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
Every time that I see ya,A lightning bolt fills the room,The underbelly of Paris,She sings her favourite tune,She'll drink you under the table,She'll show you a trick or two,But every time that I left her,I missed the things she would doSongwriters: Kelly JonesThis morning, I posted - Are you excited ...
Long stories shortest this week in our political economy:Standard & Poor’s judged the Government’s council finance reforms a failure. Professional investors showed the Government they want it to borrow more, not less. GDP bounced out of recession by more than forecast in the December quarter, but data for the ...
Each day at 4:30 my brother calls in at the rest home to see Dad. My visits can be months apart. Five minutes after you've left, he’ll have forgotten you were there, but every time, his face lights up and it’s a warm happy visit.Tim takes care of almost everything ...
On the 19th of March, ACT announced they would be running candidates in this year’s local government elections. Accompanying that call for “common-sense kiwis” was an anti-woke essay typifying the views they expect their candidates to hold. I have included that part of their mailer, Free Press, in its entirety. ...
Even when the darkest clouds are in the skyYou mustn't sigh and you mustn't crySpread a little happiness as you go byPlease tryWhat's the use of worrying and feeling blue?When days are long keep on smiling throughSpread a little happiness 'til dreams come trueSongwriters: Vivian Ellis / Clifford Grey / ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, Washington Post/$, Wired/$, ...
ACT up the game on division politicsEmmerson’s take on David Seymour’s claim Jesus would have supported ACTACT’s announcement it is moving into local politics is a logical next step for a party that is waging its battle on picking up the aggrieved.It’s a numbers game, and as long as the ...
1. What will be the slogan of the next butter ad campaign?a. You’re worth itb.Once it hits $20, we can do something about the riversc. I can’t believe it’s the price of butter d. None of the above Read more ...
It is said that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. That may be an exaggeration but an even better response is to point out economists do know the difference. They did not at first. Classical economics thought that the price of something reflected the objective ...
Political fighting in Taiwan is delaying some of an increase in defence spending and creating an appearance of lack of national resolve that can only damage the island’s relationship with the Trump administration. The main ...
The unclassified version of the 2024 Independent Intelligence Review (IIR) was released today. It’s a welcome and worthy sequel to its 2017 predecessor, with an ambitious set of recommendations for enhancements to Australia’s national intelligence ...
Yesterday outgoing Ombudsman Peter Boshier published a report, Reflections on the Official Information Act, on his way out the door. The report repeated his favoured mantra that the Act was "fundamentally sound", all problems were issues of culture, and that no legislative change was needed (and especially no changes to ...
The United States government is considering replacing USAID with a new agency, the US Agency for International Humanitarian Assistance (USIHA), according to documents published by POLITICO. Under the proposed design, the agency will fail its ...
Hi,Journalism was never the original plan. Back in the 90s, there was no career advisor in Bethlehem, New Zealand — just a computer that would ask you 50 questions before spitting out career options. Yes, I am in this photo. No, I was not good at basketball.The top three careers ...
Mōrena. Long stories shortest: Professional investors who are paid a lot of money to be careful about lending to the New Zealand Government think it is wonderful place to put their money. Yet the Government itself is so afraid of borrowing more that it is happy to kill its own ...
As space becomes more contested, Australia should play a key role with its partners in the Combined Space Operations (CSpO) initiative to safeguard the space domain. Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States signed the ...
Ooh you're a cool catComing on strong with all the chit chatOoh you're alrightHanging out and stealing all the limelightOoh messing with the beat of my heart yeah!Songwriters: Freddie Mercury / John Deacon.It would be a tad ironic; I can see it now. “Yeah, I didn’t unsubscribe when he said ...
The PSA are calling the Prime Minister a hypocrite for committing to increase defence spending while hundreds of more civilian New Zealand Defence Force jobs are set to be cut as part of a major restructure. The number of companies being investigated for people trafficking in New Zealand has skyrocketed ...
Another Friday, hope everyone’s enjoyed their week as we head toward the autumn equinox. Here’s another roundup of stories that caught our eye on the subject of cities and what makes them even better. This week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Connor took a look at how Auckland ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking with special guest author Michael Wolff, who has just published his fourth book about Donald Trump: ‘All or Nothing’.Here’s Peter’s writeup of the interview.The Kākā by Bernard Hickey Hoon: Trumpism ...
Wolff, who describes Trump as truly a ‘one of a kind’, at a book launch in Spain. Photo: GettyImagesIt may be a bumpy ride for the world but the era of Donald J. Trump will die with him if we can wait him out says the author of four best-sellers ...
Australia needs to radically reorganise its reserves system to create a latent military force that is much larger, better trained and equipped and deployable within days—not decades. Our current reserve system is not fit for ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, Washington Post/$, Wired/$, ...
I have argued before that one ought to be careful in retrospectively allocating texts into genres. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) only looks like science-fiction because a science-fiction genre subsequently developed. Without H.G. Wells, would Frankenstein be considered science-fiction? No, it probably wouldn’t. Viewed in the context of its time, Frankenstein ...
Elbridge Colby’s senate confirmation hearing in early March holds more important implications for US partners than most observers in Canberra, Wellington or Suva realise. As President Donald Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defence for ...
China’s defence budget is rising heftily yet again. The 2025 rise will be 7.2 percent, the same as in 2024, the government said on 5 March. But the allocation, officially US$245 billion, is just the ...
Concern is growing about wide-ranging local repercussions of the new Setting of Speed Limits rule, rewritten in 2024 by former transport minister Simeon Brown. In particular, there’s growing fears about what this means for children in particular. A key paradox of the new rule is that NZTA-controlled roads have the ...
Speilmeister:Christopher Luxon’s prime-ministerial pitches notwithstanding, are institutions with billions of dollars at their disposal really going to invest them in a country so obviously in a deep funk?HAVING WOOED THE WORLD’s investors, what, if anything, has New Zealand won? Did Christopher Luxon’s guests board their private jets fizzing with enthusiasm for ...
Christchurch City Council is one of 18 councils and three council-controlled organisations (CCOs) downgraded by ratings agency S&P. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories shortest:Standard & Poor’s has cut the credit ratings of 18 councils, blaming the new Government’s abrupt reversal of 3 Waters, cuts to capital ...
Figures released by Statistics New Zealand today showed that the economy grew by 0.7% ending the very deep recession seen over the past year, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “Even though GDP grew in the three months to December, our economy is still 1.1% smaller than it ...
What is going on with the price of butter?, RNZ, 19 march 2025: If you have bought butter recently you might have noticed something - it is a lot more expensive. Stats NZ said last week that the price of butter was up 60 percent in February compared to ...
I agree with Will Leben, who wrote in The Strategist about his mistakes, that an important element of being a commentator is being accountable and taking responsibility for things you got wrong. In that spirit, ...
You’d beDrunk by noon, no one would knowJust like the pandemicWithout the sourdoughIf I were there, I’d find a wayTo get treated for hysteriaEvery dayLyrics Riki Lindhome.A varied selection today in Nick’s Kōrero:Thou shalt have no other gods - with Christopher Luxon.Doctors should be seen and not heard - with ...
Two recent foreign challenges suggest that Australia needs urgently to increase its level of defence self-reliance and to ensure that the increased funding that this would require is available. First, the circumnavigation of our continent ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, The Atlantic-$, The ...
According to RNZ’s embedded reporter, the importance of Winston Peters’ talks in Washington this week “cannot be overstated.” Right. “Exceptionally important.” said the maestro himself. This epic importance doesn’t seem to have culminated in anything more than us expressing our “concern” to the Americans about a series of issues that ...
Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of "Climate Fresk" and at a guess, this will also be the case for many of you. I stumbled upon it in the self-service training catalog for employees at the company I work at in Germany where it was announced ...
Japan and Australia talk of ‘collective deterrence,’ but they don’t seem to have specific objectives. The relationship needs a clearer direction. The two countries should identify how they complement each other. Each country has two ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the OPC’s decision to issue a code of practice for biometric processing. Our view is that the draft code currently being consulted on is stronger and will be more effective than the exposure code released in early 2024. We are pleased that some of the revisions ...
Australia’s export-oriented industries, particularly agriculture, need to diversify their markets, with a focus on Southeast Asia. This could strengthen economic security and resilience while deepening regional relationships. The Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on ...
Minister Shane Jones is introducing fastrack ‘reforms’ to the our fishing industry that will ensure the big players squeeze out the small fishers and entrench an already bankrupt quota system.Our fisheries are under severe stress: the recent decision by theHigh Court ruling that the ...
In what has become regular news, the quarterly ETS auction has failed, with nobody even bothering to bid. The immediate reason is that the carbon price has fallen to around $60, below the auction minimum of $68. And the cause of that is a government which has basically given up ...
US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have dominated headlines in India in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Trump announced that his reciprocal tariffs—matching other countries’ tariffs on American goods—will go into effect on 2 April, ...
Hi,Back in June of 2021, James Gardner-Hopkins — a former partner at law firm Russell McVeagh — was found guilty of misconduct over sexually inappropriate behaviour with interns.The events all related to law students working as summer interns at Russell McVeagh:As well as intimate touching with a student at his ...
Climate sceptic MP Mark Cameron has slammed National for being ‘out of touch’ by sticking to our climate commitments. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories shortest:ACT’s renowned climate sceptic MP Mark Cameron has accused National of being 'out of touch' with farmers by sticking with New Zealand’s Paris accord pledges ...
Now I've heard there was a secret chordThat David played, and it pleased the LordBut you don't really care for music, do you?It goes like this, the fourth, the fifthThe minor falls, the major liftsThe baffled king composing HallelujahSongwriter: Leonard CohenI always thought the lyrics of that great song by ...
People are getting carried away with the virtues of small warship crews. We need to remember the great vice of having few people to run a ship: they’ll quickly tire. Yes, the navy is struggling ...
Mōrena. Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, The Atlantic-$, ...
US President Donald Trump’s hostile regime has finally forced Europe to wake up. With US officials calling into question the transatlantic alliance, Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently persuaded lawmakers to revise the country’s debt ...
We need to establish clearer political boundaries around national security to avoid politicising ongoing security issues and to better manage secondary effects. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealed on 10 March that the Dural caravan ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have reiterated their call for Government to protect workers by banning engineered stone in a submission on MBIE’s silica dust consultation. “If Brooke van Velden is genuine when she calls for an evidence-based approach to this issue, then she must support a full ban on ...
The Labour Inspectorate could soon be knocking on the door of hundreds of businesses nation-wide, as it launches a major crackdown on those not abiding by the law. NorthTec staff are on edge as Northland’s leading polytechnic proposes to stop 11 programmes across primary industries, forestry, and construction. Union coverage ...
It’s one thing for military personnel to hone skills with first-person view (FPV) drones in racing competitions. It’s quite another for them to transition to the complexities of the battlefield. Drone racing has become a ...
Seymour says there will be no other exemptions granted to schools wanting to opt out of the Compass contract. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories shortest:David Seymour has denied a request from a Christchurch school and any other schools to be exempted from the Compass school lunch programme, saying the contract ...
Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, and British Prime Minister John Major signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in ...
Edit: The original story said “Palette Cleanser” in both the story, and the headline. I am never, ever going to live this down. Chain me up, throw me into the pit.Hi,With the world burning — literally and figuratively — I felt like Webworm needed a little palate cleanser at the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler(Image credit: Antonio Huerta) Growing up in suburban Ohio, I was used to seeing farmland and woods disappear to make room for new subdivisions, strip malls, and big box stores. I didn’t usually welcome the changes, but I assumed others ...
Myanmar was a key global site for criminal activity well before the 2021 military coup. Today, illicit industry, especially heroin and methamphetamine production, still defines much of the economy. Nowhere, not even the leafiest districts ...
What've I gotta do to make you love me?What've I gotta do to make you care?What do I do when lightning strikes me?And I wake up and find that you're not thereWhat've I gotta do to make you want me?Mmm hmm, what've I gotta do to be heard?What do I ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...
Whenever Christopher Luxon drops a classically fatuous clanger or whenever the government has a bad poll – i.e. every week – the talk resumes that he is about to be rolled. This is unlikely for several reasons. For starters, there is no successor. Nicola Willis? Chris Bishop? Simeon Brown? Mark ...
Australia, Britain and European countries should loosen budget rules to allow borrowing to fund higher defence spending, a new study by the Kiel Institute suggests. Currently, budget debt rules are forcing governments to finance increases ...
The NZCTU remains strongly committed to banning engineered stone in New Zealand and implementing better occupational health protections for all workers working with silica-containing materials. In this submission to MBIE, the NZCTU outlines that we have an opportunity to learn from Australia’s experience by implementing a full ban of engineered ...
The Prime Minister has announced a big win in trade negotiations with India.It’s huge, he told reporters. We didn't get everything we came for but we were able to agree on free trade in clothing, fabrics, car components, software, IT consulting, spices, tea, rice, and leather goods.He said that for ...
I have been trying to figure out the logic of Trump’s tariff policies and apparent desire for a global trade war. Although he does not appear to comprehend that tariffs are a tax on consumers in the country doing the tariffing, I can (sort of) understand that he may think ...
As Syria and international partners negotiate the country’s future, France has sought to be a convening power. While France has a history of influence in the Middle East, it will have to balance competing Syrian ...
One of the eternal truths about Aotearoa's economy is that we are "capital poor": there's not enough money sloshing around here to fund the expansion of local businesses, or to build the things we want to. Which gets used as an excuse for all sorts of things, like setting up ...
National held its ground until late 2023 Verion, Talbot Mills & Curia Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)If we remove outlier results from Curia (National Party November 2023) National started trending down in October 2024.Verion Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)Verian alone shows a clearer deterioration in early ...
In a recent presentation, I recommended, quite unoriginally, that governments should have a greater focus on higher-impact, lower-probability climate risks. My reasoning was that current climate model projections have blind spots, meaning we are betting ...
Daddy, are you out there?Daddy, won't you come and play?Daddy, do you not care?Is there nothing that you want to say?Songwriters: Mark Batson / Beyonce Giselle Knowles.This morning, a look at the much-maligned NZ Herald. Despised by many on the left as little more than a mouthpiece for the National ...
Employers, unions and health and safety advocates are calling for engineered stone to be banned, a day before consultation on regulations closes. On Friday the PSA lodged a pay equity claim for library assistants with the Employment Relations Authority, after the stalling of a claim lodged with six councils in ...
Long stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy:Christopher Luxon surprises by announcing trade deal talks with India will start next month, and include beef and dairy. Napier is set to join Whakatane, Dunedin and Westport in staging a protest march against health spending restraints hitting their hospital services. Winston Peters ...
At a time of rising geopolitical tensions and deepening global fragmentation, the Ukraine war has proved particularly divisive. From the start, the battle lines were clearly drawn: Russia on one side, Ukraine and the West ...
Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
Labour does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure like schools, hospitals and prisons, which will only see worse outcomes for Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...
With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...
Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...
Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...
This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will ensure employment decisions in the public service are based on merit and not on forced woke ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ targets. “This Bill would put an end to the woke left-wing social engineering and diversity targets in the public sector. ...
Police have referred 20 offenders to Destiny Church-affiliated programmes Man Up and Legacy as ‘wellness providers’ in the last year, raising concerns that those seeking help are being recruited into a harmful organisation. ...
Te Pāti Māori welcomes the resignation of Richard Prebble from the Waitangi Tribunal. His appointment in October 2024 was a disgrace- another example of this government undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi by appointing a former ACT leader who has spent his career attacking Māori rights. “Regardless of the reason for ...
Police Minister Mark Mitchell is avoiding accountability by refusing to answer key questions in the House as his Government faces criticism over their dangerous citizen’s arrest policy, firearm reform, and broken promises to recruit more police. ...
The number of building consents issued under this Government continues to spiral, taking a toll on the infrastructure sector, tradies, and future generations of Kiwi homeowners. ...
Parliament's recent inquiry and debate on climate change adaptation asked small questions, looked short-term and inched towards reactive solutions. ...
No news is good newsLord Breen of Seymour was taking the watersAt the Head in the Clouds Health Spa.A figure walked up the long, winding stepsTo his mountain top resort.It was the Court Surgeon.“What’s up, Sawbones?,” chuckled Lord Breen.“Why didn’t you fly up in the Royal Balloon?”“Lo,” said the Court ...
Asia Pacific Report Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick called on New Zealand government MPs today to support her Member’s Bill to sanction Israel over its “crazy slaughter” of Palestinians in Gaza. Speaking at a large pro-Palestinian solidarity rally in the heart of New Zealand’s largest city Auckland, she said Aotearoa ...
The draft bill was intended to stop any move away from the principle of equal suffrage, where each person gets an equal say in electing people, Uffindell said. ...
By Leah Lowonbu, Stefan Armbruster and Harlyne Joku of BenarNews The Pacific’s peak diplomatic bodies have signalled they are ready to engage with Papua New Guinea’s Autonomous Government of Bougainville as mediation begins on the delayed ratification of its successful 2019 independence referendum. PNG and Bougainville’s leaders met in the ...
MONDAYThe party of honoured New Zealanders were shown an old fort. “Awesome,” said Mr Luxon.He wore a gold turban, a white linen jacket, a peacock-illustrated waistcoat sewn with exquisite rubies, a white dhoti crafted from finest polyester with 1 1/2″ gold jari border, and a $625 pair of Christian Kimber ...
Christopher Luxon's trip to India included the restart of trade talks, the tightening of defence ties, and more than a spot of cricket - RNZ's deputy political editor takes us behind the scenes. ...
Six months after Vincent Dix and his son Nikau stumbled across remains of an ocean-voyaging waka while searching for driftwood on their property in Rēkohu/ Chatham Islands, the community is still buzzing over the discoveries.The big question locals want an answer to: where did the waka come, from and who ...
Leon Pritchard used to be absolutely ripped, back in the day. He exercised his muscles one by one at the gym, so that each formed its ultimate shape and could be easily seen by passing females, even at a glance. He worked hardest on his upper body and put the ...
Never heard of Acotar? Unsure what makes fairies sexy? Nervous of romantasy? Bemused by the term Medievalcore? Herewith is all you need to know about the hottest publishing trend of the age.What is fairy smut?Fairy smut is a genre of fantasy romance (romantasy) that includes both fairies and ...
The local star of Prime Video’s fantasy epic takes us through her life in television, including the trauma of 2000s drink driving ads and the Tribe spinoff that time forgot. Local actor Zoë Robins is one of the many, many New Zealanders who have infiltrated huge budget behemoth television shows ...
Court documents suggest Kim Dotcom spent $1,000,000 on Grammy winners, ad campaigns and the best studio in the country. So why was his much-derided album such a disaster? This story was first published in 2015 in Barkers’ 1972 magazine, and is republished here with permission.Read Chris Schulz’s interview with ...
Most people would look at our house and decide painting it was a job for professionals. My mum and dad decided it was a job for their kids.I grew up in a house that was always being renovated. That’s not hyperbole, it was literally always being renovated. Just one ...
Asia Pacific Report A joint operation between the Fiji Police Force, Republic of Fiji Military Force (RFMF), Territorial Force Brigade, Fiji Navy and National Fire Authority was staged this week to “modernise” responses to emergencies. Called “Exercise Genesis”, the joint operation is believed to be the first of its kind ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Nicholls, Senior Research Associate in Media and Communications, University of Sydney As the United States recalibrates its trade policies to combat what the Trump administration sees as “unfair” treatment by other countries, two significant industries have complained to US regulators about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Renwick, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Lincoln University, New Zealand Since the return to power of US President Donald Trump, tariffs have barely left the front pages. While the on-off-on tariff sagas have dominated the headlines, a paper released this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Baka, Honorary Professor, School of Kinesiology, Western University, London, Canada; Adjunct Fellow, Olympic Scholar and Co-Director of the Olympic and Paralympic Research Centre, Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University In a surprisingly emphatic result, 41-year-old Kirsty Coventry, Zimbabwe’s Sport Minister, ...
More than 12,000 cubic metres of treated wastewater a day could be discharged directly into the Shotover River in the country’s premiere tourist resort, according to a whistle-blowing councillor. That’s almost enough liquid to fill five Olympic-sized swimming pools.The plan, prompted by Queenstown’s failing sewage treatment plant, would use emergency ...
Winston Peters has repeatedly failed to express any concern for the Palestinians killed by Israel since Israel ended the ceasefire and condemn Israel for this industrial-scale carnage, which the International Court of Justice found more than a year ago to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology Daria Nipot/Shutterstock Australia’s supermarket sector has endured a long, uncomfortable moment in the spotlight. There have been six comprehensive inquiries into its conduct, pricing practices, and specifically claims of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gail Wilson, Adjunct Associate Professor, Office of the PVC (Academic Innovation), Southern Cross University Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock In 2023, an academic journal, the Annals of Operations Research, retracted an entire special isssue because the peer review process for it was compromised. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Breen, Professor of Psychology, Curtin University Photo by Daria Kruchkova/Pexels Grief can hit us in powerful and unanticipated ways. You might expect to grieve a person, a pet or even a former version of yourself – but many people are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stefan B. Williams, Professor of Marine Robotics, Australian Centre for Robotics, University of Sydney Armada 7805, similar to the 7806 vessel that will support the new MH370 search.Ocean Infinity More than 11 years after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30) A Hunger Games prequel starring young Haymitch, ...
Two poems from the new collection Clay Eaters by Gregory Kan, launched this week at Unity Books Wellington.(Editors note: The poems are untitled but can be found on pages 3 and 19 of Clay Eaters, published by Auckland University Press.)From Clay Eaters Satellite view of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Egger, Senior Biostatistician at the Daffodil Centre, Cancer Council NSW, University of Sydney Getty Images E-cigarette companies, including giants such as British American Tobacco, have actively lobbied governments in New Zealand and Australia to weaken existing vape regulations while preventing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Coleman, Post-doctoral Researcher in Plant Ecology, Macquarie University Jakub Maculewicz/Shutterstock More than 8,000 continental islands sit just off the coast of Australia, many of them uninhabited and unspoiled. For thousands of species, these patches of habitat offer refuge from the ...
By Alex Willemyns for Radio Free Asia The Trump administration might let hundreds of millions of dollars in aid pledged to Pacific island nations during former President Joe Biden’s time in office stand, says New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters. The Biden administration pledged about $1 billion in aid to the Pacific ...
Delhi Diary Day 1Christopher Luxon walks down the stairs of the Airforce Boeing 757 at Palam Airbase towards the tarmac and greets the waiting Professor Singh Baghel, minister of state of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying. Luxon squints against the heat. Baghel keeps his aviators on; he’s done this before. The ...
Netflix’s new British crime drama asks the hard questions about growing up in a digital world. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here.Even before a single episode of Adolescence went up on Netflix, the five star reviews started rolling in. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Sergi, Professor in Criminology, University of Essex In June 1988, the Reagan administration launched the most important United States labour case of the past half century. The government alleged the Italian-American mafia – La Cosa Nostra – had effectively taken ...
The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, Danielle Puiri-Tuia who founded a South Auckland-based running and walking club.All photos by Geoffery Matautia.Runners High 09 is a free ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Kilah, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, University of Tasmania Karynf/Shutterstock There is something special about sharing baked goods with family, friends and colleagues. But I’ll never forget the disappointment of serving my colleagues rhubarb muffins that had failed to rise. They ...
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.
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 ?
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
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
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!!
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