When it comes to housing, we have things much worse here than investors like Mr King would have us believe, both internationally and according to standards of basic decency.
More than 40,000 peoplelive on the streets, in emergency housing or in substandard shelters in New Zealand, and thousands of children suffer from preventable diseases like whooping cough and rheumatic fever because they live in cold, damp, overcrowded homes; yet 33,000 vacant houses in Auckland alone gather dust, deliberately left empty by property speculators rubbing their hands with glee while prices increase. That’s f**ked.
Pardon me, but that’s absolutely f**ked, and anyone with a functioning conscience should agree that it’s f**ked.
The Labour government’s proposed changes to New Zealand’s rental system suggest bare-minimum protections for tenants, and we need them yesterday.
Opposition by the Property Investors Federation is heartless and self-interested, and Mr King’s suggestion that tenants actually enjoy the extra costs landlords heap on them is a sick joke.
I wonder if tenants don’t need a body to counter the self-serving spin of slumlords, the way unions have had to dilute the narrative of exploitive employers. Some kind of tenants union maybe.
Andrew King responded in the comments section making it clearer that what he actually said was that some tenants liked paying the letting fee because it let them secure the property ahead of others.
I call Bullshit, as you only pay the letting fee once the rental company agrees to let the property to you. You pay the letting fee with your bond and your first two weeks of rent.
So essentially in order to move into a property you need to be able to sort at the very least 6 weeks of rental money or 7 weeks. 3 – 4 weeks bond, 2 weeks rent, 1 week of rent + GST for letting fee.
Yep, BS. We have letting fees because the margins are so skinny for the property management divisions of Real Estate franchises that without them many operations would cease to be viable.
It used to be called ‘key money’ and the reason they could get away with it previously was the shortage of rentals.
For prime commercial properties the key money was enormous.
I’m not sure what you mean Duke. I thought key money for residential properties had always been illegal. These days letting fees are so common WINZ have been adding them to ‘move-in’ grants for several years.
Property management companies generally charge owners around 8% of the rent income. This sum is then split approx 50/50 between the property manager and the parent office franchise.
50 properties returning an average of $400 per week rent provide the property management division with an income of $1600 per week. Split 50/50 = $800 for the office and $800 for the manager. The manager is generally obliged to pay for their vehicle, phone, ACC and tax from their $800. This equates to an in the hand wage of about $400 per week.
This is why the industry has become dependent on letting fees. 3-4 new lets each month doubles incomes.
As Sabine points out, Mr Kings reasons for a letting fee are BS. The industry model would fall over if letting fees were banned…or a new creative way to milk end users and/or owners introduced.
And also a conflict of interest to have private health insurance or children in private schools. They should use the systems they are responsible for maintaining.
Bring back the stocks I say. Stack em up in the town centres so we can hurl cabbages and tomatoes at them. When sufficiently sodden with tomato juice, remove them to a desert island and leave them to drown in the rising sea levels.
Seriously, they’re brain-addled letters are still showing up in the ‘letters to the editor’ section of the newspapers. Why are newspapers printing them? And don’t anyone come the free speech garbage with me. These people are indeed crackpots and they should not be given platforms from which they can spread their dangerous message to the gullible.
Such people were locked up in WW2, and we’re in a war situation right now due to Climate Change.
Get real, Anne. Tomatoes???? Not at their current price!
Seriously, a good ‘get real’ speech. Good on the Samoan PM.
And Morrison is not getting off to a good start with Australia’s Pacific neighbours, as mentioned in that article:
“Australia’s new prime minister, Scott Morrison, is under pressure from some members of his party to abandon Australia’s commitment to reducing emissions under the Paris agreement.
His immediate predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, was due to attend the forum, but Morrison has announced he is sending his new foreign minister, Marisa Payne, a move the opposition Labor party condemned as “an insult to our neighbours” as well as “a serious strategic mistake”.”
As not mentioned, instead he went to Indonesia to sign a free trade agreement.
But this frenchy had enough and quit live on radio
Quote” Mr. Hulot was initially best known to the French public for presenting television shows that aimed to raise awareness about the environment. He later created an environmental foundation and was nominated in 2012 by the French presidency as a special climate envoy ahead of the 2015 Paris summit meeting that led to the signing of the climate deal.
“The planet is becoming a sauna, our natural resources are running out, biodiversity is melting like snow in the sun, and it still isn’t being handled like a priority issue,” he lamented on Tuesday.Quote End.
The French politicians may prefer light-hearted, clever humour to serious stuff that makes life more precarious and difficult in their role as people’s leaders serving the people democratically. But one revolution doesn’t solve all centuries’ problems. See below –
Maybe they should use Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot as a bon bon in between the sour and irksome task of listening to modern M. Hulot. Every hour, after intense and unpleasant discussion, a little more of M. Hulot’s Holiday to decrease their indigestion.
Short clips:
May 1968 events in France – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1968_events_in_France
The volatile period of civil unrest in France during May 1968 was punctuated by demonstrations … The student occupations and wildcat general strikes initiated across France were ….. While Communist leaders later denied that they had planned an armed uprising, and extreme militants only comprised 2% of the populace, …
Protests of 1968 · Wildcat strike action · Gaullist Party
In between there have been the Second World War 1939-1945,
and the First World War 1914-1918. (They were the largest military conflicts in human history. Both wars involved military alliances between different groups of countries. Wikipedia)
French Revolution of 1848 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution_of_1848
On May 31, 15,000 jobless French rioted as rising xenophobia persecuted Belgian workers in the north. In 1848, 479 newspapers were founded alongside a 54% decline in the number of businesses in Paris, as most wealth had evacuated the city.
The French Revolution (French: Révolution française [ʁevɔlysjɔ̃ fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) was a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval in France and its colonies that lasted from 1789 until 1799. It was partially carried forward by Napoleon during the later expansion of the French Empire.
French Revolution – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution
Well I thought it was a bad thing that M Hulot stepped down because he wasn’t being heard. And I suggested that the French are not living up to the ideals of their numerous revolutions, and should be listening to M Hulot even if they have to take a break for air and some relaxation FTTT.
garners just pissy because the government didn’t jump when he said around the sick traveller .
Ardern calmed businesses nerves and nailed it by standing down the bully pending investigation .that’s a pass in my books.
Little duncs just a pretender to hoskings toxic throne.
I agree Garner has gone over the top with his criticism – especially in the second half of the article. But there is some truth in what he says. Two cabinet minsters are showing signs they are wanting, and both of them are women. Not a good look.
Far better to cut their losses as soon as is practicable… before they become liabilities. Helen Clark did it and so did John Key.
Garner , the guy who said his name being amoung those leaked on the dating website Ashley Madison, was an imposter.
His 3rd marriage broke up less than 18 months later.
Trouble with Jacinda is she was not strong enough from the start as we all respecrt a strong woman as our leader dont we.
History told us that when faced with aggression such as Britains war with Argintena over the Falklands Island invassion Margret Thatcher stepped up to that challenge but when a junior Labour MP like Clare curran hands a hand grenade to her oer Curran’s botch-ups, all jacinda did was just cowered and folded.
So she needs to harden up and look decisive now; – as time is ticking.
Just look at jacindas Government now folding to the trucking lobby as she allows the Aucklander Phil Twyiord train wreck to roll on, – as he announces a massive road spending program of $11 Billion for just roading improvements for trucking freight to Ports and not allowing for any money for any regional rail services!!!!!!!
What a fuck-up that was!!!
Another lost cause or broken promises to her generation that faces “Climate change – her generations nucear moment”
Different leaders have different styles and I think that our PM should stick to her style and not try to become like (copy) so many other so-called (male) leaders. I think the PM is doing just fine; she ain’t perfect but that’s a ridiculous standard anyway and depends on whom you ask anyway (as in: you cannot please everyone all the time).
“National leader Simon Bridges – his hunt for the person who leaked his travel expenses could put him on a collision course with MPs who don’t want the party trawling through their private emails and might explode in his face if it turns out to be a National MP” Stuff.
Governments should ignore business and business should have no say in the running of the country. They’re the ones that are getting it all wrong because all they want is to get richer and they simply don’t care how much it costs the rest of us.
I recall a meeting with Michael Barnett CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber back in the early 2000’s where he stated that “what is good for business is good for New Zealand”. Many bought into that notion. Barnett still buys into it even today. At the time that quip didn’t quite gel with me as I had seen too many business’s prosper from being ruthless operators and some horrific polluters of the environment. Since then it has certainly become obvious that what was good for many business’s has been really bad for New Zealand.
True, but until we get another option the status quo will continue: most people can’t remain alive unless employed in a business. Remember the old socialist idea that governments ought to fund everyone’s subsistence? Socialist governments kept business to provide the money to do so. Which alternative to business funding do you advise us to switch to instead of that?
True, but until we get another option the status quo will continue: most people can’t remain alive unless employed in a business.
Change all businesses so that they’re a self-owned cooperative.
Remember the old socialist idea that governments ought to fund everyone’s subsistence? Socialist governments kept business to provide the money to do so.
And they failed because they kept the old, failed business model. The same business model that goes back thousands of years and which has always brought about the destruction of the society that used it.
Which alternative to business funding do you advise us to switch to instead of that??
The government owns all the resources in the country. Because of this they can simply create money and pay it out to utilise those resources, to hire people to produce what the country needs.
Yes, I agree with that brief outline of a viable alternative. Next step is for others to get on board in support. Then a political party to campaign on the basis of Monty Python’s slogan: “and now for something completely different”!
Keith ought to do an update of that analysis with appropriate conclusions and where to from here, eh? If you know the guy, suggest it to him. I recall attending a UBI seminar he presented in the early nineties, plus several of his papers were included in our process by JF when she led the GP economic policy working group back then. For those interested, here’s the Rankin site: http://new.rankinfile.co.nz/
Interesting data here about productivity and population growth. Getting rid of a few myths like for example that Israel is some sort of powerhouse of productivity.
It also is nailing what is going wrong with NZ, instead of spending tax money on high value investment and actually making ” high value things” or even “high value services” we are hinging our future on spending it on houses and roads to house more people who work at places like Burger King and hotels on close to minimum wages… or selling off our assets to others and just getting a small clip on the ticket. The stats show this will not work, our productivity is declining and at the bottom of the OECD.
Sadly, NZ ranks in the bottom 5 OECD countries for productivity and Israel and NZ are both there with the same problem, rapidly expanding populations. The costs to create all that new infrastructure are huge and NZ has an even more bizarre strategy of getting in low wage workers so therefore putting the burden on supporting them on the rest of the population taking more taxes away from productive areas they could be spending on as well as increasing social problems like more people in prison while crying nobody will employ them. Why would they, there are migrant labour hire firms touting cheap labour at every corner and making a killing being the middle man??? Likewise the private education firms aimed at foreigners, also making a killing while providing an appalling level of education and many having to be closed down, and funnelling in cheap workers.
We all hear about all the lobbying about how we need all these migrants for tourism. Nothing about opportunity for Maori interest to advance in. I would have thought the tourists visiting a country want to see indigenous people working in those places otherwise they might as well be in another country. The Maori economy is 15%, tourism is growing, wouldn’t that be a better combination to explore, and look at practically reducing the terrible statistics for many Maori and creating opportunities for them in?
The Maori economy is 15%, tourism is growing, wouldn’t that be a better combination to explore, and look at practically reducing the terrible statistics for many Maori and creating opportunities for them in?
Tourism, as we’re learning, is a really expensive form of low paying work. A few people may do well from it but the rest of the country will be worse off.
And that’s before we take climate change into account.
I’m all for the government investing in high value manufacturing and better education to support it but the government actually needs to be limiting tourism.
save nz and DracoTBastard
You are getting dangerously close to the truth there, and confirming the theories around the problems. I’m afraid that someone will knock on your door late at night and we will never hear from you again. Please keep safe, it seems that there is a glimmer of light coming through here.
Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
(from 1 September 1939 WH Auden)
“I’ve argued for some years, that rapid population growth can crowd out other business activities. The basic logic is pretty simple. New people – whether born or migrant – need new capital stock. A modern economy requires rather a lot of (physical) capital per person (houses, roads, offices, schools, shops, machines etc) and real resources that have to be devoted to meeting the needs and demand of the new people, can’t be used for other purposes. It is often those “other purposes” that seem to get squeezed out – in particular, investment in the tradables sector. People have to live somewhere, so that demand is often more inelastic (insensitive to changes in price) than is potential investment in support of new business opportunities”
Productivity is a myth that drives the problems we all are ecountering todaay with air pollution, climarte change and decreasing oxgen levels in our atmospheric air we breathe so we are well on the way to extingquishing our lives as we chast the ellusive “productivity”
last week the World health organisation rleased the findings of the largest study of the human damage caused by air pollution and it confirms that living near busy “productive” roads will cause brain damage and other damages to us all so we are really stuffed now.
Breaking News – Pollution ‘harms cognitive intelligence’
Air pollution could cause a significant reduction in intelligence, major study says
• Research finds that long-term exposure to air pollution impeded people’s performance in both verbal and math tests.
• More than four million people die each year from exposure to outdoor air pollution, according to the World Health Organization.
Air pollution could cause a significant reduction in intelligence, major study says
• Research finds that long-term exposure to air pollution impeded people’s performance in both verbal and math tests.
• More than four million people die each year from exposure to outdoor air pollution, according to the World Health Organization.
Productivity is a myth that drives the problems we all are ecountering todaay with air pollution, climarte change and decreasing oxgen levels in our atmospheric air we breathe so we are well on the way to extingquishing our lives as we chast the ellusive “productivity”
It’s not productivity doing that – it’s the profit drive and the greed of the capitalists.
Increasing productivity means one of two things in a society.
1. The society can shift people away from one industry into another while still providing everything that the first industry provided.
2. Could go from not providing enough of something to providing enough without increasing the number of people used in that industry. This usually also comes with increases in efficiency – in using less resources to provide the same or more.
More than four million people die each year from exposure to outdoor air pollution, according to the World Health Organization.
Last time I looked (admittedly quite a few years ago) there were an estimated 400 premature deaths in NZ from road pollution. More than half of them in Auckland.
Has Duncan nailed the terrible leaker who has been troubling Simon Bridges? I think it is a real shame that there has been no closure on such a simple problem.
Makes poor Simon look even less competent than Duncan – who knows everything.
I certainly hope Helen is keeping jacinda briefed Robert;
As I recieved several letters from Helen Clark as PM during the stormy days in 2003 when the arrogant roading lobby was pushing massive amounts of truck traffic through our residential ‘noise sensittive quiet zones’ areas in Napier.
Helen Clark took the lead to assist us,and she slowed their activities back to a reasonable manner and she arranged to have provided ($2m) – two million Dolllars for our community groups to get some much needed ‘mitigation’ for our 24hr 2400 truck activities roaming thriough our residential ‘quiet noise zones’ and since then the trucking lobby under national have been successful in trebbling road freight levels and ruining our health and lives.
Helen needs to assist Jacinda and to do what helen did to send Phil Twyford here to the HB Expressway to meet with our community Committee as Helen did and she confirmed this with us in a letter she sent to me as secretary of our residential area and she made good on her promises made to us by sending her minister for transport Mark Gosche then in 2003 with Finance Minister Michael Cullen and the CEO of Transit NZ (NZTA now) to meet with our committee then on the noisy poorly built “HB Expressway” to help so our community.
It is now Jacinda’s turn to step up as ‘champion for our community in Napier’ as Helen Clark was then in 2003.
Parliamentary commisioners report was warning government to act and they did then and need to again now sadly.
Helen Clark has been mentoring Jacinda Ardern for almost 20 years, cleangreen. After finishing university in 2001, Ardern worked as a researcher in Helen Clark’s office in Parliament when Clark was PM and they have been close friends and colleagues ever since. Clark is only one of many – but one of the most influential, who have helped Ardern over the years to grow and learn to the point that she was elected as Leader of the Labour Party at the age of 37.
Nah, she didn’t; she said, “…people wouldn’t have kept their jobs..” – the violent image you invoked is yours, not hers; Helen’s far more nuanced with her language than you are, naki and that’s just one criticism I have of your “naki” style comment.
I read in that link of Helen Clark’s interview: She said we live in an era “where you just have to expect the unexpected”.
“When you’re planning, you need to put the wildest scenarios on the table, because anything is possible.”
The other part of that saying is…’but you can’t count on it’.
Helen Clark didn’t say anything unexpected this time, but followed a line that would be expected from her talking about her preoccupations and her time. And thinking of the wildest scenarios – if that happens it is quickly reined in by groupthink, peer pressure and Treasury intelligence and overview.
Helen Clark’s opinion should be kept under wraps; it is no more welcome to me as a citizen than Jenny Shipley’s. Jacinda Ardern and Helen Clark could usefully talk about every quarter, but we elected Jacinda and I expect to hear her speak up about her vision and practical polices for us as we voters expected. I don’t want to hear the unexpected of Helen Clark usurping Jacinda in the news or anywhere.
Helen did very well in her day which is not now. So I suggest she doesn’t muddy the waters as we have enough old Labourites eager to put their oar in already. We are rowing and trying to go in the right direction, and old Labourites seem more inclined to the right adding to the RW-aligned pullers; and the result is direction diversion and going round in circles, literally.
“Nah, she didn’t; she said, “…people wouldn’t have kept their jobs..” – the violent image you invoked is yours, not hers”
Bullshit, next time learn to read the link before making a fool of yourself.
“Speaking to the Rotorua Daily Post after a Q&A session at the Property Council New Zealand national conference in Rotorua today, Clark said heads would have rolled if Labour’s youth camp sex scandal had occurred on her watch.”
See 8.2.4: reality really is goddam slippery to get a hold of sometimes! Like an eel. Ever try to grab one? Both you & RG were right. Just another instance of folks assuming stuff is either true or false. Both/and logic often applies instead.
I look for quotation marks. When I see them, I assume that inside of them is what a person said. When someone else says,”this person said”, I’m doubly careful not to accept the attribution without finding more reliable evidence. Clark may have said what naki claims, but there was no convincing evidence for that in the link he provided. I reckon.
Reality? “The former prime minister told the Rotorua Daily Post yesterday that heads would have rolled had the scandal occurred under her leadership. “Draw your own conclusions, go back to how I dealt with things like this, people wouldn’t have kept their jobs,” she said.”
I do often think of You and the good causes you promote.
Sometimes I wonder if very shortly Councils, Provinces and Government will force every car off the roads and highways that race across our marvellous North Island.
Just so that 50 Ton Trucks and their loads can take over and Kill at will. Wreck constantly the Roads into subsidence and rip up the peace. Day and Night.
There is hardly a foot of free width either side of our monster trucks- thundering along with a quivering trailer behind – at outrageous speed. Highway One is a war zone
All I know, is that very few Trains kill people. Heaps of Trucks kill heaps of people.
I hope with You that our lovely East Coast has Rail replaced – quick smart! Cleangreen.
Transcript:
And then, this orange apparition had the nerve to say she worked for him. You lugubrious leach! You doppelgänger of deceit and deviance! You lethal liar! You dimwitted dictator! You foolish fascist! She ain’t work for you. She worked above you! She worked beyond you! Get your preposition right! Then he got the nerve to say he goin’ grab it.
That ain’t what Aretha Franklin said. “I’m gonna give you something you can feel.” Like the brothers in the streets say, “Tap lightly. Like a woodpecker with a headache.” So don’t you sully the memory of our great Queen. Aretha Franklin was an original. Never one like her before. Never another like her afterwards.
One of the funniest moments at Aretha’s funeral was when Michael Eric Dyson, upon acknowledging the guests, said “to President Clinton, and her husband Bill”.— john oliver (@joliver46) August 31, 2018
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that Syrian rebels are planning a chemical weapons attack, with the aim of blaming it on the Syrian government to provoke a military response from the West……
…..The ministry also claimed that a private British contractor is helping the rebels stage the attack, according to news agency AFP…..
……”The militants have the task of simulating the rescue of the victims of the chemical weapons attack dressed in the clothes of the famous ‘White Helmets’,” it said.
” “I had two years of psychotherapy which were amazing but it was going to Peru and drinking ayahuasca, which is a class A drug in this country, that got to the root of my depression,” the comedian Simon Amstell has said. He is far from alone.”
This is from a Guardian opinion essay: “Ayahuasca rituals can be profoundly beneficial – if they’re done properly”. Good to see younger folk pursuing a transcendence pathway.
“In the west, ayahuasca can be portrayed as a shortcut to enlightenment, a product you can buy that will make you deep, or an “extreme” tourist experience. It’s become increasingly popular among tech millionaires who are, in the words of one report, looking to “find shortcuts to success in the ultra-competitive tech scene”. It seems unlikely ayahuasca was put on this Earth to help Bay Area tech bros crush the opposition.” But hey, you never know!
Christians spent the past couple of millennia explaining that `God moves in mysterious ways’. However, now that he has mysteriously relocated elsewhere, better to face reality and acknowledge that ayahuasca is part of Gaia, and ingestion is part of Gaian process. Those fit to play an ongoing part survive, wiser from the experience. Any entrepreneur seeking competitive advantage will spot that trend fast & leap onto it.
There was a decade or so in the hippie era when natural intelligence got powerfully enhanced via usage of plant allies – millions of us shared those experience before younger trend followers trashed the scenes with mindless hedonism. Western culture improved considerably as a result of the leading edge but the bad mental health produced by the capitalist system continues to victimise younger generations. Let’s hope their leading edge can also generate millions who wise up rather than turn into human vegetables!
I’ve only just started reading the comments, some of which are very interesting; it’s definitely not just “younger folk pursuing a transcendence pathway”.
Let’s hope their leading edge can also generate millions who wise up rather than turn into human vegetables!
Bit too late for that; many are stuck in a catachthonic state/world through their ‘pursuit’ of instant gratification, greed & gain, and thirst for power & control.
The most insightful poem In a Dark Time by Theodore Roethke shows that the path is not for the fainthearted. It happens to be my favourite poem 🙂
Oh yeah, I forgot the link, thanks. Didn’t realise there were comments available. Usual selection of retards & sceptics, then this: “hallucinogens can be tremendously helpful, do nothing much, or be very harmful. depends what’s in your head, what drug, what surroundings and companions for the trip.” Sensible.
“mushrooms: they grow on the golf courses near where my family live in Ireland and I’ve had some beautiful, gentle experiences with them.” Lucky! I’m just nostalgic, left tripping behind long ago. Catalysis & transcendence can be done without a plant ally. Incidentally, for readers who never read Castaneda, the ally is a tool – used as means to an end. The hippie thing turned to mush as soon as trend-followers started seeing it as an end in itself.
“Unlike LSD and shrooms, Ayahuasca gives people a “this is the truth” experience. Seems to active whatever part of the brain that gives us the “ring of truth” feeling.” I never went to Central or South America so I can’t endorse this from experience.
IrascibleOldGit89: “Being a true shallow suburbanite, I’m not sure how I’d react to taking powerful hallucinogens with Amazonian shamen, but I’m quite partial to imbibing modest amounts of novel lysergamides from time to time. Shame Theresa had one of her moral panics and banished the industry from the UK – it’s quite a global money spinner, I do believe…”
Well yes, with capitalism on its last legs any new industry ought to be got up & running pronto. I hope he gets together with IrascibleOldGits1-88 & forms a tribe of them. Can the internet enable such networking?
Personally I find the information around mushrooms and mental health to be fascinating.
“A number of small studies have found psychedelics to show promise in treating mental health disorders like depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder, often where other treatments have failed.
Now UK researchers are about to take part in the first major trials into whether one of these hallucinogenic drugs could be more effective than a leading antidepressant in the treatment of depression.
Researchers at Imperial College London are to compare the magic mushroom compound psilocybin with a leading SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) antidepressant, escitalopram, in a large trial expected to take at least two years.”
The clinical trial mentioned in the BBC article is not all that large (50 participants) and lists Professor David Nutt as the Principal Investigator: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03429075
Nutt is a well-known not to say controversial scientist who strongly advocates for re-classification of drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis based on the actual harm they are causing (cannabis is quite a safe drug based on the evidence of social harm it causes; alcohol is ranked highly in terms of social harm).
Although (these) drugs have potential to be beneficial they could also be used with less desirable intentions such as re-programming people (AKA brainwashing) or crime fighting, e.g. Devil’s Breathhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyoscine#Society_and_culture
She is doing the Sydney one tomorrow (Sun) via satellite because the Aussie govt have not yet made a final decision on her visa application.
The Sydney event is not her alone. She was/is appearing as part of a much bigger event – the Antidote Festival – at the Sydney Opera House involving many other speakers etc. Tickets for her session only were/are AUD39.
Her other appearances in Aussie are not until next Friday, 7 Sept in Melbourne and Tues 11 Sept in Brisbane. So there is still time for a visa for those events to be issued. Tickets for those longer speaking engagements are AUD72 – AUD 249 for VIP Meet and Greet.
Her NZ appearances are Auckland next Sat, 8 Sept and Wellington Sun, 9 Sept, and barring any last minute changes of mind etc, the decision yesterday to grant her a special direction all but means her NZ visa will be issued. NZ prices are $59 – $249 for the VIP Meet and Greet.
Momentum gathering around some kind of US military action in Venezuela: Rubio, as well as some in DC bureaucracy openly discussing now. A friend with high-level DC contacts told me recently “I’m afraid they’re gonna do something crazy.” https://t.co/X7pnlzVA71— Brian Winter (@BrazilBrian) August 31, 2018
Marco Rubio , a Republican senator from Florida, held a meeting at the White House with Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor, John Bolton , in which they spoke about the deep crisis that Venezuela is going through and its implications for the United States and Latin America. .
“For months and years I wanted the solution in Venezuela to be a non-military and peaceful solution, simply to restore democracy, there is a National Assembly elected by the people that has been clouded by this dictatorship,”
Rubio began when consulted for his meeting with Bolton.
I think there is an argument, very strong, that can be made at this time that Venezuela and the regime of (Nicolás) Maduro has become a threat
“I believe that the Armed Forces of the United States are only used in the event of a threat to national security, I believe that there is an argument, very strong , that can be made at this time that Venezuela and the (Nicolás) Maduro regime has become a threat to the region and even to the United States. ”
He said that in his meeting with Bolton, this topic was discussed in general. ” (The Government of) Maduro is a government that supports drug traffickers, guerrillas and terrorist groups that are threatening the stability of Colombia .”
Haha, they have broken away from the USD! Who’s next? Iran? Turkey!, hehehe. China, Russia, Japan; all selling US Fed bonds. Who’s buying? Can only be the US Fed, buying back their own bonds! The crash is coming, can’t wait.
“If anyone truly believes we can keep the same number of cows, cut emissions, and increase profits they’re mad. As in insane. Our Ag minister is insane.”
Great to see California State is passing a very strong net neutrality law.
This will set up a real fight with the FCC and a general federal-level fight. We’ll have to see whether Tom Wheeler the Obama appointee there is willing to really bend the ear of the majority there to revisit the issue.
The proposed rules in California go further than rules passed by Democrats at the Federal Communications Commission in 2015. The legislation not only transforms the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules into California law, but it also bars internet service providers from offering sponsored content, zero-rating or other deals that could provide an economic incentive to broadband companies to discriminate against content riding on their networks. Such offerings allow a company to pay data charges so that certain content doesn’t count against a wireless subscriber’s data plan.
Additionally, the bill allows the state to oversee commercial interconnection deals to ensure broadband companies can’t use their market power to charge hefty amounts from corporate customers. Interconnection deals are agreements between companies that provide internet content, such as Netflix, and ISPs, such as Comcast and Verizon.
Large internet service providers, such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, oppose the California law. While they say they support the basic idea of net neutrality, they argue that bans on things like zero-rating and paid-priority, which could allow companies to pay broadband providers to get their services delivered faster than competitors, limit their ability to try new business models. The big broadband providers say without the ability to experiment with new business models, they’ll have to charge consumers more for their services in the future.
What will be critical is whether the Democrat Party accept SuperPac money from Caifornia-domiciled big-tech companies who oppose any net neutrality. Generally the big internet companies support Democrats. If they accept the money, it signals that they are less likely to side with the California legislature and less likely to revisit the issue should they get a Senate majority from the November mid-terms.
“big-tech companies who oppose any net neutrality”
Thats surprising , any evidence of that. I thought the people own own the net infrastructure were the only ones to make money out of net priority.
Apple and Google dont want to pay to get their data their first and they would see their own profits at risk of going to those whos only job is infrastructure
“Taking a swipe at UK Prime Minister Theresa May as she struggled to dance with schoolchildren during her visit to South Africa this week, controversial British columnist Katie Hopkins tweeted: “Whites are being slaughtered in South Africa & inexplicably Appeaser May chooses to crucify herself”.
Hopkins’ tweet was the latest example of a global campaign to portray South Africa’s once dominant white population as a victimised minority under attack.
Her comments reflect the growing influence of South Africa’s conservative Afrikaner groups who are conducting global lobbying campaigns to support their message that white farmers are being targeted and killed, that the government is seizing their land, they are being discriminated against by affirmative action programmes and that their language is being sidelined.
…The BBC has found that there is no reliable data to suggest farmers are at greater risk of being murdered than the average South African.”
The outlaw Israeli regime told Al Jazeera not to show a documentary called The Lobby. Sadly for its credibility as a news organization, Al Jazeera obeyed.
outlaw Israeli regime huh?
there has never been a country called Palestine in the history of the world.
they are Bedouin who are a grouping of nomadic Arab people who have historically inhabited the desert regions in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and the Levant.
nomadic people ok.
Here’s a Central Banking trick from the Arabs. NZ and Australia could do the same. Australian Treasury could be funded from RBNZ, while they return finance to NZ Treasury from their Central Bank. Extend the balance sheets with a little regional QE number. Nice-one, mate. So long as it’s spent on long-term economic transition, and not lost on the pokies.
Trucking companies must be the biggest moaners in NZ. If only we could get more freight on the railways we already have.
Ken Shirley – ex Labour?
Ken Shirley, chief executive of trucking industry lobby group the Road Transport Forum…
Mr Shirley said the government’s pledged commitment to road safety was a good sign, but the greatest road safety improvements would come from investing in new highways.
“The biggest safety gains actually come from the big highway investment projects – the Roads Of National Significance – they have delivered spectacular improvement in safety and they’re the very projects that are now on hold.”
(Has the safety improvement been so good on TRONS?)
National:
National associate transport spokesperson Brett Hudson said the government’s policies were “totally out of whack”….
They didnt build the RONs for ‘the safety ‘- it was to suit the trucking industry.
The ordinary SH improvements and critical safety improvements were plundered to feed the fund for RONs.
Even the new route for the Manawatu Gorge back in 2012 was shelved in favour of some piece meal changes. All that money gone to waste as the new route has had to be done anyway – but slowly.
Even the spending for Aucklands CRL was delayed starting after after approval to begin was given- the Council kicked it off with its own money- because RONS had taken all the money
Ken Shirley and his ilk is backed by the oil industry who constantly lobby’s government relentlessly every day till they wear politicians down.
That is why things like RONs got to be paid by the taxpayer for the trucking industry.
Simple as that and if Phil twyford is a smart politician he should place sunset clauses all over his plans to reverse the roading projects for rail uptake so that when national does take over again they wont reinstate RONs again to keep milking the taxpayerr for the beneit of the trucking industry as it is just a rort.
The hui there you go Eco Maori has not seen any maori living the golden years not many if any are enjoying the good life when we get the silver back I see heap’s of Pakeha living the golden years .
The forestry industry industry on the East Coast’s was sold to maori as a big money spinner for maori but when I went to Ruatoria home the house’s look run down so not much money is flowing into the town .
I know how they work they will keep all the cream contracting jobs for Pakeha and give maori all the un profitable jobs to maori.
How does Eco Maori know this well that was one of the factors that caused my business to fail .
The reality is that this phenomenon is happening to Maori in all industry’s that is why we are so young old and BROKE. Many thanks Mihinarangi .
Ka kite ano
Goon morning Marae Jenny May kai pai for Matua Brown for telling that Gisborne City Councillor off for using raciest remakes about maori .
What he choses / Pakeha not to acknowledge is that I was all the Hard work of Maori tipunas /ancestors who have made Aotearoa so wealthy the East Coast was the back bone of Aotearoa in the Old day’s and thats a fact have a look at the farming and other industry’s. I no that the Pakeha can spinn there ——— back on maori .
I say the we need more statues of our tipuna..
Kia Kaha ka kite ano . Quade should play for Maori
Good evening Newshub the Senator John McCain funeral service give’s Eco Maori hope that we are going to leave OUR mokopuna’s a good future ka pai.
I say just for a ap and clients %35 cost that goes to Uber eats is to high .
No to lease hold land deals that’s my opinion enough said .
That’s the way Britain no honers ie Sir for un Honorable people .
Yes I have seen Rainier forestry do that in mangatu forest Gisborne has been striped of a lot of trees that were not mature so much for thinking about the future for the mokopuna’s.
Good story on Myanmar Michael Ka pai
Nicky you got the Star and the good job
Ka kite ano
Eco Maori has been studying OUR history back 5000 years and every time man has suppresed wahine the eventual out come has been a desaster War so I’m on the correct path’s in promoting OUR Wahine they are the majority of my offspring Kia kaha ka kite ano here a link below. P.S & equality
This short blog post and the linked PDF document is the result of a collaborative effort by Anne-Marie Blackburn, Dana Nuccitelli, Bärbel Winkler, Ken Rice and John Cook. When the climate change (mis)information briefs pushed by David Legates and others started to make the rounds in January 2021 we wondered whether ...
A part of this morning's transport announcement which hasn't got a lot of attention yet: biofuels are back: “Our Government has agreed in principle to mandate a lower emitting biofuel blend across the transport sector. Over time this will prevent hundreds of thousands of tonnes of emissions from cars, ...
After almost twenty years of ignoring the Māori vote, National may run in the Māori seats again: A former National MP is excited the party could stand a candidate in the Māori electorate seats for the first time since 2002. One News reported last night that National's leader Judith ...
If one stubbornly clings to the Elimination strategy (I don’t support it, but that will have to wait for another occasion) then try to get it right. You need secure borders. We have attempted this with a very large measure of success. It has not been perfect as the Covid-19 Response ...
Diaspora: perception departs from reality In this collection of articles are two papers currently captivating the attention of people following the science and emergence of climate change, especially the rapid variety we've accidentally unleashed and which is now unfolding around us. The synthesis and review article Earth's Ice Imbalance by Slater ...
The ultra-rich have done very, very well out of the pandemic. Globally, the wealth of the ten richest people rose by US$540 billion last year, enough money to pay for the pandemic in its entirity. And in New Zealand, local billionaire Graeme Hart saw his wealth increase by almost NZ$3.5 ...
Postmodernism has long been looked upon as an indecipherable ideology and a source of amusement. In 1996 Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University, had a hoax article published in ‘Social Text’ an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies. In ‘Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Anew study in Nature Sustainability incorporates the damages that climate change does to healthy ecosystems into standard climate-economics models. The key finding in the study by Bernardo Bastien-Olvera and Frances Moore from the University of California at Davis: The models have been underestimating the ...
In a recent interview with RNZ (14th of January), NZ Council of Civil Liberties Chair Thomas Beagle, in response to Simon Bridges condemnation of the post-Trump Twitter purge of local far Right and other accounts, said the following: “Cos the thing about freedom of expression is that it’s not just ...
Let’s be clear: if Trump is not politically killed off once and for all, he will become a MAGA Dracula, rising from the dead to haunt US politics for years to come and giving inspiration to his wretched family of grifters and thousands of deplorables well into the next decade. ...
Since its demise as an imperial power, and especially its deindustrialisation under Thatcher, the UK's primary economic engine has been its role as a money laundry, using its network of overseas territories as tax havens to enable rich people around the world to steal from the societies they live in. ...
Last month OMV quit the Great South Basin and surrendered its offshore exploration permits outside of Taranaki. This month, Australian-owned Beach Energy has done the same: Beach Energy Resources New Zealand has decided to abandon all of its oil and gas exploration permits off the South Island coast, including ...
The new Northland case has been linked to the South African strain of Covid-19, one of a number of new, more contagious Covid variants. Here’s how they emerge and why. Let’s start with the basics. The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for Covid-19 is a strand of RNA ...
MARVIN HUBBARD, US citizen by birth, New Zealand citizen by choice, Quaker and left-wing activist, has been broadcasting his show, "Community or Chaos", on Otago Access Radio for the best part of 30 years. On 24 November last year, I spoke with him about the outcome of the 2020 General ...
This is a guest blog post by Daniel Tamberg, Potsdam, co-founder and director of SCIARA GmbH. The non-profit organisation SCIARA is developing and operating a flexible software platform for scientific simulation games that allows thousands of players to explore, design and understand possible climate futures together. Decision-makers in politics, business, ...
Yesterday's Gone: Cold shivers are running up and down the spines of conservatives everywhere. Donald Trump may have gone, but all the signs point to there being something much more momentous in the wind-shift than a simple return to the status quo ante. A change is gonna come. ONE COULD ...
Is it possible to live and let live in the post-Trump era? The online campaign to vilify Christopher Liddell, ex-White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to Trump, makes for an interesting case study. Liddell is a New Zealander whose illustrious career in corporate America once earned him plaudits ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 17, 2021 through Sat, Jan 23, 2021Editor's Choice12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate changeAuthors explore scientific, economic, and political avenues for climate action ...
This discussion is from a Twitter thread by Martin Kulldorff on 20 December 2020. He is a Professor at Harvard Medical School specialising in disease surveillance methods, infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety. His Twitter handle is @MartinKulldorff #1 Public health is about all health outcomes, not just a single ...
The Treasury forecasts suggest the economy is doing better than expected after the Covid Shock. John Kenneth Galbraith was wont to say that economic forecasting was designed to make astrology look good. Unfair, but it raises the question of the purpose of economic forecasts. Certainly the public may treat them ...
Q: Will the COVID-19 vaccines prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and bring about community immunity (aka herd immunity)? A: Jury not in yet but vaccines do not have to be perfect to thwart the spread of infection. While vaccines induce protection against illness, they do not always stop actual ...
Joe Biden seems to be everything that Donald Trump was not – decent, straightforward, considerate of others, mindful of his responsibilities – but none of that means that he has an easy path ahead of him. The pandemic still rages, American standing in the world is grievously low, and the ...
Keana VirmaniFrom healthcare robots to data privacy, to sea level rise and Antarctica under the ice: in the four years since its establishment, the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund has supported over 30 projects.Rebecca Priestley, receiving the PM Science Communication Prize (Photo by Mark Tantrum) Associate Professor ...
Nothing more from me today - I'm off to Wellington, to participate in the city's annual roleplaying convention (which has also eaten my time for the whole week, limiting blogging despite there being interesting things happening). Normal bloggage will resume Tuesday. ...
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weaponscame into force today, making the development, possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal in international law. Every nuclear-armed state is now a criminal regime. The corporations and scientists who design, build and maintain their illegal weapons are now ...
"Come The Revolution!" The key objective of Bernard Hickey’s revolutionary solution to the housing crisis is a 50 percent reduction in the price of the average family home. This will be achieved by the introduction of Capital Gains, Land, and Wealth taxes, and by the opening up of currently RMA-protected ...
by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...
Session thirty-three was highly abbreviated, via having to move house in a short space of time. Oh well. The party decided to ignore the tree-monster and continue the attack on the Giant Troll. Tarsin – flying on a giant summoned bat – dumped some high-grade oil over the ...
Last night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...
Watching today’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States’ 46th president, there’s not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...
Dan FalkBritons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
Sara LutermanGrowing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Michael Cowling, CQUniversity AustraliaWe’ve probably all been there. We buy some new smart gadget and when we plug it in for the first time it requires an update to work. So we end up spending hours downloading and updating before we can even play with our new toy. But ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Zero emission buses, cleaner cars and environmentally-friendly biofuels will soon be hitting New Zealand’s roads, as the Government delivers on its election promise to make our transport network more sustainable. ...
The Green Party is already delivering on its commitment for cleaner, climate-friendly transport through our Cooperation Agreement with the Government. ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
Prudence Steven QC, barrister of Christchurch has been appointed as an Environment Judge and District Court Judge to serve in Christchurch, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Ms Steven has been a barrister sole since 2008, practising in resource management and local government / public law. She was appointed a Queen’s ...
The Government is delivering on its first tranche of election promises to take action on climate change with a raft of measures that will help meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. “This will be an ongoing area of action but we are moving ...
The Government is investing up to $10 million to support 30 of the country’s top early-career researchers to develop their research skills. “The pandemic has had widespread impacts across the science system, including the research workforce. After completing their PhD, researchers often travel overseas to gain experience but in the ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The New Zealand public sector and judiciary has again been ranked the least corrupt in the world. The 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released today by global anti-corruption organization Transparency International ranks New Zealand first equal ...
New Zealand is again ranked first equal with Denmark in the Transparency International annual index of perceived levels of public sector corruption. Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has welcomed New Zealand’s position in the 2020 index. He says New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Kaufman, Research Fellow, Vaccine Uptake Group, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute The federal government’s A$23.9 million COVID-19 vaccination information campaign, launchedyesterday, aims to reassure the public about vaccine safety and effectiveness. It will also provide information about the vaccine rollout. We’ve ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he’s joined by Hongi Luo, brand director at TikTok.In terms of cultural reach and impact, the ...
After Covid devastated its 2020, Basement Theatre comes roaring into 2021 with its Summer Season. Here’s the rundown of shows in-store, with some comments from programmer Nisha Madhan.Pre-FringeLust IslandWhen’s it on: February 2-6, 8pmWho’s involved: The women of improv troupe Hearthrobs (McKenzie’s Daughters, Salem Bitch Trials), including Brynley Stent, Alice ...
The whānau of Te Ahikaiata Turei supported by Māori and non-Māori staff at Unitec will take back a portrait of the Tūhoe leader who led the establishment of Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae and the values that brought the institute back from the brink of ...
A poll across the Early Childhood Education community found 93% in favour of pausing the ‘lunchbox rules’, or the Ministry of Education’s new Food Safety/choking changes to the Licensing Criteria, which came into effect on 25 January. “The message ...
Cycling advocates are calling for the transformation of urban transport, as New Zealand races to cut carbon. The Climate Change Commission will release its initial advice on Sunday 31 January. “Bikes and e-bikes are perfect for many local trips, ...
Three Ministers, led by the PM, joined in chorus today to warble about a bunch of measures aimed at helping to meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. Mind you, the measures mentioned seem to be more matters of decisions yet to be made ...
Michelle Kidd defines her role at Auckland’s specialist family violence court as te kaiwhakatere – the navigator. It’s a one-of-a-kind job, helping guide defendants through the court system. And there’s no one better suited to it than Whaea Michelle.First published November 24, 2020.Whaea Michelle is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sallie Yea, Associate professor & Principal Research Fellow, La Trobe University Each year, thousands of men and boys labour under extremely exploitative conditions on commercial fishing vessels owned by Taiwanese, Chinese and South Korean companies. The Taiwanese fleet, which operates in all ...
Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis believes the Crown should maintain responsibility for the care and protection of at-risk and vulnerable children, regardless of their race. Moreover, he is confident his all-Maori team of advisers will not be taking race into account as they help to improve Oranga Tamariki’s care and protection of ...
It’s easy to sacrifice John Banks. It’s a lot harder for brands, sports organisations and government to truly stop funding racism. Are they willing to try?Yesterday John Banks, the former Auckland mayor and MP, became subject to one of the fastest firings in media history when audio covering his approving ...
A community is outraged after Auckland Council granted consent for a row of trees planted by local kids to be removed along a revitalised waterway in South Auckland, reports Justin Latif. An Auckland Council decision to give contractors the all-clear to chop down 12 mānuka and kānuka trees shading Māngere’s Tararata ...
Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu hopes that the recent changes to Oranga Tamariki leadership present an opportunity for a long overdue paradigm shift that will place whānau at the heart of the child welfare sector. Pouārahi Helen Leahy says that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rice, Professor of Management, University of New England Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person, edging out previous title holder Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. His rocketing fortune is due to the booming share price of Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles ...
There are now three returnees who contracted the virus in the Auckland isolation facility then left into the community while positive. These are some of the questions that need to be resolved. At 10.20pm last night the Ministry of Health confirmed that the two cases they’d been treating as probable ...
Having a hard time remembering to scan in on the NZ Covid Tracer app when you’re out and about? Get this song stuck in your head and you’ll never forget again.Learn the lyrics:Aotearoa, it’s time to get scanning!I mean if you think about it, it never really wasn’t time we ...
We conclude our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with a review of his stories by John Newton Roger Hickin’s Cold Hub Press is one of the small miracles of contemporary New Zealand publishing. Over the last decade, on what can only be a shoe-string budget, the ...
Thursday 28th January, AUCKLAND: Drive Electric, the not-for-profit with one mission – making electric vehicle uptake in New Zealand mainstream, welcomes the announcement by the Government today as a sign of what’s to come through 2021, and we are confident ...
The Government announced today key policy decisions on the proposed clean car policies. The MIA has stated on many occasions that we support well thought out and constructive policies that will lead to an increased rate in the reduction of CO2 emissions from ...
Get wild, get cultured, get fed and then get to bed: the essential guide to a perfect few days in the southern city. There’s one thing that preoccupies the staff of The Spinoff almost as much as arranging popular food items into arbitrary lists, and that’s Dunedin. A quite remarkable ...
John Banks’ racist exchange with a Magic Talk listener on Tuesday was the latest in nearly 50 years of talkback controversies. Donna Chisholm has the receipts.John Banks axed over Māori ‘stone age culture’ comments on Magic Talk1972: On Radio I, sports talkback host Tim Bickerstaff launches a “Punch a Pom ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission.Two new community Covid-19 cases have been identified as the more infectious South African variant, but Auckland Mayor Phil Goff sayit would be "premature to go into lockdown now". The two new cases of Covid-19 identified in the ...
Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine in Southland to Fonterra’s ...
KiwiRail STOP Hauling COAL Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Dunn, Associate professor, University of Sydney The government is rolling out a new public information campaign this week to reassure the public about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, which one expert has said “couldn’t be more crucial” to people actually getting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese O’Sullivan, Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University The COVID vaccine rollout has placed the issue of vaccination firmly in the spotlight. A successful rollout will depend on a variety of factors, one of which is vaccine acceptance. One potential hurdle to vaccine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernard Walker, Associate Professor in Organisations and Leadership, University of Canterbury Kiwis know what it’s like when life throws curveballs. We’ve had major quakes, floods, fires, an eruption, a terrorist attack and now a pandemic. In those situations, it’s the ability to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Irwin, Emeritus professor, Murdoch University While we continue to be occupied with the COVID pandemic, another life-threatening disease has emerged in northern Australia, one that’s cause for considerable alarm for the millions of dog owners around the country. This disease — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cath Ferguson, Academic, Edith Cowan University Almost half of Australian adults struggle with reading. Similar levels of struggling readers are reported in the United Kingdom and United States. This does not mean all struggling readers are illiterate. It means they often struggle ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abbas Shieh, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Islamic Azad University The industrial revolution transformed cities, resulting in places of residence and work becoming more distant than ever before. This spatial segregation is still largely embedded in the design of our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: Occupation: Rainfall, written and directed by Luke Sparke Historically, when a sequel to a film was greenlit, you could rest assured this was because the first film made a ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 28, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tourism suffers in the shadow of Covid-19, two new positive cases in Auckland confirmed, and National will contest the Māori electorates.The front page of the January 4 Greymouth Star carried grim tidings for several of the glacier towns on the ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Two people who left managed isolation on January 15 have been confirmed as positive Covid-19 cases, with the Ministry of Health urging anyone who visited the same locations during the same time period as the infected pair in Auckland to ...
The watchlist of 'offensive or unreasonable' babies' names is to be reviewed, to include more names from other languages. Generations of the Īhaka family have played a meaningful role in bringing Te Reo and stories of Māori to our wider community. Archdeacon Sir Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka (Te Aupōuri, 1921-93) was known as the orator of ...
After Morocco’s flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire in Western Sahara on Friday 13 November 2020 war broke out between the two sides. In the midst of this war Tauranga based Ballance Agri-Nutrients has decided to carry on importing phosphate ...
Nicholas Agar suggests that our handling of the pandemic could be partly down to our distinctive Treaty of Waitangi relationship, and Māori ideas that enabled us to make it through without tens of thousands of deaths A mission for universities in the coming decade will be a deep understanding of the meaning ...
A young girl who once sent $5 to an embattled America's Cup team is now among the women on the water helping run the contest for the Auld Mug. As an eager and generous nine-year-old, Melanie Roberts posted a letter, with a $5 note, to OneAustralia’s America’s Cup team. It was 1995, ...
At 5am today, cock’s crow, the embargo lifted on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist. Here are the books in the race, followed by thoughts from poetry editor Chris Tse and books editor Catherine Woulfe. A shortlist of four books in each category will be announced March 3, with ...
Ignoring those QR codes when you drop into the supermarket? Can’t be bothered when you grab a coffee? The people serving you notice, and you’re freaking them out.So far, New Zealanders’ use of the Covid-19 Tracer app has been notably woeful. Food industry workers who’ve watched streams of customers walk ...
Steve Braunias reveals the longlist of the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards Apart from one or two unfortunate omissions which cast doubt on the sanity and intellectual acumen of judges, especially the nobodies who judged this year's non-fiction, the longlist for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards is ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursday’s memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
In my opinion, it should be a considered a conflict of interest for any MP to be a landlord.
Claiming tenants like letting fees is a sick joke that underlines the need for change
Madeleine Holden – Newshub, August 31, 2018
Well said.
I wonder if tenants don’t need a body to counter the self-serving spin of slumlords, the way unions have had to dilute the narrative of exploitive employers. Some kind of tenants union maybe.
Like Renters United.
https://www.rentersunited.org.nz/join/
Andrew King responded in the comments section making it clearer that what he actually said was that some tenants liked paying the letting fee because it let them secure the property ahead of others.
I call Bullshit, as you only pay the letting fee once the rental company agrees to let the property to you. You pay the letting fee with your bond and your first two weeks of rent.
So essentially in order to move into a property you need to be able to sort at the very least 6 weeks of rental money or 7 weeks. 3 – 4 weeks bond, 2 weeks rent, 1 week of rent + GST for letting fee.
Me thinks the bullshitter does protest to much.
Yep, BS. We have letting fees because the margins are so skinny for the property management divisions of Real Estate franchises that without them many operations would cease to be viable.
The other way round .
It used to be called ‘key money’ and the reason they could get away with it previously was the shortage of rentals.
For prime commercial properties the key money was enormous.
I’m not sure what you mean Duke. I thought key money for residential properties had always been illegal. These days letting fees are so common WINZ have been adding them to ‘move-in’ grants for several years.
Property management companies generally charge owners around 8% of the rent income. This sum is then split approx 50/50 between the property manager and the parent office franchise.
50 properties returning an average of $400 per week rent provide the property management division with an income of $1600 per week. Split 50/50 = $800 for the office and $800 for the manager. The manager is generally obliged to pay for their vehicle, phone, ACC and tax from their $800. This equates to an in the hand wage of about $400 per week.
This is why the industry has become dependent on letting fees. 3-4 new lets each month doubles incomes.
As Sabine points out, Mr Kings reasons for a letting fee are BS. The industry model would fall over if letting fees were banned…or a new creative way to milk end users and/or owners introduced.
Which probably means that these people are bribing the agents with the bribe then being incorporated into the letting fee so as to hide it.
And also a conflict of interest to have private health insurance or children in private schools. They should use the systems they are responsible for maintaining.
+100
Just saying what we’re all thinking… 🙂
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/31/world-leaders-who-deny-climate-change-should-go-to-mental-hospital-samoan-pm
Bring back the stocks I say. Stack em up in the town centres so we can hurl cabbages and tomatoes at them. When sufficiently sodden with tomato juice, remove them to a desert island and leave them to drown in the rising sea levels.
Seriously, they’re brain-addled letters are still showing up in the ‘letters to the editor’ section of the newspapers. Why are newspapers printing them? And don’t anyone come the free speech garbage with me. These people are indeed crackpots and they should not be given platforms from which they can spread their dangerous message to the gullible.
Such people were locked up in WW2, and we’re in a war situation right now due to Climate Change.
Yep… it should be ‘their’ not they’re.
Out of bed on the wrong side this morning.
Get real, Anne. Tomatoes???? Not at their current price!
Seriously, a good ‘get real’ speech. Good on the Samoan PM.
And Morrison is not getting off to a good start with Australia’s Pacific neighbours, as mentioned in that article:
“Australia’s new prime minister, Scott Morrison, is under pressure from some members of his party to abandon Australia’s commitment to reducing emissions under the Paris agreement.
His immediate predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, was due to attend the forum, but Morrison has announced he is sending his new foreign minister, Marisa Payne, a move the opposition Labor party condemned as “an insult to our neighbours” as well as “a serious strategic mistake”.”
As not mentioned, instead he went to Indonesia to sign a free trade agreement.
Get real, Anne. Tomatoes???? Not at their current price!
Oops, I don’t eat tomatoes. 😳
Neither do I at present due to price! LOL. I must get ‘with it ‘on smilies. Liked your comment though!
Not sure if you saw this.
But this frenchy had enough and quit live on radio
Quote” Mr. Hulot was initially best known to the French public for presenting television shows that aimed to raise awareness about the environment. He later created an environmental foundation and was nominated in 2012 by the French presidency as a special climate envoy ahead of the 2015 Paris summit meeting that led to the signing of the climate deal.
“The planet is becoming a sauna, our natural resources are running out, biodiversity is melting like snow in the sun, and it still isn’t being handled like a priority issue,” he lamented on Tuesday.Quote End.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/world/europe/france-environment-minister-nicolas-hulot.html
The French politicians may prefer light-hearted, clever humour to serious stuff that makes life more precarious and difficult in their role as people’s leaders serving the people democratically. But one revolution doesn’t solve all centuries’ problems. See below –
Maybe they should use Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot as a bon bon in between the sour and irksome task of listening to modern M. Hulot. Every hour, after intense and unpleasant discussion, a little more of M. Hulot’s Holiday to decrease their indigestion.
Short clips:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZGUIpdc0i4
S’il vous plaît profiter du film en langue française.
(https://archive.org/details/TatiLesVacancesDeMonsieurHulot
May 1968 events in France – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1968_events_in_France
The volatile period of civil unrest in France during May 1968 was punctuated by demonstrations … The student occupations and wildcat general strikes initiated across France were ….. While Communist leaders later denied that they had planned an armed uprising, and extreme militants only comprised 2% of the populace, …
Protests of 1968 · Wildcat strike action · Gaullist Party
In between there have been the Second World War 1939-1945,
and the First World War 1914-1918. (They were the largest military conflicts in human history. Both wars involved military alliances between different groups of countries. Wikipedia)
French Revolution of 1848 – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution_of_1848
On May 31, 15,000 jobless French rioted as rising xenophobia persecuted Belgian workers in the north. In 1848, 479 newspapers were founded alongside a 54% decline in the number of businesses in Paris, as most wealth had evacuated the city.
The French Revolution (French: Révolution française [ʁevɔlysjɔ̃ fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) was a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval in France and its colonies that lasted from 1789 until 1799. It was partially carried forward by Napoleon during the later expansion of the French Empire.
French Revolution – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution
i honestly don’t follow you. Sometimes i really don’t get it.
Maybe this is a better way of looking at the resignation of the French Environmental Minister.
La Belle Verte
https://vimeo.com/214163453
Well I thought it was a bad thing that M Hulot stepped down because he wasn’t being heard. And I suggested that the French are not living up to the ideals of their numerous revolutions, and should be listening to M Hulot even if they have to take a break for air and some relaxation FTTT.
Duncan nails it this morning.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/106739975/labour-goes-from-charm-offensive-to-utterly-useless-in-72-hours
Sums up labour’s week well.
garners just pissy because the government didn’t jump when he said around the sick traveller .
Ardern calmed businesses nerves and nailed it by standing down the bully pending investigation .that’s a pass in my books.
Little duncs just a pretender to hoskings toxic throne.
I agree Garner has gone over the top with his criticism – especially in the second half of the article. But there is some truth in what he says. Two cabinet minsters are showing signs they are wanting, and both of them are women. Not a good look.
Far better to cut their losses as soon as is practicable… before they become liabilities. Helen Clark did it and so did John Key.
Garner , the guy who said his name being amoung those leaked on the dating website Ashley Madison, was an imposter.
His 3rd marriage broke up less than 18 months later.
Good comment there James.
Trouble with Jacinda is she was not strong enough from the start as we all respecrt a strong woman as our leader dont we.
History told us that when faced with aggression such as Britains war with Argintena over the Falklands Island invassion Margret Thatcher stepped up to that challenge but when a junior Labour MP like Clare curran hands a hand grenade to her oer Curran’s botch-ups, all jacinda did was just cowered and folded.
So she needs to harden up and look decisive now; – as time is ticking.
Just look at jacindas Government now folding to the trucking lobby as she allows the Aucklander Phil Twyiord train wreck to roll on, – as he announces a massive road spending program of $11 Billion for just roading improvements for trucking freight to Ports and not allowing for any money for any regional rail services!!!!!!!
What a fuck-up that was!!!
Another lost cause or broken promises to her generation that faces “Climate change – her generations nucear moment”
trucking lobby ‘ = one.
jacindas generation Climate change nuclear moment. = zero.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a powerful female leader who could drive forcefully the wasting of human life for political gain.
Different leaders have different styles and I think that our PM should stick to her style and not try to become like (copy) so many other so-called (male) leaders. I think the PM is doing just fine; she ain’t perfect but that’s a ridiculous standard anyway and depends on whom you ask anyway (as in: you cannot please everyone all the time).
Stuff nails it this morning.
So who’s up and who’s down this week?
UP
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Immigration Minister Iain Lees Galloway, Civil Defence Minister Kris Faafoi.
DOWN
National leader Simon Bridges, Labour Party president Nigel Haworth, Customs Minister Meka Whaitiri.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/106694559/below-the-beltway
Sums up National’s week well.
National is a joke.
“National leader Simon Bridges – his hunt for the person who leaked his travel expenses could put him on a collision course with MPs who don’t want the party trawling through their private emails and might explode in his face if it turns out to be a National MP” Stuff.
This proves things.
1. Garner ( like most to the corporate media puppets), in return for a five figure salary, pimps for the deep state.
2 You pimp for the deep state.
Called business nerves – hahahahahahaha you’re delusional if you think that.
They should bring the women home.
Oh and there was the borrowing by housing NZ via the loophole.
Labour is a joke.
A joke in power and your lot aren’t even a bad joke so ha ha ha james
You can’t even manage to make a comment here without screwing it up, or is this an example of your recurring dyslexia?
The joke is you.
Governments should ignore business and business should have no say in the running of the country. They’re the ones that are getting it all wrong because all they want is to get richer and they simply don’t care how much it costs the rest of us.
Business is killing us.
I recall a meeting with Michael Barnett CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber back in the early 2000’s where he stated that “what is good for business is good for New Zealand”. Many bought into that notion. Barnett still buys into it even today. At the time that quip didn’t quite gel with me as I had seen too many business’s prosper from being ruthless operators and some horrific polluters of the environment. Since then it has certainly become obvious that what was good for many business’s has been really bad for New Zealand.
where he stated that “what is good for business is good for New Zealand”. Many bought into that notion.
It’s the Randian con: basically saying, “What makes me rich is good for everyone.”
It’s amazing they’ve got away with such self-serving BS for so long, without the whole world laughing int heir faces.
Nailed it DTB. (Phrase of the day).
Completely spot on, as ever.
True, but until we get another option the status quo will continue: most people can’t remain alive unless employed in a business. Remember the old socialist idea that governments ought to fund everyone’s subsistence? Socialist governments kept business to provide the money to do so. Which alternative to business funding do you advise us to switch to instead of that?
Change all businesses so that they’re a self-owned cooperative.
And they failed because they kept the old, failed business model. The same business model that goes back thousands of years and which has always brought about the destruction of the society that used it.
Technically, the government doesn’t need funding. Indications are that it’s government spending and deficits that keeps private businesses going.
The government owns all the resources in the country. Because of this they can simply create money and pay it out to utilise those resources, to hire people to produce what the country needs.
Like this.
Yes, I agree with that brief outline of a viable alternative. Next step is for others to get on board in support. Then a political party to campaign on the basis of Monty Python’s slogan: “and now for something completely different”!
Keith ought to do an update of that analysis with appropriate conclusions and where to from here, eh? If you know the guy, suggest it to him. I recall attending a UBI seminar he presented in the early nineties, plus several of his papers were included in our process by JF when she led the GP economic policy working group back then. For those interested, here’s the Rankin site: http://new.rankinfile.co.nz/
Interesting data here about productivity and population growth. Getting rid of a few myths like for example that Israel is some sort of powerhouse of productivity.
https://croakingcassandra.com/2017/05/18/two-improbable-outposts/
It also is nailing what is going wrong with NZ, instead of spending tax money on high value investment and actually making ” high value things” or even “high value services” we are hinging our future on spending it on houses and roads to house more people who work at places like Burger King and hotels on close to minimum wages… or selling off our assets to others and just getting a small clip on the ticket. The stats show this will not work, our productivity is declining and at the bottom of the OECD.
Sadly, NZ ranks in the bottom 5 OECD countries for productivity and Israel and NZ are both there with the same problem, rapidly expanding populations. The costs to create all that new infrastructure are huge and NZ has an even more bizarre strategy of getting in low wage workers so therefore putting the burden on supporting them on the rest of the population taking more taxes away from productive areas they could be spending on as well as increasing social problems like more people in prison while crying nobody will employ them. Why would they, there are migrant labour hire firms touting cheap labour at every corner and making a killing being the middle man??? Likewise the private education firms aimed at foreigners, also making a killing while providing an appalling level of education and many having to be closed down, and funnelling in cheap workers.
We all hear about all the lobbying about how we need all these migrants for tourism. Nothing about opportunity for Maori interest to advance in. I would have thought the tourists visiting a country want to see indigenous people working in those places otherwise they might as well be in another country. The Maori economy is 15%, tourism is growing, wouldn’t that be a better combination to explore, and look at practically reducing the terrible statistics for many Maori and creating opportunities for them in?
More
Tourism, as we’re learning, is a really expensive form of low paying work. A few people may do well from it but the rest of the country will be worse off.
And that’s before we take climate change into account.
I’m all for the government investing in high value manufacturing and better education to support it but the government actually needs to be limiting tourism.
save nz and DracoTBastard
You are getting dangerously close to the truth there, and confirming the theories around the problems. I’m afraid that someone will knock on your door late at night and we will never hear from you again. Please keep safe, it seems that there is a glimmer of light coming through here.
Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
(from 1 September 1939 WH Auden)
“I’ve argued for some years, that rapid population growth can crowd out other business activities. The basic logic is pretty simple. New people – whether born or migrant – need new capital stock. A modern economy requires rather a lot of (physical) capital per person (houses, roads, offices, schools, shops, machines etc) and real resources that have to be devoted to meeting the needs and demand of the new people, can’t be used for other purposes. It is often those “other purposes” that seem to get squeezed out – in particular, investment in the tradables sector. People have to live somewhere, so that demand is often more inelastic (insensitive to changes in price) than is potential investment in support of new business opportunities”
https://croakingcassandra.com/2017/05/18/two-improbable-outposts/
100% SaveNZ.
Productivity is a myth that drives the problems we all are ecountering todaay with air pollution, climarte change and decreasing oxgen levels in our atmospheric air we breathe so we are well on the way to extingquishing our lives as we chast the ellusive “productivity”
last week the World health organisation rleased the findings of the largest study of the human damage caused by air pollution and it confirms that living near busy “productive” roads will cause brain damage and other damages to us all so we are really stuffed now.
Taske a look at this;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=-m3HfZke6_w
Breaking News – Pollution ‘harms cognitive intelligence’
Air pollution could cause a significant reduction in intelligence, major study says
• Research finds that long-term exposure to air pollution impeded people’s performance in both verbal and math tests.
• More than four million people die each year from exposure to outdoor air pollution, according to the World Health Organization.
Air pollution could cause a significant reduction in intelligence, major study says
• Research finds that long-term exposure to air pollution impeded people’s performance in both verbal and math tests.
• More than four million people die each year from exposure to outdoor air pollution, according to the World Health Organization.
It’s not productivity doing that – it’s the profit drive and the greed of the capitalists.
Increasing productivity means one of two things in a society.
1. The society can shift people away from one industry into another while still providing everything that the first industry provided.
2. Could go from not providing enough of something to providing enough without increasing the number of people used in that industry. This usually also comes with increases in efficiency – in using less resources to provide the same or more.
Last time I looked (admittedly quite a few years ago) there were an estimated 400 premature deaths in NZ from road pollution. More than half of them in Auckland.
Hi James
Has Duncan nailed the terrible leaker who has been troubling Simon Bridges? I think it is a real shame that there has been no closure on such a simple problem.
Makes poor Simon look even less competent than Duncan – who knows everything.
Observer Tokoroa;
Thanks for that; – you put a smile on my saddened face today; thanks eternally for that.
Helen Clark said heads would have rolled if Labour’s youth camp sex scandal had
occurred on her watch.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12116497
Yes I have always deeply admired helen clark she was the very best we had.
As usual the press used their Venom to make Helen look somewhat evil when she was the most effective woman Prime minister we had.
Helen needs to coach Jacinda up here now.
Most National past PM’s did this so i dont see any issues in suggesting this.
Jacinda has a lot to learn and now is the time to begin.
Jacinda began learning long ago, cleangreen and any discussions with Helen today won’t be the first.
Robert;
I certainly hope Helen is keeping jacinda briefed Robert;
As I recieved several letters from Helen Clark as PM during the stormy days in 2003 when the arrogant roading lobby was pushing massive amounts of truck traffic through our residential ‘noise sensittive quiet zones’ areas in Napier.
Helen Clark took the lead to assist us,and she slowed their activities back to a reasonable manner and she arranged to have provided ($2m) – two million Dolllars for our community groups to get some much needed ‘mitigation’ for our 24hr 2400 truck activities roaming thriough our residential ‘quiet noise zones’ and since then the trucking lobby under national have been successful in trebbling road freight levels and ruining our health and lives.
Helen needs to assist Jacinda and to do what helen did to send Phil Twyford here to the HB Expressway to meet with our community Committee as Helen did and she confirmed this with us in a letter she sent to me as secretary of our residential area and she made good on her promises made to us by sending her minister for transport Mark Gosche then in 2003 with Finance Minister Michael Cullen and the CEO of Transit NZ (NZTA now) to meet with our committee then on the noisy poorly built “HB Expressway” to help so our community.
It is now Jacinda’s turn to step up as ‘champion for our community in Napier’ as Helen Clark was then in 2003.
Parliamentary commisioners report was warning government to act and they did then and need to again now sadly.
Labour’s resolutions to our long standing transport issues and how to solve them as suggested by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment in his 2005 report seen here. https://www.pce.parliament.nz/media/pdfs/Hawkes-Bay-Expressway-Noise-and-air-quality-issues-June-2005.pdf
My idea of coaching/mentoring is to enable people to be the best they can be. Your idea seems somewhat different?
Helen Clark has been mentoring Jacinda Ardern for almost 20 years, cleangreen. After finishing university in 2001, Ardern worked as a researcher in Helen Clark’s office in Parliament when Clark was PM and they have been close friends and colleagues ever since. Clark is only one of many – but one of the most influential, who have helped Ardern over the years to grow and learn to the point that she was elected as Leader of the Labour Party at the age of 37.
Nah, she didn’t; she said, “…people wouldn’t have kept their jobs..” – the violent image you invoked is yours, not hers; Helen’s far more nuanced with her language than you are, naki and that’s just one criticism I have of your “naki” style comment.
Don’t use the n-word, please!
k
I read in that link of Helen Clark’s interview:
She said we live in an era “where you just have to expect the unexpected”.
“When you’re planning, you need to put the wildest scenarios on the table, because anything is possible.”
The other part of that saying is…’but you can’t count on it’.
Helen Clark didn’t say anything unexpected this time, but followed a line that would be expected from her talking about her preoccupations and her time. And thinking of the wildest scenarios – if that happens it is quickly reined in by groupthink, peer pressure and Treasury intelligence and overview.
Helen Clark’s opinion should be kept under wraps; it is no more welcome to me as a citizen than Jenny Shipley’s. Jacinda Ardern and Helen Clark could usefully talk about every quarter, but we elected Jacinda and I expect to hear her speak up about her vision and practical polices for us as we voters expected. I don’t want to hear the unexpected of Helen Clark usurping Jacinda in the news or anywhere.
Helen did very well in her day which is not now. So I suggest she doesn’t muddy the waters as we have enough old Labourites eager to put their oar in already. We are rowing and trying to go in the right direction, and old Labourites seem more inclined to the right adding to the RW-aligned pullers; and the result is direction diversion and going round in circles, literally.
“Nah, she didn’t; she said, “…people wouldn’t have kept their jobs..” – the violent image you invoked is yours, not hers”
Bullshit, next time learn to read the link before making a fool of yourself.
“Speaking to the Rotorua Daily Post after a Q&A session at the Property Council New Zealand national conference in Rotorua today, Clark said heads would have rolled if Labour’s youth camp sex scandal had occurred on her watch.”
Naki man
It’s that nuance you lack. Why not stick to rugby. Things are so much more straightforward there.
See 8.2.4: reality really is goddam slippery to get a hold of sometimes! Like an eel. Ever try to grab one? Both you & RG were right. Just another instance of folks assuming stuff is either true or false. Both/and logic often applies instead.
I look for quotation marks. When I see them, I assume that inside of them is what a person said. When someone else says,”this person said”, I’m doubly careful not to accept the attribution without finding more reliable evidence. Clark may have said what naki claims, but there was no convincing evidence for that in the link he provided. I reckon.
Reality? “The former prime minister told the Rotorua Daily Post yesterday that heads would have rolled had the scandal occurred under her leadership. “Draw your own conclusions, go back to how I dealt with things like this, people wouldn’t have kept their jobs,” she said.”
The anonymous journo who put this on the TVNZ website may be telling the truth, may be misreporting what Bryce Edwards said, may be misreporting what HC said.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/helen-clark-wouldnt-have-meant-fire-youth-camp-sex-scandal-missile-jacinda-ardern-says-political-analyst
Hi Cleangreen
I do often think of You and the good causes you promote.
Sometimes I wonder if very shortly Councils, Provinces and Government will force every car off the roads and highways that race across our marvellous North Island.
Just so that 50 Ton Trucks and their loads can take over and Kill at will. Wreck constantly the Roads into subsidence and rip up the peace. Day and Night.
There is hardly a foot of free width either side of our monster trucks- thundering along with a quivering trailer behind – at outrageous speed. Highway One is a war zone
All I know, is that very few Trains kill people. Heaps of Trucks kill heaps of people.
I hope with You that our lovely East Coast has Rail replaced – quick smart! Cleangreen.
Best regards
Observer Tokoroa;
Thanks for the hands up here.
We hope Helen & jacinda read my latest respose to Robert up on 8.1.1.1. right above here.
Happy reading.
50 tonnes?
Its more than that. HGV are now over 60 tones.
oh my goodness, bring out the fainting couch 🙂
someone who knew Aretha Franklin well and took offense at the works of the orange menace “She worked for me”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=117&v=5ggTnrPmBVI
the quality is not the greatest so but still.
Transcript:
And then, this orange apparition had the nerve to say she worked for him. You lugubrious leach! You doppelgänger of deceit and deviance! You lethal liar! You dimwitted dictator! You foolish fascist! She ain’t work for you. She worked above you! She worked beyond you! Get your preposition right! Then he got the nerve to say he goin’ grab it.
That ain’t what Aretha Franklin said. “I’m gonna give you something you can feel.” Like the brothers in the streets say, “Tap lightly. Like a woodpecker with a headache.” So don’t you sully the memory of our great Queen. Aretha Franklin was an original. Never one like her before. Never another like her afterwards.
Go sister. Any colour – leave our respected ones alone. Don’t try to smooch off them; it detracts from both.
Quite the homegoing.
Russia claims rebels in Idlib, with the help of British contractors, are planning to gas their own people and blame it on Assad.
https://www.dw.com/en/russia-claims-syrian-rebels-planning-idlib-chemical-weapons-attack/a-45223057
” “I had two years of psychotherapy which were amazing but it was going to Peru and drinking ayahuasca, which is a class A drug in this country, that got to the root of my depression,” the comedian Simon Amstell has said. He is far from alone.”
This is from a Guardian opinion essay: “Ayahuasca rituals can be profoundly beneficial – if they’re done properly”. Good to see younger folk pursuing a transcendence pathway.
“In the west, ayahuasca can be portrayed as a shortcut to enlightenment, a product you can buy that will make you deep, or an “extreme” tourist experience. It’s become increasingly popular among tech millionaires who are, in the words of one report, looking to “find shortcuts to success in the ultra-competitive tech scene”. It seems unlikely ayahuasca was put on this Earth to help Bay Area tech bros crush the opposition.” But hey, you never know!
Christians spent the past couple of millennia explaining that `God moves in mysterious ways’. However, now that he has mysteriously relocated elsewhere, better to face reality and acknowledge that ayahuasca is part of Gaia, and ingestion is part of Gaian process. Those fit to play an ongoing part survive, wiser from the experience. Any entrepreneur seeking competitive advantage will spot that trend fast & leap onto it.
There was a decade or so in the hippie era when natural intelligence got powerfully enhanced via usage of plant allies – millions of us shared those experience before younger trend followers trashed the scenes with mindless hedonism. Western culture improved considerably as a result of the leading edge but the bad mental health produced by the capitalist system continues to victimise younger generations. Let’s hope their leading edge can also generate millions who wise up rather than turn into human vegetables!
Thanks for that and here’s the link for those who’d want to read the article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/31/ayahuasca-tourists-risk-death-henry-miller-colombia
I’ve only just started reading the comments, some of which are very interesting; it’s definitely not just “younger folk pursuing a transcendence pathway”.
Bit too late for that; many are stuck in a catachthonic state/world through their ‘pursuit’ of instant gratification, greed & gain, and thirst for power & control.
The most insightful poem In a Dark Time by Theodore Roethke shows that the path is not for the fainthearted. It happens to be my favourite poem 🙂
Oh yeah, I forgot the link, thanks. Didn’t realise there were comments available. Usual selection of retards & sceptics, then this: “hallucinogens can be tremendously helpful, do nothing much, or be very harmful. depends what’s in your head, what drug, what surroundings and companions for the trip.” Sensible.
“mushrooms: they grow on the golf courses near where my family live in Ireland and I’ve had some beautiful, gentle experiences with them.” Lucky! I’m just nostalgic, left tripping behind long ago. Catalysis & transcendence can be done without a plant ally. Incidentally, for readers who never read Castaneda, the ally is a tool – used as means to an end. The hippie thing turned to mush as soon as trend-followers started seeing it as an end in itself.
“Unlike LSD and shrooms, Ayahuasca gives people a “this is the truth” experience. Seems to active whatever part of the brain that gives us the “ring of truth” feeling.” I never went to Central or South America so I can’t endorse this from experience.
IrascibleOldGit89: “Being a true shallow suburbanite, I’m not sure how I’d react to taking powerful hallucinogens with Amazonian shamen, but I’m quite partial to imbibing modest amounts of novel lysergamides from time to time. Shame Theresa had one of her moral panics and banished the industry from the UK – it’s quite a global money spinner, I do believe…”
Well yes, with capitalism on its last legs any new industry ought to be got up & running pronto. I hope he gets together with IrascibleOldGits1-88 & forms a tribe of them. Can the internet enable such networking?
“Usual selection of retards…”
best if you don’t use that term thanks.
Personally I find the information around mushrooms and mental health to be fascinating.
“A number of small studies have found psychedelics to show promise in treating mental health disorders like depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder, often where other treatments have failed.
Now UK researchers are about to take part in the first major trials into whether one of these hallucinogenic drugs could be more effective than a leading antidepressant in the treatment of depression.
Researchers at Imperial College London are to compare the magic mushroom compound psilocybin with a leading SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) antidepressant, escitalopram, in a large trial expected to take at least two years.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-44575139
Fascinating stuff!
The clinical trial mentioned in the BBC article is not all that large (50 participants) and lists Professor David Nutt as the Principal Investigator: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03429075
Nutt is a well-known not to say controversial scientist who strongly advocates for re-classification of drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis based on the actual harm they are causing (cannabis is quite a safe drug based on the evidence of social harm it causes; alcohol is ranked highly in terms of social harm).
He visited New Zealand in February of this year: https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018633601/prof-david-nutt-it-s-irrational-to-deny-people-access-to-lsd
Although (these) drugs have potential to be beneficial they could also be used with less desirable intentions such as re-programming people (AKA brainwashing) or crime fighting, e.g. Devil’s Breath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyoscine#Society_and_culture
Just on the news Chelsea Manning is still doing her Aussie gigs but via video.
That’s like paying 200 bucks to watch one of her youtube videos.
Personally would be saying “No. Money back please”
Get your facts right.
She is doing the Sydney one tomorrow (Sun) via satellite because the Aussie govt have not yet made a final decision on her visa application.
The Sydney event is not her alone. She was/is appearing as part of a much bigger event – the Antidote Festival – at the Sydney Opera House involving many other speakers etc. Tickets for her session only were/are AUD39.
Her other appearances in Aussie are not until next Friday, 7 Sept in Melbourne and Tues 11 Sept in Brisbane. So there is still time for a visa for those events to be issued. Tickets for those longer speaking engagements are AUD72 – AUD 249 for VIP Meet and Greet.
Her NZ appearances are Auckland next Sat, 8 Sept and Wellington Sun, 9 Sept, and barring any last minute changes of mind etc, the decision yesterday to grant her a special direction all but means her NZ visa will be issued. NZ prices are $59 – $249 for the VIP Meet and Greet.
Think you might be confusing my facts with the news reporters
But all good
First, Idiocracy, and now Wag the Dog.
Marco Rubio , a Republican senator from Florida, held a meeting at the White House with Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor, John Bolton , in which they spoke about the deep crisis that Venezuela is going through and its implications for the United States and Latin America. .
Rubio began when consulted for his meeting with Bolton.
I think there is an argument, very strong, that can be made at this time that Venezuela and the regime of (Nicolás) Maduro has become a threat
“I believe that the Armed Forces of the United States are only used in the event of a threat to national security, I believe that there is an argument, very strong , that can be made at this time that Venezuela and the (Nicolás) Maduro regime has become a threat to the region and even to the United States. ”
He said that in his meeting with Bolton, this topic was discussed in general. ” (The Government of) Maduro is a government that supports drug traffickers, guerrillas and terrorist groups that are threatening the stability of Colombia .”
https://translate.google.co.nz/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=https://www.infobae.com/america/venezuela/2018/08/30/marco-rubio-no-descarto-la-opcion-militar-de-eeuu-en-venezuela-las-circunstancias-han-cambiado/&prev=search
Haha, they have broken away from the USD! Who’s next? Iran? Turkey!, hehehe. China, Russia, Japan; all selling US Fed bonds. Who’s buying? Can only be the US Fed, buying back their own bonds! The crash is coming, can’t wait.
Xtian POS relishes the impending impoverishing and suffering of perhaps hundreds of millions of ordinary folk.
All the oil in the ground and owned by the people of Venezuela, makes the US elites very mad.
Rachel Stewart.
“If anyone truly believes we can keep the same number of cows, cut emissions, and increase profits they’re mad. As in insane. Our Ag minister is insane.”
Click bait.
She gets it from reading the Guardian, where you have to be more absolutist than the Pope.
The Kaiser didnt take too much notice of the Grey River Argus back in 1914 either.
Great to see California State is passing a very strong net neutrality law.
This will set up a real fight with the FCC and a general federal-level fight. We’ll have to see whether Tom Wheeler the Obama appointee there is willing to really bend the ear of the majority there to revisit the issue.
The proposed rules in California go further than rules passed by Democrats at the Federal Communications Commission in 2015. The legislation not only transforms the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules into California law, but it also bars internet service providers from offering sponsored content, zero-rating or other deals that could provide an economic incentive to broadband companies to discriminate against content riding on their networks. Such offerings allow a company to pay data charges so that certain content doesn’t count against a wireless subscriber’s data plan.
Additionally, the bill allows the state to oversee commercial interconnection deals to ensure broadband companies can’t use their market power to charge hefty amounts from corporate customers. Interconnection deals are agreements between companies that provide internet content, such as Netflix, and ISPs, such as Comcast and Verizon.
Large internet service providers, such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, oppose the California law. While they say they support the basic idea of net neutrality, they argue that bans on things like zero-rating and paid-priority, which could allow companies to pay broadband providers to get their services delivered faster than competitors, limit their ability to try new business models. The big broadband providers say without the ability to experiment with new business models, they’ll have to charge consumers more for their services in the future.
What will be critical is whether the Democrat Party accept SuperPac money from Caifornia-domiciled big-tech companies who oppose any net neutrality. Generally the big internet companies support Democrats. If they accept the money, it signals that they are less likely to side with the California legislature and less likely to revisit the issue should they get a Senate majority from the November mid-terms.
Big test for free speech in its biggest power.
“big-tech companies who oppose any net neutrality”
Thats surprising , any evidence of that. I thought the people own own the net infrastructure were the only ones to make money out of net priority.
Apple and Google dont want to pay to get their data their first and they would see their own profits at risk of going to those whos only job is infrastructure
I made that distinction in the paragraph above.
Happy to reinforce that with “big-tech network companies…”
It will be a fight regardless since the FCC vote was along party-appointment-allegiance lines.
Good to read some facts instead of the propaganda
“Taking a swipe at UK Prime Minister Theresa May as she struggled to dance with schoolchildren during her visit to South Africa this week, controversial British columnist Katie Hopkins tweeted: “Whites are being slaughtered in South Africa & inexplicably Appeaser May chooses to crucify herself”.
Hopkins’ tweet was the latest example of a global campaign to portray South Africa’s once dominant white population as a victimised minority under attack.
Her comments reflect the growing influence of South Africa’s conservative Afrikaner groups who are conducting global lobbying campaigns to support their message that white farmers are being targeted and killed, that the government is seizing their land, they are being discriminated against by affirmative action programmes and that their language is being sidelined.
…The BBC has found that there is no reliable data to suggest farmers are at greater risk of being murdered than the average South African.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45336840
Profiles in Lack of Courage
No. 1: Al Jazeera
The outlaw Israeli regime told Al Jazeera not to show a documentary called The Lobby. Sadly for its credibility as a news organization, Al Jazeera obeyed.
outlaw Israeli regime huh?
there has never been a country called Palestine in the history of the world.
they are Bedouin who are a grouping of nomadic Arab people who have historically inhabited the desert regions in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and the Levant.
nomadic people ok.
Idiot.
+ 1
Here’s a Central Banking trick from the Arabs. NZ and Australia could do the same. Australian Treasury could be funded from RBNZ, while they return finance to NZ Treasury from their Central Bank. Extend the balance sheets with a little regional QE number. Nice-one, mate. So long as it’s spent on long-term economic transition, and not lost on the pokies.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/qatar-turkey-central-banks-ink-currency-swap-deal-180820072749514.html
(NZ Govt 2018 have already added employment-level as a new consideration for setting RBNZ cash-rate, this fits with the above.)
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2018/03/rbnz-mandate-changed-also-target-employment/
Trucking companies must be the biggest moaners in NZ. If only we could get more freight on the railways we already have.
Ken Shirley – ex Labour?
Ken Shirley, chief executive of trucking industry lobby group the Road Transport Forum…
Mr Shirley said the government’s pledged commitment to road safety was a good sign, but the greatest road safety improvements would come from investing in new highways.
“The biggest safety gains actually come from the big highway investment projects – the Roads Of National Significance – they have delivered spectacular improvement in safety and they’re the very projects that are now on hold.”
(Has the safety improvement been so good on TRONS?)
National:
National associate transport spokesperson Brett Hudson said the government’s policies were “totally out of whack”….
“The government claims to be focused on safety but if they truly were about that, then they’d be building more of those well-engineered roads, not just looking at some makeshift changes,” he said.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/365462/government-left-dangerous-road-off-priority-list
They didnt build the RONs for ‘the safety ‘- it was to suit the trucking industry.
The ordinary SH improvements and critical safety improvements were plundered to feed the fund for RONs.
Even the new route for the Manawatu Gorge back in 2012 was shelved in favour of some piece meal changes. All that money gone to waste as the new route has had to be done anyway – but slowly.
Even the spending for Aucklands CRL was delayed starting after after approval to begin was given- the Council kicked it off with its own money- because RONS had taken all the money
100% dukeofoul.
Ken Shirley and his ilk is backed by the oil industry who constantly lobby’s government relentlessly every day till they wear politicians down.
That is why things like RONs got to be paid by the taxpayer for the trucking industry.
Simple as that and if Phil twyford is a smart politician he should place sunset clauses all over his plans to reverse the roading projects for rail uptake so that when national does take over again they wont reinstate RONs again to keep milking the taxpayerr for the beneit of the trucking industry as it is just a rort.
The end of us….oops, I mean ice.
The hui there you go Eco Maori has not seen any maori living the golden years not many if any are enjoying the good life when we get the silver back I see heap’s of Pakeha living the golden years .
The forestry industry industry on the East Coast’s was sold to maori as a big money spinner for maori but when I went to Ruatoria home the house’s look run down so not much money is flowing into the town .
I know how they work they will keep all the cream contracting jobs for Pakeha and give maori all the un profitable jobs to maori.
How does Eco Maori know this well that was one of the factors that caused my business to fail .
The reality is that this phenomenon is happening to Maori in all industry’s that is why we are so young old and BROKE. Many thanks Mihinarangi .
Ka kite ano
Goon morning Marae Jenny May kai pai for Matua Brown for telling that Gisborne City Councillor off for using raciest remakes about maori .
What he choses / Pakeha not to acknowledge is that I was all the Hard work of Maori tipunas /ancestors who have made Aotearoa so wealthy the East Coast was the back bone of Aotearoa in the Old day’s and thats a fact have a look at the farming and other industry’s. I no that the Pakeha can spinn there ——— back on maori .
I say the we need more statues of our tipuna..
Kia Kaha ka kite ano . Quade should play for Maori
Good evening Newshub the Senator John McCain funeral service give’s Eco Maori hope that we are going to leave OUR mokopuna’s a good future ka pai.
I say just for a ap and clients %35 cost that goes to Uber eats is to high .
No to lease hold land deals that’s my opinion enough said .
That’s the way Britain no honers ie Sir for un Honorable people .
Yes I have seen Rainier forestry do that in mangatu forest Gisborne has been striped of a lot of trees that were not mature so much for thinking about the future for the mokopuna’s.
Good story on Myanmar Michael Ka pai
Nicky you got the Star and the good job
Ka kite ano
Eco Maori has been studying OUR history back 5000 years and every time man has suppresed wahine the eventual out come has been a desaster War so I’m on the correct path’s in promoting OUR Wahine they are the majority of my offspring Kia kaha ka kite ano here a link below. P.S & equality
Well I stuffed that up lol