Looks like the communist regime has finally got around to organising the invasion of Hong Kong. Took long enough, due to the concentration camps being overloaded with Uighurs and not enough cattle trucks probably.
"The White House is monitoring the sudden “congregation” of Chinese forces at the border with Hong Kong… A senior US official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity said a number of units had gathered, but it’s unclear if they are security police or part of China’s military, Bloomberg reports… Bloomberg cites the White House official as saying the US is watching China’s mainland border manoeuvres. Reports of the gathering of forces has sparked panic among Hong Kong locals on social media." https://www.news.com.au/world/asia/chinese-forces-gathering-at-hong-kong-border-white-house-officials-monitoring-escalation/news-story/82621253f4c093c69834e041713ab34d
An evil regime. And we saw what happened at Aucklabd university on Tuesday, agents of the Chinese government attacking Chinese students protesting in support of the HK students..
Tiananmen Square mark 2 maybe. Xi is absolutely Mao reincarnated.
That should read Communist/Capitalist regime, it pretty well accepted today that China.is run under some sort of dystopian hybrid ideology of the two…
Slavoj Žižek: Will our future be Chinese 'capitalist socialism'?
"Of course, there is a further irony here that is difficult to surpass. The 20th century Left was defined by its opposition to two fundamental tendencies of modernity: the reign of capital with its aggressive individualism and alienating dynamics and authoritarian-bureaucratic state power.
What we get in today's China is exactly the combination of these two features in its extreme form: a strong authoritarian state and wild capitalist dynamics.
Orthodox Marxists liked to use the term "dialectical synthesis of the opposites": suggesting true progress takes place when we bring together the best of both opposing tendencies. But it looks like China succeeded by way of bringing together what we considered the worst in both opposing tendencies (liberal capitalism and Communist authoritarianism)."
A valid technical point, and I agree they haven't conducted the synthesis in the optimal manner. I bet they don't feature the synthesis on their govt website, though, as a politically-correct description of the regime. I suspect Mark will tell us it is actually socialist. If so, I hope he will explain why Bernie Sanders has not been honoured by the regime, or endorse by them as a presidential candidate…
Yeah it is a very real tragedy that China has combined the two worst elements of the two systems, but to be fair, one of my main critiques of Capitalist Liberalism is it's ability in unleashing of the greed id in nearly all human beings that come anywhere near it's orbit,and the resulting poor long term decision making is obvious for us all to see, and often experience, and the decision makers and powerful in China would be no less susceptible to its influence than anyone else in the world.
One of the very few antidotes to this greed/want disease that is undermining western civilisation as we speak is to offer the opportunity for people and whole communities to be directly involved in a project/idea (or projects/ideas) that is bigger than themselves, something that they want to get out of bed for…argue for, work for..fight for!
That is why I like what Sanders keeps saying and saying, "This is not about me, it is about you..only you can make this political revolution happen" fucking brilliant, he is going to go a long way in this election cycle, they will (and I am half serious here) need a bullet to stop him.
[You have been warned before for your aggressive language and insults directed at other commenters here but now you do it again and you also derail the discussion thread. Take a week off to cool off – Incognito]
I think you've reached your tipping point for stupidity….
Governance by Corrupt, authoritarian, crony capitalist, oligarch creating rule …. Is about as communist as Peter Thiel
Maybe our corruption enabling 'offshore banking' services … that the west provides to corrupt Chinese leaders / Govt officials … helping them move the loot out of china ,,,,, is communist too ?.
Strange how 5 spy eyes never seems to see those sort of communications / transactions …. tricky bloody communists I suppose .
Fake? Your abusive reply to Frank's post is ridiculous. For goodness sake, you are not one of those idiots who actually believe the China government is anything but evil are you?
The United States just completed a five-year, $110 million program that cleaned soil contaminated by Agent Orange at Danang International Airport, which was one of the main air bases used for storing and spraying the herbicide between 1961 and 1971.
But officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is overseeing the project, said the Bien Hoa site will be four times larger than Danang, a massive undertaking that is expected to cost $390 million, according to a fact sheet distributed to reporters
Between 1961 and 1971, the US military sprayed around 12 million gallons of the chemical substance on over 30,000 miles of southern Vietnam.
It seems to me the equivalent of a rapist buying his victim a rose as compensation …. Did they clean up Danag for the tourists peace of mind , ya reckon ?
In the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, the Nixon administration promised to contribute $3 billion for compensation and postwar reconstruction of Vietnam. That promise remains unfulfilled.
In 2004, both U.S. veteran and Vietnamese victims sued the chemical companies who knowingly manufactured Agent Orange and other herbicides, which they knew contained an unnecessary but lethal amount of dioxin. The victims were prevented from suing the U.S. government because of the doctrine of sovereign immunity.
Corrina Parata is the sole midwife for the entire East Cape, driving around 4000 kilometres a month along rugged coastline to tend to families sometimes living without power or running water. Michelle Duff joined her to find out what life is like for the first babies born into the world.
You couldn’t call it a house.
It’s a tin shed, a garage at most. Inside, the floor is swept dirt. There’s a stove and a round table, and a mother standing at the bench holding her newborn child.
Her top is unbuttoned. She’s just been breastfeeding. It’s four days since the birth, and she’s emotional. Outside, the world is rain-drenched paddocks and inside it’s dark and cold but the baby is wrapped up warmly, a woollen bundle of soft lips and perfect eyelids.
John Key wanted NZ income and standards to drop and he has succeeded. Ordinary NZs were aiming to rise in social mobility and that should be stamped on. Low standards were what low income (and low-skilled people) deserve in the mind of his RW cohort, some them in Labour also.
King Tūheitia announced he would go to Ihumātao on Saturday morning to listen, and help find a resolution.
"The purpose of the visit is to listen to the people and seek a pathway for resolution," the statement said.
"So that mana whenua of Ihumātao can engage in a process to have their issues fully resolved."
The news was met by those at Ihumātao with surprise and happiness.
Haki Wilson represents people who live at Ihumātao. He said the announcement was a massive deal.
"We feel overwhelmed, we feel that his stance here is just the beginning for us to move at a pace where things might move a little bit faster," he said.
"The Kiingitanga is us and I am amazed that the king is coming to the whenua and he can see and feel the wairua and the aroha that the whenua has to give.
"We are totally amazed that he is coming to the whenua."
and this
Yesterday, Mr Wilson and protest leader Pania Newton met with Māori Development Nanaia Mahuta in Auckland.
He said the meeting was run in a tīkanga Māori way and it went well, but no decisions had been made.
"I am feeling real confident and good about today's hui with Nanaia.
"We have been asking the government to meet with us for so long and now that has happened.
"And we feel like they are starting to listen to us. It is a step forward."
Once Maori affirm that each case of land disputed will be treated on its specifics, and one is not a precedent for all others, movement will be facilitated I am sure. I hope that the King will be able to assist to find a suitable way through the present uncertainty.
Interest rates are very low and people wonder how low they can go…. but maths comes into this …. no matter how low they are interest rates can always be cut by 10% … and this is what I think will happen … 1.2% … 1.08% … 0.97% … 0.87% … and onwards … and while never able to reach zero, the impact on the economy of a 10% cut in the interest bill should always be effective
so expect our ponzi scheme fractional reserve banking system to continue and capital values to rise and rentiers to get ever more stuck …
Yes, thanks those things have been well published… but I think they could take a leaf out of the above logic book…
… if the economy's interest bill is, say, $10billion p.a. and the RBNZ decides that needs to be lower to stimulate or to avert recession etc etc, then a 10% cut in the interest rate, no matter what the headline interest rate number is, is possible. To $9billion p.a.
The headline interest rate could be 10% or it could be 1%, but if the result is $10 billion p.a. and they want that to drop to $9 billion, then such a cut will do it, no matter the headline number… i.e. drop it to 9% or 0.9%..
Law of diminishing returns…..remember the whole ponzi scheme is based on confidence (trick)…to shift sentiment requires more than adjustment at the margins….a few basis points down aint gonna do it as post GFC has shown….mind you a few basis points increase does create panic.
Growth is the basis and without ever increasing demand the whole scheme falls over, and negative interest rates (provided the cash issue can be controlled) force that continued growth (albeit temporary)…..the flaw I see in the reasoning is while theres increased incentive to 'invest' (in production, infrastructure) it removes the incentive to 'save'…..ultimately impacting the wherewithal to support that investment. It is however potentially highly redistributive.
Great to see that as of today, that vile blog Whaleoil is no more. It's even more vile creator, Slater, has for some time now effectively been no more. Guess there is justice sometimes in the world.
They have apparently moved their subscribers across to an identical blog with a different name and the same scum running it. Hope the official assignee kicks their arses.
We were discussing the historic skill of European stonewall building yesterday. The cartoon in The Press this morning confirms how wide this European skill has spread – apparently Maggie Barry is demonstrating stonewalling in Parliament at present as a diversion from attending to the details of the wished-for euthanasia bill of choice for terminally people!
But Maggie said it wasn't filibustering… it's just behaving in an unnecessarily obstructive manner. Which is the definition of filibustering. Ah, National. You never cease to disappoint.
The thing in its place called the BFD Media NZ is going to be every bit as bad. The current trend is to bad mouth Jacinda Ardern for every move and utterance she makes. The part-time PM (PTPM for short) is clearly the meme her opponents plan to run with through to the next election. I mean, she's just spent six days up in the Tokolaus dancing and singing. She's running away you know. Every time there's a problem she runs away and hides. The most ghastly PM ever blah blah blah….
Mind you, the obsessive knocking of Jacinda and persistently repeating the PTPM meme will eventually have an impact. It's a typical Crosby/Textor strategy and more often than not it eventually works.
'Shadowy forces conspired…'. Does that cretin or his even more cretinous Islamaphobic wife ever accept responsibility for their hate and mismanagement?
Those who manage bankruptcies will need to do their job and hold some feet to the fire to enforce the accountibility never willingly accepted by these scum.
Spot on Anne, and while you are talking Crosby/Textor, don't forget the homegrown weasel Sean Topham, "the digital whiz who worked at in the inner sanctum of the Liberals' campaign HQ in Brisbane" according to Audrey Young.
Have also been disappointed with recent comment on "The Daily Blog" – positive criticism is welcome – otherwise keep your own counsel.
The fact that contributors such as Chris Trotter (at TDB) and Advantage (TS) are able to articulate their concerns about a Government that should be representing their side of politics is healthy. I remember the pile on some readers at WOBH gave to Cameron Slater for having a chip at the National Party. Despite CS's own motives for his attacks, he made some good points, but many of his readers just didn't get it.
He was attacking a faction of the Nats who he believed did his daddy wrong. People aligned with other factions may have disliked his campaign, funnily enough.
It was a bit of a pity as Michele Boag was remarkably effective at shifting National towards electoral competence… Took a while but happened eventually.
Sure it was personal. What I'm trying to say is that whatever the motive a person has, sometimes their commentary is still worthy of consideration. A lot of Cameron's commentary about the Nats was correct, IMHO, whatever his motivation.
Judging by yesterdays TVNZ's poll yesterday that have National at an unbelievable 45%, two point up on Labour, you would think that finally Ardern and Labour NZ would stop slavishly courting the centre and return to Labours traditional base for support..not even.
But then to be fair, just like Blair, Clinton (1 and 2) Macron, Trudeau etc our own third way liberals are just as ruled in both thought and action by their own Liberal ideology as any Communist or Fascist, in fact that last point (IMO) has been one of the main (but not only) stumbling blocks for real and meaningful analysis of this failing ideology…simply put most pundits, commentators etc never acknowledge third way liberalism as a political ideology to begin with, it is always treated it as if it is some other force that just is and has always been and therefore never questioned, let alone critiqued or seriously analysed…just read into the Clinton campaign in 2016 to see this lack of scrutiny and understanding from both inside the campaign and from the media on the outside..a huge and dangerous blind spot which resulted in Trump, and this same lack of objective scrutiny of our failing Labour party is why NZ Labour could easily lose to Bridges next year.
Fortunately the US have Sanders and Warren, the UK Corbyn, so at least they are in with a fighting chance to turn the tide, since we lost Helen Kelly, I am not sure where our battler will come from..any idea?
Here is a piece from Truth dig today that is sort of in the same vein.
While I believe totally in the values that Jeremy Corban and Bernie Sanders espouse I don't think they will ever win an election principally because the weight and power of the Tory owned media is so heavily weighted against them – if you were around in the eighties you may recall that Neil Kinnock had a Labour victory snatched from him on the eve of the election by vicious headlines in the Tory owned "Red Tops'.
The BBC, over the years, has done its best to be apolitical and yet the right are continually trying to call out a left wing bias. Rupert Murdoch would close it down tomorrow if he could. The same issues face the excellent ABC in Australia.
Look at New Zealand's most widely read daily, The Herald, and try and find some balance there between right and left wing contributors.
The financial resources of the Right are limitless. Remember the surge in funds that Labour got when Jacinda was made leader – hundreds contributed the small amounts they could afford. Steven Joyce crowed that as a response, three single National donors had easily eclipsed that amount.
Labour's current government is certainly left of centre, maybe not as far as some would like (no publicly owned assets sold to date) and a genuine attempt to repair the awful damage done to New Zealand's infrastructure (at all levels) during nine years of Tory rule.
We allow the Right to re-assume the control of treasury at our peril. Jacinda walks daily a minefield of hate and hypocrisy and she does so with great aplomb.
Marcus M pretty right or do I mean left. Keep on trucking, and working on good ideas. Think of wily Sun Tzu quotes. When nothing intelligent and useful comes to mind and negativity takes over look at what some great man or woman who cared about being human (very important these days) thought.
Sun Tzu/Quotes
Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
And I note a caption under image of Cameron Slater from Anne’s link at 7 1 2 11? Former blogger Cameron Slater, who set up Whaleoil in 2005 to combat depression.
He just managed to spread depression around along with his snide, negative thinking. Better stick with looking for great things and people to quote ie Sun Tzu and many in NZ. I like Sir Ernest Rutherford’s – We haven’t much money so we’ll have to think.
Arden and NZ Labour are failing at the polls because they do not connect with workers the working poor, youth and the disenfranchised any longer, they offer no vision or big ideas, no direction or answers to those people, so why would or should they give a fuck about Labour?..just because they are a bit better than National? well we all saw how that battle plan worked out for the Dems and Clinton in 2016.
When I went to our local hall here in the Hawkes Bay during the last election to hear Little/Ardern speak the hall was full of Orchard, vineyard and horticultural owners and managers and the usual middle class centrist lefties…but NO orchard, vineyard or horticultural workers..that right there speaks volumes, it point right to the heart of the reason why Labour could very well lose to a political disaster like Bridges, so don't blame the media, blame Labour and it's pathetic pragmatic austerity incrementism, it's complete lack of vision and message.
Maybe I'm reading it wrong..but are you suggesting its up to the non voters to get engaged THEN Labour will notice them?
How odd..surely its Labours job to reach out to the strugglers, even more so if Labour actually want to, you know, get enough votes to survive a second term.
I can understand your argument to a certain degree, its one that Bernie floats in the US..the idea that voting him into the White House is not enough, is not the answer to achieving meaningful change, that there is a need for people to to be engaged with the struggle in any way they can, at a grassroots level in their own communities.
But the point is..Bernie is a Political Leader, LEADING. Reaching out to those that have given up. That is pretty much the definition of a political leader, no matter what brand of politics they follow..
Couldn't agree with you less. Those that the left have championed have rarely been part of the "fight". Most are not interested in politics even though they are being affected by them on a daily basis. It might sound slightly elitist but it has always been "middle class centrist left" which has carried the fight for them. What are your suggestions to "bridge the communication gap".
"middle class centrist left" which has carried the fight for them…you mean the likes of..
Pat Kelly, Ken Douglas, Jim Anderton, John A Lee, Helen Kelly, Lynn Smart of the South Otago Locked‑Out Workers Group (eight years locked out of the Alliance Textiles factory in Milton), The Blackball Strikers, Sue Bradford…anyone in the 1913 Great Strike, Parihaka, 2006 Progressive Enterprises dispute……some of these people might end up middle class, arguably some become Centrist, but their background isn't what I would call middle class.
Wouldn't have the audacity to call myself professor but respectfully suggest that my view as valid as yours, whatever that might be.
Goodness, certainly of some interesting reaction there. No not on any stimulant, just been around quite a long time and also an unwaivering Labour supporter. My knowledge of history may not warrant a lectureship but I have sufficient overview of it to understand where our movement has come from and who were the principal protagonists. Yes great Labour names mentioned above but all did not necessarily have a working class background, just a humanitarian concern for their fellow man – Jim Anderton a classic example – which I believe is the philosophy that underpins all socialist leaders and thinkers.
It seems to me that the creation of the Welfare State, born out of awful social conditions, held the seeds of the demise of a Left-wing Labour Party. In the almost seventy years since nineteen fifty National has held power for all but twenty three of them and yet the fundamentals of the Welfare State have remained intact. It is true that National has done little but maintain the status quo and it, plus the Douglas regime, have done nothing to slow the gap between the haves and have nots increasing almost exponentially. Ruth Richardson’s “mother of all budgets” certainly did considerable damage.
As to my other comments – I would suggest that an analysis of voting patterns in high socio-economic vis-a-vis those in lower socio-economic sections of society would show a far greater electoral engagement in the former, most of which would favour right and centre right political parties. In my opinion it is the former group, in whose interests the Labour tends to champion, that needs to be engaged. I don’t think that that is an elitist position.
It is interesting to recall that David Lange, who came from a distinctly middle class background and had a genuine empathy with the underdog, had huge appeal across the social spectrum but then he had a great wit. Tragically he lead a government which led directly to current social issues.
Siobhan Thanks for the info of Alliance lockout in Milton, I tried to raise something on google about it at one time and couldn't find. I knew it was a long lockout but 8 years? (For myself I saw that as one of the signs of the middle-classness of feminism, not much support ito that sisterhood in Milton. )
Labour could very well lose to a political disaster like Bridges,
What this incarnation of Labour needs to take on board is that for a couple of decades or so the two major parties have been virtually indistinguishable…especially to those who are working their arses off to keep hearth and home together. And to those who have lost that fight. When there's a brief respite in the daily toil enough to take a quick look at what is coming out of The Beehive it is very much SSDD.
This government needs to distinguish itself. It needs to be boldly different from those we have been screwed by for the last thirty years. Ardern needs to think carefully about going down the same path as Key…does she want to actually lead, or is she content to primp for the cameras? Her being featured on the cover of Vogue will maintain her fan base but will fail to garner the extra votes needed to hold the government benches.
What is this awful damage to New Zealand infrastructure that you are talking about?
Major motorways, the CRL in Auckland, massive rebuilding in Christchurch, lots of new schools, way more houses, more operations than Labour can manage, first real increase in basic benefit rates for 20 years
Way too many on the left are guilty of gross exaggeration of the years 2008 to 2017. Basically New Zealand did pretty well, especially after the GFC. Not perfect, but pretty good. It is not as if there has been much change in the last two years in most indicators. In fact some are worse.
You are believing the bumpf , when the housing figures show under national for 7-8 years failed to even reach the yearly housing numbers under Clark.
Without the Cuillen Fund , Bill English borrowing binge going from $20 bill to over $80 bill in 8 years, would have panicked the ratings agencies , Cullen Fund balance of nearly $40 bill made it possible.
Thanks Duke. No need for me to repeat all of that but could also add the sale of state assets (yes, to my eternal chagrin Douglas and Prebble were also guilty of that) and, to go back a generation, Muldoon's disastrous Super scheme but Tories such as Wayne will never admit to this. As the Professor would say – their likes just don't get it. We are wasting our time.
While hysteria raged about possible Russian “interference” in the 2016 US election, British intelligence officials were secretly playing a “key role” in helping instigate investigations into Donald Trump, secret texts have shown.
“Turns out it was Britain that was the foreign country interfering in American affairs,” former MP George Galloway told RT, speaking about the new revelations published by the Guardian about early British involvement in the ‘Russiagate’ investigation.
The Guardian reported on texts between former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe and Jeremy Fleming, his then counterpart at MI5, who now heads GCHQ. The two men met in 2016 to discuss “our strange situation” – an apparent reference to Russia’s alleged interference in US domestic politics.
British intelligence “appears to have played a key role in the early stages,” the report said.
Asked what the UK stood to gain by trying to implicate Russia in a US election scandal at a time when then-foreign secretary Boris Johnson was dismissing baseless claims of Russian interference in the Brexit campaign, Galloway noted that Johnson’s comments on Russia have appeared to strangely sway between friendly and antagonistic.
Johnson is like “a sofa that bears the impression of the last person to sit upon him,” the former MP quipped. What happens next will depend on who is leading the tango, “the orange man in Washington or the blonde mop-head in London.”
A US federal judge kicks out the case the DNC tried to bring against Assange and Wikileaks
He declared Assange to be a publisher, Wikileaks a news organisation,and the DNC's arguments "threadbare"
"Judge Koeltl said the DNC’s argument that Assange and WikiLeaks “conspired with the Russian Federation to steal and disseminate the DNC’s materials” is “entirely divorced from the facts.” The judge further ruled that the court “is not required to accept conclusory allegations asserted as facts.”"
The primary wrongdoer in this alleged criminal enterprise is undoubtably the Russian Federation, the first named defendant in the case and the entity that surreptitiously and illegally hacked into the DNC’s computers and thereafter disseminated the results of its theft,
Well I guess now that he's off the hook, Assange can proceed to Sweden and answer for his alleged rapes.
btw, this is your man
As reported by Progress New York and other news outlets, Judge John Koeltl has established a career that is fraught with conflicts of interest and accusations of judicial bias. Judge Koeltl has faced accusations of using extremism against activists and making prejudicial statements that are disqualifiable. Judge Koeltl arguably sent the now late activist attorney, Lynne Stewart, to an early grave after the judge increased her prison sentence at his sole discretion following an unusual request made by the Government. Judge Koeltl has also faced public criticism over showing bias to one party over another. Recently, Judge Koeltl was assigned to preside over the Democratic National Committee‘s frivolous lawsuit against WikiLeaks, and others, alleging collusion with the Russian Federation to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election (frivolous, because the DNC rigged the primaries against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Judge Koeltl also teaches at New York University, the notorious engine that produces élitism, gentrification, and displacement. Judge Koeltl has also, in the past, recused himself from cases where conflicts of interest were obvious, but he has only done so temporarily. His entire approach to professional ethics is situational.
After the Swedish prosecutors were knocked back in their detention request, they were told that they could instead question Assange in the UK via a European investigation order.
From NPR
"On Monday the judge said that in order to finish the investigation, the prosecutors could issue a European Investigation Order, which would make it possible for them to interview Assange and conclude the inquiry"
Perrson said she would continue with the investigation
"Persson said her next move will be to request a European investigation order — a step she expects to take sometime this month. "
That was early June
7 years and counting to wind up an investigation, its a long time to drool Joe
Thanks for that, Joe. Did the judge or anyone else provide any evidence that the masterminds and arch-puppeteers of the Russian Federation "surreptitiously and illegally hacked into the DNC’s computers and thereafter disseminated the results of its theft"?
The federal case against Assange is for his work with Manning. It's an unrelated case, and the allegation is that Assange's activities in encouraging Manning to get more materials using someone else's login and offering to crack a password took Assange over the line into being a participant in the illegal unauthorised access, as distinct from just being a publisher.
The head of Florida’s Department of Elder Affairs announced “immediate” changes to improve the agency’s response times for complaints in the wake of revelations that an Orlando-based professional guardian had filed unauthorized “do not resuscitate" orders on the behalf of numerous incapacitated clients.
Expect this government to get a large backlash from those in the deep south with this new polytechnic announcement. I regularly visit Invercargill and I dont think Hipkins and co realise just how much S.I.T means to the people down there. Will be interesting.
SIT are being agitated by local National MPs. And that was before the proposals had been published. (Today.) Not enough known yet but when you remember the dictatorial manner of changes demanded by National and the clobbering of people who disagreed, then this seems like a genuine cooperative democratic plan.
And nothing will actually change for at least 18 months so hard to accept the Southern rage.
Of course the local MPs are stirring things up and fighting for their local institutions. But I dont think you understand how deeply southerners feel about the S.I.T. which is partially locally funded and frankly has put life back into Invercargill. It has been a blessing and is extremely successful.
SIT need to accept that tertiary education will return back to being a public service delivered for the public good, and will no longer be a tradable commodity. SIT will survive, but it will look different, with it's focus on training Southlanders and not chasing international students. It will be a public sector institution run for the public good.
My children – and others – have used Manukau polytechnic for courses. With spotty results. A few years ago, the MIT advisor Stuart Middleton received kudos for his work with the institute. Particularly, with NEET objectives in mind (because – you know – MIT is located in South Auckland.) He was particularly enamoured with the NZQF system, and both enrolments and retentions went up at MIT in these courses.
However, there are a couple of relevant facts that need to be mentioned in this. One, at this time, our National led government made it a requirement for many benefits that you were in some type of training – many students were there, and remained, because their income was dependent on them doing so. Secondly, I had children enrolled in a couple of these courses, and both the preparation and delivery by MIT was pitiful. Anyone sane would have any educational aspiration suffocated by attendance.
There are many good pathways that can be strengthened to future ongoing engagement for students, and I would like to see a comprehensive restructuring take place. Eliminating the need for beneficiaries to attend courses just because they need to in order to receive a benefit would be a good start. Imagine a cohort of reluctant, resentful or uninterested students and then consider the negative impact this has on other students, the teacher and the delivery of the course. Add to this the fact that the completion of the course most likely did not get them any closer to employment or provide a pathway to further education, and you get a notion of how relying on the NEET outcomes can further erode wellbeing and meaningful engagement.
Regarding the approach to trades, there was an Auckland Conversation many years ago about the Swiss system. Worth the watch, with Australian David Turner speaking about how it works.
However, also to be kept in mind is the changing nature of the work environment. Whatever is done, we should not restructure our education systems to meet past and current work requirements. These institutions need to be looking ahead.
When are we going to demand that National MPs are held accountable under the laws of this country.
Sarah Dowie incited someone to commit suicide , that is illegal but no police prosecution.
One law for National and its friends and the other applied to everyone else.
It has become obvious that the New Zealand Police are completely compromised when it come too enforcing the law where the National party and its MPs are concerned.
The smell of rotten corruption is in the air but no one has noticed.
Giving this story 15 seconds of airtime on One News is an indictment to the abuse of justice.
To be fair, there is a difference in law as in daily life between saying someone deserves to die and instructing them hard/repeatedly enough to count as incitement.
“In sum, our common law provides sufficient notice that a person might be charged with involuntary manslaughter for reckless or wanton conduct, causing a victim to commit suicide. The law is not unconstitutionally vague as applied to the defendant’s conduct,” the court said.
I Don't like Queining my skills are wasted + it gives the sandflys a opportunity to throw heaps of Actors at me
The stabilizing of the Auckland housing market is great it has happened before and the same effect other cities housing prices rise.
Social Media Is holding the police to account for their actions social media is holding the ruling class to account for their devious actions like the #meto campaign and many others this is the GAME CHANGER that the 99.9 % of tangata needs to sort out the bullshit lieing data the ruling class push on us with their hundreds of billions of dollars Michael Obama's science adviser put the internet as the biggest change to the Papatuanuku society since the industrial revolution.
Christina 5G technologies will help boost Aotearoa economy ka pai Vodafone awesome while Spark is fluffing around you will get the jump on them.
judy you like having a Wahine who is lifting Wahine Mana Papatuanuku wide Jacinda.
Willy you are correct we have to support and respect our Pacific Island Cousin. I agree tangata whenua has been let down by previous government is that oppression or what heaps of whanau struggling with no housing no good health system bad roads ect
Mark you think to much of yourself.?????
Ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori wonders if The Warehouse Rotorua wants to test my Influencing as they are behaving badly
Rick Hoffman I was watching Suites TV show a few years ago when it first started I quite enjoyed your caracter and the other cast my life is too busy now to watch the Show. Ka kite ano
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Looks like the communist regime has finally got around to organising the invasion of Hong Kong. Took long enough, due to the concentration camps being overloaded with Uighurs and not enough cattle trucks probably.
"The White House is monitoring the sudden “congregation” of Chinese forces at the border with Hong Kong… A senior US official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity said a number of units had gathered, but it’s unclear if they are security police or part of China’s military, Bloomberg reports… Bloomberg cites the White House official as saying the US is watching China’s mainland border manoeuvres. Reports of the gathering of forces has sparked panic among Hong Kong locals on social media." https://www.news.com.au/world/asia/chinese-forces-gathering-at-hong-kong-border-white-house-officials-monitoring-escalation/news-story/82621253f4c093c69834e041713ab34d
An evil regime. And we saw what happened at Aucklabd university on Tuesday, agents of the Chinese government attacking Chinese students protesting in support of the HK students..
Tiananmen Square mark 2 maybe. Xi is absolutely Mao reincarnated.
That should read Communist/Capitalist regime, it pretty well accepted today that China.is run under some sort of dystopian hybrid ideology of the two…
Slavoj Žižek: Will our future be Chinese 'capitalist socialism'?
"Of course, there is a further irony here that is difficult to surpass. The 20th century Left was defined by its opposition to two fundamental tendencies of modernity: the reign of capital with its aggressive individualism and alienating dynamics and authoritarian-bureaucratic state power.
What we get in today's China is exactly the combination of these two features in its extreme form: a strong authoritarian state and wild capitalist dynamics.
Orthodox Marxists liked to use the term "dialectical synthesis of the opposites": suggesting true progress takes place when we bring together the best of both opposing tendencies. But it looks like China succeeded by way of bringing together what we considered the worst in both opposing tendencies (liberal capitalism and Communist authoritarianism)."
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/441873-china-socialism-capitalism-zizek/
A valid technical point, and I agree they haven't conducted the synthesis in the optimal manner. I bet they don't feature the synthesis on their govt website, though, as a politically-correct description of the regime. I suspect Mark will tell us it is actually socialist. If so, I hope he will explain why Bernie Sanders has not been honoured by the regime, or endorse by them as a presidential candidate…
Yeah it is a very real tragedy that China has combined the two worst elements of the two systems, but to be fair, one of my main critiques of Capitalist Liberalism is it's ability in unleashing of the greed id in nearly all human beings that come anywhere near it's orbit,and the resulting poor long term decision making is obvious for us all to see, and often experience, and the decision makers and powerful in China would be no less susceptible to its influence than anyone else in the world.
One of the very few antidotes to this greed/want disease that is undermining western civilisation as we speak is to offer the opportunity for people and whole communities to be directly involved in a project/idea (or projects/ideas) that is bigger than themselves, something that they want to get out of bed for…argue for, work for..fight for!
That is why I like what Sanders keeps saying and saying, "This is not about me, it is about you..only you can make this political revolution happen" fucking brilliant, he is going to go a long way in this election cycle, they will (and I am half serious here) need a bullet to stop him.
Nah …. you were just plain wrong …. your message started off being fake and misleading ….Why ?
Not being very technical is no excuse on your part … Your options are
a) Lazy
b) Stupid
c) Dishonest
d) Bastard
But on the topic of authoritarian abuses of power …..It could help the Chinese to hire that fine New Zealand man …… Peter Thiel.
Maybe they already have.
I've heard he has no time for 'democracy'
3mins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRpAFswLrFA
[You have been warned before for your aggressive language and insults directed at other commenters here but now you do it again and you also derail the discussion thread. Take a week off to cool off – Incognito]
Hey dork, if you really think the communist regime isn't communist, you probably failed to graduate from kindergarten.
I think you've reached your tipping point for stupidity….
Governance by Corrupt, authoritarian, crony capitalist, oligarch creating rule …. Is about as communist as Peter Thiel
Maybe our corruption enabling 'offshore banking' services … that the west provides to corrupt Chinese leaders / Govt officials … helping them move the loot out of china ,,,,, is communist too ?.
Strange how 5 spy eyes never seems to see those sort of communications / transactions …. tricky bloody communists I suppose .
Fake? Your abusive reply to Frank's post is ridiculous. For goodness sake, you are not one of those idiots who actually believe the China government is anything but evil are you?
Communist …. they are not communist.
Evil? …. which ones ? … or are they all evil?
And what degree of evil? ….. as evil as some of the deeds of Crusaders ?
As evil as the usa drenching vietnam in Dioxin / Agent orange …. Causing millions of cancers and birth defects, which are continuing to this very day.
And for which the usa has never paid compensation … or helped decontaminate the poisoned areas .
Guess which chemical company ( Dow), gave Obama very large donations…
Cheaper than compensation for all the blinded, crippled, disabled infants born generations after the 'war' …. Evil you think ?.
A dangerous Gangsters den that white-house ….5 mins .20secs .. Listen up for Dow among all the donations / bribes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApcqXijVzYU
Do keep up.
The United States just completed a five-year, $110 million program that cleaned soil contaminated by Agent Orange at Danang International Airport, which was one of the main air bases used for storing and spraying the herbicide between 1961 and 1971.
But officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is overseeing the project, said the Bien Hoa site will be four times larger than Danang, a massive undertaking that is expected to cost $390 million, according to a fact sheet distributed to reporters
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-usa-mattis/us-prepares-for-biggest-ever-agent-orange-cleanup-in-vietnam-idUSKCN1MR1U4
Thats very cheap for a war crime ….. Peanuts ……they should keep their political bribe program running ..
what percentage of sprayed / affected areas in vietnam …would the 5 x Danang International Airport represent ?. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/vietnam-agent-orange-monsanto-victims-compensation-a8508271.html
It seems to me the equivalent of a rapist buying his victim a rose as compensation …. Did they clean up Danag for the tourists peace of mind , ya reckon ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKr44HlyoQU
Empty Promise of Compensation
I'm pretty sure the usa sprayed food crops to induce famine ….. touched upon 7 mins … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJxb7CY13uc&list=PL5A853E2965FF8C4E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJxb7CY13uc&list=PL5A853E2965FF8C4E
See my Moderation note @ 12:36 PM.
Could be getting a bit trickier across the Taiwan straits too
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49178314
The third world of the East Coast, NZ.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/114367158/the-last-midwife-and-the-first-babies-born-in-the-world
Corrina Parata is the sole midwife for the entire East Cape, driving around 4000 kilometres a month along rugged coastline to tend to families sometimes living without power or running water. Michelle Duff joined her to find out what life is like for the first babies born into the world.
You couldn’t call it a house.
It’s a tin shed, a garage at most. Inside, the floor is swept dirt. There’s a stove and a round table, and a mother standing at the bench holding her newborn child.
Her top is unbuttoned. She’s just been breastfeeding. It’s four days since the birth, and she’s emotional. Outside, the world is rain-drenched paddocks and inside it’s dark and cold but the baby is wrapped up warmly, a woollen bundle of soft lips and perfect eyelids.
John Key wanted NZ income and standards to drop and he has succeeded. Ordinary NZs were aiming to rise in social mobility and that should be stamped on. Low standards were what low income (and low-skilled people) deserve in the mind of his RW cohort, some them in Labour also.
Such a beautiful part of the country … thats been blighted by needless cruelty derived from the ugly aspects of our Gods Own society.
fuck the people .. fuck the people … fuck the people … If they are 'poor'
"living in a tin shed" … n8v child was writing and singing about it.
https://soundcloud.com/pete-dnanz/trak-5
He's the last singer in this east coast youtube collaboration clip …. R.I.P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9MdAJ4f7Yk
Some nice movement
and this
Awesome!
Once Maori affirm that each case of land disputed will be treated on its specifics, and one is not a precedent for all others, movement will be facilitated I am sure. I hope that the King will be able to assist to find a suitable way through the present uncertainty.
Interest rates are very low and people wonder how low they can go…. but maths comes into this …. no matter how low they are interest rates can always be cut by 10% … and this is what I think will happen … 1.2% … 1.08% … 0.97% … 0.87% … and onwards … and while never able to reach zero, the impact on the economy of a 10% cut in the interest bill should always be effective
so expect our ponzi scheme fractional reserve banking system to continue and capital values to rise and rentiers to get ever more stuck …
the madness has a while to run yet
"and while never able to reach zero, the impact on the economy of a 10% cut in the interest bill should always be effective"
You may may wish to look at the attached
31 July 2019 at 6:19 pm
1 August 2019 at 12:39 am
Yes, thanks those things have been well published… but I think they could take a leaf out of the above logic book…
… if the economy's interest bill is, say, $10billion p.a. and the RBNZ decides that needs to be lower to stimulate or to avert recession etc etc, then a 10% cut in the interest rate, no matter what the headline interest rate number is, is possible. To $9billion p.a.
The headline interest rate could be 10% or it could be 1%, but if the result is $10 billion p.a. and they want that to drop to $9 billion, then such a cut will do it, no matter the headline number… i.e. drop it to 9% or 0.9%..
maybe I should let them know this …
Law of diminishing returns…..remember the whole ponzi scheme is based on confidence (trick)…to shift sentiment requires more than adjustment at the margins….a few basis points down aint gonna do it as post GFC has shown….mind you a few basis points increase does create panic.
Growth is the basis and without ever increasing demand the whole scheme falls over, and negative interest rates (provided the cash issue can be controlled) force that continued growth (albeit temporary)…..the flaw I see in the reasoning is while theres increased incentive to 'invest' (in production, infrastructure) it removes the incentive to 'save'…..ultimately impacting the wherewithal to support that investment. It is however potentially highly redistributive.
Great to see that as of today, that vile blog Whaleoil is no more. It's even more vile creator, Slater, has for some time now effectively been no more. Guess there is justice sometimes in the world.
Yes Peter. Good job, but there will be another equally unpleasant blog to fill the void. Somewhere to vent I guess.
Ianmac, yes sadly so, but lets hope with the name gone and the web address gone, that these vile people just fade into obscurity.
They have apparently moved their subscribers across to an identical blog with a different name and the same scum running it. Hope the official assignee kicks their arses.
We were discussing the historic skill of European stonewall building yesterday. The cartoon in The Press this morning confirms how wide this European skill has spread – apparently Maggie Barry is demonstrating stonewalling in Parliament at present as a diversion from attending to the details of the wished-for euthanasia bill of choice for terminally people!
But Maggie said it wasn't filibustering… it's just behaving in an unnecessarily obstructive manner. Which is the definition of filibustering. Ah, National. You never cease to disappoint.
Whaleoil announces its finished.
May The Standard ever rise.
karma was always going to pay a visit
Fully flensed or just sounding?
The thing in its place called the BFD Media NZ is going to be every bit as bad. The current trend is to bad mouth Jacinda Ardern for every move and utterance she makes. The part-time PM (PTPM for short) is clearly the meme her opponents plan to run with through to the next election. I mean, she's just spent six days up in the Tokolaus dancing and singing. She's running away you know. Every time there's a problem she runs away and hides. The most ghastly PM ever blah blah blah….
Mind you, the obsessive knocking of Jacinda and persistently repeating the PTPM meme will eventually have an impact. It's a typical Crosby/Textor strategy and more often than not it eventually works.
'BFD Media'. Hardly has the same ring to it as 'Whaleoil'. Very poor choice of title, wont help its success.
They'll dream up a more feisty title in due course.
Just up on Herald site – David Fisher and not behind a paywall this time:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12254688
Lying to the bitter end.
Thanks for the link.
'Shadowy forces conspired…'. Does that cretin or his even more cretinous Islamaphobic wife ever accept responsibility for their hate and mismanagement?
Those who manage bankruptcies will need to do their job and hold some feet to the fire to enforce the accountibility never willingly accepted by these scum.
Spot on Anne, and while you are talking Crosby/Textor, don't forget the homegrown weasel Sean Topham, "the digital whiz who worked at in the inner sanctum of the Liberals' campaign HQ in Brisbane" according to Audrey Young.
Have also been disappointed with recent comment on "The Daily Blog" – positive criticism is welcome – otherwise keep your own counsel.
The fact that contributors such as Chris Trotter (at TDB) and Advantage (TS) are able to articulate their concerns about a Government that should be representing their side of politics is healthy. I remember the pile on some readers at WOBH gave to Cameron Slater for having a chip at the National Party. Despite CS's own motives for his attacks, he made some good points, but many of his readers just didn't get it.
He was attacking a faction of the Nats who he believed did his daddy wrong. People aligned with other factions may have disliked his campaign, funnily enough.
And his daddy shall be forever remembered for one single thing only:
Having sex on the board table with his mistress in the London High Commission.
No wonder Cam Slater has issues.
Fairly sure that it was not John Slater at the London High Commission. The name John Collins comes to mind ?
Yes but my point was that whatever his motive, his commentary still had some validity. A case in point – Michele Boag.
Boag is the head of the faction he hates.
Absolutely. And behind the hatred are some insights that are worth hearing.
Not really – perhaps you should think on history. That was just personal.
Michele Boag was the person that kicked his daddy out of being the president of the National party back in 2001.
It was a bit of a pity as Michele Boag was remarkably effective at shifting National towards electoral competence… Took a while but happened eventually.
Sure it was personal. What I'm trying to say is that whatever the motive a person has, sometimes their commentary is still worthy of consideration. A lot of Cameron's commentary about the Nats was correct, IMHO, whatever his motivation.
Slater was made to fit the words of Karma Chameleon, or vice versa.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEj93paUdh4
"I'm a man without conviction…You come and go, You come and go."
His new website is more interesting than the last one.
https://www.bfd.co.nz
Bethlehem Family Doctors
Tauranga
Is Slater a permanent resident there now?
Judging by yesterdays TVNZ's poll yesterday that have National at an unbelievable 45%, two point up on Labour, you would think that finally Ardern and Labour NZ would stop slavishly courting the centre and return to Labours traditional base for support..not even.
But then to be fair, just like Blair, Clinton (1 and 2) Macron, Trudeau etc our own third way liberals are just as ruled in both thought and action by their own Liberal ideology as any Communist or Fascist, in fact that last point (IMO) has been one of the main (but not only) stumbling blocks for real and meaningful analysis of this failing ideology…simply put most pundits, commentators etc never acknowledge third way liberalism as a political ideology to begin with, it is always treated it as if it is some other force that just is and has always been and therefore never questioned, let alone critiqued or seriously analysed…just read into the Clinton campaign in 2016 to see this lack of scrutiny and understanding from both inside the campaign and from the media on the outside..a huge and dangerous blind spot which resulted in Trump, and this same lack of objective scrutiny of our failing Labour party is why NZ Labour could easily lose to Bridges next year.
Fortunately the US have Sanders and Warren, the UK Corbyn, so at least they are in with a fighting chance to turn the tide, since we lost Helen Kelly, I am not sure where our battler will come from..any idea?
Here is a piece from Truth dig today that is sort of in the same vein.
Democrats Must Give Up ‘Center Is Better’ Myth
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/words-to-the-unwise-democrats-must-give-up-center-is-better-myth/
While I believe totally in the values that Jeremy Corban and Bernie Sanders espouse I don't think they will ever win an election principally because the weight and power of the Tory owned media is so heavily weighted against them – if you were around in the eighties you may recall that Neil Kinnock had a Labour victory snatched from him on the eve of the election by vicious headlines in the Tory owned "Red Tops'.
The BBC, over the years, has done its best to be apolitical and yet the right are continually trying to call out a left wing bias. Rupert Murdoch would close it down tomorrow if he could. The same issues face the excellent ABC in Australia.
Look at New Zealand's most widely read daily, The Herald, and try and find some balance there between right and left wing contributors.
The financial resources of the Right are limitless. Remember the surge in funds that Labour got when Jacinda was made leader – hundreds contributed the small amounts they could afford. Steven Joyce crowed that as a response, three single National donors had easily eclipsed that amount.
Labour's current government is certainly left of centre, maybe not as far as some would like (no publicly owned assets sold to date) and a genuine attempt to repair the awful damage done to New Zealand's infrastructure (at all levels) during nine years of Tory rule.
We allow the Right to re-assume the control of treasury at our peril. Jacinda walks daily a minefield of hate and hypocrisy and she does so with great aplomb.
Marcus M pretty
rightor do I mean left. Keep on trucking, and working on good ideas. Think of wily Sun Tzu quotes. When nothing intelligent and useful comes to mind and negativity takes over look at what some great man or woman who cared about being human (very important these days) thought.Even if you don';t understand or agree with them, it takes your mind away from depression. https://www.brainyquote.com/lists/authors/top-10-sun-tzu-quotes
And I note a caption under image of Cameron Slater from Anne’s link at 7 1 2 11?
Former blogger Cameron Slater, who set up Whaleoil in 2005 to combat depression.
He just managed to spread depression around along with his snide, negative thinking. Better stick with looking for great things and people to quote ie Sun Tzu and many in NZ. I like Sir Ernest Rutherford’s – We haven’t much money so we’ll have to think.
Slatter gave depression a bad name – another harm he has done to society.
Arden and NZ Labour are failing at the polls because they do not connect with workers the working poor, youth and the disenfranchised any longer, they offer no vision or big ideas, no direction or answers to those people, so why would or should they give a fuck about Labour?..just because they are a bit better than National? well we all saw how that battle plan worked out for the Dems and Clinton in 2016.
When I went to our local hall here in the Hawkes Bay during the last election to hear Little/Ardern speak the hall was full of Orchard, vineyard and horticultural owners and managers and the usual middle class centrist lefties…but NO orchard, vineyard or horticultural workers..that right there speaks volumes, it point right to the heart of the reason why Labour could very well lose to a political disaster like Bridges, so don't blame the media, blame Labour and it's pathetic pragmatic austerity incrementism, it's complete lack of vision and message.
When you can get non-voters engaged enougn to make parties notice, they will.
Maybe I'm reading it wrong..but are you suggesting its up to the non voters to get engaged THEN Labour will notice them?
How odd..surely its Labours job to reach out to the strugglers, even more so if Labour actually want to, you know, get enough votes to survive a second term.
I can understand your argument to a certain degree, its one that Bernie floats in the US..the idea that voting him into the White House is not enough, is not the answer to achieving meaningful change, that there is a need for people to to be engaged with the struggle in any way they can, at a grassroots level in their own communities.
But the point is..Bernie is a Political Leader, LEADING. Reaching out to those that have given up. That is pretty much the definition of a political leader, no matter what brand of politics they follow..
I'm not saying it *should* be, just what the current situation is. Centrist parties have no clue how to engage more.
Couldn't agree with you less. Those that the left have championed have rarely been part of the "fight". Most are not interested in politics even though they are being affected by them on a daily basis. It might sound slightly elitist but it has always been "middle class centrist left" which has carried the fight for them. What are your suggestions to "bridge the communication gap".
Sorry don't want to be rude here, but that is complete bullshit and yes, as you quite rightly pointed out yourself….elitist.
Think again
"middle class centrist left" which has carried the fight for them…you mean the likes of..
Pat Kelly, Ken Douglas, Jim Anderton, John A Lee, Helen Kelly, Lynn Smart of the South Otago Locked‑Out Workers Group (eight years locked out of the Alliance Textiles factory in Milton), The Blackball Strikers, Sue Bradford…anyone in the 1913 Great Strike, Parihaka, 2006 Progressive Enterprises dispute……some of these people might end up middle class, arguably some become Centrist, but their background isn't what I would call middle class.
Wasting your time, Siobhan. The fellow doesn't have a clue.
Wouldn't have the audacity to call myself professor but respectfully suggest that my view as valid as yours, whatever that might be.
Goodness, certainly of some interesting reaction there. No not on any stimulant, just been around quite a long time and also an unwaivering Labour supporter. My knowledge of history may not warrant a lectureship but I have sufficient overview of it to understand where our movement has come from and who were the principal protagonists. Yes great Labour names mentioned above but all did not necessarily have a working class background, just a humanitarian concern for their fellow man – Jim Anderton a classic example – which I believe is the philosophy that underpins all socialist leaders and thinkers.
It seems to me that the creation of the Welfare State, born out of awful social conditions, held the seeds of the demise of a Left-wing Labour Party. In the almost seventy years since nineteen fifty National has held power for all but twenty three of them and yet the fundamentals of the Welfare State have remained intact. It is true that National has done little but maintain the status quo and it, plus the Douglas regime, have done nothing to slow the gap between the haves and have nots increasing almost exponentially. Ruth Richardson’s “mother of all budgets” certainly did considerable damage.
As to my other comments – I would suggest that an analysis of voting patterns in high socio-economic vis-a-vis those in lower socio-economic sections of society would show a far greater electoral engagement in the former, most of which would favour right and centre right political parties. In my opinion it is the former group, in whose interests the Labour tends to champion, that needs to be engaged. I don’t think that that is an elitist position.
It is interesting to recall that David Lange, who came from a distinctly middle class background and had a genuine empathy with the underdog, had huge appeal across the social spectrum but then he had a great wit. Tragically he lead a government which led directly to current social issues.
Siobhan Thanks for the info of Alliance lockout in Milton, I tried to raise something on google about it at one time and couldn't find. I knew it was a long lockout but 8 years? (For myself I saw that as one of the signs of the middle-classness of feminism, not much support ito that sisterhood in Milton. )
Most are not interested in politics even though they are being affected by them on a daily basis.
????? What a bizarre, fatuous, ignorant statement.
It might sound slightly elitist but it has always been "middle class centrist left" which has carried the fight for them.
?????
Whatever this twit is smoking, I do not want any of it. That's one drug that SHOULD be banned.
Labour could very well lose to a political disaster like Bridges,
What this incarnation of Labour needs to take on board is that for a couple of decades or so the two major parties have been virtually indistinguishable…especially to those who are working their arses off to keep hearth and home together. And to those who have lost that fight. When there's a brief respite in the daily toil enough to take a quick look at what is coming out of The Beehive it is very much SSDD.
This government needs to distinguish itself. It needs to be boldly different from those we have been screwed by for the last thirty years. Ardern needs to think carefully about going down the same path as Key…does she want to actually lead, or is she content to primp for the cameras? Her being featured on the cover of Vogue will maintain her fan base but will fail to garner the extra votes needed to hold the government benches.
What is this awful damage to New Zealand infrastructure that you are talking about?
Major motorways, the CRL in Auckland, massive rebuilding in Christchurch, lots of new schools, way more houses, more operations than Labour can manage, first real increase in basic benefit rates for 20 years
Way too many on the left are guilty of gross exaggeration of the years 2008 to 2017. Basically New Zealand did pretty well, especially after the GFC. Not perfect, but pretty good. It is not as if there has been much change in the last two years in most indicators. In fact some are worse.
You are believing the bumpf , when the housing figures show under national for 7-8 years failed to even reach the yearly housing numbers under Clark.
Without the Cuillen Fund , Bill English borrowing binge going from $20 bill to over $80 bill in 8 years, would have panicked the ratings agencies , Cullen Fund balance of nearly $40 bill made it possible.
Thanks Duke. No need for me to repeat all of that but could also add the sale of state assets (yes, to my eternal chagrin Douglas and Prebble were also guilty of that) and, to go back a generation, Muldoon's disastrous Super scheme but Tories such as Wayne will never admit to this. As the Professor would say – their likes just don't get it. We are wasting our time.
Don't get out much do you Wayne? The period of the Key Kleptocracy was no garden of sweets for working people. The Gnats made out like bandits though.
God Bless Rammstein – Breaking the law in Russia!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m7JE5-WBnk&ab_channel=Loudwire
Pathetic Albion
While hysteria raged about possible Russian “interference” in the 2016 US election, British intelligence officials were secretly playing a “key role” in helping instigate investigations into Donald Trump, secret texts have shown.
“Turns out it was Britain that was the foreign country interfering in American affairs,” former MP George Galloway told RT, speaking about the new revelations published by the Guardian about early British involvement in the ‘Russiagate’ investigation.
The Guardian reported on texts between former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe and Jeremy Fleming, his then counterpart at MI5, who now heads GCHQ. The two men met in 2016 to discuss “our strange situation” – an apparent reference to Russia’s alleged interference in US domestic politics.
British intelligence “appears to have played a key role in the early stages,” the report said.
Asked what the UK stood to gain by trying to implicate Russia in a US election scandal at a time when then-foreign secretary Boris Johnson was dismissing baseless claims of Russian interference in the Brexit campaign, Galloway noted that Johnson’s comments on Russia have appeared to strangely sway between friendly and antagonistic.
Johnson is like “a sofa that bears the impression of the last person to sit upon him,” the former MP quipped. What happens next will depend on who is leading the tango, “the orange man in Washington or the blonde mop-head in London.”
Read more….
https://www.rt.com/uk/465510-galloway-uk-intelligence-russiagate/
Also of interest Professor
A US federal judge kicks out the case the DNC tried to bring against Assange and Wikileaks
He declared Assange to be a publisher, Wikileaks a news organisation,and the DNC's arguments "threadbare"
"Judge Koeltl said the DNC’s argument that Assange and WikiLeaks “conspired with the Russian Federation to steal and disseminate the DNC’s materials” is “entirely divorced from the facts.” The judge further ruled that the court “is not required to accept conclusory allegations asserted as facts.”"
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/31/assa-j31.html
The Judge also said:
The primary wrongdoer in this alleged criminal enterprise is undoubtably the Russian Federation, the first named defendant in the case and the entity that surreptitiously and illegally hacked into the DNC’s computers and thereafter disseminated the results of its theft,
https://www.courthousenews.com/dnc-loses-racketeering-suit-over-2016-election-hack/
So what ?
I posted about Assange
And that's what the included quote was about
Nice try at diversion but no cigar
Well I guess now that he's off the hook, Assange can proceed to Sweden and answer for his alleged rapes.
btw, this is your man
As reported by Progress New York and other news outlets, Judge John Koeltl has established a career that is fraught with conflicts of interest and accusations of judicial bias. Judge Koeltl has faced accusations of using extremism against activists and making prejudicial statements that are disqualifiable. Judge Koeltl arguably sent the now late activist attorney, Lynne Stewart, to an early grave after the judge increased her prison sentence at his sole discretion following an unusual request made by the Government. Judge Koeltl has also faced public criticism over showing bias to one party over another. Recently, Judge Koeltl was assigned to preside over the Democratic National Committee‘s frivolous lawsuit against WikiLeaks, and others, alleging collusion with the Russian Federation to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election (frivolous, because the DNC rigged the primaries against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Judge Koeltl also teaches at New York University, the notorious engine that produces élitism, gentrification, and displacement. Judge Koeltl has also, in the past, recused himself from cases where conflicts of interest were obvious, but he has only done so temporarily. His entire approach to professional ethics is situational.
https://www.progressnewyork.news/2018/12/23/to-restore-public-confidence-in-the-u-s-district-court-for-s-d-n-y-judge-john-koeltl-must-resign/
You're a bit behind the 8ball Joe.
All that selective googling
After the Swedish prosecutors were knocked back in their detention request, they were told that they could instead question Assange in the UK via a European investigation order.
From NPR
"On Monday the judge said that in order to finish the investigation, the prosecutors could issue a European Investigation Order, which would make it possible for them to interview Assange and conclude the inquiry"
Perrson said she would continue with the investigation
"Persson said her next move will be to request a European investigation order — a step she expects to take sometime this month. "
That was early June
7 years and counting to wind up an investigation, its a long time to drool Joe
You'll be all dried up
Thanks for the info Fransesca I was wondering about it.
Thanks for that, Joe. Did the judge or anyone else provide any evidence that the masterminds and arch-puppeteers of the Russian Federation "surreptitiously and illegally hacked into the DNC’s computers and thereafter disseminated the results of its theft"?
Will the dismissal of the Civil case have an effect on the Federal case against Assange?
I'd guess it's unlikely.
The federal case against Assange is for his work with Manning. It's an unrelated case, and the allegation is that Assange's activities in encouraging Manning to get more materials using someone else's login and offering to crack a password took Assange over the line into being a participant in the illegal unauthorised access, as distinct from just being a publisher.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-charged-18-count-superseding-indictment
Oh. Pity.
snap.
Unauthorized: 'Do not resuscitate' orders
Expect this government to get a large backlash from those in the deep south with this new polytechnic announcement. I regularly visit Invercargill and I dont think Hipkins and co realise just how much S.I.T means to the people down there. Will be interesting.
SIT are being agitated by local National MPs. And that was before the proposals had been published. (Today.) Not enough known yet but when you remember the dictatorial manner of changes demanded by National and the clobbering of people who disagreed, then this seems like a genuine cooperative democratic plan.
And nothing will actually change for at least 18 months so hard to accept the Southern rage.
Of course the local MPs are stirring things up and fighting for their local institutions. But I dont think you understand how deeply southerners feel about the S.I.T. which is partially locally funded and frankly has put life back into Invercargill. It has been a blessing and is extremely successful.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/114671266/southern-institute-of-technology-to-be-merged-into-national-institute
And so it begins. I wonder how our resident Southlander Mr Guyton feels about this?
SIT need to accept that tertiary education will return back to being a public service delivered for the public good, and will no longer be a tradable commodity. SIT will survive, but it will look different, with it's focus on training Southlanders and not chasing international students. It will be a public sector institution run for the public good.
Labour has written off Southland. They don't give a shit.
My children – and others – have used Manukau polytechnic for courses. With spotty results. A few years ago, the MIT advisor Stuart Middleton received kudos for his work with the institute. Particularly, with NEET objectives in mind (because – you know – MIT is located in South Auckland.) He was particularly enamoured with the NZQF system, and both enrolments and retentions went up at MIT in these courses.
However, there are a couple of relevant facts that need to be mentioned in this. One, at this time, our National led government made it a requirement for many benefits that you were in some type of training – many students were there, and remained, because their income was dependent on them doing so. Secondly, I had children enrolled in a couple of these courses, and both the preparation and delivery by MIT was pitiful. Anyone sane would have any educational aspiration suffocated by attendance.
There are many good pathways that can be strengthened to future ongoing engagement for students, and I would like to see a comprehensive restructuring take place. Eliminating the need for beneficiaries to attend courses just because they need to in order to receive a benefit would be a good start. Imagine a cohort of reluctant, resentful or uninterested students and then consider the negative impact this has on other students, the teacher and the delivery of the course. Add to this the fact that the completion of the course most likely did not get them any closer to employment or provide a pathway to further education, and you get a notion of how relying on the NEET outcomes can further erode wellbeing and meaningful engagement.
Regarding the approach to trades, there was an Auckland Conversation many years ago about the Swiss system. Worth the watch, with Australian David Turner speaking about how it works.
However, also to be kept in mind is the changing nature of the work environment. Whatever is done, we should not restructure our education systems to meet past and current work requirements. These institutions need to be looking ahead.
When are we going to demand that National MPs are held accountable under the laws of this country.
Sarah Dowie incited someone to commit suicide , that is illegal but no police prosecution.
One law for National and its friends and the other applied to everyone else.
It has become obvious that the New Zealand Police are completely compromised when it come too enforcing the law where the National party and its MPs are concerned.
The smell of rotten corruption is in the air but no one has noticed.
Giving this story 15 seconds of airtime on One News is an indictment to the abuse of justice.
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-law-means-nothing-as-usual.html
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/137.0/DLM329347.html
To be fair, there is a difference in law as in daily life between saying someone deserves to die and instructing them hard/repeatedly enough to count as incitement.
This recent US case offers a comparison: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/massachusetts-high-court-upholds-michelle-carter-s-conviction-texts-encouraging-n968291
Kia Ora The Am Show.
I Don't like Queining my skills are wasted + it gives the sandflys a opportunity to throw heaps of Actors at me
The stabilizing of the Auckland housing market is great it has happened before and the same effect other cities housing prices rise.
Social Media Is holding the police to account for their actions social media is holding the ruling class to account for their devious actions like the #meto campaign and many others this is the GAME CHANGER that the 99.9 % of tangata needs to sort out the bullshit lieing data the ruling class push on us with their hundreds of billions of dollars Michael Obama's science adviser put the internet as the biggest change to the Papatuanuku society since the industrial revolution.
Christina 5G technologies will help boost Aotearoa economy ka pai Vodafone awesome while Spark is fluffing around you will get the jump on them.
judy you like having a Wahine who is lifting Wahine Mana Papatuanuku wide Jacinda.
Willy you are correct we have to support and respect our Pacific Island Cousin. I agree tangata whenua has been let down by previous government is that oppression or what heaps of whanau struggling with no housing no good health system bad roads ect
Mark you think to much of yourself.?????
Ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori wonders if The Warehouse Rotorua wants to test my Influencing as they are behaving badly
Rick Hoffman I was watching Suites TV show a few years ago when it first started I quite enjoyed your caracter and the other cast my life is too busy now to watch the Show. Ka kite ano
Some Eco Maori music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/xTlNMmZKwpA