* Big delays are expected in the Auckland CBD on Friday morning due to a section of Victoria St West still being closed.
* The busy road, between Nelson St and Hobson St, closed afternoon when a panel fell from an apartment building.
* Auckland Transport is advising people to consider using alternative modes of transport into the CBD.
* The weather will be slightly better than yesterday, with only occasional showers forecasted, mainly in the afternoon.
Meh! So what? It is still going to take me just 10 minutes to get to work, rain or shine. Looking outside it looks a bit ok… I’m not going to get damp on my ride today.
A couple of years ago, I’d have been interested in these kinds of blockages. When there is any blockage in the CBD or motorways, then Auckland crawls to a halt. Not just where the problem is, but back along roads 10s of kilometres away.
This is a direct result of piss poor decisions made by central and local government as a direct result of stupid short sighted dipshits – like Mike Hosking and his ancestral shock jocks more interested in their ratings than reality.
But I cycle to work every day down the Grafton cycleway. It means that instead of taking between 15 and 45 minutes, it now takes 9-10 minutes. I pass over the people sitting in stalled or slow cars on the expensive motorway as I travel on cheap cycleways.
Look at a Mike’s recent rant about bike paths. Mike is apparently a technophobe too ignorant to add a link (here is).
There is not a lot to understand when it comes to the cycleway, it’s peddled (no pun intended) by zealots who are driven by ideology.
They operate on the “build it and they will come” scenario, except they have built it, and we didn’t come. When it all becomes obvious it doesn’t work it leads to anger frustration and upset for the rest of us who feel duped — hence the bikelash.
Ah no. It is mostly ‘peddled’ by cyclists and ex-cyclists who have been forced off the roads by fuckwit drivers who (apparently like Mike) who seem to be intent on trying to kill them.
I used to cycle to school in Auckland when I was a kid. Many years ago I had to give up and confined my cycling to the open road in the country. These days there are few parents who allow their kids to ride to school. It is too dangerous because of the cars. Instead they drive them to school – in the rush hours.
The number of cars on the road has increased dramatically in the last 50 years. The cars have gotten far larger. And of course the population has gotten far larger in Auckland.
It is a rare household today that doesn’t have the same number of vehicles as the number of adults with licenses. This is why the berms are illegally filled with parked cars and Wilsons parking taking in money hand over fist.
What hasn’t increased in proportion to the population and vehicles is the available land and road space. It never will. Land is simply too valuable to keep getting covered by bitumen for space hogging cars carrying a single person.
The same conservatives who will whine about the small amounts of room taken up with foot paths and bike paths, are also exactly the same whinging arseholes who don’t want to pay for expensive roads in cities. This isn’t hard to determine. All you have to do is to look at the expenditures on urban roads compared to the conservative nature of governments.
For instance it was no coincidence that roads planned by National’s “Roads of National Significance” were largely planted in the countryside. But the great dearth of building urban roads in Auckland coincides with National’s proxy Citizens and Ratepayers controlling councils in the urban area.
Now look at what was actually said in the article Mike Hosking was referring to.
The team observed that opposition to bike lanes often erupted only when lanes were being built, when planners and bike lane supporters had assumed the job was done.
“The level of opposition encountered can genuinely take people by surprise, and it’s tapping into an underlying concern about change.”
From their interviews, they found strong support among the cycling community for new lanes, largely for safety reasons.
Yeah, that is right. Despite the large amounts of public notification, planning, meetings budget allocations and all of the other bullshit that slows down the actual creation of cycle lanes – the whining only ever seems to start when they get built. That is because whingers like Mike Hosking simply aren’t interested in their community or the actual hard jakka that is required to maintain society. Like other hard line conservatives like Mike, they are often unproductive parasites who are only interested in their own convenience.
Somehow they appear to find it strange that other ratepayers would like to have safe places to cycle.
And Mike, our court fool, was a simple liar when he said :-
Last time I wrote about this questions had been raised about estimates for some Auckland cycleways and the reality when it was actually measured seemed to bear little resemblance to what they’d forecast by way of usage.
Umm I remember that (and again it’d be very helpful if our fool could put in links).
The basic problem was that the raisers of the question apparently couldn’t read estimates, and in particular the time column. They were saying that the expected user numbers in a decade should be expected to happen immediately after opening. It is hard to take this kind of twaddle seriously.
The reality is that growth in cycling along bike paths is growing rapidly. It is also measurable because there are automatic counters on most of the paths. Greater Auckland blog periodically does posts on them. Generally most cycle ways start growing in users a few years after they’re constructed and then grow in percentage double digits year on year.
What is noticeable is what happens when the final connections in the bike paths are connected up. An April GA post looked the North Western cycle way.
Perhaps the most impressive, given it’s not coming off as low of a base as others and the constant growth it’s seen over the last few years, remains the NW Cycleway at Kingsland which is almost certainly benefiting from recent addition of the Ian Mckinnon Cycleway. To give a sense of scale for the increase, back in March-2011 just 11k were recorded at this location for the whole month. This March 40k were and this meant that during the month the 30-day rolling average peak at just under 1,400 bikes a day.
That is a lot of people off the roads using the space of a footpath. You can see the recent year on year growth. And I’m certainly noticing the increased numbers of cyclists where I intersect on the last part of the NW cycle way – especially at the terminating lights.
People like this person who has done about 7000 kms commuting and dropping the kid off.
It’s been a year since I’ve started biking to work, and this is a summary of my thoughts and observations. I work in Newmarket and live in Te Atatu Peninsula. My one way trip is about 17.5km and it takes me about 35-40 mins. I cycle every workday.
Mostly they have cycle ways but..
I’ve only had a few experiences with being squeezed against the curb (generally buses along Park Rd) or really close passes, but it never feels quite safe to be on the road. I ride quite defensively – and when I don’t feel it’s safe to overtake me, I take the lane. I have been shouted at a few times, but I haven’t encountered other intentionally threatening behaviours.
Generally motorists and parked cars aren’t intentionally dangerous. They’re just careless and need to be segregated from other more vulnerable rate payers who aren’t interested in taking up enormous areas of roadways.
I’m a bit worried about this myself. Later in the year, work is moving to a different location and I’m going to have to ride on roads and semi-segregated lanes. But coincidentally, my preparatory new hi visibility helmet arrived this morning while I was writing this post….
In the meantime, I feel sympathy for those parked on the roads this morning. I’m heading off for my 10 minute commute with a lit up helmet.
Updated with a few editorial cleanups after I got to work. Helmet works great, turning signals and all. Not sure how well the automatic braking system operates. How am I going to be able to test it?
Isn't Hosking the one who wants all public transport canned? So everyone can enjoy the pleasure of driving themselves to work and observing all the others 'driving' to work? And parking, um, where?
I must get a bell on my bike to warn pedestrians on shared footpaths.
In London some footpaths are dual use and they work OK but dedicated bike lanes are better. Some Underground Stations have huge bike stands outside the door. So go the support for a NZ massive trend towards biking. And with a flash helmet like that even Mike could not deny seeing you as he tries to accidentally run you down.
Compulsory Ferraris I say. Lacking the 'excellence' and 'personal responsibility' to afford one? Then die in a ditch loser! Roads are for winners (like Mike).
And another great way of unclogging the roads would be if everyone worked less. Didn't some guy back in the '70's say we would all be working 10-hour weeks by now due to technology? Clearly Toffler was extraordinarily naive about the nature of capitalism – or believed that technology somehow transcended the economic system within which it was deployed.
I had to go to Ponsonby after work yesterday afternoon rather than straight home to Mt Eden, so I jumped on an InnerLink in Queens St and got caught in the almighty traffic shit-fight in Nelson/Victoria Streets. While I was sitting on the bus (like forever) watching the cyclists flying along the Nelson Street cycle way and wondering what the hell was going on it crossed my mind that of course my normal commute home i.e. train from Britomart to Kingsland station would have been completely immune to the chaos on the roads.
Hosking is the most selfish, self centred and ill-tempered "journo" in the country. I haven't read any of his contributions for years but feedback suggests he's worse than ever.
Look at his most recent tantrum over the demise of plastic bags. He doesn't give a damm about the awful consequences. All he's interested in is his own personal inconvenience. The rest of us get on with finding alternatives but no… he's too precious. He has to bellow his annoyance to all and sundry. In short, he's a narcissist.
What's the bet he complained that he should be behind the pay wall too cos he's NZ's premium current affairs expert.
Yet Hosking gets listened to muchly. What does that say about a large number of NZs who must find him agreeable in his constant bad-tempered argument. I think people who listen to him need to think for themselves, they might find they can become problem solvers instead of joining his followers who are all constipated, curmudgeonly cyclops.
TalkBack radio outlets like ZB and radio live are based on opinionators agitating and pitching memes. Their advertisers don't want the independent thinkers.
Heard a piece in a cab from the mediawanks stable that would've had them seeing the authorities if broadcast in Oz.
Wilfully inaccurate to manufacture consent with hand picked callers aligned. Immigration dogwhistling.
Dedicated cycleways are OK but in Christchurch they all have curbs so people with mobility issues are effectively shut out of every area that has a cycle path. People with walkers have to use the precious energy walking out of their way to find a gap as do people in wheelchairs. To be honest the town planners have not taken into account the ageing population and the fact that in 10 years time the cycle ways should have been constructed to accommodate mobility scooters and wheelchairs as there will be more people using these than bikes.
Ye Lucy so true. Nelson has a big number of retirees but their needs are overlooked in the rush to get modern, and help non-car users. We need to make it easier to get public transport, and have a toll system that starts to lessen car use for a start. And shared pathways need to have median fences. It has taken ages and tons of crashes for authorities to finally stop blaming individuals for not driving perfectly, and usually once they are up the crashes go way down.
That the authorities are allowed to introduce fast moving mechanical devices on footpaths, in a city with many old people and where Green Prescriptions advise people to walk more for good health and a relief from stress. The ability to do so has at the same time been jeopardised by thoughtless she'll-be-right planning; just a repeat of the bone-headed approach of not bothering to ensure suitable and safe lanes appropriate for users.
Ironic that Hoskin's rant today is about centralising the health system and bemoaning that different regions set their own policy.
Not that I don't think centralisation isn't necessary but it's odd to see him and Farrar champion the practise while railing against it so hard in other areas of social policy – education, for instance.
LOL. I've often wondered how I'd react to him if he turned up in the audience. Possibly walk off and refuse to entertain him. Possibly bend over for the cheque…
I think the size of the check is the determinate factor. We all dance for the organ grinder, but his is a particularly pernicious piece.
Absolutely. I'm gonna recycle your beard joke on furry folk in the audience (passing cloud). Bloody good line. Impromptu, yours?
Heres one for the greenies.
Speaking of #metoo. Pandas are a pack of wife beaters. That's why they're not breeding. Give them a bamboo buffet and running water, ambient music, years to figure it out. Whadda ya got? Two black eyes, no babies.
That having been said, where there are no cycle lanes cycling still has the issue with either being squished by heavy machinery, or squishing people who are just walking along. That's just a fact of putting thousands of people together: someone will screw up and hit someone else. The trouble with cyclists is that if one is a jerk and acts like a hazard, there's no reggo to report.
An interesting idea someone floated was to abandon "vehicle", "pedestrian" and "cycle" designations and run the same lanes as speed criteria: <10kph, 10-30kph, 30+kph. That would deal to new tech (e.g. scooters, "It") as well as keep everyone safe because speeder just flip into the next lane to avoid slower people.
Would need wider roads and pavements to get the lanes and need to put a rego on the walkers as well.. But personally I'd prefer fully separated lanes with a barrier. It is a whole lot safer for everyone.
I have had issues with some pedestrians on the combined cycle/walkway taking up the whole of the path in both directions going one way despite the clearly marked lanes, especially around the university. Apparently it makes talking to each other much easier when you are doing it 5 kids wide. But most pedestrians are pretty good about using the lanes, just as I am pretty good about how I use pedestrian pavements.
The only injury I have had so far was from my own inattention. Was crossing the off-ramp on Newton road just down the hill from home one very rainy night. Was watching for cars, and missed a runner coming down the hill. Spotted him out of the side of my eye as I started to cross from a standing start, jerked, and slid the front wheel out from under me. Belted my right knee on the road.
Nearest to a serious accident that I have had was some munter on Don McKinnon drive on the old cycle/walkway. After dusk one friday night, on a blind corner, without turning his car lights on, he'd backed almost all the way across the cycleway from his parked position to try to get on to the road. I came down the hill on the bike at about 20km watching out for walkers in the cycle lane (the usual problem) and didn't have lot of time to react to a car lunging out backwards into my path. I think that the driver was rather startled as I started to scream at him. He certainly reversed direction and went out the correct way pretty damn fast.
But it is a continual issue, especially at my age. Nothing heals particularly fast any more.
I’ve seen some cyclists doing some pretty appalling things as well. Mostly going across pedestrians crossing with the lights against them. Frigging dangerous.
I have had issues with some pedestrians on the combined cycle/walkway taking up the whole of the path in both directions going one way despite the clearly marked lanes…
I got a broken bone in my hand out of that one – too old to be doing emergency stops when I come round a corner and find the path completely blocked by pedestrians 5-abreast.
Scares the hell out of me. These days I slow down before corners and try to contain my temper with gaggles of young 'adults' trying to kill themselves.
In my general accumulation of safety equipment, I've ordered a programmable battery powered horn so I can give a good raspberry (or whatever else I want to plug in) as the 'horn' sound. I was thinking about programming the noise of a old diesel land rover and programming it to turn on loudly just before known blind corners..
I'll be heading out more on to the road – I wonder what volume I can get off it. See if I can penetrate the thickness between me and car drivers…
Pedestrians like that piss me off, too, but I've never thought something like "holy fuck I would have been flying if that prick had been two inches to the left, I swear his caot brushed the hairs on the back of my hand" about pedestrians.
Look at the Mess he has got Auckland into! I think we are all hoping he doesn't go over the edge in St Helliers. There are enough dead fish there already.
He has been hopping in and out of gentlemens pockets for years. And knows nothing of real life. He goes under the famous Blanket of ZB. It's time they washed and rinsed that smelly Blanket out.
You do realise a lot of people don't live a 10 minute bike ride from their work and have to live fricken miles away to afford a place and there are no trains or buses?
Oh yeah. That is what I mean about conservatives being short sighted. I brought here deliberately because of the transport screwup I saw coming.
Back in late 1997 I looked at how National and their proxy C&R had been running Auckland into the ground. I figured that they would retain control for some time in Auckland doing the same stupid things. Encouraging inwards migration, not putting in parking or roads, selling off critical assets, not fixing the public transport or water or sewerage and generally being short-sighted conservatives – whoc couldn't be trusted to not screw things up in the long term.
So I brought a inner city apartment right next to the end of all of the motorways, near the hub of what public transport remained operating, and close to the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field.
I was right on.
The only thing that was irritating was the leaky building crap and the changes to the legislation requiring cavity wall when repairs were made to a monolithic wall. I also made sure that where I brought was properly inspected by the council – so the C&R arseholes would up paying for the repairs despite their stupid inspector privatisation.
I'd have also preferred to have a bit more area. But I couldn't find an apartment at the time with a larger floor area and a high ceiling.
But when the traffic got to be a pain, I shifted to public transport for a while. Then I stopped taking jobs that were more than a 10 minute commute. I could do it because of forethought.
Conservatives suck at forward thinking… Hosking is just a prime example.
What were the estimates for the usage of cycling lanes prior to them being built?
And what is the usage now? You appear to know the numbers. Why not provide the people who don't remember ever having seen them? Not everyone reads the Herald you know, and I presume they were published there. Then we could have someone who follows the approach recommended in this post.
"Umm I remember that (and again it’d be very helpful if our fool could put in links)."
Will dig them out when I have time – maybe after I fix search.
However they were written up at Greater Auckland blog when Hosking went inane. Look there I’d you want them sooner. They specialise in that type of data.
I don’t think that I have ever seen them the herald. They aren’t very good on detail (or links) and perhaps you should request Hosking should do that… After all he is paid for it I am not.
"Oh yeah. That is what I mean about conservatives being short sighted. I brought here deliberately because of the transport screwup I saw coming.
Back in late 1997 I looked at how National and their proxy C&R had been running Auckland into the ground. I figured that they would retain control for some time in Auckland doing the same stupid things. Encouraging inwards migration, not putting in parking or roads, selling off critical assets, not fixing the public transport or water or sewerage and generally being short-sighted conservatives – whoc couldn't be trusted to not screw things up in the long term.
So I brought a inner city apartment right next to the end of all of the motorways, near the hub of what public transport remained operating, and close to the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field."
Sorry LP – but "Auckland" is no-longer just "CBD" (did you miss the Dame Bazley dissonance ?)
Just what is your "work" ? – if "the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field." – is at the end of all the motorways ?
The majority of Aucklanders do not live or work in the CBD – have no need to commute to the CBD – and from what I can see, significant CBD employers are contracting headcount. (Skycity excluded)
Auckland CBD is a minion in the future of AUCKLAND.
You appear to have not read the comment carefully without introducing your biases
The highest concentration in the country of programming jobs of the type I prefer (essentially ones who build software doe export) are within 5km of where I live.
All of the transport routes for Auckland isthmus converge here.
Also relevant in 1997 was that this was one of the few places in the country you could get good comms.
It was a case of live in near the transport or work offshore. I chose here in the city fringe (why would I live in the CBD? It has always sucked in there for any kind of transport).
And I anticipated that the short sighted dumbarse conservatives couldn't run Auckland properly…
From where I live I could get to Albany, and Manakau and much of the west within 20 minutes by car in 1998. All that has happened since then was that my limits have contracted because the traffic got worse. Now on average at rush hours it takes 30 minutes to get to Penrose or over the bridge. But I still have the highest choice of employers within 20 minutes. Now with bike lanes, 20 minutes gets me most of the way to the parts of west Auckland nowhere south or north (no bike lanes). But most places in the city fringe and every where in the CBD. I also get excellent comms.
Still max choices for a programmer.
Your comment is just nuts… Try reading mine for a change.
Yes – I do read and respect your ascriptions – you are rarely infallible in reason. I just wish to emphasise the trend of irrelevance of location in contemporary commerce.
Getting somewhere quickly is a virtue of diminishing value – hospitals and good curries excluded.
I used to think that as well – 20 years ago. I'm glad now that I was cautious about moving to Glenorchy and coding from there (the lack of decent comms was finally the deciding factor).
20 years ago I was programming education simulations running on US servers targeted mostly at US customers. So I started working from home and running a team of programmers remotely. Worked well. Still does – my partner is slowly building a business that does a lot of content and QA based on the same thing. She works with people scattered everywhere – quite a few in New York for some reason.
I still do those. I just got off a wee R&D project where I was working with a team that was mostly in Austin Texas, others in aussie, and a couple of us in Auckland. Daily standups via webex. That was mostly code for androids and providing sources for generic data analytics.
But these days I work mostly by writing code for specialised vertical market bespoke hardware – it is more fun. That means I need to be at or very close to mechanical, electronics, system, firmware, testing and god knows what other kind of engineers all the time when I'm on those projects.
I need to have someone who can actually measure the voltage on a line. Someone who can find and fix a crimped rs485 line. Someone who can test the actual power on a power amp. Looks that the frequencies actually being transmitted. Or solder a wire into a PCB to get around a flaw in a prototype board.
Similarly I need to be around those bods because they need to get me to look at what they're seeing. They need me to immediately fix the blocker that they just showed me. It is a VERY collaborative process.
Sure I could probably do the project managers and project engineers and other programmers remotely. But it is a hell of a lot faster when we get a few relevant people in a room together. The easiest way to do that is to have them in the same location. Similarly the suppliers of prototype gear. Sure we can do a lot from overseas with PCBs etc. But hell – we test production, assembly and QA processes here before shipping them elsewhere. We have what is essentially a prototype manufacturing plant to do it.
I write export code. Most of which is about making sure that it works, and increasingly that is causing R&D and bespoke concentrations rather than dispersal. This isn't hard to see – it is why you're seeing the bigger cities getting even bigger.
This is the 3rd of of 5 firms of this kind that I have done the last decade and a bit. It isn’t hard to find work of this export kind in Auckland. But I’ve lived in Hamilton, Dunedin, Wellington in NZ, and it wasn’t and still isn’t possible in any of those. You can find a couple of firms, but that is it. A paucity of opportunity. There are more in ChCh, but half of the people I know of there are actually working for Auckland firms (including my line boss). They move there for the housing prices and spend a lot of time in Auckland hotels.
So for many things you can do everything from anywhere. But not everything, and especially not over decades, and also the really high value things that I like to work on.
Yep – a few Albany / East Tamaki / Constellation initiatives fit your brief in AUCKLAND. RS485 hardwired issues are often mitigated in the field by ZigBee adoption – those old differential gambits have no place in delivering to a contemporary GPIO dependent environment – too much sporadic E out there.
Which R&D concentrations are specifically in Auckland ?
It would be weird to restrict your residential locale apropos the odd escalated issue – but it is fair to seek reason. I live outside the CBD fringe – but coastal, the echo of surf resonates.
I have now realised that CBD proximity is not critical – so much is Rosedale and Rosebank.
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When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...
Holly Lawford-Smith is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She’s currently writing a book about radical feminism. This article appeared on Feminist Current Academics should be standing together in defence of universities’ fundamental values: the ...
The Otago Daily Times has an in-depth article about the future of wind energy in New Zealand, and it is looking bright:The news that wind will play the leading role in New Zealand’s energy future was put up in lights ...
If the sight of schoolkids striking for a future has been filling you with hope, good news: they want you to join them on September 27:Students will take to the streets again demanding action on climate change, and this time ...
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...
To express concern about foreign ownership and control in New Zealand is often to invite accusations of xenophobia and economic illiteracy. It is worthwhile, therefore, to rehearse the grounds for that concern, and to explore the various forms it can ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Government spent $133,530 on producing its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ document, a cost blowout largely driven by spending on graphic design and photography. The $133,530 price tag compares to $86,268 ...
Kahungunu Māori Language Awards. Nominations closed on 5 July 2019, and were judged by the Senior Management Team of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated. The judges wish to acknowledge the very high calibre of all nominations received making it a very ...
High Court of Australia Judge, Justice Stephen Gageler, will address recent criticism of court judgment delays in Australia, at the University of Canterbury (UC) on 23 July at 6.15pm. ...
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Inquiry’s proceedings but does not constitute the official record. The full Minute is available at the link below. ...
The Tertiary Education Commission is laying charges under section 292A of the Education Act 1989 against three individuals for making a false representation for the purpose of receiving, or continuing to receive, free tertiary education from a tertiary education ...
New Zealand food businesses today welcomed a trio of new food safety tools, designed to make it faster, easier and more affordable to follow the rules and keep consumers safe. ...
AUT research shows that Māori children are almost four times more likely than those of European descent to be placed out of home by child protection services ...
The Government announced today that grants of up to $2,500 for energy efficient heaters are now available as part of the Government’s Warmer Kiwi Homes programme. ...
Fonterra’s use of coal has been the target of numerous grassroots campaigns in recent years. Last year 350 Aotearoa affiliated groups, Fossil Free Aoraki and 350 Nelson launched a petition dismissing the dairy giant’s initial target of no new ...
Information sessions on proposals for The Medicinal Cannabis Scheme take place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch over the next fortnight. The sessions are open to anyone with an interest in learning more about the proposed scheme. ...
“Our children are our most vulnerable, most innocent victims and we do not want to see any more children harmed by these ‘known sex offenders’. The safety of our community must be the paramount consideration.” ...
“The announcement that Fonterra will immediately stop installing any new coal boilers or increasing capacity to burn coal is the signal that the biomass fuel supply industry welcomes” said Brian Cox, Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association. ...
18 July 2019-- Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) today welcomed Fonterra’s commitment to build no new coal plants, a “no brainer” for the climate crisis the world faces. The group has been urging this transition for six years now and ...
The increase in demand for cage-free eggs is set to continue according to animal rights organisation SAFE, who says the egg industry should expect this and prepare. ...
Wellington, New Zealand – 350 Pacific made a formal submission to the New Zealand Government’s Environment Parliamentary Select Committee on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, led by the Pacific Climate Warriors (PCWs) based in ...
There used to be a school of thought on the centre right side of politics that the best way to neuter the Greens as a political force would be to let them have a spell in government. Then, according to ...
Today (18 July) is Nelson Mandela International Day when the United Nations highlights the importance of humane conditions of imprisonment. In New Zealand our prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. At 214 prisoners per 100,000 people, we have the fifth ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa will take legal action over the lengthy delay in implementing pay increases for teachers. Novopay announced yesterday that teachers would have to wait until 11 September to see pay increases that they won when they settled ...
EDS has filed its submission on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. The Bill sets targets for greenhouse gas reductions, provides for the government to set a series of carbon budgets, and sets up a new, independent, Climate ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has identified an absurd case of mission creep at Wellington City Council: the decision to spend $21,750 on two Consumer NZ investigations into different brands of bike lights. ...
The Motor Trade Association is welcoming the release of the Government’s new draft road safety strategy. MTA Chief Executive Craig Pomare says the association is pleased to see vehicle safety has been made a priority in the Road to Zero ...
The Department of Conservation continue to repeat the same old story about attacks on staff and how it is affecting their role in protecting our precious wildlife. NZ herald https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12249704 ...
The government's silence on the fact that the country's second-largest milk processor is on the brink of becoming 25% Chinese Government owned has been deafening. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ welcomes the coalition Government’s endeavour to take action on reducing agricultural emissions but is disappointed at the weak stance that the Government has taken on the issue. ...
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has issued a formal warning under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act) to seven reporting entities within the Regus Management Limited (RNZML) designated business ...
The Northland Regional Council (NRC) has voted to exclude all GM/GE precautionary provisions in its regional plan, despite years of community engagement showing support for such protection. There is a sense of betrayal following the way the NRC Chairman ...
New Zealand’s ‘mission-driven’ charities working in international aid are showing early signs of changing the way they work, in particular prioritising building the capacity and resilience of local communities to do their own development. ...
Teachers will have to wait until 11 September for pay increases won as part of their collective agreement negotiations settled in June, according to an update sent to schools today from Novopay. ...
July 16 (BusinessDesk) - Energy Minister Megan Woods says the government “won’t die in a ditch” if its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity generation isn't reached by 2035. ...
The Electricity Networks Association (ENA) is welcoming the Government’s response to the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Report released today. Graeme Peters, chief executive of the ENA, said one of the key recommendations, endorsed by the ...
An article* published this month in the Journal of Health Organization and Management raises questions over the way health board members are elected and whether the boards are even needed. ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa's kindergarten teacher members will vote on a proposed settlement to their collective agreement after four days of negotiations with the Ministry of Education and kindergarten employers. ...
Vector has today welcomed the ICCC’s report on Accelerated Electrification . Vector agrees that accelerating the electrification of transport and process heat will play a major role in reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Initiatives to ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Porirua City Council to cancel its underwriting of a proposed Canadian-led privately owned adventure park slated for public land after a similar project created a huge liability for Christchurch ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero welcome the Interim Climate Change Committee’s (ICCC’s) reports: Accelerated Electrification and Action on agricultural emissions ; which were finally released by the Government today, almost three months ...
Fish & Game New Zealand notes the announcement today that the Government and the intensive agriculture leadership have reached a ‘historic consensus’ and are exploring using a formal sector-government agreement instead of bringing agriculture ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on Accelerated Electrification was released today by the Minister for Energy and Resources, Hon Dr Megan Woods. ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report Action on agricultural emissions was released today by the Minister for Climate Change, Hon James Shaw and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Damien O’Connor. ...
Please find attached embargoed copies of two media statements from the Interim Climate Change Committee http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1907/Embargoed_Interim_Climate_Change_Committee_Accelerated_electrification_MEDIA_STATEMENT.pdf ...
Greenpeace Executive Director, Dr Russel Norman, has reacted with disbelief that the Government’s latest climate proposal includes an option for dairy to voluntarily deal with their emissions over the next six years. ...
This week’s “Youth Parliament” is an expensive waste of time that promotes taxpayer-funded junketeering, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “We shouldn’t be training kids on the joys of the trough,” says Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones admitted on Q+A tonight that the state of New Zealand’s infrastructure planning is “dismal” and the government needs to get on with building “rather than writing more reports about it.” ...
Aaron Kreisler looks beyond the gags in this survey of an artist and his dogsat the Christchurch Art Gallery.“The dog really must love him, it’s so incredibly patient…”, a woman says to her daughter, punctuating a screening of Coin ...
‘He wants to sleep with you,’ a close friend had said. ‘Then you’ll be able to tell if it is going to lead anywhere’: a short story by New Plymouth author Elizabeth Smither. Photography by Peter Black. ...
Opinion - The leadership visits are more interesting in that they serve as a spotlight on the two countries - politically, and on policy issues, writes Brigette Morten. ...
Created by future ACT Party leader Richard Prebble after an epic reform bender in the 80s, NZ on Air has just marked its third decade. Duncan Greive relates its history and asks: is the funder still fit for purpose?It’s a ...
It helps that he played in the New Zealand cricket team when they lost the 1992 semi-final and went on to coach India, writes Georgie Wright, daughter of JohnMy dad has taught me a fair few things over my 25 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan – one with a reduced pace, despite the 24 ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and ...
Jacinda Ardern’s Melbourne trip wrapped up with nothing to show on longstanding trans-Tasman concerns, but was a potent reminder of her international appeal. ...
Pricing agricultural emissions first at the processor level - such as Fonterra - rather than right down at farm level stacks up as a gap measure says Catherine Leining. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Children and Technology, Western Sydney University Instagram is running a social media experiment in Australia and elsewhere to see what happens when it hides the number of likes on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin University Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter here, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au. Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling You’ve probably heard that this week marks 50 years since humans first set foot on the Moon – a feat that still boggles the mind given ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Gentilin, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University As strange as it might sound, whistleblowers in Australia have reason to rejoice – so long as they are in the private sector. Thanks to new ...
The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture.For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to ...
The collapse of a multi-billion dollar deal to sell AMP's life insurance division to a British company for $3.6 billion is the fault of the companies, according to the Reserve Bank. ...
A poem by Miramar poet Geoff Cochrane.Channel HoppingStupa or Stuka?Weet-Bix or Welsh rabbit?Galactic aerodrome or Matchbox truck?*I’m young in my dreams, still young.*Beautiful Keanu’s wearing shades—antique shades with iodine-coloured lenses.*I’m young in my dreams, still young,and I still have some ...
For the month of July, Josie Adams is taking on the challenge of being low-waste. That means minimising plastics, emissions, and even recyclables. Each week we release her diary. This is week two.Read week one here.I’ll be honest, week two ...
By Royson Willie in Port Vila Two Vanuatu Daily Post journalists were literally given a pat-down by the police criminal investigation unit yesterday over a story they had written about the vehicle of the Chairman of the Public Service ...
By Gorothy Kenneth in Port Moresby Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape will visit Australia this weekend for a week-long state visit and the Bougainville independence referendum in less than three months is expected to be high on ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
Wtf did we just watch?That sound you heard was a million furries screaming in ecstasy as their fantasy and everyone else’s nightmare came to life in the form of the first trailer for the live action version of Cats.Is it ...
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.AUCKLAND1 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35)Fucking ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
As we mark the fiftieth anniversary the July 20th Moon landing Dr Nick Long reflects on what that's meant for New Zealand and considers the space 'gold rush' ahead. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Griebsch, Specialist and Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine, University Veterinary Teaching Hospital Sydney, Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney Recently reported cases of the often fatal bacterial infection ...
My selection of the eight best morning news links from here and overseas, along with eight lunchtime lean-back long reads. Also, the full list of links, including Jacinda Ardern's trip to Australia, the big emissions report, Fonterra's coal move and a new ...
Heaven is a place on earth, and June is saving the world one ’80s pop hit at a time. Tara Ward recaps season 4, episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be, for there was a tiny bit of good news ...
Finance companies say they shouldn’t have to be ‘fit and proper’ even though in some cases they charge more than the planned clampdown on high cost lending. A group of finance companies that charges well over the government’s proposed cap on ...
An ANZ shareholder is demanding the bank disclose more information about the sale of an Auckland residential property to its former chief executive and his family. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentForeign Affairs and trade Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The new, ...
Tara Ward sets out on a valiant quest to find the best apple in Aotearoa. The idea that every apple is a good apple is fake news. We’ve all got stories about shit experiences with apples, when it looked good on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Sarkissian, Operations Scientist, CSIRO The role Australia played in relaying the first television images of astronaut Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the Moon 50 years ago this July features in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lyndal Sleep, Research Fellow, Griffith University In Australia’s social security laws, the “couple rule” is used to determine if a person is in a relationship, tying access to Centrelink payments to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Walker, Lecturer (Management), Victoria University of Wellington We live in a society obsessed with performance. For both young and old, competitions, awards and rankings are an inescapable feature of life. How ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan O’Connell, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne One-third of all preschools may lack a qualified teacher in the next four years if nothing changes, my new modelling shows. Currently, half of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsty Volz, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Of all the mantras for modernism, the one I think most befitting for Australian mid-century modern houses is L’esprit Nouveau – The New Spirit. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Skifield snowmaking a sign of the future, vaccination rates fall alarmingly, and construction industry encouraged to lower emissions.Snowmaking has saved the ski industry from disaster this year, after the weather ...
Neil Armstrong may have been the first man on the moon, but if we define the ‘space race’ as spaceflight capability, the Soviets won it hands down, writes Jennifer Frost. ...
Joel Rindelaub explains why it's so important for those weighing on climate science to be transparent about their funding sources and conflicts of interest. ...
Our government and leaders are (still) divided on the question of compulsory te reo Māori. Who’s for it, who’s against it, and who’s flip flopping around in the middle?Under article two of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the government pledges to ...
On my reliable commute and dipshits like Mike Hosking 
It is a rare household today that doesn’t have the same number of vehicles as the number of adults with licenses. This is why the berms are illegally filled with parked cars and Wilsons parking taking in money hand over fist.
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...16 hours ago
This week, in the wake of National's opposition to even talking about reducing agricultural emissions and Simon Bridges' refusal to recognise that there is a climate emergency, I've been saying that National is unfit to govern. And it looks like ...18 hours ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...21 hours ago
I have been reading and listening to the aftermath of Trump’s comments about the four female first term Democratic representatives, all of whom are “people of color.” I found the US coverage interesting both as evidence of partisanship and the ...2 days ago
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...2 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...3 days ago
3 days ago
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...4 days ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...4 days ago
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...6 days ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...1 week ago
1 week ago
2 weeks ago
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...2 weeks ago
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...3 weeks ago
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...3 weeks ago
Image Credit: Blog Writing Tips. I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the ... 3 weeks ago
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...4 days ago
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...16 hours ago
Aaron Kreisler looks beyond the gags in this survey of an artist and his dogs at the Christchurch Art Gallery.“The dog really must love him, it’s so incredibly patient…”, a woman says to her daughter, punctuating a screening of Coin ...2 hours ago
‘He wants to sleep with you,’ a close friend had said. ‘Then you’ll be able to tell if it is going to lead anywhere’: a short story by New Plymouth author Elizabeth Smither. Photography by Peter Black. ...2 hours ago
Opinion - The leadership visits are more interesting in that they serve as a spotlight on the two countries - politically, and on policy issues, writes Brigette Morten. ...3 hours ago
Created by future ACT Party leader Richard Prebble after an epic reform bender in the 80s, NZ on Air has just marked its third decade. Duncan Greive relates its history and asks: is the funder still fit for purpose?It’s a ...4 hours ago
It helps that he played in the New Zealand cricket team when they lost the 1992 semi-final and went on to coach India, writes Georgie Wright, daughter of JohnMy dad has taught me a fair few things over my 25 ...9 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan – one with a reduced pace, despite the 24 ...14 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cherie Hugo, Teaching Fellow, Nutrition & Dietetics, Bond University The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety this week turned its attention to food and nutrition. The testimony of maggots in ...16 hours ago
Jacinda Ardern’s Melbourne trip wrapped up with nothing to show on longstanding trans-Tasman concerns, but was a potent reminder of her international appeal. ...16 hours ago
Pricing agricultural emissions first at the processor level - such as Fonterra - rather than right down at farm level stacks up as a gap measure says Catherine Leining. ...17 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin University Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter here, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au. Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome ...18 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Gentilin, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University As strange as it might sound, whistleblowers in Australia have reason to rejoice – so long as they are in the private sector. Thanks to new ...19 hours ago
The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture.For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to ...19 hours ago
The collapse of a multi-billion dollar deal to sell AMP's life insurance division to a British company for $3.6 billion is the fault of the companies, according to the Reserve Bank. ...19 hours ago
A poem by Miramar poet Geoff Cochrane. Channel Hopping Stupa or Stuka?Weet-Bix or Welsh rabbit?Galactic aerodrome or Matchbox truck?*I’m young in my dreams, still young.*Beautiful Keanu’s wearing shades—antique shades with iodine-coloured lenses.*I’m young in my dreams, still young,and I still have some ...20 hours ago
For the month of July, Josie Adams is taking on the challenge of being low-waste. That means minimising plastics, emissions, and even recyclables. Each week we release her diary. This is week two.Read week one here.I’ll be honest, week two ...20 hours ago
By Royson Willie in Port Vila Two Vanuatu Daily Post journalists were literally given a pat-down by the police criminal investigation unit yesterday over a story they had written about the vehicle of the Chairman of the Public Service ...20 hours ago
By Gorothy Kenneth in Port Moresby Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape will visit Australia this weekend for a week-long state visit and the Bougainville independence referendum in less than three months is expected to be high on ...20 hours ago
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...20 hours ago
Wtf did we just watch?That sound you heard was a million furries screaming in ecstasy as their fantasy and everyone else’s nightmare came to life in the form of the first trailer for the live action version of Cats.Is it ...20 hours ago
As we mark the fiftieth anniversary the July 20th Moon landing Dr Nick Long reflects on what that's meant for New Zealand and considers the space 'gold rush' ahead. ...21 hours ago
My selection of the eight best morning news links from here and overseas, along with eight lunchtime lean-back long reads. Also, the full list of links, including Jacinda Ardern's trip to Australia, the big emissions report, Fonterra's coal move and a new ...22 hours ago
John Banks' former lives, vegetable-based insults in Auckland's mayoral race and metaphorical cabbage - James Elliott has it all. ...22 hours ago
Heaven is a place on earth, and June is saving the world one ’80s pop hit at a time. Tara Ward recaps season 4, episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be, for there was a tiny bit of good news ...23 hours ago
An ANZ shareholder is demanding the bank disclose more information about the sale of an Auckland residential property to its former chief executive and his family. ...24 hours ago
Tara Ward sets out on a valiant quest to find the best apple in Aotearoa. The idea that every apple is a good apple is fake news. We’ve all got stories about shit experiences with apples, when it looked good on ...1 day ago
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Isn't Hosking the one who wants all public transport canned? So everyone can enjoy the pleasure of driving themselves to work and observing all the others 'driving' to work? And parking, um, where?
I must get a bell on my bike to warn pedestrians on shared footpaths.
In London some footpaths are dual use and they work OK but dedicated bike lanes are better. Some Underground Stations have huge bike stands outside the door. So go the support for a NZ massive trend towards biking. And with a flash helmet like that even Mike could not deny seeing you as he tries to accidentally run you down.
Compulsory Ferraris I say. Lacking the 'excellence' and 'personal responsibility' to afford one? Then die in a ditch loser! Roads are for winners (like Mike).
And another great way of unclogging the roads would be if everyone worked less. Didn't some guy back in the '70's say we would all be working 10-hour weeks by now due to technology? Clearly Toffler was extraordinarily naive about the nature of capitalism – or believed that technology somehow transcended the economic system within which it was deployed.
I had to go to Ponsonby after work yesterday afternoon rather than straight home to Mt Eden, so I jumped on an InnerLink in Queens St and got caught in the almighty traffic shit-fight in Nelson/Victoria Streets. While I was sitting on the bus (like forever) watching the cyclists flying along the Nelson Street cycle way and wondering what the hell was going on it crossed my mind that of course my normal commute home i.e. train from Britomart to Kingsland station would have been completely immune to the chaos on the roads.
Hosking is the most selfish, self centred and ill-tempered "journo" in the country. I haven't read any of his contributions for years but feedback suggests he's worse than ever.
Look at his most recent tantrum over the demise of plastic bags. He doesn't give a damm about the awful consequences. All he's interested in is his own personal inconvenience. The rest of us get on with finding alternatives but no… he's too precious. He has to bellow his annoyance to all and sundry. In short, he's a narcissist.
What's the bet he complained that he should be behind the pay wall too cos he's NZ's premium current affairs expert.
Yet Hosking gets listened to muchly. What does that say about a large number of NZs who must find him agreeable in his constant bad-tempered argument. I think people who listen to him need to think for themselves, they might find they can become problem solvers instead of joining his followers who are all constipated, curmudgeonly cyclops.
TalkBack radio outlets like ZB and radio live are based on opinionators agitating and pitching memes. Their advertisers don't want the independent thinkers.
Heard a piece in a cab from the mediawanks stable that would've had them seeing the authorities if broadcast in Oz.
Wilfully inaccurate to manufacture consent with hand picked callers aligned. Immigration dogwhistling.
Hosking is an "Opinionist" rather than a Journalist. I don't know if he has any qualifications in anything other than kissing up to the NACTs.
Hosking has clearly forgotten that the undisputed champion of cycle ways was his hero-John Key.
Dedicated cycleways are OK but in Christchurch they all have curbs so people with mobility issues are effectively shut out of every area that has a cycle path. People with walkers have to use the precious energy walking out of their way to find a gap as do people in wheelchairs. To be honest the town planners have not taken into account the ageing population and the fact that in 10 years time the cycle ways should have been constructed to accommodate mobility scooters and wheelchairs as there will be more people using these than bikes.
Ye Lucy so true. Nelson has a big number of retirees but their needs are overlooked in the rush to get modern, and help non-car users. We need to make it easier to get public transport, and have a toll system that starts to lessen car use for a start. And shared pathways need to have median fences. It has taken ages and tons of crashes for authorities to finally stop blaming individuals for not driving perfectly, and usually once they are up the crashes go way down.
That the authorities are allowed to introduce fast moving mechanical devices on footpaths, in a city with many old people and where Green Prescriptions advise people to walk more for good health and a relief from stress. The ability to do so has at the same time been jeopardised by thoughtless she'll-be-right planning; just a repeat of the bone-headed approach of not bothering to ensure suitable and safe lanes appropriate for users.
Ironic that Hoskin's rant today is about centralising the health system and bemoaning that different regions set their own policy.
Not that I don't think centralisation isn't necessary but it's odd to see him and Farrar champion the practise while railing against it so hard in other areas of social policy – education, for instance.
Hosking? HOLD MY F*#%IN' BEER!
LOL. I've often wondered how I'd react to him if he turned up in the audience. Possibly walk off and refuse to entertain him. Possibly bend over for the cheque…
I think the size of the check is the determinate factor. We all dance for the organ grinder, but his is a particularly pernicious piece.
Now I'm curious Bleep. What sort of audience?
Comedy. You'd be surprised who turns up at times. I've had a hiatus but back at it now.
You're joking!
Recycling is in.
New material from old material?
Absolutely. I'm gonna recycle your beard joke on furry folk in the audience (passing cloud). Bloody good line. Impromptu, yours?
Heres one for the greenies.
Speaking of #metoo. Pandas are a pack of wife beaters. That's why they're not breeding. Give them a bamboo buffet and running water, ambient music, years to figure it out. Whadda ya got? Two black eyes, no babies.
Hosking's a cock.
That having been said, where there are no cycle lanes cycling still has the issue with either being squished by heavy machinery, or squishing people who are just walking along. That's just a fact of putting thousands of people together: someone will screw up and hit someone else. The trouble with cyclists is that if one is a jerk and acts like a hazard, there's no reggo to report.
An interesting idea someone floated was to abandon "vehicle", "pedestrian" and "cycle" designations and run the same lanes as speed criteria: <10kph, 10-30kph, 30+kph. That would deal to new tech (e.g. scooters, "It") as well as keep everyone safe because speeder just flip into the next lane to avoid slower people.
Would need wider roads and pavements to get the lanes and need to put a rego on the walkers as well.. But personally I'd prefer fully separated lanes with a barrier. It is a whole lot safer for everyone.
I have had issues with some pedestrians on the combined cycle/walkway taking up the whole of the path in both directions going one way despite the clearly marked lanes, especially around the university. Apparently it makes talking to each other much easier when you are doing it 5 kids wide. But most pedestrians are pretty good about using the lanes, just as I am pretty good about how I use pedestrian pavements.
The only injury I have had so far was from my own inattention. Was crossing the off-ramp on Newton road just down the hill from home one very rainy night. Was watching for cars, and missed a runner coming down the hill. Spotted him out of the side of my eye as I started to cross from a standing start, jerked, and slid the front wheel out from under me. Belted my right knee on the road.
Nearest to a serious accident that I have had was some munter on Don McKinnon drive on the old cycle/walkway. After dusk one friday night, on a blind corner, without turning his car lights on, he'd backed almost all the way across the cycleway from his parked position to try to get on to the road. I came down the hill on the bike at about 20km watching out for walkers in the cycle lane (the usual problem) and didn't have lot of time to react to a car lunging out backwards into my path. I think that the driver was rather startled as I started to scream at him. He certainly reversed direction and went out the correct way pretty damn fast.
But it is a continual issue, especially at my age. Nothing heals particularly fast any more.
I’ve seen some cyclists doing some pretty appalling things as well. Mostly going across pedestrians crossing with the lights against them. Frigging dangerous.
I have had issues with some pedestrians on the combined cycle/walkway taking up the whole of the path in both directions going one way despite the clearly marked lanes…
I got a broken bone in my hand out of that one – too old to be doing emergency stops when I come round a corner and find the path completely blocked by pedestrians 5-abreast.
Scares the hell out of me. These days I slow down before corners and try to contain my temper with gaggles of young 'adults' trying to kill themselves.
In my general accumulation of safety equipment, I've ordered a programmable battery powered horn so I can give a good raspberry (or whatever else I want to plug in) as the 'horn' sound. I was thinking about programming the noise of a old diesel land rover and programming it to turn on loudly just before known blind corners..
I'll be heading out more on to the road – I wonder what volume I can get off it. See if I can penetrate the thickness between me and car drivers…
Pedestrians like that piss me off, too, but I've never thought something like "holy fuck I would have been flying if that prick had been two inches to the left, I swear his caot brushed the hairs on the back of my hand" about pedestrians.
Crikey – I thought Mr Hoskin was a Mr Fixit.
Look at the Mess he has got Auckland into! I think we are all hoping he doesn't go over the edge in St Helliers. There are enough dead fish there already.
He has been hopping in and out of gentlemens pockets for years. And knows nothing of real life. He goes under the famous Blanket of ZB. It's time they washed and rinsed that smelly Blanket out.
Nailed it, thankyou for calling out this muppet.
His article on marijuana legalization is almost as narrow minded and short sighted as this self centered opinion on cycleways.
Just out of interest
You do realise a lot of people don't live a 10 minute bike ride from their work and have to live fricken miles away to afford a place and there are no trains or buses?
Who's faults that?
Oh yeah. That is what I mean about conservatives being short sighted. I brought here deliberately because of the transport screwup I saw coming.
Back in late 1997 I looked at how National and their proxy C&R had been running Auckland into the ground. I figured that they would retain control for some time in Auckland doing the same stupid things. Encouraging inwards migration, not putting in parking or roads, selling off critical assets, not fixing the public transport or water or sewerage and generally being short-sighted conservatives – whoc couldn't be trusted to not screw things up in the long term.
So I brought a inner city apartment right next to the end of all of the motorways, near the hub of what public transport remained operating, and close to the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field.
I was right on.
The only thing that was irritating was the leaky building crap and the changes to the legislation requiring cavity wall when repairs were made to a monolithic wall. I also made sure that where I brought was properly inspected by the council – so the C&R arseholes would up paying for the repairs despite their stupid inspector privatisation.
I'd have also preferred to have a bit more area. But I couldn't find an apartment at the time with a larger floor area and a high ceiling.
But when the traffic got to be a pain, I shifted to public transport for a while. Then I stopped taking jobs that were more than a 10 minute commute. I could do it because of forethought.
Conservatives suck at forward thinking… Hosking is just a prime example.
What were the estimates for the usage of cycling lanes prior to them being built?
And what is the usage now? You appear to know the numbers. Why not provide the people who don't remember ever having seen them? Not everyone reads the Herald you know, and I presume they were published there. Then we could have someone who follows the approach recommended in this post.
"Umm I remember that (and again it’d be very helpful if our fool could put in links)."
Will dig them out when I have time – maybe after I fix search.
However they were written up at Greater Auckland blog when Hosking went inane. Look there I’d you want them sooner. They specialise in that type of data.
I don’t think that I have ever seen them the herald. They aren’t very good on detail (or links) and perhaps you should request Hosking should do that… After all he is paid for it I am not.
Updated: a two minute search
directly on the topic
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2018/11/13/the-heralds-latest-cycling-smear/
locations for data.
https://www.bikeauckland.org.nz/resources/cycling-facts-figures/
this one is just amusing
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12159988
and so is this
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/15-11-2018/if-you-think-cycleways-are-financially-disastrous-wait-till-you-hear-about-roads/
LP – why are you so CBD centric ?
"Oh yeah. That is what I mean about conservatives being short sighted. I brought here deliberately because of the transport screwup I saw coming.
Back in late 1997 I looked at how National and their proxy C&R had been running Auckland into the ground. I figured that they would retain control for some time in Auckland doing the same stupid things. Encouraging inwards migration, not putting in parking or roads, selling off critical assets, not fixing the public transport or water or sewerage and generally being short-sighted conservatives – whoc couldn't be trusted to not screw things up in the long term.
So I brought a inner city apartment right next to the end of all of the motorways, near the hub of what public transport remained operating, and close to the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field."
Sorry LP – but "Auckland" is no-longer just "CBD" (did you miss the Dame Bazley dissonance ?)
Just what is your "work" ? – if "the largest concentration of work in NZ in my chosen field." – is at the end of all the motorways ?
The majority of Aucklanders do not live or work in the CBD – have no need to commute to the CBD – and from what I can see, significant CBD employers are contracting headcount. (Skycity excluded)
Auckland CBD is a minion in the future of AUCKLAND.
You appear to have not read the comment carefully without introducing your biases
The highest concentration in the country of programming jobs of the type I prefer (essentially ones who build software doe export) are within 5km of where I live.
All of the transport routes for Auckland isthmus converge here.
Also relevant in 1997 was that this was one of the few places in the country you could get good comms.
It was a case of live in near the transport or work offshore. I chose here in the city fringe (why would I live in the CBD? It has always sucked in there for any kind of transport).
And I anticipated that the short sighted dumbarse conservatives couldn't run Auckland properly…
From where I live I could get to Albany, and Manakau and much of the west within 20 minutes by car in 1998. All that has happened since then was that my limits have contracted because the traffic got worse. Now on average at rush hours it takes 30 minutes to get to Penrose or over the bridge. But I still have the highest choice of employers within 20 minutes. Now with bike lanes, 20 minutes gets me most of the way to the parts of west Auckland nowhere south or north (no bike lanes). But most places in the city fringe and every where in the CBD. I also get excellent comms.
Still max choices for a programmer.
Your comment is just nuts… Try reading mine for a change.
Lynn
Yes – I do read and respect your ascriptions – you are rarely infallible in reason. I just wish to emphasise the trend of irrelevance of location in contemporary commerce.
Getting somewhere quickly is a virtue of diminishing value – hospitals and good curries excluded.
I used to think that as well – 20 years ago. I'm glad now that I was cautious about moving to Glenorchy and coding from there (the lack of decent comms was finally the deciding factor).
20 years ago I was programming education simulations running on US servers targeted mostly at US customers. So I started working from home and running a team of programmers remotely. Worked well. Still does – my partner is slowly building a business that does a lot of content and QA based on the same thing. She works with people scattered everywhere – quite a few in New York for some reason.
I still do those. I just got off a wee R&D project where I was working with a team that was mostly in Austin Texas, others in aussie, and a couple of us in Auckland. Daily standups via webex. That was mostly code for androids and providing sources for generic data analytics.
But these days I work mostly by writing code for specialised vertical market bespoke hardware – it is more fun. That means I need to be at or very close to mechanical, electronics, system, firmware, testing and god knows what other kind of engineers all the time when I'm on those projects.
I need to have someone who can actually measure the voltage on a line. Someone who can find and fix a crimped rs485 line. Someone who can test the actual power on a power amp. Looks that the frequencies actually being transmitted. Or solder a wire into a PCB to get around a flaw in a prototype board.
Similarly I need to be around those bods because they need to get me to look at what they're seeing. They need me to immediately fix the blocker that they just showed me. It is a VERY collaborative process.
Sure I could probably do the project managers and project engineers and other programmers remotely. But it is a hell of a lot faster when we get a few relevant people in a room together. The easiest way to do that is to have them in the same location. Similarly the suppliers of prototype gear. Sure we can do a lot from overseas with PCBs etc. But hell – we test production, assembly and QA processes here before shipping them elsewhere. We have what is essentially a prototype manufacturing plant to do it.
I write export code. Most of which is about making sure that it works, and increasingly that is causing R&D and bespoke concentrations rather than dispersal. This isn't hard to see – it is why you're seeing the bigger cities getting even bigger.
This is the 3rd of of 5 firms of this kind that I have done the last decade and a bit. It isn’t hard to find work of this export kind in Auckland. But I’ve lived in Hamilton, Dunedin, Wellington in NZ, and it wasn’t and still isn’t possible in any of those. You can find a couple of firms, but that is it. A paucity of opportunity. There are more in ChCh, but half of the people I know of there are actually working for Auckland firms (including my line boss). They move there for the housing prices and spend a lot of time in Auckland hotels.
So for many things you can do everything from anywhere. But not everything, and especially not over decades, and also the really high value things that I like to work on.
Yep – a few Albany / East Tamaki / Constellation initiatives fit your brief in AUCKLAND. RS485 hardwired issues are often mitigated in the field by ZigBee adoption – those old differential gambits have no place in delivering to a contemporary GPIO dependent environment – too much sporadic E out there.
Which R&D concentrations are specifically in Auckland ?
It would be weird to restrict your residential locale apropos the odd escalated issue – but it is fair to seek reason. I live outside the CBD fringe – but coastal, the echo of surf resonates.
I have now realised that CBD proximity is not critical – so much is Rosedale and Rosebank.
What language is that? What bubble are you from?