You made a claim that he had a handler. Now you clarify saying it is 'a judgement, so I presume no evidence.
I have no reason to believe you have a handler. Nor anyone else here.
It is common to try to discredit people commenting in social media by suggesting they are paid by or employed by someone. It's happened to me. I may well have done it in the past.
Without any evidence I think it's a questionable practice.
It’s not unlike trying to ‘guess’ someone’s identity or connections, as has happened below. I thought that was frowned on here.
By it's very nature there never going to be any direct information of what is going on in the background with these handles, so your attempt to demand I provide an impossible standard of evidence is rejected.
At the same time we know the CCP runs a huge number of these types all over the internet for certain. Therefore you cannot say for certain this 'Josh' is operating in good faith.
Here’s the issue. A “handler” does not need to be taken literally, as that would be naive and you, Pete, have been around the block enough to know better. Through media people are constantly influenced and manipulated and this blog, which is not “just a blog”, is not immune to ‘subversive elements’ trying to use this free forum for their nefarious goals. When people are manipulated without realising it, their strings are pulled by their ‘handler’ unbeknownst to them, often perceiving them “in good faith”. Even you, Pete, may have one or more handlers without knowing it 😉
Without any evidence I think it's a questionable practice.
It’s not unlike trying to ‘guess’ someone’s identity or connections, as has happened below. I thought that was frowned on here.
Why don’t you leave it with this site’s Moderators, Pete? They can see things that you can’t.
And I think making suggestions or attempting connections is particularly questionable when the person has made such abhorrent suggestions like dumping people out of planes.
Looking at their list of followers, including an MP, and ex party leader, an ex part general secretary and someone prominent here at TS (none of whom are responsible for the comment) I'm not sure that's an accurate assumption.
Four out of every five dollars donated to big parties in secret, sparking new push for transparency
Smaller parties like the Greens publicly disclose who provided most of their funding, but the big parties are secretive. 83 per cent ($8.7m over six years) of the money donated to National is from anonymous donors, and 80 per cent ($2.8m) of that donated to Labour.
The worst offender is NZ First: Most years, it allows every single one of its donors to remain secret.
The Labour Party is hiding tens of thousands of dollars in donations behind over-inflated art auctions – and naming the artists as donors instead of the secret individuals handing over the big bucks.
The artists had no idea the party was naming them as the donors – they never saw a cent of the money. They say their works are auctioned off at well above market value to wealthy benefactors who want to keep their support for the party secret.
Labour says the practice complies with electoral rules.
That was in 2017. NZ First donations are under increased scrutiny and are currently being investigated by the SFO. Jami-Lee Ross is being prosecuted, Lianne Dalziel, Phil Goff are under SFO investigation over donations.
Andrea Vance writes:
Politicians write the rules they so blatantly flout. The parties manage their own accounts and the cash that flows into them.
Now it's pretty obvious they can't be trusted, it's time to take away that power and ban them from accepting donations directly.
The only way to transparency is for an independent body to handle and process the donations, which would not be disclosed publicly or to the party.
That way the donor maintains their anonymity and privacy – and the law-makers cannot be in anyone's pocket.
The perception of influence and corruption would also be removed.
If donations remain allowed then this is one way of tidying things up a bit, but it wouldn't prevent what NZ First appear to have done, having donations paid into a separate NZ First Foundation and paying party expenses directly from the Foundation.
Would chanelling donations through an independent body (the Electoral Commission has been one suggestion) mean that limiting the size of donations wouldn't be necessary?
An independent handler would impact on all parties (especially the Greens) using donations drives as a part of member recruitment and communications.
It wouldn't stop donors advising parties they had donated certain amounts to the party via the independent handler.
I don't think there are any simple solutions to this.
The Electoral Commission and the SFO actually investigating and prosecuting will help, electoral rule had appeared to have been broken with impunity in the past.
We can't trust parties to set their own rules on this, they have proven to be too self-interested.
But I think there should still be some sort of independent review of how donations are handled. Perhaps by an independent panel of experts, but this could be informed by some sort of 'people's panel'.
I'm just a member of the Labour Party, but it seems pretty clear from the LEC meetings that this year that any officially Labour fundraiser donations will be declared correctly, including any auctions above market value.
But I think there should still be some sort of independent review of how donations are handled. Perhaps by an independent panel of experts, but this could be informed by some sort of 'people's panel'. [my italics]
Good to see that your thinking about this has evolved in just a few days.
Vance is in dreamland if she thinks that would prevent beholdenness. There are ways of making clear to the pollie you've bought, just who owns him/her.
Recently there have been snide comments at our PM gracing the covers of women’s magazines and Time. Well, what will those same critics say at Paula Bennett being on the cover of a couple of recent magazines. Hmm, there will be silence I suspect. The latest PB cover has her grinning maniacally and saying she is proud of her body. Classy?
Paula Bennett is performing as one would expect for someone of her ilk. The right have always used the mass media to sprinkle glitter on their turds. To deflect and to distract. To shamelessly self promote when credit is undeserved.
Not read and won't read the article, but I guess there's a lot of "effort" and "discipline " and "sacrifice"…..?
I have a loathing of the 'cult of celebrity' type crap that so called Leaders have recently embraced. Even Helen Clark resisted the glamour shots …until she shamefully buckled.
Maybe this is the reality of politics today. Don't examine actual achievements and pre- election promises kept, as long as the cover shot looks great all's good.
The latest PB cover has her grinning maniacally and saying she is proud of her body.
Seriously? She had gastric bypass surgery – if anyone gets to be proud of the result, surely it's the surgeon? In any case, "I'm proud of my body" is code for "I look so much better than you losers," and narcissism isn't one of the features a voter should look for in a politician.
and I was intrigued to see that most blogs that I have bookmarked are not listed. This does not seem to be new – previous rankings are also given, and I see they haven't included some of the "majors"for quite a while.
Can anyone comment on the reason for the change? Are measurements now essentially irrelevant where they can be so easily manipulated?
Thanks for that. From below that FAQ, I looked at results for August 2012. At that time the highest ranking blogs were Whale oil beef hooked, Kiwiblog, The Standard, Throng New Zealand, NewZeal.
I suspect the first three of those disappeared from the rankings some time ago, but at lest Kiwiblog and The Standard still exist. I have not seen why – the FAQ indicates technical reasons why some may not be included, but both Kiwiblog and The Standard appear to be well managed technically; I may have missed the reason for deciding not to have the traffic information available for ranking purposes.
When you get tens of thousands of pageviews per day, everything counts. From memory I disabled statcounter in April 2017 because it was slowing the pages at the client side. After I removed it the perceived render time increased by about 25% because the statcounter server was running slowly – and we were running on a paid account. The page would load on the client side but not fully render the css while it tried to update statcounter.
I actually turned on the free statcounter again in December for evaluation. They have shifted to an async counter (like google analytics) which causes less of the client side page loading problems. They also appear to have fixed up their server side issues.
Waiting for a larger traffic day so I can see what the performance is like.
We certainly have pretty good subsidies for the old and the young here.
But fully free done in New Zealand would be reasonably well targeted as it will mostly benefit the less-well-off, the students, and the unemployed. The ones with really nice cars who prefer their own stereo and freedom can continue along as they were.
Hopefully MoT policy teams are watching this one.
Because at the moment we are putting a lot more into large capital projects, rather than massive operational subsidies on the Luxembourg scale
Not just operational spending. They already have a PT system capable of delivering those free trips. NZ will not until we have made up for decades of roads-first spending. Yet we are still funding the wrong capital projects.
Making more and more things 'public goods' that are free at the point of use and funded collectively based on the ability to contribute, is an obvious way forward. Public luxury and private sufficiency' -as Monbiot (I think) described it. The obstacles to it are political rather than financial .
However you do need an infrastructure capable of supporting it – and in the case of PT it would likely result in overwhelmed and under-performing services that give the whole concept a bad reputation as a result.
Luxembourg is the second richest country in the world with an average GDP per capita of $79,593,91. The high figure is partly due to the large number of people working in the tiny landlocked nation while living in surrounding France, Germany and Belgium. Those salaries bump up the total on which the GDP per capita calculation is based on, but since they do not live in the country, they are not part of the number by which it divided.
In Luxembourg, the average household net wealth is estimated at USD 769 053, higher than the OECD average of USD 409 880.
Hopefully Biden's showing is good enough that Bloomberg realises his chances of becoming prez have just become zero so he drops out too. That would take one of the worst possible primary outcomes off the table.
Biden hasn't campaigned in Super Tuesday states and has run next to no advertising in those states either. Now sure, no doubt CNN and MSNBC et al will suggest that S. Carolina is really the first state that actually means very much and give Biden wall to wall positive coverage over the next three days. Enough to give him unprecedented bumps all across Super Tuesday states in these days of increasingly popular internet alternatives to "official" news channels? I'd doubt it, but we'll see.
Any idea what the under 40s split was in S. Carolina btw? 😉
Not the first piece of possible fuckery this primary season, and probably not the last.
Apart from closing and moving polling stations at the last minute, South Carolina is 100% electronic voting, and the capacity for monkey-wrenching those voting machines and their computer generated "paper trail" is kinda jaw dropping.
To anoint Biden as "the comeback kid", he had to get a margin of around 20%. But people will also have to not remember he had a 50% margin in South Carolina a few short months back 😉
Jacinda was the opposition spokesperson for what isn't flash for kids and families.
The stats haven't moved much. The opposition's silence on matters of this nature leads me to wonder if they're preparing.
When attacking an opponent, no matter if in the ring, on the track or in politics, we aim for the weak spots. The escalating demand for state housing by qualified applicants, it's accelerating fast. Demand for rentals is so strong landlords choose from a selection of applicants that will adminster the wear and tear of someone with no arms or legs.
The prime things a left govt were going to fix. Roof, food, health for all.
Why aren't National punching at Labour's bloody eye?
In Te Tairawhiti a lot of land that should have been left to drystock farming was planted in pine trees now that move is affecting Te Tairawhiti negatively.
Isn't it Ironic.
I can see why Shane Jones is being defensive especially if some in the Indian community are attacking Te treaty of Waitangi validity.
Sea level rising of course its happening our polar ice caps are melting our Glaciers are melting cause Global warming.
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The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been re-elected in the East Choiseul constituency. It is the opening move in the political chess match to form the country’s next government. Returning officer Christopher Makoni made the declaration late last night after ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
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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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
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Who is his 'handler'?
Do you have a handler?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
50 Cent Party. Or maybe this guy comes cheaper, who knows. It's a judgement call.
As for me having a handler … do you really think so?
You made a claim that he had a handler. Now you clarify saying it is 'a judgement, so I presume no evidence.
I have no reason to believe you have a handler. Nor anyone else here.
It is common to try to discredit people commenting in social media by suggesting they are paid by or employed by someone. It's happened to me. I may well have done it in the past.
Without any evidence I think it's a questionable practice.
It’s not unlike trying to ‘guess’ someone’s identity or connections, as has happened below. I thought that was frowned on here.
By it's very nature there never going to be any direct information of what is going on in the background with these handles, so your attempt to demand I provide an impossible standard of evidence is rejected.
At the same time we know the CCP runs a huge number of these types all over the internet for certain. Therefore you cannot say for certain this 'Josh' is operating in good faith.
But in my experience all the clues are there.
Here’s the issue. A “handler” does not need to be taken literally, as that would be naive and you, Pete, have been around the block enough to know better. Through media people are constantly influenced and manipulated and this blog, which is not “just a blog”, is not immune to ‘subversive elements’ trying to use this free forum for their nefarious goals. When people are manipulated without realising it, their strings are pulled by their ‘handler’ unbeknownst to them, often perceiving them “in good faith”. Even you, Pete, may have one or more handlers without knowing it 😉
Why don’t you leave it with this site’s Moderators, Pete? They can see things that you can’t.
And I think making suggestions or attempting connections is particularly questionable when the person has made such abhorrent suggestions like dumping people out of planes.
This shithead is reflecting precisely the 'human rights' record of the CCP.
Who do you judge this person may be reflecting?
https://twitter.com/FireMonty/status/1233682778077589504
Another marxist shithead, they come in all shapes and sizes. (It's also why I don't grovel about in that cesspit called Twitter.)
Looking at their list of followers, including an MP, and ex party leader, an ex part general secretary and someone prominent here at TS (none of whom are responsible for the comment) I'm not sure that's an accurate assumption.
Do I look like I care? I'm not responsible for explaining every stupid thing everyone says on the internet … no matter who they are.
Otherwise your attempt at re-directing attention from the issue at hand is noted.
"A real person living in Northland. I've spent 40+ years keeping Kiwi's safe, also a volunteer firefighter."
Are you pointing out the irony in " I've spent 40+ years keeping Kiwi's safe"?
Everyone's handler is their Mum. When they die, by default, it passes to an uncomfortable with the role Dad….sometimes an older sister steps in.
More on party donations.
Four out of every five dollars donated to big parties in secret, sparking new push for transparency
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/95945991/new-push-for-transparency-with-four-out-of-every-five-dollars-donated-to-big-parties-given-secretly
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/95891686/artworks-used-to-funnel-secret-donors-contributions-to-the-labour-party
That was in 2017. NZ First donations are under increased scrutiny and are currently being investigated by the SFO. Jami-Lee Ross is being prosecuted, Lianne Dalziel, Phil Goff are under SFO investigation over donations.
Andrea Vance writes:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/119899039/keep-politicians-in-the-dark-over-election-donations
If donations remain allowed then this is one way of tidying things up a bit, but it wouldn't prevent what NZ First appear to have done, having donations paid into a separate NZ First Foundation and paying party expenses directly from the Foundation.
Would chanelling donations through an independent body (the Electoral Commission has been one suggestion) mean that limiting the size of donations wouldn't be necessary?
An independent handler would impact on all parties (especially the Greens) using donations drives as a part of member recruitment and communications.
It wouldn't stop donors advising parties they had donated certain amounts to the party via the independent handler.
I don't think there are any simple solutions to this.
The Electoral Commission and the SFO actually investigating and prosecuting will help, electoral rule had appeared to have been broken with impunity in the past.
We can't trust parties to set their own rules on this, they have proven to be too self-interested.
But I think there should still be some sort of independent review of how donations are handled. Perhaps by an independent panel of experts, but this could be informed by some sort of 'people's panel'.
I'm just a member of the Labour Party, but it seems pretty clear from the LEC meetings that this year that any officially Labour fundraiser donations will be declared correctly, including any auctions above market value.
That's a good sign.
Good to see that your thinking about this has evolved in just a few days.
Vance is in dreamland if she thinks that would prevent beholdenness. There are ways of making clear to the pollie you've bought, just who owns him/her.
Recently there have been snide comments at our PM gracing the covers of women’s magazines and Time. Well, what will those same critics say at Paula Bennett being on the cover of a couple of recent magazines. Hmm, there will be silence I suspect. The latest PB cover has her grinning maniacally and saying she is proud of her body. Classy?
OK. As one of the guilty, I'll bite.
Paula Bennett is performing as one would expect for someone of her ilk. The right have always used the mass media to sprinkle glitter on their turds. To deflect and to distract. To shamelessly self promote when credit is undeserved.
Not read and won't read the article, but I guess there's a lot of "effort" and "discipline " and "sacrifice"…..?
I have a loathing of the 'cult of celebrity' type crap that so called Leaders have recently embraced. Even Helen Clark resisted the glamour shots …until she shamefully buckled.
Maybe this is the reality of politics today. Don't examine actual achievements and pre- election promises kept, as long as the cover shot looks great all's good.
They're all cast in the same mold.
The latest PB cover has her grinning maniacally and saying she is proud of her body.
Seriously? She had gastric bypass surgery – if anyone gets to be proud of the result, surely it's the surgeon? In any case, "I'm proud of my body" is code for "I look so much better than you losers," and narcissism isn't one of the features a voter should look for in a politician.
The coat ladies' faces.
https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1233753611101974530
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a dam fine film, loved it.
I noticed a post in "Feeds" that led me to https://openparachute.wordpress.com/2020/03/01/february-20-nz-blogs-sitemeter-ranking/
and I was intrigued to see that most blogs that I have bookmarked are not listed. This does not seem to be new – previous rankings are also given, and I see they haven't included some of the "majors"for quite a while.
Can anyone comment on the reason for the change? Are measurements now essentially irrelevant where they can be so easily manipulated?
https://openparachute.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/nz-blog-rankings-faq/
Thanks for that. From below that FAQ, I looked at results for August 2012. At that time the highest ranking blogs were Whale oil beef hooked, Kiwiblog, The Standard, Throng New Zealand, NewZeal.
I suspect the first three of those disappeared from the rankings some time ago, but at lest Kiwiblog and The Standard still exist. I have not seen why – the FAQ indicates technical reasons why some may not be included, but both Kiwiblog and The Standard appear to be well managed technically; I may have missed the reason for deciding not to have the traffic information available for ranking purposes.
Lynn (TS sysop lprent) has commented on this from time to time in the past. It's a technical issue.
https://openparachute.wordpress.com/2019/05/01/april-19-nz-blogs-sitemeter-ranking/#comment-129119
When you get tens of thousands of pageviews per day, everything counts. From memory I disabled statcounter in April 2017 because it was slowing the pages at the client side. After I removed it the perceived render time increased by about 25% because the statcounter server was running slowly – and we were running on a paid account. The page would load on the client side but not fully render the css while it tried to update statcounter.
I actually turned on the free statcounter again in December for evaluation. They have shifted to an async counter (like google analytics) which causes less of the client side page loading problems. They also appear to have fixed up their server side issues.
Waiting for a larger traffic day so I can see what the performance is like.
Luxembourg is the first country in the world to make public transport free.
https://www.dw.com/en/luxembourg-makes-public-transport-free/a-52582998
We certainly have pretty good subsidies for the old and the young here.
But fully free done in New Zealand would be reasonably well targeted as it will mostly benefit the less-well-off, the students, and the unemployed. The ones with really nice cars who prefer their own stereo and freedom can continue along as they were.
Hopefully MoT policy teams are watching this one.
Because at the moment we are putting a lot more into large capital projects, rather than massive operational subsidies on the Luxembourg scale
Not just operational spending. They already have a PT system capable of delivering those free trips. NZ will not until we have made up for decades of roads-first spending. Yet we are still funding the wrong capital projects.
Making more and more things 'public goods' that are free at the point of use and funded collectively based on the ability to contribute, is an obvious way forward. Public luxury and private sufficiency' -as Monbiot (I think) described it. The obstacles to it are political rather than financial .
However you do need an infrastructure capable of supporting it – and in the case of PT it would likely result in overwhelmed and under-performing services that give the whole concept a bad reputation as a result.
Luxembourg is quite wealthy. That's an understatement. It's got about 5km of roads. I'd imagine it's pretty cheap to get around.
LOL
Luxembourg is 82km by 57km ie c 2586 sq km – compared to NZ at 268, 838 sq km.
NZ is 104 times bigger than Luxembourg and their population is also much less at about 600,000
https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/country-size-comparison/new-zealand/luxembourg
It's easy though, we'll all just pay a wee bit more. It'll be fine.
Luxembourg is the second richest country in the world with an average GDP per capita of $79,593,91. The high figure is partly due to the large number of people working in the tiny landlocked nation while living in surrounding France, Germany and Belgium. Those salaries bump up the total on which the GDP per capita calculation is based on, but since they do not live in the country, they are not part of the number by which it divided.
In Luxembourg, the average household net wealth is estimated at USD 769 053, higher than the OECD average of USD 409 880.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/which-are-the-richest-countries-in-the-world/
So I guess it's no wonder they can afford to shell out a bit on free Public Transport.
Again, exactly. Very different situation to NZ.
Biden's back.
With around 30% of the vote counted, Biden has around 52% of the vote share and Bernie around 18%. All others well below 15%.
If that vote share stays about the same, that would give Biden 40 of the 54 pledged delegates and Sanders the remaining 14.
A very good showing for Biden and the first State primary victory of his political career. This will keep the race interesting.
Steyer is apparently dropping out …
https://www.npr.org/2020/02/29/801952931/tom-steyer-to-drop-out-of-2020-presidential-race
Hopefully Biden's showing is good enough that Bloomberg realises his chances of becoming prez have just become zero so he drops out too. That would take one of the worst possible primary outcomes off the table.
Biden hasn't campaigned in Super Tuesday states and has run next to no advertising in those states either. Now sure, no doubt CNN and MSNBC et al will suggest that S. Carolina is really the first state that actually means very much and give Biden wall to wall positive coverage over the next three days. Enough to give him unprecedented bumps all across Super Tuesday states in these days of increasingly popular internet alternatives to "official" news channels? I'd doubt it, but we'll see.
Any idea what the under 40s split was in S. Carolina btw? 😉
Race/age split.
http://archive.li/qHD0C#selection-1389.0-1393.288
Cheers Joe.
If you can't win fare – cheat.
https://prospect.org/politics/south-carolina-closing-poll-stations-without-notice/
Not the first piece of possible fuckery this primary season, and probably not the last.
Apart from closing and moving polling stations at the last minute, South Carolina is 100% electronic voting, and the capacity for monkey-wrenching those voting machines and their computer generated "paper trail" is kinda jaw dropping.
To anoint Biden as "the comeback kid", he had to get a margin of around 20%. But people will also have to not remember he had a 50% margin in South Carolina a few short months back 😉
You reckon.
/
https://twitter.com/USPoliticsPoll/status/1233979659014090753
Jacinda was the opposition spokesperson for what isn't flash for kids and families.
The stats haven't moved much. The opposition's silence on matters of this nature leads me to wonder if they're preparing.
When attacking an opponent, no matter if in the ring, on the track or in politics, we aim for the weak spots. The escalating demand for state housing by qualified applicants, it's accelerating fast. Demand for rentals is so strong landlords choose from a selection of applicants that will adminster the wear and tear of someone with no arms or legs.
The prime things a left govt were going to fix. Roof, food, health for all.
Why aren't National punching at Labour's bloody eye?
Unless you follow dark PR gurus Goebbels or Karl Rove who advocated attacking their strengths.
Kia Ora The Am Show.
That's good that the comunity payment is made available for the people affected by the North land droughts.
All of my Offspring have been vaxcernated.
Aotearoa needs to use smart solutions to our traffic jam problems.
The longer summer weather tells a big story 3 weeks longer.????.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News the sis sandflys are stuffing with my devices.
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Good to see our government investing money into Christchurch the City needs all the help it can get.
Children learn to bully from bulling happening in their home.
No need to be scared of God's little creature in Aotearoa. I just put them outside spiders and insects in the whare
Wow those Whare in Americas Lake Erie look like Ice sculpture.
That's it treat people the way you want to be treated or like you treat your own.
The Ion age is here and now new 5G phones E money Electric Cars.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
In Te Tairawhiti a lot of land that should have been left to drystock farming was planted in pine trees now that move is affecting Te Tairawhiti negatively.
Isn't it Ironic.
I can see why Shane Jones is being defensive especially if some in the Indian community are attacking Te treaty of Waitangi validity.
Sea level rising of course its happening our polar ice caps are melting our Glaciers are melting cause Global warming.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I think if the virus problem gets worse our government will step up.
Six emergency whare is good but tangata whenua o Aotearoa need many more emergency whare.
Timothy's travels will be a good story.
Ka kite Ano.