Liam Neeson Under the Cosh

Written By: te reo putake - Date published: 9:35 am, February 5th, 2019 - 119 comments
Categories: crime, Deep stuff, film, International, journalism, Media, patriarchy, racism, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, violence against women - Tags: liam neeson, racism, violence

British actor Liam Neeson has made an extraordinary confession in an interview with the Independent news site.

Promoting his new film, Cold Pursuit, Neeson has claimed that many years ago, he spent a week or more hanging around bars late at night hoping to get into a fight with a black man who he could kill with a cosh.

This was in response, Neeson says, to the news that a family member had been raped.

“She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,” Neeson says.

“I asked, did she know who it was? No. What colour were they? She said it was a black person.”

Neeson goes on to say that he went looking for a confrontation:

“I went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I’d be approached by somebody – I’m ashamed to say that – and I did it for maybe a week, hoping some ‘black bastard’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could … kill him.”

Reflecting on his rage, Neeson is contrite:

“It’s awful. But I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, ‘What the fuck are you doing,’ you know?”

Neeson also talks about his upbringing in divided Ireland.

“I come from a society – I grew up in Northern Ireland in the Troubles – and, you know, I knew a couple of guys that died on hunger strike, and I had acquaintances who were very caught up in the Troubles, and I understand that need for revenge, but it just leads to more revenge, to more killing and more killing, and Northern Ireland’s proof of that.

All this stuff that’s happening in the world, the violence, is proof of that, you know. But that primal need, I understand.”

It’s that ‘primal need’ that is central to this news story. Liam Neeson has made a career out of playing revenge seeking macho men with a ‘particular set of skills’.

His films, the Taken series and various lookalikes on planes, trains and automobiles, have at their heart a man putting things right with a bit of the old ultra violence. Clearly it’s a fantasy that many men buy into, if the box office receipts are to be believed.

At it’s heart, the male revenge movie genre is flawed thinking. The answer to male violence is not more male violence.

However, I suspect that the racial aspect of Neeson’s story will dominate the news cycle.

His admission that for a week or more he wallowed in race profiling in the vain hope of meting out vengeance on a random person for the sins of another is going to be the obvious headline.

His career may suffer as a result, and maybe it should.

However, the wider point Neeson makes is important.

There is something primal in male psyches that makes the irrational acceptable in the moment.

This is Neeson’s argument. Men, even famous men, are capable of self absorbed, ego driven violent fantasies. And many, many times, the fantasy becomes the reality.

It’s a shame that his revelation will make the headlines for the sensational race aspect, not the fundamental truth Liam Neeson was trying to bring to light.

And that truth is that violence is inherently a male problem.

An irrational, primal problem.

UPDATE: Liam Neeson on Good Morning America expanding on the incident:

119 comments on “Liam Neeson Under the Cosh ”

Comments are now closed

Gosman 1

5 February 2019 at 10:16 am

Why should his career suffer when he admitted that his actions were wrong and the feelings behind them were wrong? This seems to be a case where we should commend a personality for speaking up about a dark element of their past.
- infused 1.1
  
  6 February 2019 at 6:48 pm
  
  Because in this pc gone made, woke, snowfake, rape culture climate we currently live in, everyones out for blood.
  
  It’s fucking ridiculous.
- D'Esterre 1.2
  
  7 February 2019 at 12:10 pm
  
  Gosman: “….when he admitted that his actions were wrong…”
  
  Well, in fairness to him, he didn’t actually do anything exceptionable in the end. Man carries weapon, goes looking for trouble: well, hold the bus…. He wouldn’t be the first, won’t be the last, I’m sure of that! And trouble didn’t find him; luckily for him, doubtless.
  
  It seems to me he’d have been better to have kept shtum about this whole episode. Though a member of this household thinks that he may have done this purposely. He wants to scupper his Hollywood career, on account of he’s tired of all those crappy revenge movies it foists on him. It’s a point of view…. And it’s long years since “The Mission”, which wasn’t at all crappy.
Gabby 2

5 February 2019 at 10:30 am

Are mothers more likely to treat their sons violently than their daughters puty?
- greywarshark 2.1
  
  5 February 2019 at 1:52 pm
  
  Really trying to make females out to be superior to men when it comes to violence is counterproductive. I think men are more violent but having a league table is not what we want to get out of a discussion. It is looking at controlling the violent
  tendency, the self-righteous ‘They asked for it’ and ‘I’ll show them’ coursing through someone’s mind and body – a red rage.
  - pingau 2.1.1
    
    5 February 2019 at 5:28 pm
    
    greywarshark … just reacting here – any statement that refers to “females” and “men” is a big red flag to me on attitudes to males and women.
    - Brigid 2.1.1.1
      
      5 February 2019 at 5:35 pm
      
      Indeed
    - pingau 2.1.1.2
      
      5 February 2019 at 5:42 pm
      
      greywarshark … agree with your point though.
      - greywarshark 2.1.1.2.1
        
        5 February 2019 at 8:00 pm
        
        Yes its hard not to be sensitive about gender matters and I try not to let it be too exposed mostly but sometimes it is too far. In my life I have known people with a male family member that has murdered, or been murdered through ownership and control attitudes to women they were involved with or friends with. An elderly aunt was raped. It’s six degrees of separation.
      - Chris 2.1.1.2.2
        
        5 February 2019 at 10:29 pm
        
        The feminists in the 1970s who argued that mean should be farmed had a point.
greywarshark 3

5 February 2019 at 10:30 am

There is a shared problem of tendency to violence between the genders. That is the making of bad, sudden, not-thought-through decisions that cast aside previous settlements that reduce tensions between people, neighbourhoods, countries. We have seen this in Ireland fighting the British. The tensions increase and violent events arise, then tensions increase exponentially, controls become hard then callous, and up go the never-forgotten violent behaviours.

Brexit is almost certain to be a move of aiding and abetting violence again in Ireland. The ineffective, irresponsible Conservative government of the UK and their figurehead Theresa May are deliberately sticking to a collision course of breakdown in orderly civil life which will lead to stress and soon to violence. The effect on Ireland’s political and civil stability will be great. And both genders are involved at the coalface, which gets dirty. And politicians of both genders are even dirtier in encouraging retrograde political exercises as in this withdrawal from the EU.

It may be possible to trace outbreaks of violence, individual and societally endemic, to bad leadership over society’s culture which women have had an unwitting and unrealised role in sustaining. Stopping parents from smacking children is an outward symbolic decision but does not prevent the thinking and role-modelling of people in society that carries the ‘violence virus’ on through the generations. Anger and violence are inherent in our natures, as TRP says they are ‘primal’; it is how we express them that is the defining factor of the level of civilised behaviour and thought control that we have achieved.
francesca 4

5 February 2019 at 10:44 am

I have to say I think violence is a human problem
Nobody gets off the hook
Female fantasy revenge violence is also celebrated in Hollywood by Uma Thurmans character in Kill Bill
And innate male violence is deliberately cultivated and rewarded by every country’s military, exploiting young males to a large extent to become cannon fodder in the service of commercial opportunity
We women , if we truly deplore male violence should be campaigning to banish war.
- D'Esterre 4.1
  
  7 February 2019 at 9:58 am
  
  Francesca: “I have to say I think violence is a human problem”
  
  I agree; and evolutionary biology backs up that view. Selection pressures apply equally to males and females; we are much more alike than different. Sexual dimorphism means that women are in general smaller and weaker, and therefore less able to use physical violence to injure men. But it doesn’t at all follow that some women don’t use physical violence against men.
  
  Testosterone levels certainly are a marker of difference between males and females. But females also have testosterone: just generally at lower levels than men. Except possibly intersex individuals.
  
  TRP says the following: “And that truth is that violence is inherently a male problem.”
  
  For reasons adduced above, that cannot be right; and court reports make this point almost every day. Some people argue that male violence is a primal problem, whereas women are enculturated to be less violent. That cannot be right, either; if females are subject to cultural pressures, so are males. And vice versa: if males aren’t subject to cultural pressures, neither are females.
  
  I recommend Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s book “The Woman that Never Evolved”. In that book, she explored some of these issues in relation to females. It was published in the late 1990s by Harvard University Press.
Siobhan 5

5 February 2019 at 11:17 am

I actually can’t recall a male on male fight in the school yard, the street or a bar, that wasn’t accompanied by at least one female screeching at the top of her lungs, in full blown blood lust.. “Get Him!!! Get Him!!Effing Get Him.’
- greywarshark 5.1
  
  5 February 2019 at 11:31 am
  
  Siobhan
  I remember one example of a very pretty young woman who seemed to have the males round her in thrall and she would be on the sidelines watching them demonstrating their raw maleness to her in violent incidents.
- Rapunzel 5.2
  
  5 February 2019 at 8:11 pm
  
  I don’t recall school brawls at all – but then I also do not recall anything other than the rare case of illiteracy, just some kids who liked to read more than others, I do recall mid ’70s Bell Block Hotel with the great NZ singer Mark Williams and band and grabbing all I could of the back of my newly acquired husband’s clothing from behind and sitting on the floor to dissuade him that joining is a general fracas was a wise thing to do. Likewise my brave sister-in-law sorting out some louts who started up on the streets of Tauranga, Some things may have changed but generally I have only known women who have sought to keep the peace unless the mentality was not up to understanding how commonsense that is. Whether you like it or not I have known men of all walks to resort to some sort of macho bravado when the mood took them.
  - Descendant Of Smith 5.2.1
    
    6 February 2019 at 11:39 am
    
    Bell Block Hotel where I got (glass) jugged in the head by some wanky protester in 81 cause I had my club rugby jersey on. Apparently I was on the wrong side.
    
    It’s the side thing that is kind of the point. Violence is a tribal and a learned behaviour evident in both men and women.
    
    Gang culture in New Zealand is one area where this is both highly experienced and deliberately taught. Judith Collins concept of doubling down is an equally deliberate and horrible manifestation of violence. The division of the public through labelling into bludgers and deserving is simply another form of encouragement for such violence. Us and them.
    
    Liam Neeson is clearly making the point that in that strong culture of tribalism, of division into us and them, that it’s all so easy to slip into that way of thinking. That violence and revenge becomes normalised.
    
    A young family member, not yet in his teens, was killed through a senseless stupid act. I was horrified to find some of his family members imbued in New Zealand’s gang culture, talking about killing the 12 year old responsible. Sometimes you wonder if our society is completely fucked.
    
    I and the public know
    What all schoolchildren learn,
    Those to whom evil is done
    Do evil in return.
    
    September 1, 1939
    W. H. Auden
    - Rapunzel 5.2.1.1
      
      6 February 2019 at 2:43 pm
      
      Make no mistake – I have two grandsons one ten and one 16 and I have very real concerns – fears of “letting them out won’t do a thing – that they could as part of their fairly normal activities end up in the “wrong place at the wrong time”.
      I have had daughters and have granddaughters too, while having concerns for them also they do not in all likelihood have the same finality as young men face especially at a time when they least understand the “dangers”.
      The fact I believe is that males more often end up on “sides” as you mention, my comment was that I do not believe females are in normal circumstances as prone as males are to engage either in a “bit of biffo” or worse.
marty mars 6

5 February 2019 at 11:27 am

It is racism. Would he have gone out hunting for a white person would he fuck. What color was the perp? Wtf. All the male revenge stuff is a red herring imo.
- Gosman 6.1
  
  5 February 2019 at 1:34 pm
  
  I think that is one of the points he is making. I don’t think he’s trying to say his actions weren’t in any way defendable.
  - marty mars 6.1.1
    
    5 February 2019 at 1:37 pm
    
    Sabine below at 7 answers your point
- Descendant Of Smith 6.2
  
  6 February 2019 at 12:25 pm
  
  Clearly racist when he second question out of his mouth was What colour were they?
  
  It’s an interesting question though as to whether he would have if it was a white person.
  
  I suspect if the victim said it was a Protestant he might have gone looking for a Protestant. Protestant was clearly a learned notion that they were the other tribe.
  
  What if she said they had red hair? Are our tribal notions of red heads as being different to us sufficiently ingrained that you might seek revenge against one? What about a homeless person, a beneficiary, a businessman in a suit or an immigrant?
  
  Spend some time this Waitangi Day celebrating with people who are clearly not you. It’s the best thing we can do.
Sabine 7

5 February 2019 at 11:53 am

so the answer for him was to stalk some men innocent of any crime, so that they would ‘start’ something that would allow him to ‘kill’ them.

that is white male privilege in action and personified.

There is no revenge in wanting to kill someone simply because they are of the same race the perpetrator is. that is just an excuse to go out and hunt for a kill.

Idiot should have kept his mouth shut.
- Gosman 7.1
  
  5 February 2019 at 1:42 pm
  
  Why? He’s stating his actions and thinking were wrong. Why should he not admit he was wrong?
- bwaghorn 7.2
  
  5 February 2019 at 5:42 pm
  
  So no white man was ever beaten or killed by a black man just because he was white ??
  Get off ya high horse.
  - Sabine 7.2.1
    
    5 February 2019 at 8:28 pm
    
    https://www.google.com/search?q=white+man+beaten+to+death+by+a+black+man+because+he+was+white&oq=white+man+beaten+to+death+by+a+black+man+because+he+was+white&aqs=chrome..69i57.12792j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
    
    my simple google search brought up nothing, but then it might be US centric return of links – who btw all talk about white people randomly killing black people – and you might have a better chance of finding a racist killing by a black person in South Africa.
    
    In saying that at cursory glance is something that is not on the top of the news google throws at me.
    
    but please feel free to show me the black people that are known to stalking white people with the intent to kill said white people and getting away with it.
    
    As btw, this white man Liam Neeson just admitted he did stalk with intend to murder and essentially either just logic’ed himself out a really dumb idea or chickened out because he figured that he was not cut for prison. Either way he took the right decision for that innocent person of color and himself.
    
    and please, leave my horse out of it.
  - marty mars 7.2.2
    
    5 February 2019 at 8:40 pm
    
    jeez you have no idea at all – embarrassed for ya waghorn
- infused 7.3
  
  6 February 2019 at 6:50 pm
  
  lol white privilege… what the fuck are you guys smoking these days? He said he would have ‘killed’ anyone, and his ass would have been locked up for it.
McFlock 8

5 February 2019 at 1:09 pm

Lots to think about, there.
Siobhan 9

5 February 2019 at 1:10 pm

Context.

Liam Neeson has done some work for Amnesty International, back in 2015, fronting a pro choice (abortion) ‘Repeal The Eighth’ campaign. I suspect he is therefore quite supportive of Amnesty campaigns, and they have/are trying to draw attention to the chronic racism problem in Northern Ireland.

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/northern-ireland-levels-racism-should-shock-us-our-core-says-amnesty
Sanctuary 10

5 February 2019 at 1:12 pm

Apparently this all happened “many years ago” to a woman “he knew well”.

I didn’t come down in the last shower and to me that looks like a load of unverified bullshit from someone with a movie to sell.
- McFlock 10.1
  
  5 February 2019 at 1:21 pm
  
  What, you want her name and address so you can ask her if it really happened?
  
  As publicity stunts go, this one’s a bit risky, no? Just as likely to end up in a mass boycott?
  - Sanctuary 10.1.1
    
    5 February 2019 at 2:24 pm
    
    “…What, you want her name and address so you can ask her if it really happened..?”
    
    Well thats the point, innit? Who is base enough to go prying and how would they find out anyway? So the whole thing is completely on his word.
    
    And I am just not of a disposition to take anything like that at face value, especially when an obvious bit of commercial self interest is involved.
    - McFlock 10.1.1.1
      
      5 February 2019 at 2:43 pm
      
      It sure doesn’t paint him in a good light. I hope he got a PR bonus if it was made up.
      - Sanctuary 10.1.1.1.1
        
        5 February 2019 at 2:49 pm
        
        Might not be totally made up, he might have known someone once who was raped – it is unfortunately a common crime. He may have entertained thoughts of revenge even.
        
        So he might have an experience on which he can construct an elaborate gilding of the lily for a dark confession that just so happens to coincide with his new movie release…
        
        Call me a cynic, but there you have it – follow the money, as they say.
        
        McFlock 10.1.1.1.1.1
        
        5 February 2019 at 3:51 pm
        
        First there has to be money in it to follow. That could go either way, for a start.
Drowsy M. Kram 11

5 February 2019 at 1:52 pm

Sixty-six year-old Liam Neeson (the voice of Aslan) “rose to prominence when he starred in the title role in Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning film Schindler’s List (1993).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Neeson

The recent self-disclosure of his (historical) racist thoughts and actions, on learning that someone close to him had been raped, seems strange and unnecessary. Maybe he felt that good could come of the disclosure, maybe it was a bizzarre act of self-promotion, maybe a bit of both, or something else entirely.

Fortunately, as far as we know no direct harm resulted from Neeson’s (re)actions then – hope no harm comes from his decision to reveal this information now, because (as we know) revealing past wrong-doings (however inconsequential) does not always play well.

Neeson appears to be an accomplished and well-rounded (see Siobhan’s comment @9) and accomplished individual, albeit not to everyone’s taste.
- McFlock 11.1
  
  5 February 2019 at 3:46 pm
  
  This latest movie seems to be more of a “Death Wish”-style revenge flick than most of his previous films. It’s possible that preparing for the role made him reflect on his past actions.
  
  It does seem to come from a place of genuine self-reflection and regret, and it’s also a capsule of a whole bunch of ills in our civilisation: racism, toxic masculinity, the effects of war upon people surrounded by it.
  
  Hmm.
vto 12

5 February 2019 at 2:50 pm

TRP, where in that interview is the evidence for your conclusion that this shows that violence is a male thing and not a female thing?
- te reo putake 12.1
  
  5 February 2019 at 2:57 pm
  
  Um, pretty much every word of the interview, VTO. Plus, y’know, life.
  - Gosman 12.1.1
    
    5 February 2019 at 3:12 pm
    
    Just to clarify – A single male expressing regret about how he reacted to a traumatic experience a friend or family member suffered through decades ago is somehow indicative to you that violence is a male not female thing. Is that correct?
    - te reo putake 12.1.1.1
      
      5 February 2019 at 3:15 pm
      
      It fits the pattern, yes.
      - Shadrach 12.1.1.1.1
        
        5 February 2019 at 3:48 pm
        
        In the context of Gosman’s question, what pattern?
        
        https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/sep/05/men-victims-domestic-violence
        
        vto 12.1.1.1.1.1
        
        5 February 2019 at 4:06 pm
        
        Those stats don’t surprise .. And that is for physical violence only. It would be interesting to see what the stats said if verbal violence, psychological violence, social violence, and any other non-physical violences were included.
        
        I don’t think men and women are too different – both rise to anger and rage as easily, both do dumb things, both say bad shit, both can be mean as…
        
        I think a greater issue is our punitive culture relative to other worldly less punitive cultures
        
        2c
        
        te reo putake 12.1.1.1.1.2
        
        5 February 2019 at 4:19 pm
        
        The pattern of male violence.
        
        Shadrach …
        
        6 February 2019 at 12:45 am
        
        You didn’t answer the question. I asked about the context of Goodman’s question, which essentially challenged you to clarify that you assert “that violence is a male not female thing.” As the stats I quoted clearly show violence IS also a female thing, do you agree there is a pattern of female violence?
        
        Lucy …
        
        6 February 2019 at 10:32 am
        
        Sigh didn’t think it would be long before the women are violent too came out. The main problem with the story for me is that Liam had a friend who had been raped, and what did he do – not comfort her, not learn about how to help a rape victim he went out to try and beat someone up. Way to go for empathy and support! What we really want our men to do we go through the most horrific thing and they are totally absent.
        
        Shadrach …
        
        6 February 2019 at 10:39 am
        
        How do you know he didn’t do empathy as well? And how do you know what all women want from ‘their’ men in that situation?
        
        arkie …
        
        6 February 2019 at 10:41 am
        
        edit: shadrach comment was edited after i replied.
        
        Lucy …
        
        6 February 2019 at 1:47 pm
        
        Because I like at least 30% of women have been in the situation when I needed something so was talking from my experience. He didn’t do empathy because rage and empathy tend not to co exist in humans. Anger is mostly a very consuming emotion so angry people tend to be angry 24 hours a day. Most humans when they are hurt by someone want soft words and sympathy and a person who will let THEM rage if they need to. But they need someone who will be there for them not someone who is out walking the streets hunting for an object of anger.
        
        Shadrach …
        
        6 February 2019 at 6:30 pm
        
        So you are assuming he didn’t do empathy, but actually you have no idea. Your experience is your experience. It does not qualify you to speak for all women.
        
        te reo putake …
        
        6 February 2019 at 10:58 am
        
        Hi, Lucy. Thanks for that comment. It exposes one of the difficulties about Neeson’s statement, which is that it was only a few brief sentences.
        
        He didn’t go into detail about other aspects of his response, which I truly hope involved being empathetic and supportive to the victim.
        
        I suspect we’ll get a fuller explanation from Neesom in time and I see that he was on TV overnight talking about it. If I can find video of that interview I’ll add it to the post.
        
        In the meantime, the NY premiere of the film he was promoting has just been cancelled, so I think this matter has a long way to run yet.
        
        veutoviper …
        
        6 February 2019 at 11:30 am
        
        If you haven’t found links already to Neeson’s interview here are some:
        
        Good Morning America – article and video via The Guardian six hours ago
        
        https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/liam-neeson-clarifies-controversial-revenge-remarks-im-racist-60849164
        
        The Independent – 1 day ago Article and video
        
        https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/liam-neeson-interview-rape-race-black-man-revenge-taken-cold-pursuit-a8760896.html
        
        And the lastest from The Independent about 15 mins ago – Cold Pursuit film premier cancelled amid racist row
        
        https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/liam-neeson-cold-pursuit-film-premiere-black-bastard-cosh-weapon-racist-comments-rape-a8764956.html
        
        te reo putake []
        
        6 February 2019 at 11:39 am
        
        Thanks, vv! I’ve added the GMA clip to the post. It occurs to me that the cancelling of the premiere might be a publicity stunt (not something Neeson would necessarily be in on, of course). The film gets released on Friday in the States, in 2500 cinemas. That’s the usual number of screens for a blockbuster, so the studio is still backing it all the way.
        
        veutoviper …
        
        6 February 2019 at 11:54 am
        
        You’re welcome. Agree re the cancelling of the premiere. As you say, still being released to hugh number of cinemas – and a premiere would probably distract from the movie itself at this point.
        
        Chris T …
        
        6 February 2019 at 6:36 pm
        
        “The main problem with the story for me is that Liam had a friend who had been raped, and what did he do – not comfort her,”
        
        How exactly do you know he didn’t?
        
        What we have is a snapshot of 40 years ago.
        
        We don’t know what else he did, or even what the whole conversation to do with the perpetrator was other than a couple of questions of many he may have asked that lead to his ugly pointless wandering around.
        
        te reo putake …
        
        6 February 2019 at 10:50 am
        
        Shadrach. No, I do not believe there is a pattern of female violence. I do believe there is occasional random violence from a minority of women. The vast majority of violence in our society is from men. That’s the problem and no amount of weasely quibbling or whataboutism will change that.
        
        Shadrach …
        
        6 February 2019 at 6:32 pm
        
        The majority of violence is from men. But the ‘vast majority’? Did you not read the Guardian piece?
        
        Shadrach …
        
        6 February 2019 at 6:47 pm
        
        In 2015/16, 13.6% of men in England and Wales stated they had been victims of domestic abuse. This is the equivalent of 2.2 million victims. For every three victims, two will be female and one will be male.
        1 in 6 men suffer domestic abuse in their lifetime. (Compared to 1 in 4 women.)
        Between 2004/5 and 2015/6, there was a sevenfold increase in the number of women convicted of perpetrating domestic abuse.*
        
        https://www.hertsdomesticabusehelpline.org/blogspot-domestic-abuse/domestic-violence-against-men
        
        What was that about Weasley quibbling? What was that about ‘ocassional random violence’?
        
        infused …
        
        6 February 2019 at 6:58 pm
        
        don’t let the facts get in the way of this white ‘male privilege’ bullshit that’s so popular today.
SPC 13

5 February 2019 at 3:37 pm

That the person who did the wrong was black, rather than Moslem, a man, (if the vigilante was a woman) or gay, means that the story will be blacks being offended by his racism – when this is a really is a story about the anecdotal/one incident informing opinion about an entire group of people.

Thus how easily a minority, particularly a new minority, gets a reputation based on the deeds of the few – and dissemination of reports about this.

In Europe and Trump’s USA this has lead to a resurgence of nationalism in opposition to immigration, and also to government being ultra PC in management of crime reporting about immigrant groups. Basically where the people and government lose trust in each other.
gsays 14

5 February 2019 at 4:21 pm

10 out if 10 for honesty from Nesson.

As for for violence being a male thing, I disagree.
Violenceice takes lots of forms, generally in the way that the perpetrator feels most capable.
Physical, mental emotional, financial…

A story from a few Jamboree ago.
The adult leadership group were asked if there could be a female only patrol for the camp. We said yes.
For the first three days they were sensational, but cracks were forming.
Fourth day during a raft building exercise, the group broke down.
They limped through the rest of the jamboree.

At a debrief a month later with our scout group youth, one lass made the observation “When a girl hurts you, you stay hurt.”

None of this is to deny the shocking damage that men do, it is a societal issue and we can all pull out socks up.
Tiger Mountain 15

5 February 2019 at 4:29 pm

Mr Neeson has dropped himself well in it here, on the face of it…but am guessing that those outraged by his claim about revenge fantasies on black men might not be regular customers of his bone crunching style films, and those that lap them up like the proverbial–will be going “on-yer Liam!”–jingle tills again…

but life is not that simple, and Neeson seems to have other interests, historical knowledge, and good intents, apart from pulverising people on screen, but it is disappointing that he has publicised this as while not a regular Neeson watcher, I was hoping for “The Grey 2”!
Sabine 16

5 February 2019 at 4:55 pm

it might just be a PR Stunt it might be self reflection, it might even be an event that had him honestly going, hola dude wtf are you doing.

but,

suppose he would have found a victim for his revenge fantasy
suppose he would have been able to incite this victim into a fight with him
suppose the police – irish – white – male – (i am guessing at the time it would have been a predominantly white, irish, male force) were called to an incident of two male fighting – one white one black/brown,
who would have been the one to pay the full bill? who would have gone to prison for a longer term, who would have been roughed up more by the coppers, and who would have received more compassion? the white lad wanting to revenge the rape of a friend, or the brown fullah who was at the wrong place at the wrong time?

Who would end up paying the full bill of Liam Neeson revenge fantasies?

So, is he really sorry? Did he really understand just how toxic he was in his youth? Just how much he could have fucked up an innocent mans life while he would have had good chances to walk a way unharmed? Are his movies an extension to himself or just a nice repetition that pays him millions of dollars and a comfortable live? Who knows,

but i know
that by at least acknowledging that after a week some part of his brain started to work again (as per his own admission) and he stopped what he was doing. And that was the day he Liam Neeson stopped being a life and death threat to the colored male population of his hometown.

As for those that want to again say both sides do it? Please, bring up a story where a white women said that she was stalking some brown dudes to revenge a friend that had been raped. And then please bring up the stories of the white men that have been raped – as Sanctuary so nonchalantly states a ‘common ‘ crime, by some random women. – And i don’t say that women can’t sexually abuse men or women, they can. And still i would guess that rape of women and of men is more often then not the crime committed by a man.

And if you can’t do that, why not just realize that this story is a story about male violence by an actor who literally makes million of dollars being a white male violent dude for the pleasure of many many movie goers – and this is a guess of mine – the majority being young male. Cause exploding cars, and shooting big guns, and getting to save the damsel in the end.

And then just to go back to the both siderism, show me the movie/s where one women can play that role again and again and again irrespective of her age. 🙂 I mean we had Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, Liam Neesom, Tom Cruise (mission accomplished), the Bourke dude , etc etc etc etc. Hundreds of times the same movie the same script the same everything other then the female lead who seems to stay always just around 25. 🙂

So while all humans are capable of violence it is still something that is more accepted when men do it then women, more women die at the hand of men then men, more men die at the hand of other men then women, an awful lot of women die at the hand of an intimate partner or ex, and all of that is true.

As for the boyscout story…….when men hurt you it hurts you for a life time. Ask any women who was raped.
- McFlock 16.1
  
  5 February 2019 at 5:15 pm
  
  Yeah can’t disagree with any of that.
  
  Jodie Foster’s done a vengeance-vigilante flick, and Jolie did a female James Bond style role, but those movies are few and far between compared to the regular release of male shoot ’em ups every week or two.
  
  And yeah, Neeson could have murdered someone, he wanted to.
  
  So how do we acknowledge and treat people who were in that dark place and then acknowledge and reject that perspective, regardless of whether they actually committed a major crime? And stop others going into that zone?
  - Sabine 16.1.1
    
    5 February 2019 at 6:59 pm
    
    The first thing i would ask,
    
    did you go WTF becuase you were afraid of going to prison, or did you go WTF because you realised you were about to kill someone who has not raped anyone? Someone who would be dealt with harsher by the police then he himself? the one is an act of self preservation, the other is an act of understanding that i am creating trouble
    
    My step father raped me. He also beat my brother to pulp at any given time. he was and still is an abusive fuck today.
    
    Both my brother and i thought about killing this man, many many times, my brother almost did. One day he – all of his 2.05 m and 120 kg lost it and he started beating this man and only because others pulled them away did he not kill him.
    the next day he moved far away. for the same reason i ran away. He – this man who hurt us – and non of us will ever forget the hurt – is not worthy the sacrifice of our life and years in prison. Vengeance would not make us whole again, would not bring back the ones we were before the abuse started, would not take away the fear, the loathing, the self loathing, the hate, the self hate, the anger.
    
    And most people don’t ever live out their ‘vengeance’ dreams, so to me there is more to this then just ‘ oh a friend got raped, so i wanted to kill men like him’, i would say he was full of anger – and maybe this came from the troubles – and hate even, and really did not think.
    
    how to deal with him? Tell him to retire. No more vengeance movies for you. No more making money of misery, as all these movies are just about misery. And they glorify misery. Because at the end of the day, non of these guys full of vengenace find happiness. How could you? you just shot up criminals and non criminals alike (ever wondered how many bystander die in these good guy gets bad guy movies), and with every dead body your soul dies a wee bit too. So don’t make these movies anymore, and start teaching about toxic masculinity and how these type of movies are full of shit.
    - Drowsy M. Kram 16.1.1.1
      
      5 February 2019 at 8:22 pm
      
      Didn’t realise that ‘Cold Pursuit’ is a remake of the 2014 Norwegian movie ‘In Order of Disappearance’, which screened in the 2014 NZ International Film Festival – not a bad movie, for all the splatter.
      
      Would Neeson still be allowed to do the occassional ‘Schindler’s List’-type flick? Perhaps that’s simply beyond the man now.
      
      Within the next five years, age may take him out of contention for most action/violence movie roles. Then he can go back to voice work for children’s movies – Lego, Narnia, et al, and narrating doco films, e.g. The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition (2000).
      
      I knew someone who thought that Dame Edna Everidge was a real person. Can Neeson really be as one-dimensional as some of his acting roles, and this most recent reveal, might suggest, Consider, for example, ‘Love Thy Nature’ (2016), or indeed ‘Love Actually’ (2003).
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Neeson_filmography
      - Sabine 16.1.1.1.1
        
        5 February 2019 at 8:49 pm
        
        when i say retire it is of that action movie shoot them all to smithereens type thing he does now. I mean these movies bank him hard cash, so i can see the attraction. But they are just stupid in the end, and they got boring in the 70 with the Charles Bronsons Death Wish series.
        
        He is now rich enough, savy and worldy enough to do what he wants, and he can certainly do better then kill em all movies. My 2 cents.
        
        Drowsy M. Kram 16.1.1.1.1.1
        
        5 February 2019 at 9:09 pm
        
        Fair enough – ‘in-your-face’ movie and TV violence has escalated in intensity and volume. That trend isn’t good but will continue regardless of (the type-cast) Neeson’s presence/absence in revenge/vengence films – more’s the pity.
    - McFlock 16.1.1.2
      
      5 February 2019 at 9:00 pm
      
      It sounds a lot to me like Neeson had the same realisation you had.
      
      And that, many years later, what he had wanted to do at one time still gives him pause for reflection.
      - Sabine 16.1.1.2.1
        
        5 February 2019 at 9:53 pm
        
        i think it is a normal reaction wanting to extract vengeance. You hurt me i want to hurt you back.
        
        the difference is that i or my brother did not want to kill some man like him, but him.
        And this is where i hope he will speak out on/ reflect on was his need to extract vengeance despite not knowing who the perpetrator was and simply anyone ‘like him’ i.e. a man of color would do. I am glad he realized that he was about to fuck his live up, but more so that of an innocent bystander.
        
        McFlock 16.1.1.2.1.1
        
        5 February 2019 at 11:26 pm
        
        Who do we attack when we don’t know who to attack? Or when we can’t attack that person?
        
        I hope he opens up more about it in a more appropriate venue. Whether his wtf moment about his future, his accidental victim-to-be, or a bigger moment of clarity about and from his youth in NI. How far his personal growth went from that point. What he’d say to that young man going out of the house “fine”, with a cosh and a secret plan. Of course she knew he wasn’t fine. That’s why she asked. But she probably wasn’t “fine” either, no matter how well she handled it for him.
        
        And I hope he addresses the racism of his impulse, as well.
        
        Sabine …
        
        6 February 2019 at 8:06 am
        
        We don’t attack people just because we are angry. If we did, ask yourself how our society would look like. Oh i can’t kill the person who stole my car, you there in the green jumper you will do.
        And you know why we don’t murder just willy nilly? Because most of us don’t actually like murder, and because society frowns up on it.
        
        so really the point is would he have done the same if the person was white? Or was it easier because his victim was gonna be of color. And was the impulse racist or was it his racism that brought out the impulses. I would assume at the time it was the latte. do i believe he would do the same today, i hope not. S
        
        McFlock …
        
        6 February 2019 at 9:06 pm
        
        Yeah, we do. Most of the massacres in the world have happened because of exactly that. We shouldn’t, but we do.
        
        People do the same because of colour, religion, family name, whatever. It is a common impulse. I’m interested in what helped him overcome that impulse before he actually hurt anyone.
        
        Sabine …
        
        6 February 2019 at 9:32 pm
        
        I guess someone told him he would be going to prison for murder – premeditated murder.
        If this has happened since the 90.s he would have been living in the US. He is living in NY currently.
        Or someone told him that he had a fair chance ending up dead himself.
        
        McFlock …
        
        6 February 2019 at 10:33 pm
        
        The added video at the end of the post is interesting – he seems to talk about it more as just coming back down to earth and looking at what he was doing, rather than being deterred by punishment.
Stuart Munro 17

5 February 2019 at 4:56 pm

It might do to be a little more understanding of the male role. Traditionally, violence is part of it, which is why so many of our ancestors marched off to imperial wars. Men might think that’s because, being generally larger and stronger, they represent the greater force. But the origins of the tradition are more probably that a society can survive the loss of males much more readily than breeding females. Add in the sustained popularity of revenge dramas from Titus Andronicus to Game of Thrones, and there is no dark patriarchal conspiracy here. Society exploits everyone without exception.
bwaghorn 18

5 February 2019 at 5:48 pm

But he didn’t did he . If he really wanted to kill he would have found someone to kill . Get a grip .
- marty mars 18.1
  
  5 February 2019 at 5:52 pm
  
  Dumb luck – probably would have got killed himself and some poor black dude would be in court and all the neeson fans barking for punishment.
WeTheBleeple 19

5 February 2019 at 6:09 pm

Another celebrity tosser so desperate for attention and ratings he ‘confesses’ ‘his dark side’ to seem ‘legit’ for his ridiculous revenge fantasy franchise.

Building an image. And you wrote an article for the twat.
- Chris T 19.1
  
  5 February 2019 at 6:39 pm
  
  That is one way to look at it.
  
  I’d argue a pretty stupid one given he never mentioned it in his many other revenge movie promos, or in his entire 43 year career, but it is one way to look at it.
  
  Oh, and there isn’t a new Taken sequel out. It is a different movie
  - McFlock 19.1.1
    
    5 February 2019 at 7:19 pm
    
    And it actually seems substantially different from his other shoot ’em ups/violent flicks, which weren’t really revenge movies. Women as macguffins to repossess, yeah, but not really an actual “regular joe out for revenge because they hurt a loved one” movie.
Chris T 20

5 February 2019 at 6:40 pm

If Mark Wahlberg can still get work after what he actually did, rather than thought one week when young, I am pretty sure Neeson career ain’t over.
WeTheBleeple 21

5 February 2019 at 7:31 pm

Met my fair share of celebrities. For many, it doesn’t matter what you’re saying about them, as long as the topic is them. This is contrived, imo, whether based in fact or not.
- Chris T 21.1
  
  5 February 2019 at 8:20 pm
  
  Like a bigger version of Jami Lee Ross’s “apologies”?
marty mars 22

5 February 2019 at 10:47 pm

neeson’s not a good guy, he’s a bloody actor.

“Neeson said the alleged rape took place a long time ago and he found out about it when he came back from a trip abroad. The actor went on to use racially offensive language about the attacker.

He said: “She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way.

“But my immediate reaction was… I asked, did she know who it was? No. What colour were they? She said it was a black person. ”

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47117177

a bloody racist actor.
- Gosman 22.1
  
  6 February 2019 at 12:28 am
  
  He was a racist (which he basically acknowledges). Do you not think people who were racist can redeem themselves?
  - marty mars 22.1.1
    
    6 February 2019 at 7:32 am
    
    You are so one dimensional you dot.
    - Gosman 22.1.1.1
      
      6 February 2019 at 11:04 am
      
      That is not an answer to my question about former racists. In fact Liam Neeson has come out to state explicitly he wanted to start a discussion about racist thinking. So I ask again, do you not think people who were racist in the past can change?
      - marty mars 22.1.1.1.1
        
        6 February 2019 at 11:21 am
        
        What’s your definition of racist?
        
        Chris T 22.1.1.1.1.1
        
        6 February 2019 at 12:47 pm
        
        You seem to be going out of your way to avoid answering a simple question tbf
        
        marty mars …
        
        6 February 2019 at 1:06 pm
        
        I don’t think it’s a simple question.
        
        Gosman 22.1.1.1.1.2
        
        6 February 2019 at 2:57 pm
        
        Then explain why it isn’t a simple question rather than avoiding putting forward your opinion.
        
        marty mars …
        
        6 February 2019 at 4:38 pm
        
        What’s your definition of racist?
        
        Chris T …
        
        6 February 2019 at 5:07 pm
        
        Mine is thinking one race is lesser in multiple ways to another.
        
        Now answer the question
        
        marty mars …
        
        6 February 2019 at 6:51 pm
        
        What is your meaning and understanding of redemption in this situation?
        
        marty mars …
        
        6 February 2019 at 6:54 pm
        
        Race is an outmoded concept, do you mean ethnicity?
        
        This situation seems to be about skin colour which isn’t about ethnicity, or is it – what is your answer to that curly one?
        
        Chris T …
        
        6 February 2019 at 10:17 pm
        
        Well nothing till you answer the other question
ropata 23

5 February 2019 at 11:18 pm

So we are outraged that Liam Neeson didn’t assault anyone right? But he had bad thoughts. Too bad about his friend that was raped.

Just a clickbait POS article trying to stir up a moral panic.
- marty mars 23.1
  
  6 February 2019 at 7:33 am
  
  We went around with a weapon – looking for an innocent black man to kill. If that’s alright with you then that says a lot.
- bwaghorn 23.2
  
  6 February 2019 at 8:04 am
  
  O come on no person of color has ever thought of harming or killing a white person ever . !!
  - marty mars 23.2.1
    
    6 February 2019 at 8:10 am
    
    what a scum comment on today of all days – go check your stock cos the top paddock gate is open dick.
    - Gosman 23.2.1.1
      
      6 February 2019 at 11:06 am
      
      You are on form with your childish abuse today Marty.
      - marty mars 23.2.1.1.1
        
        6 February 2019 at 11:27 am
        
        waggy will be cool he knows full well what happens when you poke a ram.
        
        Gabby 23.2.1.1.1.1
        
        6 February 2019 at 11:30 am
        
        Ewe an’t no ram mary.
        
        marty mars …
        
        6 February 2019 at 11:38 am
        
        I am an aries so there!
  - Sabine 23.2.2
    
    6 February 2019 at 1:51 pm
    
    can you please link of a case of an armed black person stalking for over a week an area where he could find a suitable white person to kill and get away with it in Northern Ireland, or England.
    
    Please.
    
    chances are we all jokingly or somewhat more serious thought about killing the person who ate the last slice of cake, cut us of at the lights etc, but generally we don’t arm ourselfs, go out at night to finds someone who would ‘give us a reason, anything really ‘ for a killing.
    - bwaghorn 23.2.2.1
      
      6 February 2019 at 2:35 pm
      
      You I believe are dancing on the head of a pin in your desperate attempt to qualify your over reaction .
      Neeson’s whole point (if you believe hes being honest) is that vengeance blinded his thinking .
      Mm and you just love painting whites males as a great evil when evil can come in any colour or sex .
SHG 24

6 February 2019 at 12:02 am

violence is inherently a male problem.

What a load of rubbish. Women can commit acts of HORRIFIC random violence. Check this one out:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-18/evie-amati-jailed-for-nine-years-over-7-eleven-axe-attack/10725862
- te reo putake 24.1
  
  6 February 2019 at 11:16 am
  
  Yep. Random. As opposed to systemic.
  - Gabby 24.1.1
    
    6 February 2019 at 11:32 am
    
    So?
  - SHG 24.1.2
    
    6 February 2019 at 1:16 pm
    
    According to the CDC women in lesbian relationships are more likely to experience domestic violence than women in hetero relationships.
    
    https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_sofindings.pdf
Pat 25

6 February 2019 at 8:46 am

So some not too bright guy who pretends for a living relates an incident that may or may not have happened and it garners this much angst?….FFS
- Drowsy M. Kram 25.1
  
  6 February 2019 at 2:13 pm
  
  No need to belittle Neeson’s intelligence, profession and honesty to make your point.
  
  “With so many things coming back in style, I can’t wait until morals and intelligence become a trend again.“
Puckish Rogue 26

6 February 2019 at 1:47 pm

So he thought something bad and wanted to do something very bad decades due to extenuating circumstances ago and didn’t and now says hes learnt his lesson

This is a good thing isn’t it?

(Unlike his recent actions movies which are definitely not a good thing at all)
- Gosman 26.1
  
  7 February 2019 at 7:09 am
  
  Apparently not. Apparently thinking about doing something horrendous (but not actually doing it) is in itself a crime and the person who voluntarily admits to such a thing (despite doing so to raise awareness of unconscious racism and stating he is ashamed of what he thought and did at the time) needs to be shunned and shamed.
pingau 27

7 February 2019 at 8:36 am

reply to SHG at 24.1.2 Not sure that is what the report is saying as the report seems to be be based on the lifetime experience of each individual, so the perpetrator may not be the woman’s current partner. Many lesbians have had previous heterosexual relationships.

“Sex of Perpetrator of Intimate
Partner Violence
• Most bisexual and heterosexual
women (89.5% and 98.7%,
respectively) reported having
only male perpetrators of
intimate partner violence.
Two-thirds of lesbian women
(67.4%) reported having only
female perpetrators of intimate
partner violence.
• The majority of bisexual men
(78.5%) and most heterosexual
men (99.5%) reported having
only female perpetrators of
intimate partner violence. Most
gay men (90.7%) reported having
only male perpetrators
of intimate partner violence. “
AB 28

7 February 2019 at 12:16 pm

Who is Liam Neeson and why should I be bothered?
Does he have something to do with fillums?
As someone who loathes celebrity in all its forms, his words are less than nothing to me.
The world’s f*ckwittery is endless enough without his gratuitous contribution to it.
marty mars 29

8 February 2019 at 8:46 am

Funny and accurate

…And I said: “Don’t get uppity with me. You’re stuck on the non-conversation. You’re looking at this from the wrong angle. The meta-conversation, that all the really rational people are having, is about revenge, masculinity, sexual politics and the dark places that exist within us all. It’s really nothing to do with standing outside bars hoping a suitable black murder victim would emerge with the time-worn inquiry: ‘Want some?’ So confident am I,” I told her, “that Liam has started a conversation, that I am going to let him go on your show and talk some more. And he’s booked with Ryan Seacrest after that.”

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2019/feb/07/peek-at-diary-of-liam-neesons-agent

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The Surprising Power of Floating Wind Turbines
Floating offshore wind turbines offer incredible opportunities to capture powerful winds far out at sea. By unlocking this wind energy potential, they could be a key weapon in our arsenal in the fight against climate change. But how developed are these climate fighting clean energy giants? And why do I ...
Skeptical Science
2 days ago

The next Maori challenge
Over the past two or three weeks, a procession of Maori iwi and hapu in a series of little-noticed appearances before two Select Committees have been asking for more say for Maori over resource management decisions along the co-governance lines of Three Waters. Their submissions and appearances run counter ...
PolitikBy Richard Harman
2 days ago

Secret “war-crime” warrants by International Criminal Court is mischief-making
The decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue war crimes arrest warrants for the Russian President and the Russia Children Ombudsman may have been welcomed by the ideologically committed but otherwise seems to have been greeted with widespread cynicism (see Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants ...
Open ParachuteBy Ken
2 days ago

How to answer Drunk Uncle Kevin's Climate Crisis reckons
Let’s say you’re clasping your drink at a wedding, or a 40th, or a King’s Birthday Weekend family reunion and Drunk Uncle Kevin has just got going.He’s in an expansive frame of mind because we’re finally rid of that silly girl. But he wants to ask an honest question about ...
More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
2 days ago

National’s Luxon may be glum about his poll ratings but has he found a winner in promising to rai...
National Party leader Christopher Luxon may be feeling glum about his poll ratings, but he could be tapping into a rich political vein in describing the current state of education as “alarming”. Luxon said educational achievement has been declining, with a recent NCEA pilot exposing just how far it has ...
Point of OrderBy tutere44
2 days ago

Climate Change: More Labour foot-dragging
Yesterday the IPCC released the final part of its Sixth Assessment Report, warning us that we have very little time left in which to act to prevent catastrophic climate change, but pointing out that it is a problem that we can solve, with existing technology, and that anything we do ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 days ago

Te Pāti Māori Are Revolutionaries – Not Reformists.
Way Beyond Reform: Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have no more interest in remaining permanent members of “New Zealand’s” House of Representatives than did Lenin and Trotsky in remaining permanent members of Tsar Nicolas II’s “democratically-elected” Duma. Like the Bolsheviks, Te Pāti Māori is a party of revolutionaries – not reformists.THE CROWN ...
Bowalley Road
2 days ago

When does history become “ancient”, on Tinetti’s watch as Minister of Education – and what o...
Buzz from the Beehive Auckland was wiped off the map, when Education Minister Jan Tinetti delivered her speech of welcome as host of the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers “here in Tāmaki Makaurau”. But – fair to say – a reference was made later in the speech to a ...
Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
2 days ago

Climate Catastrophe, but first rugby.
Morning mate, how you going?Well, I was watching the news last night and they announced this scientific report on Climate Change. But before they got to it they had a story about the new All Blacks coach.Sounds like important news. It’s a bit of a worry really.Yeah, they were talking ...
Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
2 days ago

What the US and European bank rescues mean for us
Always a bailout: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Government would fully guarantee all savers in all smaller US banks if needed. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: No wonder an entire generation of investors are used to ‘buying the dip’ and ‘holding on for dear life’. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
2 days ago

Bryce Edwards: Who will drain Wellington’s lobbying swamp?
Wealthy vested interests have an oversized influence on political decisions in New Zealand. Partly that’s due to their use of corporate lobbyists. Fortunately, the influence lobbyists can have on decisions made by politicians is currently under scrutiny in Guyon Espiner’s in-depth series published by RNZ. Two of Espiner’s research exposés ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
2 days ago

It’s Raining Congestion
Yesterday afternoon it rained and traffic around the region ground to a halt, once again highlighting why it is so important that our city gets on with improving the alternatives to driving. For additional irony, this happened on the same day the IPCC synthesis report landed, putting the focus on ...
Greater AucklandBy Matt L
2 days ago

Checking The Left: The Dreadful Logic Of Fascism.
The Beginning: Anti-Co-Governance agitator, Julian Batchelor, addresses the Dargaville stop of his travelling roadshow across New Zealand . Fascism almost always starts small. Sadly, it doesn’t always stay that way. Especially when the Left helps it to grow.THERE IS A DREADFUL LOGIC to the growth of fascism. To begin with, it ...
Bowalley Road
3 days ago

Good Friends and Terrible Food
Hi,From an incredibly rainy day in Los Angeles, I just wanted to check in. I guess this is the day Trump may or may not end up in cuffs? I’m attempting a somewhat slower, less frenzied week. I’ve had Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record on non-stop, and it’s been a ...
David FarrierBy David Farrier
3 days ago

At a glance – What evidence is there for the hockey stick?
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
3 days ago

Carry right on up there, Corporal Espiner
RNZ has been shining their torch into corners where lobbyists lurk and asking such questions as: Do we like the look of this?and Is this as democratic as it could be?These are most certainly questions worth asking, and every bit as valid as, say:Are we shortchanged democratically by the way ...
More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
3 days ago

This smells
RNZ has continued its look at the role of lobbyists by taking a closer look at the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Andrew Kirton. He used to work for liquor companies, opposing (among other things) a container refund scheme which would have required them to take responsibility for their own ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
3 days ago

Major issues on the table in Mahuta’s talks in Beijing with China’s new Foreign Minister
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has left for Beijing for the first ministerial visit to China since 2019. Mahuta is to meet China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang where she might have to call on all the diplomatic skills at her command. Almost certainly she will face questions on what role ...
Point of OrderBy tutere44
3 days ago

Inside TOP's Teal Card and political strategy
TL;DR: The Opportunities Party’s Leader Raf Manji is hopeful the party’s new Teal Card, a type of Gold card for under 30s, will be popular with students, and not just in his Ilam electorate where students make up more than a quarter of the voters and where Manji is confident ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
3 days ago

Make Your Empties Go Another Round.
When I was a kid New Zealand was actually pretty green. We didn’t really have plastic. The fruit and veges came in a cardboard box, the meat was wrapped in paper, milk came in a glass bottle, and even rubbish sacks were made of paper. Today if you sit down ...
Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
3 days ago

Gordon Campbell on how similar Vladimir Putin is to George W. Bush
Looking back through the names of our Police Ministers down the years, the job has either been done by once or future party Bigfoots – Syd Holland, Richard Prebble, Juduth Collins, Chris Hipkins – or by far lesser lights like Keith Allen, Frank Gill, Ben Couch, Allen McCready, Clem Simich, ...
Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
3 days ago

CHRIS TROTTER: Te Pāti Māori’s uncompromising threat to the status quo
Chris Trotter writes – The Crown is a fickle friend. Any political movement deemed to be colourful but inconsequential is generally permitted to go about its business unmolested. The Crown’s media, RNZ and TVNZ, may even “celebrate” its existence (presumably as proof of Democracy’s broad-minded acceptance of diversity). ...
Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
3 days ago

Bryce Edwards: Shining a bright light on lobbyists in politics
Four out of the five people who have held the top role of Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff since 2017 have been lobbyists. That’s a fact that should worry anyone who believes vested interests shouldn’t have a place at the centre of decision making. Chris Hipkins’ newly appointed Chief of ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
3 days ago

Auckland Council Draft Budget – an unnecessary backwards step
Feedback on Auckland Council’s draft 2023/24 budget closes on March 28th. You can read the consultation document here, and provide feedback here. Auckland Council is currently consulting on what is one of its most important ever Annual Plans – the ‘budget’ of what it will spend money on between July ...
Greater AucklandBy Matt L
3 days ago

Talking’ Posey Parker Blues
by Molten Moira from Motueka If you want to be a woman let me tell you what to do Get a piece of paper and a biro tooWrite down your new identification And boom! You’re now a woman of this nationSpelled W O M A Na real trans woman that isAs opposed ...
RedlineBy Admin
4 days ago

More Māori words make it into the OED, and polytech boss (with rules on words like “students”) ...
Buzz from the Beehive New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti is hosting the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers for three days from today, welcoming Education Ministers and senior officials from 18 Pacific Island countries and territories, and from Australia. Here’s hoping they have brought translators with them – or ...
Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
4 days ago

Social intercourse with haters and Nazis: an etiquette guide
Let’s say you’ve come all the way from His Majesty’s United Kingdom to share with the folk of Australia and New Zealand your antipathy towards certain other human beings. And let’s say you call yourself a women’s rights activist.And let’s say 99 out of 100 people who listen to you ...
More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
4 days ago

The Greens, Labour, and coalition enforcement
James Shaw gave the Green party's annual "state of the planet" address over the weekend, in which he expressed frustration with Labour for not doing enough on climate change. His solution is to elect more Green MPs, so they have more power within any government arrangement, and can hold Labour ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
4 days ago

This sounds familiar…
RNZ this morning has the first story another investigative series by Guyon Espiner, this time into political lobbying. The first story focuses on lobbying by government agencies, specifically transpower, Pharmac, and assorted universities, and how they use lobbyists to manipulate public opinion and gather intelligence on the Ministers who oversee ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
4 days ago

Letter to the NZ Herald: NCEA pseudoscience – “Mauri is present in all matter”
Nick Matzke writes – Dear NZ Herald, I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. I teach evolutionary biology, but I also have long experience in science education and (especially) political attempts to insert pseudoscience into science curricula in ...
Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
4 days ago

So what would be the point of a Green vote again?
James Shaw has again said the Greens would be better ‘in the tent’ with Labour than out, despite Labour’s policy bonfire last week torching much of what the Government was doing to reduce emissions. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Green Party has never been more popular than in some ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
4 days ago

Gas stoves pose health risks. Are gas furnaces and other appliances safe to use?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler Poor air quality is a long-standing problem in Los Angeles, where the first major outbreak of smog during World War II was so intense that some residents thought the city had been attacked by chemical weapons. Cars were eventually discovered ...
Skeptical Science
4 days ago

Genetic Heritage and Co Governance
Yesterday I was reading an excellent newsletter from David Slack, and I started writing a comment “Sounds like some excellent genetic heritage…” and then I stopped.There was something about the phrase genetic heritage that stopped me in tracks. Is that a phrase I want to be saying? It’s kind of ...
Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
4 days ago

BRIAN EASTON: Radical Uncertainty
Brian Easton writes – Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go ...
Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
4 days ago

Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s Middle East strategy, 20 years after the Iraq War
This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War. While it strongly opposed the US-led invasion, New Zealand’s then Labour-led government led by Prime Minister Helen Clark did deploy military engineers to try to help rebuild Iraq in mid-2003. With violence soaring, their 12-month deployment ended without being renewed ...
Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
4 days ago

The motorways are finished
After seventy years, Auckland’s motorway network is finally finished. In July 1953 the first section of motorway in Auckland was opened between Ellerslie-Panmure Highway and Mt Wellington Highway. The final stage opens to traffic this week with the completion of the motorway part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project. Aucklanders ...
Greater AucklandBy Matt L
4 days ago

Kicking National’s tyres
National’s appointment of Todd McClay as Agriculture spokesperson clearly signals that the party is in trouble with the farming vote. McClay was not an obvious choice, but he does have a record as a political scrapper. The party needs that because sources say it has been shedding farming votes ...
PolitikBy Richard Harman
5 days ago

As long as there is cricket, the world is somehow okay.
Rays of white light come flooding into my lounge, into my face from over the top of my neighbour’s hedge. I have to look away as the window of the conservatory is awash in light, as if you were driving towards the sun after a rain shower and suddenly blinded. ...
Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
5 days ago

So much of what was there remains
The columnists in Private Eye take pen names, so I have not the least idea who any of them are. But I greatly appreciate their expert insight, especially MD, who writes the medical column, offering informed and often damning critique of the UK health system and the politicians who keep ...
More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
6 days ago

2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 12, 2023 thru Sat, Mar 18, 2023. Story of the Week Guest post: What 13,500 citations reveal about the IPCC’s climate science report IPCC WG1 AR6 SPM Report Cover - Changing ...
Skeptical Science
6 days ago

Financial capability services are being bucked up, but Stuart Nash shouldn’t have to see if they c...
Buzz from the Beehive The building of financial capability was brought into our considerations when Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced she had dipped into the government’s coffers for $3 million for “providers” to help people and families access community-based Building Financial Capability services. That wording suggests some ...
Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
6 days ago

Things that make you go Hmmmm.
Do you ever come across something that makes you go Hmmmm?You mean like the song?No, I wasn’t thinking of the song, but I am now - thanks for that. I was thinking of things you read or hear that make you stop and go Hmmmm.Yeah, I know what you mean, ...
Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
6 days ago

The hoon for the week that was to March 19
By the end of the week, the dramas over Stuart Nash overshadowed Hipkins’ policy bonfire. File photo: Lynn GrieveasonTLDR: This week’s news in geopolitics and the political economy covered on The Kākā included:PM Chris Hipkins’ announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but ...
The KakaBy Peter Bale
6 days ago

Saving Stuart Nash: Explaining Chris Hipkins' unexpected political calculation
When word went out that Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would be making an announcement about Stuart Nash on the tiles at parliament at 2:45pm yesterday, the assumption was that it was over. That we had reached tipping point for Nash’s time as minister. But by 3pm - when, coincidentally, the ...
PunditBy Tim Watkin
7 days ago

Radical Uncertainty
Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go on to attack physics by citing Newton.So ...
PunditBy Brian Easton
1 week ago

Jump onto the weekly hoon on Riverside at 5pm
Photo by Walker Fenton on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on Riverside (we’ve moved from Zoom) for our chat about the week’s news with ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
1 week ago

The Dream of Florian Neame: Accepted
In a nice bit of news, my 2550-word deindustrial science-fiction piece, The Dream of Florian Neame, has been accepted for publication at New Maps Magazine (https://www.new-maps.com/). I have published there before, of course, with Of Tin and Tintagel coming out last year. While I still await the ...
A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
1 week ago

Snakes and leaders
And so this is Friday, and what have we learned?It was a week with all the usual luggage: minister brags and then he quits, Hollywood red carpet is full of twits. And all the while, hanging over the trivial stuff: existential dread, and portents of doom.Depending on who you read ...
More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
1 week ago

This station is Karanga-a-Hape, Chur!
When I changed the name of this newsletter from The Daily Read to Nick’s Kōrero I was a bit worried whether people would know what Kōrero meant or not. I added a definition when I announced the change and kind of assumed people who weren’t familiar with it would get ...
Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
1 week ago

Greens don’t shy from promoting a candidate’s queerness but are quiet about govt announcement on...
There was a time when a political party’s publicity people would counsel against promoting a candidate as queer. No matter which of two dictionary meanings the voting public might choose to apply – the old meaning of odd, strange, weird, or aberrant, or the more recent meaning of gay, homosexual ...
Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
1 week ago

Ask Me Anything about the week to March 17
Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for the next hour, including:PM Chris Hipkins announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but which blew up ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
1 week ago

Slow consenting could create $16b climate liability by 2050
Even though concern over the climate change threat is becoming more mainstream, our governments continue to opt out of the difficult decisions at the expense of time, and cost for future generations. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Now we have a climate liability number to measure the potential failure of the ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
1 week ago

THOMAS CRANMER: Challenging progressivism in New Zealand’s culture wars
Thomas Cranmer writes Like it or not, the culture wars have entered New Zealand politics and look set to broaden and intensify. The culture wars are often viewed as an exclusively American phenomenon, but the reality is that they are becoming increasingly prominent in countries around the world, ...
Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
1 week ago

‘The Real State of the Nation’
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today and in your busy lives turning up to this meeting. Forty five years ago, in Howick, often described as racist, and where few Maori lived because it had been a ‘Fencible’ settlement at the time of the Anglo-Maori ...
NZ First Press Release
4 hours ago

National’s education policy gets an F
The Green Party has marked the National Party’s new education policy and given it a fail, especially for its failure to address the underlying drivers of school performance. ...
Greens
1 day ago

Child poverty stats show need for action
The Green Party is calling on the Government to immediately provide more support to families doing it toughest. ...
Greens
1 day ago

Greens ask Auckland MPs across party lines to speak up on Council budget proposals
Auckland Central Green MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to all Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland based Members of Parliament requesting their urgent attention to Auckland Council’s unprecedented slash-and-burn proposals. ...
Greens
2 days ago

Enough slow progress, 2023 is a fight for our future
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised in their State of the Planet speech today. ...
Greens
5 days ago

Greens call time on slow progress
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party after the election must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised today. ...
Greens
5 days ago

Green Party co-leader James Shaw's State of the Planet speech, 2023
You will never truly understand, from the pictures you’ve seen in the newspapers or on the six o-clock news, the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
Greens
5 days ago

More cost of living support for Kiwis
We’re boosting incomes and helping ease cost of living pressures on Kiwis through a range of bread and butter support measures that will see pensioners, students, families, and those on main benefits better off from the start of next month. ...
Labour Blog
1 week ago

Greens back teachers’ demands
The Green Party backs the demands of the teachers’ strikers. ...
Greens
1 week ago

Greens will waste no time with Minister for Zero Waste
The error Labour Ministers made by stopping work on a beverage container return scheme will be reversed by the Greens at the earliest opportunity as part of the next Government. ...
Greens
1 week ago

Greens secure win for clean transport
The Green Party has made it easier for commuters to access e-bikes thanks to an amendment to tax rules. ...
Greens
1 week ago

Greens will always prioritise action on climate and inequality
“Cabinet needs to do better - and today has shown exactly why we need Green Ministers in cabinet, so we can prioritise action to cut climate pollution and support people to make ends meet,” says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Bold action needed to help people eat
Biggest increase in food prices for over three decades shows the need for an excess profit tax on corporations to help people put food on the table. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Another Green transport idea gets the green light
The Government’s announcement today that it will improve Christchurch’s bus system comes after Green and NGO pressure. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Greens back teachers’ strike
The Green Party stands with teachers in their request for fair pay and decision to strike. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Greens launch submission guide for Auckland Council budget
The Green Party has today launched a submission guide to help Aucklanders give crucial input and prevent potentially disastrous Auckland Council budget proposals. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

When even the Nats agree bank profits are out of control, it’s time for an excess profits tax
With calls growing for inquiries and action on bank profits, the Greens say the Government has all the information it needs to act now and put a levy on banks. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Climate action must remain priority in transport investment
As large parts of Aotearoa recover from two of the worst climate disasters we have ever experienced, it would be a huge mistake for the Government to deprioritise climate action from future transport investments, the Green Party says. ...
Greens
3 weeks ago

Historic oceans treaty a wake-up call for Aotearoa
The Green Party is celebrating the signing of a historic United Nations Ocean Treaty, and calls on the new Oceans and Fisheries Minister to urgently step up protection for Aotearoa’s oceans. ...
Greens
3 weeks ago

National would make life harder for people
Christopher Luxon and the National Party are not telling the full story when it comes to childcare, the Green Party says. ...
Greens
3 weeks ago

District Court Judges appointed
Attorney-General David Parker has announced the appointment of Christopher John Dellabarca of Wellington, Dr Katie Jane Elkin of Wellington, Caroline Mary Hickman of Napier, Ngaroma Tahana of Rotorua, Tania Rose Williams Blyth of Hamilton and Nicola Jan Wills of Wellington as District Court Judges. Chris Dellabarca Mr Dellabarca commenced his ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 hours ago

New project set to supercharge ocean economy in Nelson Tasman
A new Government-backed project will help ocean-related businesses in the Nelson Tasman region to accelerate their growth and boost jobs. “The Nelson Tasman region is home to more than 400 blue economy businesses, accounting for more than 30 percent of New Zealand’s economic activity in fishing, aquaculture, and seafood processing,” ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

National’s education policy: where’s the funding?
After three years of COVID-19 disruptions schools are finally settling down and National want to throw that all in the air with major disruption to learning and underinvestment. “National’s education policy lacks the very thing teachers, parents and students need after a tough couple of years, certainty and stability,” Education ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

Free programme to help older entrepreneurs and inventors
People aged over 50 with innovative business ideas will now be able to receive support to advance their ideas to the next stage of development, Minister for Seniors Ginny Andersen said today. “Seniors have some great entrepreneurial ideas, and this programme will give them the support to take that next ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

Government target increased to keep powering up the Māori economy
A cross government target for relevant government procurement contracts for goods and services to be awarded to Māori businesses annually will increase to 8%, after the initial 5% target was exceeded. The progressive procurement policy was introduced in 2020 to increase supplier diversity, starting with Māori businesses, for the estimated ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

Continued progress on reducing poverty in challenging times
77,000 fewer children living in low income households on the after-housing-costs primary measure since Labour took office Eight of the nine child poverty measures have seen a statistically significant reduction since 2018. All nine have reduced 28,700 fewer children experiencing material hardship since 2018 Measures taken by the Government during ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

Speech at Fiji Investment and Trade Business Forum
Deputy Prime Minister Kamikamica; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Tēnā koutou katoa, ni sa bula vinaka saka, namaste. Deputy Prime Minister, a very warm welcome to Aotearoa. I trust you have been enjoying your time here and thank you for joining us here today. To all delegates who have travelled to be ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

Government investments boost and diversify local economies in lower South Island
$2.9 million convertible loan for Scapegrace Distillery to meet growing national and international demand $4.5m underwrite to support Silverlight Studios’ project to establish a film studio in Wanaka Gore’s James Cumming Community Centre and Library to be official opened tomorrow with support of $3m from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

Government future-proofs EV charging
Transport Minister Michael Wood has today launched the first national EV (electric vehicle) charging strategy, Charging Our Future, which includes plans to provide EV charging stations in almost every town in New Zealand. “Our vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand to have world-class EV charging infrastructure that is accessible, affordable, ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

World-leading family harm prevention campaign supports young NZers
Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan has today launched the Love Better campaign in a world-leading approach to family harm prevention. Love Better will initially support young people through their experience of break-ups, developing positive and life-long attitudes to dealing with hurt. “Over 1,200 young kiwis told ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

First Chief Clinical Advisor welcomed into Coroners Court
Hon Rino Tirikatene, Minister for Courts, welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s appointment of Dr Garry Clearwater as New Zealand’s first Chief Clinical Advisor working with the Coroners Court. “This appointment is significant for the Coroners Court and New Zealand’s wider coronial system.” Minister Tirikatene said. Through Budget 2022, the Government ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Next steps for affected properties post Cyclone and floods
The Government via the Cyclone Taskforce is working with local government and insurance companies to build a picture of high-risk areas following Cyclone Gabrielle and January floods. “The Taskforce, led by Sir Brian Roche, has been working with insurance companies to undertake an assessment of high-risk areas so we can ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

New appointment to Māori Land Court bench
E te huia kaimanawa, ko Ngāpuhi e whakahari ana i tau aupikinga ki te tihi o te maunga. Ko te Ao Māori hoki e whakanui ana i a koe te whakaihu waka o te reo Māori i roto i te Ao Ture. (To the prized treasure, it is Ngāpuhi who ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Government focus on jobs sees record number of New Zealanders move from Benefits into work
113,400 exits into work in the year to June 2022 Young people are moving off Benefit faster than after the Global Financial Crisis Two reports released today by the Ministry of Social Development show the Government’s investment in the COVID-19 response helped drive record numbers of people off Benefits and ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Vertical farming partnership has upward momentum
The Government’s priority to keep New Zealand at the cutting edge of food production and lift our sustainability credentials continues by backing the next steps of a hi-tech vertical farming venture that uses up to 95 per cent less water, is climate resilient, and pesticide-free. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visited ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Conference of Pacific Education Ministers – Keynote Address
E nga mana, e nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kātoa. Warm Pacific greetings to all. It is an honour to host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Aotearoa is delighted to be hosting you ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

New $13m renal unit supports Taranaki patients
The new renal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital has been officially opened by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall this afternoon. Te Huhi Raupō received around $13 million in government funding as part of Project Maunga Stage 2, the redevelopment of the Taranaki Base Hospital campus. “It’s an honour ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Second Poseidon aircraft on home soil
Defence Minister Andrew Little has marked the arrival of the country’s second P-8A Poseidon aircraft alongside personnel at the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Base at Ohakea today. “With two of the four P-8A Poseidons now on home soil this marks another significant milestone in the Government’s historic investment in ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Further humanitarian aid for Türkiye and Syria
Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further humanitarian support to those seriously affected by last month’s deadly earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, says Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. “The 6 February earthquakes have had devastating consequences, with almost 18 million people affected. More than 53,000 people have died and tens of thousands more ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Community voice to help shape immigration policy
Migrant communities across New Zealand are represented in the new Migrant Community Reference Group that will help shape immigration policy going forward, Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced today. “Since becoming Minister, a reoccurring message I have heard from migrants is the feeling their voice has often been missing around policy ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

State Highway 3 project to deliver safer journeys, better travel connections for Taranaki
Construction has begun on major works that will deliver significant safety improvements on State Highway 3 from Waitara to Bell Block, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan announced today. “This is an important route for communities, freight and visitors to Taranaki but too many people have lost their lives or ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Ginny Andersen appointed as Minister of Police
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has today appointed Ginny Andersen as Minister of Police. “Ginny Andersen has a strong and relevant background in this important portfolio,” Chris Hipkins said. “Ginny Andersen worked for the Police as a non-sworn staff member for around 10 years and has more recently been chair of ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Government confirms vital roading reconnections
Six further bailey bridge sites confirmed Four additional bridge sites under consideration 91 per cent of damaged state highways reopened Recovery Dashboards for impacted regions released The Government has responded quickly to restore lifeline routes after Cyclone Gabrielle and can today confirm that an additional six bailey bridges will ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Foreign Minister Mahuta to meet with China’s new Foreign Minister
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for China tomorrow, where she will meet with her counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in Beijing. This will be the first visit by a New Zealand Minister to China since 2019, and follows the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions between New Zealand and China. ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Education Ministers from across the Pacific gather in Aotearoa
Education Ministers from across the Pacific will gather in Tāmaki Makaurau this week to share their collective knowledge and strategic vision, for the benefit of ākonga across the region. New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti will host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) for three days from today, ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

State Highway 5 reopens between Napier and Taupō following Cyclone Gabrielle
A vital transport link for communities and local businesses has been restored following Cyclone Gabrielle with the reopening of State Highway 5 (SH5) between Napier and Taupō, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan says. SH5 reopened to all traffic between 7am and 7pm from today, with closure points at SH2 (Kaimata ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Special Lotto draw raises $11.7 million for Cyclone Gabrielle recovery
Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds has thanked generous New Zealanders who took part in the special Lotto draw for communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Held on Saturday night, the draw raised $11.7 million with half of all ticket sales going towards recovery efforts. “In a time of need, New Zealanders ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

Government delivers a $3 million funding boost for Building Financial Capability services
The Government has announced funding of $3 million for providers to help people, and whānau access community-based Building Financial Capability services. “Demand for Financial Capability Services is growing as people face cost of living pressures. Those pressures are increasing further in areas affected by flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle,” Minister for ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao – new Chair and member
Minister of Education, Hon Jan Tinetti, has announced appointments to the Board of Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao. Tracey Bridges is joining the Board as the new Chair and Dr Therese Arseneau will be a new member. Current members Dr Linda Sissons CNZM and Daniel Wilson have ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Scholarships honouring Ngarimu VC and the 28th (Māori) Battalion announced
Fifteen ākonga Māori from across Aotearoa have been awarded the prestigious Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships and Awards for 2023, Associate Education Minister and Ngarimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. The recipients include doctoral, masters’ and undergraduate students. Three vocational training students and five wharekura students, ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Appointment of Judge of the Court of Appeal and Judge of the High Court
High Court Judge Jillian Maree Mallon has been appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and District Court Judge Andrew John Becroft QSO has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Mallon graduated from Otago University in 1988 with an LLB (Hons), and with ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

NZ still well placed to meet global challenges
The economy has continued to show its resilience despite today’s GDP figures showing a modest decline in the December quarter, leaving the Government well positioned to help New Zealanders face cost of living pressures in a challenging global environment. “The economy had grown strongly in the two quarters before this ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Western Ring Route Complete
Aucklanders now have more ways to get around as Transport Minister Michael Wood opened the direct State Highway 1 (SH1) to State Highway 18 (SH18) underpass today, marking the completion of the 48-kilometre Western Ring Route (WRR). “The Government is upgrading New Zealand’s transport system to make it safer, more ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Briefings to Incoming Ministers
This section contains briefings received by incoming ministers following changes to Cabinet in January. Some information may have been withheld in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982. Where information has been withheld that is indicated within the document. ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Teaming up for a stronger, more resilient Fiji
Aotearoa New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta reaffirmed her commitment to working together with the new Government of Fiji on issues of shared importance, including on the prioritisation of climate change and sustainability, at a meeting today, in Nadi. Fiji and Aotearoa New Zealand’s close relationship is underpinned by the Duavata ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Investment in blue highway a lifeline for regional economies and cyclone recovery
The Government is delivering a coastal shipping lifeline for businesses, residents and the primary sector in the cyclone-stricken regions of Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti, Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan announced today. The Rangitata vessel has been chartered for an emergency coastal shipping route between Gisborne and Napier, with potential for ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Next steps developing clean energy for NZ
The Government will progress to the next stage of the NZ Battery Project, looking at the viability of pumped hydro as well as an alternative, multi-technology approach as part of the Government’s long term-plan to build a resilient, affordable, secure and decarbonised energy system in New Zealand, Energy and Resources ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Statement from the Prime Minister on Stuart Nash
This morning I was made aware of a media interview in which Minister Stuart Nash criticised a decision of the Court and said he had contacted the Police Commissioner to suggest the Police appeal the decision. The phone call took place in 2021 when he was not the Police Minister. ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

CPTPP Trade Ministers coming to Auckland
The Government’s sharp focus on trade continues with Aotearoa New Zealand set to host Trade Ministers and delegations from 10 Asia Pacific economies at a meeting of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Commission members in July, Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor announced today. “New Zealand ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Govt approves $25 million extension for cyclone-affected businesses
$25 million boost to support more businesses with clean-up in cyclone affected regions, taking total business support to more than $50 million Demand for grants has been strong, with estimates showing applications will exceed the initial $25 million business support package Grants of up to a maximum of $40,000 per ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

A new review into how teachers are educated should acknowledge they learn throughout their careers (...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Beryl Exley, Professor, Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University, Griffith University Shutterstock Last August, the federal government set up an expert panel to look at the continuous improvement agenda in teacher education in Australia. The panel, led by ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
21 mins ago

Analysis: Teachers need a lot of things, another curriculum 'rewrite' isn't one
We all clearly want the best learning outcomes for our nation's children, but there are deep ideological divisions, writes Cathy Buntting. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 hour ago

The Winston Peters greatest hits hour
The New Zealand First leader took to the altar of an East Auckland church today to set out his 2023 election agenda. It was, as Stewart Sowman-Lund found out, pretty much what you’d expect. Winston Peters rolled into Howick today with a state of the nation speech that, he claimed ...
The SpinoffBy Stewart Sowman-Lund
2 hours ago

Woolworths is getting into telehealth – but patients need to be treated as more than customers
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Wardle, Professor of Public Health, Southern Cross University Shutterstock Earlier this week, Australian retail giant Woolworths announced a move into health-care delivery via development of its subsidiary HealthyLife’s online portal. Through this portal, Australians can book a same-day ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 hours ago

Winston Peters rails against secret 'woke agenda' in campaign speech
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters - eyeing a political comeback - has used a scene-setting speech in Auckland warning against a "conceited, conniving, cultural cabal". ...
Radio NZ – political
3 hours ago

At the 2023 Adelaide Festival, the best works shimmer with a brutal honesty on incarceration, exile ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Peterson, Adjunct Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology The Sheep Song. Tim Standing/Daylight Breaks/Adelaide Festival Few Adelaideans remember a time before the Adelaide Festival. Formed in 1960 as a civic enterprise and financed against loss by prominent Adelaide businessmen, the ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
4 hours ago

Week in Politics: Minor parties could hold unprecedented influence post-election
Analysis - The Greens lay down a challenge as the minor parties approach an election in which both National and Labour are going to need coalition partners to form a government, writes Peter Wilson. ...
Radio NZ – political
4 hours ago

Repeal Fiji’s media law and start with ‘clean slate’, says CFL chief
By Arieta Vakasukawaqa in Suva Communications Fiji Ltd (CFL) chair William Parkinson has called for a repeal of Fiji’s Media Industry Development Act 2010 and more discussion on the proposed Media Ownership and Registration Bill 2023. He said this during a public consultation on the review of MIDA Act 2010 ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
4 hours ago

Posie Parker wins the beautiful freedom to make an ugly argument
High Court Justice David Gendall regretfully allows anti-trans activist to enter New Zealand, but warns the expression of her views may be harmful to our vulnerable rainbow community. Jonathan Milne does his best to be civil. Opinion: Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull calls herself Posie Parker. And that's what I'm going to call her. Because she is ...
Newsroom
4 hours ago

Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee is an absolute joy
It’s about time somebody made a wacky TV show about how bonkers spelling is. Enter comedian Guy Montgomery and his Guy Mont Spelling Bee. The three years since Covid-19 began have been pretty rocky, but one of the best things to come out of the chaos was Guy Montgomery’s Guy ...
The SpinoffBy Tara Ward
4 hours ago

Psychologists Condemn Anti-trans Hate Speech And Urge The Government To Put Hate Speech Laws Back On...
Te Rōpū Mātai Hinengaro o Aotearoa, The New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS) stands beside LGBTQIA+ and Takatāpui communities rallying against anti-trans rhetoric in light of the impending visit of Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (Posie Parker). We are ...
Scoop politics
4 hours ago

Shocking and controversial: MAFS Australia has outrated 1News
Earlier this month, everybody’s favourite Monster of the Week series Married at First Sight Australia toppled 1News to become the highest rating television show for New Zealand viewers aged 25-54. The controversial reality series garnered an average audience of 137,000, or 6.7% audience share from March 5 until March 11. ...
The SpinoffBy Alex Casey
5 hours ago

Ingredient of the week: Feijoas
It’s the most wonderful time of the year for feijoa lovers – here’s how to make the most of it. Fragrant and sweet, with a delicate jelly centre surrounded by gritty, tangy flesh, all encased in a green sour skin. My parents’ feijoa tree has just dropped its first fruit, ...
The SpinoffBy Wyoming Paul
5 hours ago

The Friday Poem: ‘Bang a Drum’ by Maggie Rainey-Smith
A new poem by poet and novelist Maggie Rainey-Smith. Bang a Drum We’ve hit Gentle Annie passed the pub at Okaramio and on the left, at Wakapuaka there’s Sunnybank where parents left their children An oddly named orphanage manned (ha) by Nuns childless women in black habits, scapula, cowls and ...
The SpinoffBy Maggie Rainey-Smith
5 hours ago

Teachers need a lot of things right now, but another curriculum ‘rewrite’ isn’t one of them
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cathy Buntting, Director, Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, University of Waikato Getty Images Less than a fortnight after teachers staged a national strike, education was back in the headlines with the National Party’s release of its curriculum policy – ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
5 hours ago

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending March 24
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) Number one in both ...
The SpinoffBy The Spinoff Review of Books
5 hours ago

High Court Decision The Only Right Result For Nation That Values Free Speech
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision of the High Court to reject the application to overrule the decision of the Minister of Immigration to allow Kellie-Jay entry into New Zealand. This was the only right result for a nation that ...
Scoop politics
6 hours ago

AI chatbots with Chinese characteristics: why Baidu’s ChatGPT rival may never measure up
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fan Yang, Research Associate at RMIT and Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University Baidu’s ERNIE Bot was launched to considerable disappointment. Ng Han Guan / AP On March 16, Baidu unveiled China’s latest rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT – ERNIE Bot (short for “Enhanced ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
6 hours ago

Ask Fiji military about ‘guns on plane’ claims, says Sayed-Khaiyum
By Meri Radinibaravi in Suva Former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has told The Fiji Times to ask the Republic of Fiji Military Forces about claims that his bodyguards were allowed to take guns on to Fiji Link flights without proper authorisation. “I understand that there’s some enquiries going on regarding that ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
6 hours ago

Melbourne Now: a vast, sprawling and inspiring exhibition that seems to burst out of its architectur...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University Installation view of Troy Emery’s work Mountain climber 2022 on display as part of the Melbourne Now exhibition at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne from 24 March – 20 August ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
6 hours ago

KPIs are for businesses and boardrooms, not children and schools
National’s education policy reinforces an old-fashioned and hierarchical curriculum that does lasting harm to many students, writes educational specialist Dr Sarah Aiono. Announcing the National Party’s new education policy this week, leader Christopher Luxon cited a recent NCEA pilot in which two-thirds of students were unable to meet the minimum ...
The SpinoffBy Sarah Aiono
6 hours ago

Last ditch attempt to stop anti-trans speaker from entering NZ fails
Attempts by rainbow groups to stop an anti-trans campaigner entering the country have failed. The High Court has dismissed a judicial review application from Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT Kōara and Auckland Pride, aimed at the immigration minister for allowing Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull into New Zealand. As part of the application, the ...
The SpinoffBy Stewart Sowman-Lund
7 hours ago

Urgent hearing under way to determine if anti-trans speaker can enter NZ
The High Court is this morning considering an interim order that would prevent an anti-trans campaigner from making it into New Zealand. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull is expected to arrive on our shores today ahead of two planned rallies in Auckland and Wellington over the weekend. After immigration officials deemed her safe ...
The SpinoffBy Stewart Sowman-Lund
8 hours ago

Statement From Mayor Paula Southgate: Hamilton’s LGNZ Membership
I was disappointed to see yesterday afternoon’s announcement that Auckland has chosen to leave Local Government NZ (LGNZ). Hamilton’s membership of LGNZ is one of collaboration and sharing. Being a member gives us important views from other ...
Scoop politics
8 hours ago

Review: The Unruly Tourists is fun, but facile
It’s the most talked about local opera production in years – but does it live up to the chatter? The lowdown You’ve probably heard of the “unruly tourists”, the British family who created a media firestorm as they toured around the country leaving trash and turmoil in their wake. You’ve ...
The SpinoffBy Sam Brooks
8 hours ago

Ministry of Health removed trans advice after pressure from activists
As reported by Newsroom’s Marc Daalder this morning, correspondence released under the Official Information Act shows advice about puberty blockers was removed from the Ministry of Health website “in the hopes it creates fewer queries” from anti-trans campaigners. The line that was removed from the site said puberty blockers “are ...
The SpinoffBy Anna Rawhiti-Connell
8 hours ago

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: NZ needs to distance itself from Australia’s anti-China nucle...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: NZ needs to distance itself from Australia’s anti-China nuclear submarines The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The ...
Evening ReportBy Bryce Edwards
9 hours ago

Secondary teachers confirm next strike
Secondary teachers will strike again next week after an agreement on improved pay and working conditions was not reached. The strike will take place on Wednesday, less than two weeks after thousands of educators took to the streets across the country. “PPTA Te Wehengarua members have shown they are serious ...
The SpinoffBy Stewart Sowman-Lund
9 hours ago

Share Your Views On Human Rights Progress In Aotearoa New Zealand
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission is encouraging organisations and individuals to share their views on human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand for the government’s upcoming report to the United Nations. The report informs a process ...
Scoop politics
9 hours ago

Secondary And Area School Teachers Plan More Industrial Action
Secondary and area school teachers around the country have voted overwhelmingly in favour of more industrial action, including a one day national strike next Wednesday, in support of their collective agreement negotiations. “PPTA Te Wehengarua members ...
Scoop politics
9 hours ago

Aaron Hawkins: Auckland Council has turned its back on the rest of the country
At a time when our need for collective action is stronger than ever, Auckland Council has opted out to save each of its residents just 25c a year, writes former Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins. I grew up in rural Southland, in the shadows of the Cut The Cable movement. In ...
The SpinoffBy Aaron Hawkins
9 hours ago

Fishing for data: commercial fishers help monitor rising temperatures in coastal seas
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Jakoboski, Oceanographic Data Scientist, Moana Project’s Te Tiro Moana Team Lead, MetService — Te Ratonga Tirorangi Moana project, CC BY-ND The world’s oceans are buffering us from the worst climate impacts by taking up more than 90% of the ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
10 hours ago

Political editors panel: Schools, lobbying, and trans rights
Morning Report - RNZ and Newsroom's political editors consider National's education pitch, and the political responses to lobbying revelations and Posie Parker. ...
Radio NZ – political
10 hours ago

Free Speech Union Granted Intervening Status In Posie Parker Judicial Review
The Free Speech Union will be an intervener this morning as the High Court considers whether Immigration New Zealand's decision to allow Posie Parker (Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull) entry into New Zealand was legal, says Jonathan Ayling, Chief Executive of the Free ...
Scoop politics
10 hours ago

Why is this Auckland club clinging to a ‘discriminatory’ dress-code rule?
For over a decade, Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club has come under fire for denying entry to people wearing religious headwear. Despite the Human Rights Commission getting involved, it seems the rule remains unchanged. One of the definitions given by the Oxford dictionary for the word cosmopolitan is: “including people from many ...
The SpinoffBy Charlotte Muru-Lanning
10 hours ago

Listen: How Labour just hurt the Emissions Trading Scheme
Chris Hipkins’ dump of Ardern-era policy has potentially jeopardised a major part of the government’s climate change response. In this week’s episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks to climate policy expert Christina Hood from Climate Compass to find out why this month’s Emissions Trading Scheme auction failed and ...
The SpinoffBy The Spinoff
10 hours ago

LGNZ head confused by Wayne Brown’s claim about drunken conference
The head of Local Government NZ, the group representing councils across the country, has hit back at claims made by Auckland mayor Wayne Brown. It was his casting vote that saw Auckland Council leave the representative group yesterday evening, with councillors divided on whether or not it was the right ...
The SpinoffBy Stewart Sowman-Lund
11 hours ago

A new study on Australian volcanoes has changed what we know about explosive ‘hotspot’ volcanism
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Al-Tamini Tapu, Geoscientist, The University of Queensland Warrumbungle national park. colinslack/Shutterstock Our new study published in Nature Geoscience on an ancient chain of Australian volcanoes is helping to change our understanding of “hotspot” volcanism. You may be surprised to learn eastern ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
11 hours ago

Time to grow up: Australia’s national security dilemma demands a mature debate
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University There’s been a lot of recent shouting about Australia’s national security policy. It began with the Nine newspapers’ “Red Alert” extravaganza, spread over multiple articles. Featuring a graphic of warplanes ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
11 hours ago

Want an easy $400 a year? Ditch the gas heater in your home for an electric split system
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Goldlust, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University Shutterstock Earlier this month, regulators flagged electricity price rises in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Like many people, you’re probably wondering how you can ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
11 hours ago

4-day work week trials have been labelled a ‘resounding success’. But 4 big questions need answe...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Veal, Adjunct Professor, Business School, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock A little more than a century ago, most people in industrialised countries worked 60 hours a week – six ten-hour days. A 40-hour work week of five eight-hour days ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
11 hours ago

The gaming audience is ‘queerer than ever’ – so how are game creators responding?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xavier Ho, Lecturer in Interaction Design, Monash University Sony Entertainment Mainstream games are embracing openly queer characters – and so are many of their players and fans. The Last of Us, the prestige HBO adaptation of the critically lauded ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
11 hours ago

The Bulletin: Let’s Get Wellington Moving consultant costs in the crosshairs
The capital’s transport overhaul will have spent $130 million on consultant fees by the end of next year, Stuff reports. Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) expects to spend $60 million on outside experts in the coming year, after already spending $38.5m in the past three years and $35m this year. Greater ...
The SpinoffBy Catherine McGregor
11 hours ago

How Labour just hurt the Emissions Trading Scheme
Chris Hipkins’ dump of Ardern-era policy has potentially jeopardised a major part of the government’s climate change response. Bernard Hickey talks to climate policy expert Christina Hood from Climate Compass to find out why this month’s Emissions Trading Scheme auction failed and how she feels cabinet have destroyed confidence in ...
The SpinoffBy Calum Henderson
12 hours ago

National’s ‘back to basics’ plan to address the literacy crisis
Christopher Luxon says the policy is what’s needed to address serious issues with reading, writing and maths in primary schools. Others aren’t so sure, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Back ...
The SpinoffBy Catherine McGregor
12 hours ago

Flood-affected Aucklanders breathe a sigh of rates relief
Although Auckland Council’s big cleanup following this year’s extreme weather events continues, “things are getting more difficult at this point”. Five weeks after Cyclone Gabrielle, some 7,000 Aucklanders remain impacted by the aftermath of the floods, slips and heavy winds that battered the region in January and February. Auckland Council’s ...
Newsroom
13 hours ago

A new motorway took all the traffic away – but don’t write Huntly off just yet
A traffic bypass stole 20,000 potential daily visitors from its main streets and local businesses. Three years on, how are the Waikato town’s 9,000 residents coping? The tourism centre is closed – “permanently”, says the sign. The cafe next door, once called River Haven, now with two missing letters making ...
The SpinoffBy Chris Schulz
14 hours ago

A year on from the death of Levi James, what’s changed for Auckland cyclists?
After a 19-year-old was killed while riding his bike on a dangerous stretch of Auckland road, the tragedy became a rallying call to make the city safer for cyclists. Tommy de Silva looks at what’s been achieved in the 12 months since. On March 5, 2022, 19-year-old Levi James was ...
The SpinoffBy Tommy de Silva
14 hours ago

Health advice scrubbed due to anti-trans pressure
Pressure from anti-transgender activists led the Ministry of Health to remove health advice regarding puberty blockers from its website. ...
Newsroom
14 hours ago

Bring back the Ministry of Works
The now defunct ministry is the kind of agency needed to fix our current infrastructure disaster - not Civil Defence and independent sub-contracting and consulting firms. ...
Newsroom
14 hours ago

Twinkle toes teen runs riot in world sevens
Jorja Miller has quickly become one of the key players in the successful Black Ferns Sevens in her first season on the world series circuit, and it's a unique combination of sports that's helped her reach the top, Merryn Anderson discovers. Jorja Miller’s life has always been a balancing act between her ...
Newsroom
14 hours ago

A storm in a lolly jar? The pineapple chew controversy
Can you really call a mass-produced lolly dipped in chocolate "handmade"? The Detail finds out why it's important that products are what they say on the tin. The Potter Brothers saga In 2020, Courtnay Adele - who went on to be a contestant in The Great Kiwi Bake Off - posted a video ...
Newsroom
14 hours ago

Risk of political violence this election still high – Shaw
Someone could be injured, or worse, during this year’s election campaign, warns James Shaw ...
Newsroom
14 hours ago

Airport share sales fraught with difficulty – but retaining ownership is costly
The council's proposal to sell Auckland Airport shares is an uncanny throwback ...
Newsroom
14 hours ago

One small step towards banning ‘forever chemicals’
PFAS in cosmetics enter the environment through the water we drink, the food we eat, and the air we breathe Opinion: New Zealand’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has proposed a ban on the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in cosmetics as part of its update to the Cosmetic ...
Newsroom
14 hours ago

Daily crossword, Friday 24 March
...
Newsroom
15 hours ago

Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 24 March
Loading...(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. ...
Newsroom
15 hours ago

We used DNA from Beethoven’s hair to shed light on his poor health – and stumbled upon a family ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Attenborough, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Bioanthropology, Australian National University Kevin Brown, Author provided Many astonishingly creative people have lived lives cut tragically short by illness. Johannes Vermeer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jane Austen, Franz Schubert and Emily Brontë are some ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
19 hours ago

Grattan on Friday: A ‘No’ vote in the Voice referendum would put a serious dent in Australia’s...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra At the end of the emotional news conference in which he unveiled the wording for the Voice referendum, Anthony Albanese touched on a central reason why a “yes” result is vital. Australia would be ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
19 hours ago

Why bioplastics won’t solve our plastic problems
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elsa Dominish, Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock Last month, Victoria banned plastic straws, crockery and polystyrene containers, following similar bans in South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales and the ACT. All states and ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Union and Labour criticise National's new curriculum policy
Education union NZEI's president says National's new education policy is "like asking the All Blacks to have their goalposts painted a different colour of white and thinking you've made a change". ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

China’s only now revealed crucial COVID-19 origins data. Earlier disclosure may have saved us 3 ye...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic Dwyer, Director of Public Health Pathology, NSW Health Pathology, Westmead Hospital and University of Sydney, University of Sydney Once more, we’re talking about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. First the US Department of Energy’s review gave more ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Vanuatu minister says harvests will take time to recover after cyclones
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s Minister of Climate Change warns “there’s going to be a lot of hardship” for people waiting for their crops to grow back as dry rations are distributed to communities. Minister Ralph Regenvanu said the main food push started in the middle of last ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
1 day ago

As Pacific islanders, we bear the brunt of the climate crisis. The time to end fossil fuel dependenc...
Monday’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has given a “final warning” to avert global catastrophe. Pacific cabinet ministers call on all world leaders to urgently transition to renewables. COMMENT: By Ralph Regenvanu and Seve Paeniu The cycle is repeating itself. A tropical cyclone of frightening strength strikes a ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
1 day ago

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Michael Brennan on Australia’s parlous productivity growth
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Productivity Commission’s nine-volume report has a tough central message. It says productivity policy has to focus on the areas that have proven the hardest in the past, rather than those where previously progress has ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Child poverty reduction stalls ahead of cost-of-living crisis
The latest child poverty stats show there was no statistically significant improvement in the year to June 2022. But Child Poverty Reduction Minister Jan Tinetti says even one child living in poverty is "too many". ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Wellington mayor decries ‘Auxit’ as Wayne Brown leads Auckland out of local government group
The Auckland mayor’s casting vote to take the Super City out of Local Government NZ shows a lack of team play, says Tory Whanau, while LGNZ’s president insists it will cost everyone, including Auckland ratepayers. The Auckland Council withdrawal from Local Government NZ, a national association of local, regional and ...
The SpinoffBy Toby Manhire
1 day ago

‘We’re all in’, declares an emotional Albanese as he launches the wording for the Voice refere...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra An emotional Anthony Albanese, flanked by members of the referendum working group, has released the final proposed wording of the question to be put to Australians to incorporate an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Rainbow groups launch legal action over decision on Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull
A group of rainbow and human rights organisations has filed for judicial review in the High Court, following the lack of intervention by the immigration minister, Michael Wood, over the decision to allow Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, an anti-trans-rights activist, to enter the country. Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT Kōaro, and Auckland Pride ...
The SpinoffBy Toby Manhire
1 day ago

Rainbow groups take Immigration Minister to court over Posie Parker decision
A coalition of rainbow community groups are taking Immigration Minister Michael Wood to court over a decision to allow a controversial anti-transgender activist into the country. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Immigration Minister’s Failure To Act Challenged In High Court By Rainbow Organisations
Today human rights organisations Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT Kōaro, and Auckland Pride filed for judicial review in the High Court. Our case follows the Immigration Minister's decision to allow Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, a known anti-transgender ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

Amazon group's web services signs cooperation deal with New Zealand government
The US tech giant is building large data centres here and has been courting senior ministers for months. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Auckland pulls a Brexit – on the mayor's casting vote
The great southern joke that New Zealand does indeed end at the Bombay Hills, but that it starts at Bluff, takes on a new hue now with Auckland Council breaking away from the sector organisation Local Government NZ Auckland Council has suddenly pulled its own version of Brexit. At the ...
Newsroom
1 day ago

Auckland Council to leave LGNZ, Wayne Brown casts deciding vote
Auckland Council will leave Local Government NZ, the group that represents councils acorss the country. It’s part of mayor Wayne Brown’s attempts to curb spending in the face of a multimillion dollar budget hole. About $400,000 could be saved from the decision to leave the group. According to tweets, the ...
The SpinoffBy Stewart Sowman-Lund
1 day ago

Ratepayer Victory: Auckland Council Resigns From Unaccountable Pressure Group Lgnz
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is welcoming Auckland Council’s decision to resign from Local Government New Zealand. On Thursday, the Governing Body voted 11-10 for Auckland Council to resign its membership of Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ). ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

Liam Neeson Under the Cosh

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Liam Neeson Under the Cosh

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