policies rather than people, which I think is probably easier to deal with.

      But I still remember that debate where Key basically repeatedly punched Cunliffe. It was brutal and a really low point in our politics, but what it makes me think is that politicians need support, and they need to know where their strengths and weaknesses are. What interests me is how lefties talk about our own politicians and to what extent we are critiquing policy vs bashing people. I'm also thinking a bit about what I might be writing next year during the election (am seriously fucked off with Labour over welfare, but I want them to win the election).

      • roy cartland 1.1.1

        Yes, it's true that people like Greta manage to get the message across without having to resort to gutter politics – she just steadfastly ignores the haters and makes them irrelevant. Maybe that's the key, just dismiss the rubbish and turn any convo to the facts and the actual message? I think Cloe Swarbrick is quite good that that too (OK Boomer notwithstnading).

        • weka 1.1.1.1

          Chloe is one of my favourite politicians. I hope she gets looked after well enough to stay in parliament for a long career.

  2. esoteric pineapples 2

    Good idea Weka. One thing that came up on my Facbook feed yesterday was this story shared by a Green MP:

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/117730772/landfill-levies-could-rise-in-govt-bid-to-urge-people-to-recycle

    "The cost of dumping construction and industrial waste could increase as the Government looks to shake up landfill levies.

    Household waste bills could also rise if regional authorities pass on planned increases, with costs expected to go up by up to 33 cents a bag.

    The proposal, which could earn the Government up to $250 million a year, comes as ministers look to rein in increasing volumes of rubbish being sent to landfill.

    …."Under the new proposal, the domestic levy could increase to as much as $60 per tonne by, while construction, industrial and other landfills could face a levy of up to $20 per tonne."

    It should be noted on a positive note that the plan includes "Invest the additional landfill revenue in solutions that support waste reduction."

    While the plan is well-meaning in that it wants to encourage more recycling, many comments were that the burden is being placed yet again on the households, which is likely to see more fly tipping. My view is that depositing of rubbish should be as cheap as possible for households so that they can afford to go to the dump, whatever the arguments for recycling.

    Beyond that, I commented that I think the solution requires looking at the front end of the rubbish problem, not the back end, introducing laws to require all packaging, where practical, to use fully biodegradable material. And developing a longer term plan for requiring other packaging to be bio-degradable through innovation etc through progressive steps.

    The Green MP I was following (NB not ES and someone I also respect) replied, including saying "Banning single products won’t create system change."

    My argument in return was that "I think that a good old fashioned law change that forces businesses to switch to bio-degradable products is a simple, effective and fair mechanism. It has already worked wonders for supermarket plastic bags. All milk used to come in bottles once upon a time and that system worked perfectly well. I thought at the time that introducing plastic bottles was wrong and recall that that happened at the height of free-market, neo-liberal monetarist user-pays, level-playing field etc movement in government in the early 1990s. I think the right wing Monetarist policies that we imported from Thatcher, Reagan, which we called "Rogernomics" are inter-twined with the introduction of less environmentally friendly behaviour because the focus became on profit-first and the environment and everything else second."

    I added in a further reply that "I understand why the government would be afraid to introduce new laws banning non-biodegradable packaging and that is because it would cause a huge outrage amongst the business community. But to me, that only confirms my argument about the relationship between Neo-Liberalism and environmental degradation. I would argue that trying to find a solution within a Neo-Liberal paradigm can never succeed because Neo-Liberalism is based on the profit incentive at the expense of everything else."

    I also liked what someone else said: "We need the cost of disposal built into the product's price, then rubbish disposal is free. With massive increase in cost to dispose of rubbish you'll get massive increase in illegal dumpling. With the front end approach you will get massive effort from companies to make packaging recyclable and minimal."

    While this is a discussion about how best to approach the challenge of waste, it seems to me that even now, we still have a government that is still only looking for solutions within the paradigm that was created 35 years ago with the introduction of "Rogernomics", and one of its most notorious dictums – "User Pays"

    • greywarshark 2.1

      Good one weka.

      First I notice the large space under eps comment. We need to bring the cursor up to the end of the last sentence before submitting to prevent that.

      Environment – the built landscape, recycling. About this, 'The cost of dumping construction and industrial waste could increase as the Government looks to shake up landfill levies.' This is a recent story about the use of it in construction by Wellington City Council which heartened me greatly. (I thought about the piles of it in Christchurch as they cleared and repaired and rebuilt over the past years.)

      https://wellington.govt.nz/your-council/news/2019/11/concrete-recycling 22/11/2019 Concrete from earthquake-prone social housing flats currently being demolished by Wellington City Council will be recycled, instead of going to landfill.

      And of course must mention Rekindle Christchurch where they have reworked good wood and other materials into useful, intriguing stuff that could be thought of as souveniers of the mighty quake or art installations as well as practical.

      https://www.rekindle.org.nz/

    • The Chairman 2.2

      While the plan is well-meaning in that it wants to encourage more recycling, many comments were that the burden is being placed yet again on the households…

      This highlights a problem which the Greens seem to be overlooking. I voted Green not only because I expected them to address climate issues but also because (with them being left) I expected them to ensure they would protect vulnerable, struggling households from bearing the full cost burden. Unfortunately, this example highlights their failure to do so.

      Transitioning to a greener society will come at a cost and the vulnerable need protecting from the added burden. Are the Greens up to this task? Seems not.

      • SPC 2.2.1

        The policy balance is not always within a single policy area but across the range of policy.

        • The Chairman 2.2.1.1

          Indeed. However, as yet, the balance isn't being met.

          Hardship is increasing. As shown by the sharp rise in hardship grants and food demand from social agencies. So albeit this will be a small increase, it's another increase in weekly costs that isn't being offset by any new increase in income or reductions elsewhere.

          The increases in income that have been achieved via this Government have been insufficient catch ups and go nowhere near covering new cost burdens being added into the mix.

          • pat 2.2.1.1.1

            "Hardship is increasing. As shown by the sharp rise in hardship grants and food demand from social agencies."

            Is it?…all that shows is grants are more freely available, potentially as a result of operational directive…and we know National were running a punitive regime through MSD

            • The Chairman 2.2.1.1.1.1

              Is it?…all that shows is grants are more freely available, potentially as a result of operational directive

              The large queues at 2am outside a social welfare office in the rain to get help from advocates to gain hardship grants indicate grants can't be that more freely available.

              • pat

                IF hardship were increasing there would be an increase in bankruptcies (the end point of hardship)….and surprise, surprise, since the change of Gov in 2017 there has been a significant decrease in the number of bankruptcies.

                https://www.insolvency.govt.nz/support/about/statistics/insolvency-procedure-statistics/monthly-bankruptcy-figures/

                The reason people are queueing at MSD offices is because NOW theres a reasonable chance they will receive a grant whereas before it was considered a waste of time and energy

                You dont queue if theres nothing to queue for

                • The Chairman

                  IF hardship were increasing there would be an increase in bankruptcies (the end point of hardship)

                  Not necessarily. There can be an increase in the number of people suffering from day to day hardship but not quite at the end point of becoming totally bankrupt.

                  The reason people are queuing at MSD offices is not because there's now a more reasonable chance they will receive a grant, it is because they are lining up to meet with the advocates that will assist them to get one.

                  If grants were now that easier to gain, people wouldn't need to queue in line to secure an advocate.

                  Food demand this year at the City Mission food bank is the highest in its history.

                  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12265240

                  [I’m not willing to have the same pattern of discussion under the Lefties posts that happens elsewhere, namely you concern trolling and refusing many times to take feedback from the community or mods on this about the problems it causes, and eventually the discussion descending into frustration or conflict. I’m not going to wait until the conversation deteriorates here today, so please stay out of commenting under this post. If that pattern changes at some point in the future I’ll revisit that decision, but I would need to see this demonstrated over time. – weka]

                  • pat

                    "Not necessarily. There can be an increase in the number of people suffering from day to day hardship but not quite at the end point of becoming totally bankrupt."

                    With bankruptcy being the end point it would show in the figures, at the best a continuation but NOT as a significant decrease (remembering we are also experiencing substantial population increase which should also be reflected)

                    "If grants were now that easier to gain, people wouldn't need to queue in line to secure an advocate."

                    Again, if theres nothing to queue for you dont queue..and just as we know of your faux concern we know the punitive regime National directed the MSD under

                    "Food demand this year at the City Mission food bank is the highest in its history"

                    two likely factors…increased population but crucially a diminishing of stigma in the act

                    • weka

                      I'd say the never-ending pressure of the housing crisis is an issue there too. We now have a permanent problem with people simply not having enough income to live on where housing costs are so high and there being no way within WINZ’s options to make much of a difference.

                      Lots of different things going on, thus multiple causes and effects. I think Auckland has some distinct issues (eg in the WINZ management culture) that don't necessarily apply elsewhere, as do other areas.

                    • pat

                      @Weka

                      there is no doubt that the financial pressure is cumalative and high rents are at its basis but the argument hardship is increasing as a result of gov inaction is spurious (as TC well knows)…there has been some relief in the form of increased minimum wage, a more accommodating regime at MSD and WEP….is it sufficient ?obviously not but the greatest effect requires a systemic change and the mandate is dubious at best…given that what is the best scenario in the here and now…the Coalition or a return to the Nats?

                  • weka

                    Mod note for you TC.

  3. Stuart Munro. 3

    One approach that might produce a bit of constructive discussion would be for people to float priority lists and discuss the relative merits of items. Rough headings might be environment, community, social justice, inequality, and the future.

    Working out real priorities and designing for outcomes is long overdue in our governance decision making. Part of the problem is that government has become accustomed to what might be called the Dennis Wheatly satanist model of democracy, "do as you will shall be the whole of the law", and any change, be it regulating the fishing industry for sustainability, or constraining our very high unskilled immigration levels, or requiring alternatives to the large scale and increasing use of poisons, is wont to meet resistance aimed at protecting, not the common good, but bureaucratic privilege.

    A few things that spring to mind:

    The OMV protest – I'm sure the company is as sociopathic as one could wish, but the way to achieve rapid significant change in fuel use is by developing and proliferating sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels, and by improving the fuel profile of our transport infrastructure – prioritizing shipping over trains, and trains over trucks, for instance.

    Unskilled migrants – a requirement that employers undertake workforce planning two years ahead if they request work permits, and that no more than half of any workforce may ever receive work permits will prevent many of the abuses that have become prevalent. Chorus for example, has had minor flak about exclusively employing foreigners, but has not yet been prosecuted for large scale systematic racist hiring.

    The punitive rent-seeking inspection regimes of many councils are vastly increasing the costs of alternative housing to the point of preventing it. As a more sustainable and creative response to the twin scourges of the no-growth-except-by-immigration neoliberal economic basket case economy, and the uncreative destruction that destroyed local trades training, tiny house communities are a desirable outcome that councils should be required to support enthusiastically.

  4. gsays 4

    Thanks for a timely reminder for behaviour and engaging with others, especially at this potentially stressful time of year.

    I am fascinated by our left/right definitions.

    When involved in a conversation/squabble about 9/11, I was accused of being right wing. I suppose that is because of the likes of Alex Jones and his anti government rants.

    Being politically minded is kind of like being in a Venn diagram, where sometimes you find folk who share your opinion but come from a polar opposite angle.

    For me this occurs with euthanasia, I end up in the company of those with a strong religious conviction. I get there for different reasons but we share the space.

  5. Incognito 6

    Good initiative!

    Recently, I came across an old post by Anthony R0bins at a very similar time in the election cycle (2014-GE) and on a related (tangentially) topic: https://thestandard.org.nz/questions-questions/

  6. adam 7

    Left and right are not fully helpful terms anymore.

    Unless you are talking about economics, then the terms help. Left wing economics is fundamentally different from Right wing economics.

    As for social/personal politics – the lines blur, then the left and right definition fail completely.

    This has not been helped by 40 odd years of hard right economics coupled with austerity, and occasionally been thrown a socially progressive law. Some people think they are left, and support hard right economics. Conversely others have more conservative views on social issues, and are called right wing – when their economics is left wing, and the person they arguing with is economically far right.

    I say far right wing – because the so called centre in this country is far right wing economically.

    I also think the table you put up is a deliberate distortion of how far the economics has gone to the right in the last 40 odd years. Especially the labour party, they a different from national only in the minutiae when it comes to economics. The last two years have proven that.

  7. cleangreen 8

    Well done Weka;

    We oldies never knew people were mean spirited in our day under the 1950/60's era, so we feel estranged a lot now.

    My mother had never spoken one bad word against anyone in my day so that was our role model.

    I agree with you, and think we all need to be kind to each other, as it feels good to be kind to others.

    Thank you for your nice thoughts of our need to change our own behavior as the term goes; "courtesy is contagious"

  8. RRM 9

    👍 This is a great idea.

    I've always said there is far too much hard right wing ideology and opinion being espoused on The Standard. Some threads become virtual neolib sewers. This will restore some much-needed balance.

  9. UncookedSelachimorpha 10

    What chance do people think Corbyn has? He represents a wonderful leftwing view and a chance for a change that we haven't seen in the West since neoliberalism reared its ugly head in the 1980's.

    The polls for Corbyn look dire – which appalls me because he has excellent policies and is just a better person than most of the Tories.

    I can't help hoping like crazy on this one…am I just being foolish??

    • pat 10.1

      its not looking likely….but then the polls have been wrong before (more than once)

    • Anne 10.2

      I can't help hoping like crazy on this one…am I just being foolish??

      He's got the media against him UncookedSela…

      I can remember a time when there was no internet. Hell, there was no TV when I was growing up. People were not bombarded with false narratives like they are nowadays. Instead they were in a better position to distinguish fact from fiction and that served the centre-left quite well.

      Since then the middle ground has shifted so far to the right the old centre-left has become the far-left (5 mins. listening to a Hooton rave session on RNZ is testament to that) and voters are a bit afraid of the left because they have been cast as extremists. It's not extremist at all its commonsense, but they can no longer see it due to the brainwashing from the corporate media who are playing to their neoliberal, market orientated masters' hands.

      That's the way I see it anyway.

    • McFlock 10.3

      They're polls of total popularity in an FPP election. So not reliable about a verdict – either side can be lower, but still win due to how that popularity is distributed.

      That having been said, in 2017 the cons barely scraped in for the coalition win – a tiny majority in a House of 600+. And they've clusterfucked badly since then.

      So out of the gate my feeling is that the only description is that both main parties are on the back foot.

    • weka 10.4

      I can't fathom why more Brits aren't supporting Corbyn.

      • Craig H 10.4.1

        Horrible media coverage.

        • weka 10.4.1.1

          I'm sure that has an effect like everywhere, but it doesn't explain it enough for me.

          • pat 10.4.1.1.1

            Corbyn's personal appeal has taken several large hits…it is as covered in the previous link an 'unpopularity contest' and Boris is the least unpopular…and you have the Lib Dems muddying things.

            • weka 10.4.1.1.1.1

              which link?

              Hard to fathom how Corbyn can be less popular than Johnson. I mean, if they like Boris, then that says a lot about the English (the Scots at least have more sense).

              • pat

                10.3.2

                accusations of anti semitism, party defections, ambiguity on Brexit….may have something to do with it, whether you agree or not,

                We have a perfect example here in NZ of the importance of personal appeal over policy….Labour pre last election.

                • McFlock

                  ah, haven't listened to it. I find I can multitask better with text than audio.

                  Sounds like I'd largely agree with them lol

                  • pat

                    the unpopularity effect was a very small part of the podcast

                  • pat

                    harsh you think…and yet I came across this just now and while not agreeing entirely I found this (following) to be a curious reflection of our own Labour Party

                    "The change Britain wants is the change Labour is supposed to provide. The mood has shifted and there is public support for a programme of intervention far more radical than any since the post-war Attlee government. There is now only one obstacle: a Labour Party incapable of speaking to the working class. "

                    https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/britains-labour-tragedy

                • weka

                  I thought NZ Labour's problem pre 2017 was too many leadership changes and perceptions of incompetency. I guess that applies to UK Labour too but I thought things had settled down. It's not like the Tories haven't had similar issues.

                  • pat

                    whatever NZ Labours problem pre 2017 election was it was all forgotten by the voters with no policy change but the introduction of a more appealing leader

                    • McFlock

                      Pre-Ardern it was a contest between two rather reserved guys in similar suits taking a moment to consider their answer to a question before delivering it in a slow drawl.

                      Appeal, energy, empathy and quick answers would have changed the game for either party.

                  • pat

                    @McFlock

                    so in other words an unpopularity contest….which had the incumbents far ahead in the polls

                    • McFlock

                      Bit harsh. More that it was a front neither side were fighting on, and Ardern outflanked them.

                      But then if it were two empathetic, energetic, approachable leaders trying to outfeels each other, that contest might have been flipped if one side had suddenly gone with a leader who appears more reserved and considered as a proxy for competence, strength, and intelligence.

                      Cometh the hour, cometh the wo/man sort of thing

          • McFlock 10.4.1.1.2

            I think he and Labour have wrongfooted it on Brexit and the antisemitism complaints from within the party.

            He sat on the fence when people wanted a firm position on Brexit – I reckon either yes or no would have been more popular than being coy about it. For the remainers, there's the suspicion he's a leaver, and the leavers don't trust him either. So anyone with a strong opinion on Brexit needs to look elsewhere if they want a firm policy.

            The allegations of antisemitism against him personally I suspect are bullshit. They read like beat-ups about where he went as a guest. But party members did report multiple instances of antisemitism within the party which received no action from the party hierarchy. Ignoring what tories say about it, and even allowing for a few who might be more anti-Corbyn than genuinely unhappy with how their complaints were responded to, that still leaves a non-trivial number of complaints that have been systematically unaddressed. We saw how that leeched on LabourNZ with sexual harrassment complaints, and I think the same thing has happened to UK Labour. People see valid complaints being buried rather than addressed, and ironically the burial gives the complaints more oxygen to stay in the news cycle (metaphors thoroughly mixed).

            • Sanctuary 10.4.1.1.2.1

              Labour in the UK has had no choice but to adopt the between two stools approach – and be excoriated in the process by the reactionary billionaire press and the liberal Fascisti of the chattering classes – if it wishes to retain it's identity as a broad based, socialist movement.

              The big meta of Brexit is a push by the right (including Putin, who has revived the Tsarist tradition of reactionary meddling abroad to try and prop up a failing and corrupt authoritarian regime at home) to permanently re-align British politics along the lines of the United States, where economic and class interests are submerged in an endless, febrile and debilitating atmosphere of permanent culture war that atomises resistance to Plutocratic rule and is designed to render attempts to organise collectively against the super-rich impossible.

              If Labour had gone hard remain (or leave) it would have simply reinforced the culture war narrative, and ultimately delivered the (not) working class of the north of the UK into the hands of Farage's genuinely Fascist Brexit party and it's successors.

              Even if Labour lose on the 12th – and given that the entire establishment has been ready for Corbyn and Corbynism this time and the gloves are off (the bias of the establishment organs like the BBC has been shameless, let alone the Das Schwarze Korps tone of the far right newspapers) it is probably likely all we can hope for is another hung parliament – they have to retain a class based analysis of politics if they are to have a path to power ever in the first past the post system. If the Tories win and Brexit happens, and Boris implements Thatcherism on steroids then the resulting economic catastrophe that will engulf the English precariat and poor means a Labour party that never abandoned the northern strongholds will defeat the Tories next time, and if they keep a radical policy agenda they'll have a mandate to implement it.

              • Ad

                Stop letting Corbyn off the hook.

                He did just fine in the previous election.

                And Labour did great in the local elections as well.

                It's not as if there wasn't enough material for him to work with.

              • pat

                So it is as it ever was then.

                The status quo is being defended by those who benefit and it will take a momental disaster (i.e widescale conflict) for those exploited to unite in a common goal…..and then the process will begin again.

                Except this time the only home we have is doing its best to eject us,

              • UncookedSelachimorpha

                Thanks Sanctuary, excellent analysis I think. You are right that the real issue Labour is trying to confront is the class issue and that the game Labour has to play on Brexit is not a simple one.

                You mention the long game if Labour lose this election – but can Corbyn (and the policies he represents) survive another defeat?

          • UncookedSelachimorpha 10.4.1.1.3

            The extent and degree of the hostility in the media coverage of Corbyn in the UK is extreme – beyond belief even. So it might be having a bigger effect – and also deterring people from voting at all.

            If we (or the Aussies) ever get a popular truly socialist / left option – they too will be vilified by our media industry.

            Direct canvassing of the electorate (in the flesh) might be the only solution – will require a popular grassroots base (lots of people to do actual leg work) – which Corbyn does have to some degree. This would need to happen for quite some time, not just in the month before an election.

            • UncookedSelachimorpha 10.4.1.1.3.1

              And it continues

              A fake tweet suggesting Jeremy Corbyn sympathised with the terrorist shot dead by police on London Bridge on Friday is circulating on WhatsApp and Twitter.

              “A man was murdered by British Police in Broad daylight,” it says.

              And it seems many immediately assumed it was legit and started responding – instead of asking themselves – "is this fake?"

              “This is what you get if this man becomes PM. God help us,”

    • Molly 10.5

      "I can't help hoping like crazy on this one…am I just being foolish??"

      If you are – I'll join you in that fool club.

  10. Jackel 11

    Always good to encourage friendly feeling and fraternity.

    I've often wondered why people so easily buy the lies of capitalism. I can only assume they trick themselves with the cleverness of the mind instead of listening to the wisdom of the body.

  11. SHG 12

    As a brown former Labour and most recently Green party voter, I have to ask…. what has Jacinda's Labour-led government achieved? I've seen lots of feelgood symbolism and almost no actual legislation and policy implementation. Even the legislation that has been passed has been… mostly symbolism.

    • Ad 12.1

      You're one of the few people n the world who haven't seen this video explaining exactly what they have achieved:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kslkwrrSAU

    • Incognito 12.2

      Well, that’s an awful lot of symbolism then and I was only looking at Acts passed in Parliament: http://www.legislation.govt.nz/

      • weka 12.2.1

        This one's good too, all the previous Bills now in law,

        https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/previous

        Lots of what is being done is not flashy. I notice this with the Greens too, people reckon they're not doing much, but fail to see the stuff that doesn't generate headlines.

        • Incognito 12.2.1.1

          Ta

          I think there is some justification for the negative public perception of the Government but much (??) of it seems to be based on lack of and/or on poor information (and education). Mention this and you run the risk of being accused as an ‘apologist’ or worse. I’m not defending nor blaming because that’s a mug’s game IMO. I think the key indeed is to highlight achievements and progress, as Stephanie Rodgers said, even when it is little and/or falls short of expectation. In addition, it is crucial to provide constructive criticism that politicians can work with, assuming that they are not all as bad as some make them out to be.

          • weka 12.2.1.1.1

            it's tricky, because there is a fair amount to be disappointed about. However we do seem to have this expectation of perfection and if it's not attained then what? The left is very hard on people who make mistakes, and worse on people who are not doing what we want in part because they're working in a fucked up system. I agree about constructive criticism. Maybe listing what's been good, then looking at what still needs attention. I could try and do that with welfare, darklol.

  12. sumsuch 13

    Assumes The Standard holds people like Stephen Mills in honour. Good assumption.
    Why I've never voted for the friend-of-the -rich Labour Party.

  13. sumsuch 14

    No personal attacks I now see. But I think it captures the political point, despite your despite on that account. You do know we leftists hate Labour? How would we not. Being oold NZers, confirmed social-democrats.

  14. sumsuch 15

    Shouldne the whole of The Standard be for the lefties. You allow Labour.

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  • Surely it won't happen
    I have prepared a bad news sandwich. That is to say, I'm going to try and make this more agreeable by placing on the top and underneath some cheering things.So let's start with a daughter update, the one who is now half a world away but also never farther out ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 hours ago
  • Let Them Eat Sausage Rolls: Hipkins Tries to Kill Labour Again
    Sometimes you despair. You really do. Fresh off leading Labour to its ugliest election result since 1990,* Chris Hipkins has decided to misdiagnose matters, because the Government he led cannot possibly have been wrong about anything. *In 2011 and 2014, people were willing to save Labour’s electorate ...
    16 hours ago
  • Clued Up: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    “But, that’s the thing, mate, isn’t it? We showed ourselves to be nothing more useful than a bunch of angry old men, shaking our fists at the sky. Were we really that angry at Labour and the Greens? Or was it just the inescapable fact of our own growing irrelevancy ...
    21 hours ago
  • JERRY COYNE: A powerful University dean in New Zealand touts merging higher education with indigeno...
    Jerry Coyne writes –  This article from New Zealand’s Newsroom site was written by Julie Rowland,  the deputy dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland as well as a geologist and the Director of the Ngā Ara Whetū | Centre for Climate, Biodiversity & Society. In other ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.
    Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.For the last couple of weeks its felt as though all the good things in our beautiful land are under attack.These isles in the southern Pacific. The home of the Māori people. A land of easy going friendliness, openness, and she’ll be right. A ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Speaking for the future
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.MondayYou cannot be seriousOne might think, god, people who are seeing all this must be regretting their vote.But one might be mistaken.There are people whose chief priority is not wanting to be ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • How Should We Organise a Modern Economy?
    Alan Bollard, formerly Treasury Secretary, Reserve Bank Governor and Chairman of APEC, has written an insightful book exploring command vs demand approaches to the economy. The Cold War included a conflict about ideas; many were economic. Alan Bollard’s latest book Economists in the Cold War focuses on the contribution of ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    2 days ago
  • Willis fails a taxing app-titude test but govt supporters will cheer moves on Te Pukenga and the Hum...
    Buzz from the Beehive The Minister of Defence has returned from Noumea to announce New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting and (wearing another ministerial hat) to condemn malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government. A bigger cheer from people who voted for the Luxon ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • ELIZABETH RATA: In defence of the liberal university and against indigenisation
    The suppression of individual thought in our universities spills over into society, threatening free speech everywhere. Elizabeth Rata writes –  Indigenising New Zealand’s universities is well underway, presumably with the agreement of University Councils and despite the absence of public discussion. Indigenising, under the broader umbrella of decolonisation, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the skewed media coverage of Gaza
    Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website. If he did, Peters would find MFAT celebrating the 25th anniversary of how New Zealand alerted the rest of the world to the genocide developing in Rwanda. Quote: New Zealand played an important role ...
    2 days ago
  • “Your Circus, Your Clowns.”
    It must have been a hard first couple of weeks for National voters, since the coalition was announced. Seeing their party make so many concessions to New Zealand First and ACT that there seems little remains of their own policies, other than the dwindling dream of tax cuts and the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 8-December-2023
    It’s Friday again and Christmas is fast approaching. Here’s some of the stories that caught our attention. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered some of the recent talk around the costs, benefits and challenges with the City Rail Link. On Thursday Matt looked at how ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • End-of-week escapism
    Amsterdam to Hong Kong William McCartney16,000 kilometres41 days18 trains13 countries11 currencies6 long-distance taxis4 taxi apps4 buses3 sim cards2 ferries1 tram0 medical events (surprisingly)Episode 4Whether the Sofia-Istanbul Express really qualifies to be called an express is debatable, but it’s another one of those likeably old and slow trains tha… ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 8
    Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro arrives for the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • New Zealand’s Witchcraft Laws: 1840/1858-1961/1962
    Sometimes one gets morbidly curious about the oddities of one’s own legal system. Sometimes one writes entire essays on New Zealand’s experience with Blasphemous Libel: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/blasphemous-libel-new-zealand-politics/ And sometimes one follows up the exact historical status of witchcraft law in New Zealand. As one does, of course. ...
    2 days ago
  • No surprises
    Don’t expect any fiscal shocks or surprises when the books are opened on December 20 with the unveiling of the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). That was the message yesterday from Westpac in an economic commentary. But the bank’s analysis did not include any changes to capital ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #49 2023
    113 articles in 48 journals by 674 contributing authors Physical science of climate change, effects Diversity of Lagged Relationships in Global Means of Surface Temperatures and Radiative Budgets for CMIP6 piControl Simulations, Tsuchida et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-23-0045.1 Do abrupt cryosphere events in High Mountain Asia indicate earlier tipping ...
    3 days ago
  • Phone calls at Kia Kaha primary
    It is quiet reading time in Room 13! It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside. It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury standing by the roadworks and counting the conesand going on ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • A question of confidence is raised by the Minister of Police, but he had to be questioned by RNZ to ...
    It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news  out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Xmas  good  cheer  for the dairy industry  as Fonterra lifts its forecast
    The big dairy co-op Fonterra  had  some Christmas  cheer to offer  its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for  the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast  midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • MICHAEL BASSETT: Modern Maori myths
    Michael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Dreams of eternal sunshine at a spotless COP28
    Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the irony
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Transport Agencies don’t want Harbour Tunnels
    It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...
    3 days ago
  • Webworm Presents: Jurassic Park on 35mm
    Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago
  • The Prime Minister's Dream.
    Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • National’s new MP; the proud part-Maori boy raised in a state house
    Probably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • Climate Adam: Battlefield Earth – How War Fuels Climate Catastrophe
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...
    4 days ago
  • They do not speak for us, and they do not speak for the future
    These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • Another attack on te reo
    The new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • For the record, the Beehive buzz can now be regarded as “official”
    Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came  from  Education Minister  Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • Climate Change: Failed again
    There was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Assault On Maori
    This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...
    4 days ago
  • Rising costs hit farmers hard, but  there’s more  positive news  for  them this  week 
    New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has  been under  pressure  from rising  costs. Down on the  farm, this  has  been  hitting  hard. But there  was more positive news this week,  first   from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where  prices  rose,  and  then from  a  report ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago
  • ROB MacCULLOCH:  Newshub and NZ Herald report misleading garbage about ACT’s van Veldon not follo...
    Rob MacCulloch writes –  In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Top 10 for Wednesday, December 6
    Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Eleven years of work.
    Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Why we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
    A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did We Get Here?
    Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normal column of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago
  • At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • New Zealaders  have  high expectations of  new  government:  now let’s see if it can deliver?
    The electorate has high expectations of the  new  government.  The question is: can  it  deliver?    Some  might  say  the  signs are not  promising. Protestors   are  already marching in the streets. The  new  Prime Minister has had  little experience of managing  very diverse politicians  in coalition. The economy he  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    5 days ago
  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    5 days ago
  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    6 days ago
  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    6 days ago
  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    6 days ago
  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  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. Brian Easton writes The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    6 days ago
  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    6 days ago
  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago
  • The Song of Saqua: Volume III
    Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
    6 days ago
  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    7 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    1 week ago
  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago
  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    1 week ago
  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • Ministers visit Hawke’s Bay to grasp recovery needs
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • New Zealand condemns malicious cyber activity
    New Zealand has joined the UK and other partners in condemning malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government, Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau Judith Collins says. The statement follows the UK’s attribution today of malicious cyber activity impacting its domestic democratic institutions and processes, as well ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Disestablishment of Te Pūkenga begins
    The Government has begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga as part of its 100-day plan, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds says.  “I have started putting that plan into action and have met with the chair and chief Executive of Te Pūkenga to advise them of my ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend COP28 in Dubai
    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will be leaving for Dubai today to attend COP28, the 28th annual UN climate summit, this week. Simon Watts says he will push for accelerated action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, deliver New Zealand’s national statement and connect with partner countries, private sector leaders ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • New Zealand to host 2024 Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins yesterday announced New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM). “Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Nouméa, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Study shows need to remove distractions in class
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