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
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Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
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Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
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The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
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Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
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The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
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The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
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Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
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The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
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In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
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When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
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Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
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The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
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A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
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The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
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Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugeu2nq7uGg
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51PIq8iU-Tw
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=m-58wuR7D8M
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClU3fctbGls
Well I stuffed that up lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClU3fctbGls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaS93WMRQQ