Why and who the hell would give John Bolton air time to talk about ANY foreign policy issue?, and especially North Korea….this is a man who still defends the invasion of Iraq as a success.
Most Liberal media seem to have adopted the strategy that any enemy of Trump instantly becomes an ally, even to the point now of giving oxygen to psychopathic nutters like Bolton..RNZ listens deserve and expect better balance than that.
What RNZ didn't bother pointing out in their segment is that Bolton goes on to say in his usual insane style " Bolton resumed his call for the US to consider military action against North Korea.",
Just take a read of this Guardian piece…The heading is of course highlighting the 'attacks Trump' part, and not the lets get into a war with North Korea part..WTF, no mention of Bolton undermining Trumps attempts to negotiate with N Korea with his infamous 'Libya model' statement.
We all want to see the end of Trump, but the my enemies enemies are my friends strategy is not the way to do this, and undermines all goodwill, moral highground and moral indignation that we have the right to feel and act upon in the efforts to bring people like Trump down…attacking him from the Left is the only winning strategy that will work in the longrun, Bernie Sanders has been showing the way on this since 2016.
Ummm… when you state "We all want to see the end of Trump" be aware that you do not state a fact. There is a significant section of the population who are okay with Trump. You and I might disagree with them but they do exist. Trying to pretend everybody thinks like you do is the height of intellectual arrogance.
The other thing is you seem to think RNZ should be a tool of the left. Why else would you write the following"…attacking him from the Left is the only winning strategy."?
The first part up to the end of the links was all I sent RNZ, what was written after was for the benefit of TS readers.
I don't think RNZ should come down on anyone's side, what I believe they have the obligation to do is provide fair and balanced reporting…nothing more nothing less.
Bernie Sanders has been showing the way on this since 2016.
Uhh, in 2016 Bernie got 13.2 million votes in the Dem primary. That was a mere 43% of the roughly half of the roughly 30% of the electorate that bothered to vote in the primaries and identify as Democrats. Yes, that nets down to just 6% of the electorate. And he only got there by hoovering up the entire share of people that really couldn’t take Hillary or just preferred someone else.
That’s hardly the stuff of a shining political future. This time around, there’s plenty of other options, which is why he’s fading to currently be somewhere around half to a quarter the support he got last time around.
What point is it that I am missing? Please clarify.
That you think points of view you disapprove of shouldn't be aired?
That there is some massive leftie majority out there just waiting to be awakened by the right messiah, that you just know is there despite there being precisely zero evidence for its existence?
That a media organisation having someone on to have their say automatically means they are endorsing and allying themselves with the view being expressed?
"Sanders began the campaign as an underfunded, septuagenarian, avowed democratic socialist, who was best known in Washington for decades of rants against free trade deals. He will end it a few million votes short of the nomination of a party in which he remains an outsider, a surprisingly close runner-up to arguably the most heavily favored non-incumbent candidate for a party nod in recent memory, Hillary Clinton."
Democrats, said Jared Bernstein, a liberal economist and former adviser to Obama and Vice President Biden, have moved away from talk of deficit reduction and "grand bargains" on safety net spending, and toward "a much more truly progressive agenda."
"Bernie very effectively tapped a progressive energy that's been building for a long time," Bernstein added. "Could that energy have coalesced behind someone else, like Sen. [Elizabeth] Warren? Probably. But Bernie's been an extremely effective and disciplined messenger."
I'm pretty sure this point, that Bernie has changed the political landscape, has been made on numerous occasions, by a number of folk on this site..however maybe you would feel a bit more comfortable to hear this point made by Bernstein who as the Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden in the Obama Administration, can hardly be accused of being a self deluded 'Leftie'.
And I'm pretty sure the corporate Democrats wouldn't inch towards a more progressive standpoint, or atleast make vaguely progressive noises, unless they felt there was a wide demand for such a thing.
There is no certainty that either Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren will get the nomination for Democratic US Presidential candidate. Currently it 's not even a likelihood.
The Subpoena hearings may well push both Democrats and the wider electorate the other way, favoring simply the person most likely to simply get Trump out: Joe Biden.
Either way, there has been a large policy shift in the dems. Not all of it Bernie, by any means – resistance to the orange one has also mobilised a lot of people.
"favoring simply the person most likely to simply get Trump out: Joe Biden" are you mad? Biden is fucked, the guy is suffering from some sort of dementia. he will never make it all the way to the election, let alone the end of the primaries,
Warren has obviously now been anointed the new DNC saviour.
Well one of us is dead wrong because i had figured using an episode involving obvious Biden foreign political interference (possibly corruption), to attack Trump was a sure end to his campaign. The negative effects on Trumps campaign seem less than certain.
"Arguably Hillary was the leftie and Obama the centrist"
Holy hell you really are one deluded melonfarmer, both of them are liberal capitalists and have nothing (or very little) to do with the Left..that is just a plain fact..no argument or debate need be entered into.
Uhh, do you understand that if left" and "right" are to have meaning, it has to be with reference to where the political centre is? That you are not the centre of the political universe, rather you are so far out there that the centre is a tiny speck barely brighter than a star? And the fact that Obama won the office (twice) and Hillary failed makes a pretty clear marker for how far left a candidate can be and still be electable.
Gotta disagree with that last line – there are many more determinants of election victory than simply how "left" or "right" one is compared to the electorate.
Although yeah, most of any given population would stand well to the right of the promontory from where Adrian makes his proclamations of political validity. So far to the right that he finds it difficult to judge the distance between the people he his observing.
No, what you guys seem to have missed or just ignore (for whatever reason) is that the (Liberal) Left have dragged us all so far to the right over the past 25 or so years, that a so called centre leftist like Clinton or Obama or NZ Labour today for that matter would have been considered centre right then, infact all I am advocating for is a much needed realignment…
"President Obama said his economic policies are "so mainstream" he'd be considered a moderate Republican in the 1980s."
And compared with politicians 200 years ago both Clinton and Obama were centre left to extreme left.
But if we're talking about the US in 2008 and comparing Obama and Clinton's relative positions, then both my 200y.o. benchmark and your 30 y.o. benchmark are completely irrelevant.
@McFlock, I hardly think comparing political positions from within the life times of the people involved to that of political positions 200 years ago makes any sense or has any relevance to this conversation whatsoever.
Not sure the USA in 1995 was all that left wing. 3 strikes laws, Iraq, and all that.
And for NZ, 14% of current voters in NZ weren't even born 25 years ago, so not sure about "us all", either. And it was the height of the Bolger/Shipley governments.
I don't mind utopians – it's good to have goals.l But I think even your recollections are decidedly red-tinted.
But compared to, say, NZ politicians 45 years ago, yeah HC and Obama would probably be right wing. But that would be a pointless comparison, like comparing them to the US "founding fathers".
"some massive leftie majority out there just waiting to be awakened by the right messiah"
"Messiah" is a mischaracterisation of Sanders. At some rally when the crowd chanted "Bernie", he looked irritated and wagged his finger – "no no, it's not Bernie it's you". Near the end of Karl Stead's fabulous novel 'My Name was Judas' the narrator says, "Our friend was not the Messiah / Nor will there be one". Sanders, it seems to me, knows this instinctively, which is part of what makes him qualitatively different from all others in the race, and important historically, win or lose.
But it's absolutely clear to me that everyone on here reads into the situation in the US exactly what they want to. And that there is no point in commenting on it any more.
"I didn't realise when I set up Matrix Homes that vested interests would not want it to succeed," he says. "We were selling a two-bed house for $99k, and that doesn't help us when the industry is trying to explain why houses are 700-800k."
The building industry was resistant; so too was bureaucracy."
I wish they'd done something indepth on that rather than just interviewing the business owner. Looks interesting, but too short on detail to see what is going on. We've been so focused on the cost of purchasing, I'd really like to see more on the costs from council's post leaky building, and from the housing industry raking in profits. Also the banks and the conditions they put on mortgages. That thing about having to build larger houses is one I hear too often.
Exactly – why not write into The Detail or whoever is doing the in-depth stuff at Radionz and ask them to look into what you have outlined? They are trying hard and turning out some good background stuff I think. What do you think?
The problem with his business model – at a guess- is that the house is a prefab so he doesnt get paid anything till it goes on site. Thats a huge cashflow issue.
Dont see how the banks have an issue with small houses per se. they happily lend on small apartments.
The real problem is small sections, where the building- land ratio makes more sense with high land costs.
And my impression was that people think of these small houses as a sort minor dwelling at the back of an existing house. That can be a minefield as far as consents go. My guess is he didnt have a very good planners working with him to navigate these issues FIRST before starting construction.
Twyford can tell him all about wanting big numbers but only getting a trickle
"Dont see how the banks have an issue with small houses per se. they happily lend on small apartments."
Banks routinely refuse to lend on small builds, or make the conditions unattractive, afaik because they see small houses, especially if owner built or not a cookie cutter house, as a liability if it comes to a mortgagee sale. At least this is what I hear from people trying to get mortgages.
Banks (and everyone else with a finger in the pie, and that includes local and central gov) are seeking to protect their interest…consider if he had succeeded what would the effect have been.
Actually HNZ would have been the perfect client….but there was still risk. If they had supplied HNZ what was to stop them (or someone else) taking the model to the wider market?
only for the signee…the whole model is potentially too disruptive.A pity because there is so much potential to reduce housing costs but thats never really been the main concern
They've dispatched specialised protest-suppression personnel and kit with a command structure separate from the PLA, too.
Here's hoping cool heads prevail.
China has quietly more than doubled its deployment of mainland security forces in Hong Kong, according to foreign envoys and security analysts, in the most dramatic move yet by Beijing to prepare for a potential worsening of unrest in the global financial center.
There is a dreadful inevitability about the final outcome for Hong Kong and China Administration must not only win, but be seen to win. Otherwise what effect on the billion or so Chinese on the mainland. And the protestors? Top marks for persistence and courage but they cannot be allowed by the Chinese Mainland Admin, to succeed.
The monarch reportedly asked aides for first time in her reign just how and when should could dismiss a PM.
The Queen sought advice on the circumstances in which she could sack a prime minister ahead of Tuesday’s incendiary Supreme Court ruling, i has been told.
Boris Johnson will be dismissed by Queen if he tries to ignore court order to implement Benn Act, says Grieve
Dominic Grieve, one of the 21 Tories who had the whip removed after rebelling over Brexit and one of the MPs involved in drafting the Benn Act to rule out a no-deal Brexit on 31 October, has said he thinks the legislation is robust, and that ministers will not find loopholes in it.
In an interview with Sky News, Grieve said that if Boris Johnson tried to ignore the law, the courts could force him to comply.
[Johnson] would be taken to court and a writ of mandamus would be issued against him and he would be told, as a matter of law, that he has to write the letter [to the EU requesting a Brexit delay]. The case could go to the supreme court and I suspect the courts could deal with it very quickly.
Grieve also said that, if Johnson tried to ignore the courts, ultimately he could be dismissed as prime minister by the Queen.
A source …in Scotland…. asking about sacking a PM ?
Thats absurd , the only person she can ask for 'advice' is Johnson himself. The story says so at the end. Clearly just scuttlebutt which is typical of UK papers..the rest of the world calls it fake news
On the subject of a CIA whistleblower citing Trump abused his power by asking a favour of the Ukrainian president to dig dirt on Biden, Biden himself on camera told the story of how he insisted the Ukrainian government fire its attorney general before he/the US government would give it a billion dollar loan which seems like a pretty obvious abuse of power too. Biden visited the Ukraine 13 times over 25 months. George Galloway suggests Biden's son Hunter was acting as a proxy for Joe Biden. In other words, the Biden versus Trump feud seems to be more about a battle between equally corrupt adversaries.
Ever occur to you to look for perspectives beyond the recycled Repug talking points tailored to appeal to convergence moonbats peddled for clickbait by the likes of Jimmy Dore and Galloway?
And the prosecutor who was appointed to replace Shokin (he who was sacked because Biden said he was not pursuing corruption) actually finally closed down the Burisma investigation ….there were no calls for his sacking from Biden, in fact he (Lutsenko ) was in that position until last month.
Burisma was also under investigation in the UK for fraud and money laundering.The UK says the Ukrainians were dragging the chain . The Ukrainians say the UK prosecutors were.
Ukraine is an oligarchy, public officials are in the pocket of who has the ascendancy at the time
At the moment Kolomoisky (Zelensky has described him as his business partner) is back in the driving seat after having been demoted by Poroshenko.
The hellish nature of the Ukrainian oligarchy is covered in this Kyiv Post link
But given the choice between a domestic oligarchy and a Kremlin controlled one, it's not a difficult choice for the Ukraine to prefer their own. Nor would admitting a Putin appointee likely decrease corruption.
And the US is the absolute showpiece of corruption free democracy?
Nah, like Jimmy Carter says "Its just an oligarchy now "
Except we call them tycoons
With money and corporations running the show
Getting rid of Shokin did nothing to defeat corruption
And the Ukrainians, as is so startlingly clear, are not one people as much as the nationalists of Western Ukraine would like them to be .The people of the east twice voted Yanukovich in
And if the US is so keen to stamp out corruption (I mean really?)they would have made damned sure to avoid the bad optics of Biden and Archer being on the Burisma board being paid eye watering amounts ,shortly after Biden senior gets put in charge of Ukraine.You really think th e US gives a flying fuck about corruption??When they've backed the most corrupt, undemocratic countries on the planet?
Check out Latin America through the decades.
And if they were so keen on democracy , Pyatt and Nuland wouldn't been heard plotting over the phone on who should be PM
"Yats is the man "
The US has poured billions in to Ukraine with no reduction in corruption, but plenty of their own corporations like Monsanto reaping the benefits.Their money isn't conditional on anti corruption drives , rather on further deprivatisations so US companies can get in and make a profit.
And geopolitically the ruling elites stay aligned to US elite interests
The latest Conservative rabbits from the hat (The Sorting Hat – hopefully it contains enough magic to sort this lot out.)
Brexit: Government to reveal detailed plan for EU negotiations https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49881345
"Hollow Men" and its worthy successor "Utopia" are really good at mocking the language of senior bureaucrats and operatives. While it's Australian, it's a small shift to here, scaled down.
This one I particularly enjoyed for its grandiloquence brought down to the smell of the printed paper:
Actually Jones said bluntly just what other MPs slyly hint at. Why else would Bridges for instance offer bridges for some and not for others? Pretty blatant but not really up front. "Vote for our lot if you want bridges built," is the message though. All the time.
Why would Farrar spend so much time on focus groups if it wasn't to find out who to whom and to what to set the promise (bribe).
It's more concerning that net policy outcomes aren't much better than a tin-pot African nation, even though they represent a vast improvement over those of the previous government. Shane Jones is what he is, but given you were happy with Brownlee the Beast, your complaint is partisanship, not objectivity.
I agree that that someone needs to be held accountable for the CTV building that collapsed during the Christchurch Ruamoko. We lost A lot of good people in that desaster there whanau will be happy.
I say that the media needs to be held up to have honest content as they have a major influence on the way people behave I have seen some behaving badly.
Yes some tamariki and Mokopuna have bad teeth I made sure to my Tamariki looked after their nihor. One can jump up and down all they want but the horse won't drink Te Wai.
Its great that more putea is going into Maori health.
I think it is needed to have 18 years olds being kept in the youth justice. I say some don't grow up till quite long in the nihor.
Indigenous 100 interviewing 100 indigenous tangata Wehie isn't it reka that tangata whenua o Aotearoa are receiving more respect.
Moden Maori art is great there are some good artists rising from Maoridom some beautiful art to Kia Kaha.
Yes Te pro action against Papatuanuku Warming has started rolling against Te neanderthal who are to short sighted to see that there greed of money and power will cause A Papatuanuku wide tragedy now I can see that we the leftist of Te Papatuanuku are going to stop the BULLSHIT of the neanderthal lies and make the Papatuanuku a CARBON NEUTRAL PAPATUANUKU.
An unstoppable climate change movement takes hold
Climate chaos is playing out in real time from California to the Caribbean, and from Africa to the Arctic and beyond. Those who contributed least to the problem are suffering the most.
I called the Climate Action Summit to serve as a springboard to set us on the right path ahead of crucial 2020 deadlines established by the Paris Agreement on climate change. And many leaders – from many countries and sectors – stepped up.
A broad coalition – not just governments and youth, but businesses, cities, investors and civil society – came together to move in the direction our world so desperately needs to avert climate catastrophe.
The Summit also showcased ways in which cities and global industries like shipping can achieve major reductions in emissions. Initiatives to protect forests and safeguard water supplies were also highlighted.
More than 100 leaders in the private sector committed to accelerating their move into the green economy.
A group of the world's largest asset-owners – responsible for directing more than $2 trillion – pledged to move to carbon-neutral investment portfolios by 2050
This is in addition to a recent call by asset managers representing nearly half the world's invested capital – some $34 trillion – for global leaders to put a meaningful price on carbon and phase out fossil fuel subsidies and thermal coal power worldwide
The International Development Finance Club pledged to mobilise $1 trillion in clean energy funding by 2025 in 20 least developed countries
Too many countries still seem to be addicted to coal – even though cheaper, greener options are available already. We need much more progress on carbon pricing, ensuring no new coal plants by 2020, and ending trillions of dollars in giveaways of hard-earned taxpayers' money to a dying fossil fuel industry to boost hurricanes, spread tropical diseases, and heighten conflict
And I will make sure that the commitments that countries, the private sector and local authorities have made are accounted for – starting in December at the UN Climate conference in Santiago, Chile. The UN is united in support of realising these initiatives.
Climate change is the defining issue of our time
Science tells us that on our current path, we face at least 3C of global heating by the end of the century. I will not be there, but my granddaughters will
I refuse to be an accomplice in the destruction of their one and only home.
Young people, the UN – and a growing number of leaders from business, finance, government, and civil society – in short, many of us – are mobilising and acting. But we need many others to take climate action if we are to succeed
We have a long way to go. But the movement has begun.
António Guterres is Secretary-General of the United Nations
We need to stop all the plastic waste from entering our natural environment.
Stop producing the stuff stop using it all together we did not need plastic in the days of old. We used natural materials paper made from plant products
Glass bottles for our fluids don't let the pro carbon people's lies Te Tairawhitimate is going to fall on our heads if we choose to change the way we live to a non carbon closed loop system we're everything we use gets recycled.
That's the only way we are going to SURVIVE in my eyes care for our ENVIRONMENT care for others culture care and respect for everyone.
How worried should we be about microplastics?
Plastic is everywhere – in our food, air, water and oceans. But do we know enough to determine how harmful it is to our health?
If you enjoy a spot of food, like to breathe air and partake in the occasional drink of water (tap or bottled), then you’re almost certainly an unwitting consumer of microplastics.
People who use triangular nylon tea bags are the latest group to be shocked at their exposure to plastics. According to one study, they could be getting about 11bn or so particles of plastic with their Earl Grey or breakfast tea.
Microplastics have turned up pretty much everywhere that scientists have looked for them – from the bottom of the deepest parts of our oceans to the stomachs of whales, seabirds and in our own poo.
Those fancy tea bags? Microplastics in them are macro offenders
But should we be worried about our plastic diet – either for the sake of our own health or for the health of the environment?
What is microplastic?
There’s no agreed definition, but researchers have generally referred to pieces of plastic smaller than about 5mm as microplastic. However, the University of New South Wales’s Mark Browne, who has been researching plastics since 2004, says it’s better to think about plastics relative to the units they’re measured in. So microplastics are between one micrometre and 1,000 micrometres wide (there are 1,000 micrometres in one millimetre
What is it doing to our health?
“There’s an absence of science here,” says Browne. “We know that across particle sizes, plastics can cause issues. The critical issue now is what are the concentrations that people and wildlife are being exposed to. We don’t need more studies on which products emit plastics. We need studies that expose organisms or models to these doses to see if they cause problems
Lauren Roman, at CSIRO oceans and atmosphere, says that for all animals “the size of the plastic matters”.
“If the piece is too big, the animal won’t eat it or, in the case of seabirds, they will regurgitate it. If it’s very small then it can just pass straight through them.”
For larger pieces, Roman says there is some evidence that plastic accumulating in the stomachs of animals can suppress their appetite – known as the “dietary dilution effect” that could have knock-on effects Ka kite Ano link below.
A study that tells us that it's just common sense that everyone everywhere needs to plant trees to sequence carbon emissions from the Tawhirimate. Planting trees does not need huge investment just the will of the tangata and government. The can be grown from seed or to jump ahead a year take cutting off Mama trees cloning them planting them and caring for them. I don't think many place are like Aotearoa we're we can just plant tree keeping the weeds in check for 2 years and walar you have a forests growing
Massive Forest Restoration Could Greatly Slow Global Warming
The right trees, planted in the right locations, could store 205 gigatons of carbon dioxide.
The team has also created a planning toollinked to the map that will be open to the public starting July 5. Individuals and organizations can zoom in to any location to see where new forests could be started.
Crowther has not studied other carbon sequestration techniques that have been discussed a lot lately, such as ocean fertilization (growing algae to soak up carbon) or direct air capture (machines that pull CO2 from the atmosphere), but he thinks they would be much more expensive than growing trees. He estimates it might cost the world $300 billion to plant the 0.9 billion hectares. And new forests provide another strong benefit: they restore biodiversity, which is crucial because so many plant and animal species are disappearing. Crowther says he began to study reforestation because he was really looking for ways to stop species loss. Tremendous benefits beyond carbon sequestration "come from biodiversity—providing food, medicines, clean water and all sorts of things for humans," he says.
Chazdon cautions that replanting may not be as simple as it sounds, and she wonders if 0.9 billion new hectares will ever be possible, given competing priorities. More trees consume more water, and this could threaten agriculture or other human activities in dry areas. And local people may not want forests if they need to generate income from the land, say from farming or herding. Some prominent reforestation programs, such as ones in the Philippines, have failed "because there was no local involvement," she says.
The best places to start reforestation are where multiple benefits can readily be gained. In a July 3 Science Advances paper, Chazdon and colleagues identify a series of locations in the tropics that have higher-than-average potential for benefits as well as ease of getting started.
All the new tree work, Chazdon says, signals that "we're entering into the practicality stage" of smart reforestation. "We can bring a lot of interdisciplinary science to bear. I hope there will be more interaction between scientists and politicians, realizing that the tools we now have can guide reforestation that is the most cost-effective, and has multiple benefits and fewer tradeoffs."
Eco Maori was trying to organise the planting of 50.000 trees this year but there are too many hurdles to jump through Ma Te Wa the trees will be planted in 2020
I tau toko the protests against the action Zealanders signs being plasted around the Auckland university the person in charge of the university needs to pulled up about this
Yes people have to learn to be careful around Awa and Tangaroa as Wai is a powerful force that can take lives quickly.
Another problem with the Westcoast access rail last time it was a road problem it caused by Global warming some of the people still want to mine coal.
That's good that our government has stopped the banning of refugees from the Middle East and Africa.
250 years since Cook landed in Turangi A Kiwa I'm not sure about the weaveing together.
Let's hope not to much damage is caused by the big Bush fire in Australia the bushfire season started early there this year.
If he didn't want heaps of tamariki he should not have donated his dna.
The Glacier in France and most of the other Glacier around Papatuanuku are dissolving because of Human Caused Global Warming I see some storys about Climate Change are being muted.
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New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
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Such a dumb descision…
Letter to RNZ this morning…
Bolton on RNZ morning news cycle?
Why and who the hell would give John Bolton air time to talk about ANY foreign policy issue?, and especially North Korea….this is a man who still defends the invasion of Iraq as a success.
Most Liberal media seem to have adopted the strategy that any enemy of Trump instantly becomes an ally, even to the point now of giving oxygen to psychopathic nutters like Bolton..RNZ listens deserve and expect better balance than that.
"Bolton says US considering Libya model for North Korean denuclearization"
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/30/asia/north-korea-bolton-libya-intl/index.html
"Is John Bolton the most dangerous man in the world?"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/16/john-bolton-trump-iran-nuclear-deal-danger
"To Avoid an Iraq-Style Disaster Under Trump, Bolton Must Go'
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/skeptics/avoid-iraq-style-disaster-under-trump-bolton-must-go-52897
What RNZ didn't bother pointing out in their segment is that Bolton goes on to say in his usual insane style " Bolton resumed his call for the US to consider military action against North Korea.",
Just take a read of this Guardian piece…The heading is of course highlighting the 'attacks Trump' part, and not the lets get into a war with North Korea part..WTF, no mention of Bolton undermining Trumps attempts to negotiate with N Korea with his infamous 'Libya model' statement.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/30/john-bolton-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un
We all want to see the end of Trump, but the my enemies enemies are my friends strategy is not the way to do this, and undermines all goodwill, moral highground and moral indignation that we have the right to feel and act upon in the efforts to bring people like Trump down…attacking him from the Left is the only winning strategy that will work in the longrun, Bernie Sanders has been showing the way on this since 2016.
Ummm… when you state "We all want to see the end of Trump" be aware that you do not state a fact. There is a significant section of the population who are okay with Trump. You and I might disagree with them but they do exist. Trying to pretend everybody thinks like you do is the height of intellectual arrogance.
Fair point.
The other thing is you seem to think RNZ should be a tool of the left. Why else would you write the following"…attacking him from the Left is the only winning strategy."?
The first part up to the end of the links was all I sent RNZ, what was written after was for the benefit of TS readers.
I don't think RNZ should come down on anyone's side, what I believe they have the obligation to do is provide fair and balanced reporting…nothing more nothing less.
Bernie Sanders has been showing the way on this since 2016.
Uhh, in 2016 Bernie got 13.2 million votes in the Dem primary. That was a mere 43% of the roughly half of the roughly 30% of the electorate that bothered to vote in the primaries and identify as Democrats. Yes, that nets down to just 6% of the electorate. And he only got there by hoovering up the entire share of people that really couldn’t take Hillary or just preferred someone else.
That’s hardly the stuff of a shining political future. This time around, there’s plenty of other options, which is why he’s fading to currently be somewhere around half to a quarter the support he got last time around.
As usual you completely miss the point.
What point is it that I am missing? Please clarify.
That you think points of view you disapprove of shouldn't be aired?
That there is some massive leftie majority out there just waiting to be awakened by the right messiah, that you just know is there despite there being precisely zero evidence for its existence?
That a media organisation having someone on to have their say automatically means they are endorsing and allying themselves with the view being expressed?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/08/how-bernie-sanders-changed-the-democratic-party/
I'm pretty sure this point, that Bernie has changed the political landscape, has been made on numerous occasions, by a number of folk on this site..however maybe you would feel a bit more comfortable to hear this point made by Bernstein who as the Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden in the Obama Administration, can hardly be accused of being a self deluded 'Leftie'.
And I'm pretty sure the corporate Democrats wouldn't inch towards a more progressive standpoint, or atleast make vaguely progressive noises, unless they felt there was a wide demand for such a thing.
Overton window blah blah whatever.
There is no certainty that either Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren will get the nomination for Democratic US Presidential candidate. Currently it 's not even a likelihood.
The Subpoena hearings may well push both Democrats and the wider electorate the other way, favoring simply the person most likely to simply get Trump out: Joe Biden.
Dunno that Biden is that person.
Either way, there has been a large policy shift in the dems. Not all of it Bernie, by any means – resistance to the orange one has also mobilised a lot of people.
Let alone the possibility of leftie over-reach and a repeat of 1972.
Unlike the centrist over reach that gave the world Trump…sorry, not the Russians.
Wow, the democratic establishment candidate has not even lost yet and your already out with the blame and excuses for the loss.
Like Hillary was? And really Joe has less to recommend him. His mum might vote for him, youth not so much.
the overton window on action on climate-change –
– has been upgraded from a window – to a set of french doors…
"favoring simply the person most likely to simply get Trump out: Joe Biden" are you mad? Biden is fucked, the guy is suffering from some sort of dementia. he will never make it all the way to the election, let alone the end of the primaries,
Warren has obviously now been anointed the new DNC saviour.
Well one of us is dead wrong because i had figured using an episode involving obvious Biden foreign political interference (possibly corruption), to attack Trump was a sure end to his campaign. The negative effects on Trumps campaign seem less than certain.
Before Sanders , there was Obama who seen as a'left wing' candidate in 2008
he got even closer to Clinton 48% with 47% of those voting
However he had the Super delegates ( 68%) and the Caucuses
Arguably Hillary was the leftie and Obama the centrist.
https://www.vox.com/2015/6/15/8779449/hillary-clinton-populist-record
not so much 'arguing' – as dancing on the head of a pin..?
obama the war-criminal vs clinton the wannabe war criminal..who is more left..?
right ho..!
also worth remembering that on any international ideological-spectrum..
the american democrat party is to the right of our tories…
so..y'know..there is 'left' and 'left'…
"Arguably Hillary was the leftie and Obama the centrist"
Holy hell you really are one deluded melonfarmer, both of them are liberal capitalists and have nothing (or very little) to do with the Left..that is just a plain fact..no argument or debate need be entered into.
Uhh, do you understand that if left" and "right" are to have meaning, it has to be with reference to where the political centre is? That you are not the centre of the political universe, rather you are so far out there that the centre is a tiny speck barely brighter than a star? And the fact that Obama won the office (twice) and Hillary failed makes a pretty clear marker for how far left a candidate can be and still be electable.
Gotta disagree with that last line – there are many more determinants of election victory than simply how "left" or "right" one is compared to the electorate.
Although yeah, most of any given population would stand well to the right of the promontory from where Adrian makes his proclamations of political validity. So far to the right that he finds it difficult to judge the distance between the people he his observing.
Just tryin' to keep it simple …
No, what you guys seem to have missed or just ignore (for whatever reason) is that the (Liberal) Left have dragged us all so far to the right over the past 25 or so years, that a so called centre leftist like Clinton or Obama or NZ Labour today for that matter would have been considered centre right then, infact all I am advocating for is a much needed realignment…
"President Obama said his economic policies are "so mainstream" he'd be considered a moderate Republican in the 1980s."
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/272957-obama-says-his-economic-policies-so-mainstream-hed-be-seen-as-moderate-republican-in-1980s
And compared with politicians 200 years ago both Clinton and Obama were centre left to extreme left.
But if we're talking about the US in 2008 and comparing Obama and Clinton's relative positions, then both my 200y.o. benchmark and your 30 y.o. benchmark are completely irrelevant.
@McFlock, I hardly think comparing political positions from within the life times of the people involved to that of political positions 200 years ago makes any sense or has any relevance to this conversation whatsoever.
Not sure the USA in 1995 was all that left wing. 3 strikes laws, Iraq, and all that.
And for NZ, 14% of current voters in NZ weren't even born 25 years ago, so not sure about "us all", either. And it was the height of the Bolger/Shipley governments.
I don't mind utopians – it's good to have goals.l But I think even your recollections are decidedly red-tinted.
But compared to, say, NZ politicians 45 years ago, yeah HC and Obama would probably be right wing. But that would be a pointless comparison, like comparing them to the US "founding fathers".
"some massive leftie majority out there just waiting to be awakened by the right messiah"
"Messiah" is a mischaracterisation of Sanders. At some rally when the crowd chanted "Bernie", he looked irritated and wagged his finger – "no no, it's not Bernie it's you". Near the end of Karl Stead's fabulous novel 'My Name was Judas' the narrator says, "Our friend was not the Messiah / Nor will there be one". Sanders, it seems to me, knows this instinctively, which is part of what makes him qualitatively different from all others in the race, and important historically, win or lose.
But it's absolutely clear to me that everyone on here reads into the situation in the US exactly what they want to. And that there is no point in commenting on it any more.
Indeed. But messiahs are much more about how their followers view them and how the followers react to criticism of their chosen one.
They do have their moments.
https://twitter.com/truthtotweet/status/1176169547872854016
News just in :
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2019/sep/30/donald-trump-news-today-live-impeachment-ukraine-whistleblower-latest-updates
Trump reportedly pushed Australian PM to investigate Mueller inquiry.
Not much detail yet.
As if the spineless Aussie PM would need much pushing.
"I didn't realise when I set up Matrix Homes that vested interests would not want it to succeed," he says. "We were selling a two-bed house for $99k, and that doesn't help us when the industry is trying to explain why houses are 700-800k."
The building industry was resistant; so too was bureaucracy."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/115369645/wellington-report-2019-why-the-matrix-is-not-always-about-the-future
housing (affordability) crisis?…..whose crisis?
Sounds enough to make you cry, sis!
I wish they'd done something indepth on that rather than just interviewing the business owner. Looks interesting, but too short on detail to see what is going on. We've been so focused on the cost of purchasing, I'd really like to see more on the costs from council's post leaky building, and from the housing industry raking in profits. Also the banks and the conditions they put on mortgages. That thing about having to build larger houses is one I hear too often.
Exactly – why not write into The Detail or whoever is doing the in-depth stuff at Radionz and ask them to look into what you have outlined? They are trying hard and turning out some good background stuff I think. What do you think?
The problem with his business model – at a guess- is that the house is a prefab so he doesnt get paid anything till it goes on site. Thats a huge cashflow issue.
Dont see how the banks have an issue with small houses per se. they happily lend on small apartments.
The real problem is small sections, where the building- land ratio makes more sense with high land costs.
And my impression was that people think of these small houses as a sort minor dwelling at the back of an existing house. That can be a minefield as far as consents go. My guess is he didnt have a very good planners working with him to navigate these issues FIRST before starting construction.
Twyford can tell him all about wanting big numbers but only getting a trickle
"Dont see how the banks have an issue with small houses per se. they happily lend on small apartments."
Banks routinely refuse to lend on small builds, or make the conditions unattractive, afaik because they see small houses, especially if owner built or not a cookie cutter house, as a liability if it comes to a mortgagee sale. At least this is what I hear from people trying to get mortgages.
Banks (and everyone else with a finger in the pie, and that includes local and central gov) are seeking to protect their interest…consider if he had succeeded what would the effect have been.
It's depressing to consider. You'd think Housing NZ could have followed through.
There could be issues we don't know about too.
Actually HNZ would have been the perfect client….but there was still risk. If they had supplied HNZ what was to stop them (or someone else) taking the model to the wider market?
They could have contracted a time period where that wouldn't be allowed?
only for the signee…the whole model is potentially too disruptive.A pity because there is so much potential to reduce housing costs but thats never really been the main concern
They've dispatched specialised protest-suppression personnel and kit with a command structure separate from the PLA, too.
Here's hoping cool heads prevail.
China has quietly more than doubled its deployment of mainland security forces in Hong Kong, according to foreign envoys and security analysts, in the most dramatic move yet by Beijing to prepare for a potential worsening of unrest in the global financial center.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/09/30/asia-pacific/china-doubled-troop-levels-hong-kong-envoys-estimate/#.XZJ2V2bRWUl
There is a dreadful inevitability about the final outcome for Hong Kong and China Administration must not only win, but be seen to win. Otherwise what effect on the billion or so Chinese on the mainland. And the protestors? Top marks for persistence and courage but they cannot be allowed by the Chinese Mainland Admin, to succeed.
What are they still protesting ? They forced the puppet Hong Kong leader to kill the extradition bill . Continuing to poke the dragon seems stupid.
Search on Hong Kong and "five demands". Four to go.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Hong_Kong_protests#Objectives
This could be a BFD.
The monarch reportedly asked aides for first time in her reign just how and when should could dismiss a PM.
The Queen sought advice on the circumstances in which she could sack a prime minister ahead of Tuesday’s incendiary Supreme Court ruling, i has been told.
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/queen-sought-advice-on-sacking-prime-minister-source-claims-1-5013774
Boris Johnson will be dismissed by Queen if he tries to ignore court order to implement Benn Act, says Grieve
Dominic Grieve, one of the 21 Tories who had the whip removed after rebelling over Brexit and one of the MPs involved in drafting the Benn Act to rule out a no-deal Brexit on 31 October, has said he thinks the legislation is robust, and that ministers will not find loopholes in it.
In an interview with Sky News, Grieve said that if Boris Johnson tried to ignore the law, the courts could force him to comply.
Grieve also said that, if Johnson tried to ignore the courts, ultimately he could be dismissed as prime minister by the Queen.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/sep/30/brexit-latest-news-boris-johnson-conservative-conference-boris-johnson-groping-allegation-deeply-concerning-says-former-cabinet-minister-live-news?
That would be a facer for Boorish. Good one.
Cant be 'dismissed' by the queen. This is not Australia where the written constitution gives the GG such powers.
The last time a PM was sacked like that was the 1700's ( george Grenville)LOL
If the parliament has no confidence in the PM, they should vote so and give Boris an election. …which they dont want.
The Queen is between a rock and a hard place while the Commons wont vote no confidence in her PM
Surely you can see the obvious.
As I said, this could be a bfd.
But unlike others, I ain't no scholar of UK political convention so wtf would I know.
Eh, sport.
/
A source …in Scotland…. asking about sacking a PM ?
Thats absurd , the only person she can ask for 'advice' is Johnson himself. The story says so at the end. Clearly just scuttlebutt which is typical of UK papers..the rest of the world calls it fake news
Fascinating insights in this interview with a former CIA whistleblower
On the subject of a CIA whistleblower citing Trump abused his power by asking a favour of the Ukrainian president to dig dirt on Biden, Biden himself on camera told the story of how he insisted the Ukrainian government fire its attorney general before he/the US government would give it a billion dollar loan which seems like a pretty obvious abuse of power too. Biden visited the Ukraine 13 times over 25 months. George Galloway suggests Biden's son Hunter was acting as a proxy for Joe Biden. In other words, the Biden versus Trump feud seems to be more about a battle between equally corrupt adversaries.
The relevant issue is that tRump solicited Ukranian officials to interfere in a US election. That's it.
Ever occur to you to look for perspectives beyond the recycled Repug talking points tailored to appeal to convergence moonbats peddled for clickbait by the likes of Jimmy Dore and Galloway?
Here's just one of many:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/23/20879611/joe-biden-hunter-biden-ukraine-corruption-prosecutor-burisma-donald-trump-whistleblower-complaint
And the prosecutor who was appointed to replace Shokin (he who was sacked because Biden said he was not pursuing corruption) actually finally closed down the Burisma investigation ….there were no calls for his sacking from Biden, in fact he (Lutsenko ) was in that position until last month.
Burisma was also under investigation in the UK for fraud and money laundering.The UK says the Ukrainians were dragging the chain . The Ukrainians say the UK prosecutors were.
Ukraine is an oligarchy, public officials are in the pocket of who has the ascendancy at the time
At the moment Kolomoisky (Zelensky has described him as his business partner) is back in the driving seat after having been demoted by Poroshenko.
The hellish nature of the Ukrainian oligarchy is covered in this Kyiv Post link
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/ihor-kolomoisky-still-throwing-his-weight-around.html
The overthrow of Yanukovich did not eliminate corruption in Ukraine, the looting spree goes on .
There is always an oligarchy.
But given the choice between a domestic oligarchy and a Kremlin controlled one, it's not a difficult choice for the Ukraine to prefer their own. Nor would admitting a Putin appointee likely decrease corruption.
The Whole US government has been working with Ukraine to stamp out corruption
https://nabu.gov.ua/en/tags/fbi
Its not an abuse of power to follow formal government policy over many US presidents regarding Ukraines corruption
NZ would do the same regarding our Aid to various places , especially some in pacific which are as broken as Ukraine is
Yep ,Kolomoisky is a prince
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-summit-kolomoisky/with-zelenskiy-in-charge-ukraine-tycoon-kolomoisky-sees-amicable-solution-on-privatbank-idUSKCN1VY1P8
And the US is the absolute showpiece of corruption free democracy?
Nah, like Jimmy Carter says "Its just an oligarchy now "
Except we call them tycoons
With money and corporations running the show
Getting rid of Shokin did nothing to defeat corruption
And the Ukrainians, as is so startlingly clear, are not one people as much as the nationalists of Western Ukraine would like them to be .The people of the east twice voted Yanukovich in
And if the US is so keen to stamp out corruption (I mean really?)they would have made damned sure to avoid the bad optics of Biden and Archer being on the Burisma board being paid eye watering amounts ,shortly after Biden senior gets put in charge of Ukraine.You really think th e US gives a flying fuck about corruption??When they've backed the most corrupt, undemocratic countries on the planet?
Check out Latin America through the decades.
And if they were so keen on democracy , Pyatt and Nuland wouldn't been heard plotting over the phone on who should be PM
"Yats is the man "
The US has poured billions in to Ukraine with no reduction in corruption, but plenty of their own corporations like Monsanto reaping the benefits.Their money isn't conditional on anti corruption drives , rather on further deprivatisations so US companies can get in and make a profit.
And geopolitically the ruling elites stay aligned to US elite interests
Another perspective on the UK and Europe.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/30/beach-towels-and-brexit-how-germans-really-see-the-brits
The latest Conservative rabbits from the hat (The Sorting Hat – hopefully it contains enough magic to sort this lot out.)
Brexit: Government to reveal detailed plan for EU negotiations
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49881345
.
Aljazeera in Manchester gathering people vox pop.
Swweet promises (? – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_corruption)
Sajid Javid says Tories aim to raise national living wage to £10.50 an hour – as it happened https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/sep/30/brexit-latest-news-boris-johnson-conservative-conference-boris-johnson-groping-allegation-deeply-concerning-says-former-cabinet-minister-live-news
"Hollow Men" and its worthy successor "Utopia" are really good at mocking the language of senior bureaucrats and operatives. While it's Australian, it's a small shift to here, scaled down.
This one I particularly enjoyed for its grandiloquence brought down to the smell of the printed paper:
Hilarious
A bit like 100,000 houses…
It is like we are living in a tin-pot African nation when Shane Jones opens his mouth
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116215895/shane-jones-issues-warning-to-forestry-companies–political-utu-is-a-dish-best-served-cold?fbclid=IwAR0u7eyGf61fyIC-6yvsu7f6d9yfZd1AaXwH8DdJMB7eRT0lrzJt4n-Upio
Ngaro- he was more explicit …diss us and you will get your (NGO) funding cut.
Actually Jones said bluntly just what other MPs slyly hint at. Why else would Bridges for instance offer bridges for some and not for others? Pretty blatant but not really up front. "Vote for our lot if you want bridges built," is the message though. All the time.
Why would Farrar spend so much time on focus groups if it wasn't to find out who to whom and to what to set the promise (bribe).
Well, bluntly expressing corrupt practise is generally considered to be worse than merely implying it.
BTW, "bridges" is just some of it. David Skeggs' recollections about the defunding of the Public Health Commission are pretty damning.
Shane Jones is a stupid, corrupt oaf. I really hope for a labgrn government next year.
It's more concerning that net policy outcomes aren't much better than a tin-pot African nation, even though they represent a vast improvement over those of the previous government. Shane Jones is what he is, but given you were happy with Brownlee the Beast, your complaint is partisanship, not objectivity.
A sad and timely reminder to vaccinate.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12272604
Kia Ora The Am Show.
I agree that that someone needs to be held accountable for the CTV building that collapsed during the Christchurch Ruamoko. We lost A lot of good people in that desaster there whanau will be happy.
I say that the media needs to be held up to have honest content as they have a major influence on the way people behave I have seen some behaving badly.
All the best to Bernie
Ka kite Ano
The Christchurch City Council are the body responsible for the loss of those lives.
They cleared the building for re-entry after the 4 Sept 2010 earthquake.
It withstood that earthquake but was mortally weakened with many reports from occupiers that it felt unstable between the two quakes.
I continue to be amazed at how the CCC is getting away with this!
These sandflys are sending PEE addicts after Eco Maori
Kia Ora Newshub.
Sea level rising
I think our power bills are quite expensive.
Justice for you is a great way to put that Wahine case.
Its time for a change in our society way of treating Papatuanuku.
A American Warbird crashed in America
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News
Yes some tamariki and Mokopuna have bad teeth I made sure to my Tamariki looked after their nihor. One can jump up and down all they want but the horse won't drink Te Wai.
Its great that more putea is going into Maori health.
I think it is needed to have 18 years olds being kept in the youth justice. I say some don't grow up till quite long in the nihor.
Indigenous 100 interviewing 100 indigenous tangata Wehie isn't it reka that tangata whenua o Aotearoa are receiving more respect.
Moden Maori art is great there are some good artists rising from Maoridom some beautiful art to Kia Kaha.
Ka kite Ano
Yes Te pro action against Papatuanuku Warming has started rolling against Te neanderthal who are to short sighted to see that there greed of money and power will cause A Papatuanuku wide tragedy now I can see that we the leftist of Te Papatuanuku are going to stop the BULLSHIT of the neanderthal lies and make the Papatuanuku a CARBON NEUTRAL PAPATUANUKU.
An unstoppable climate change movement takes hold
Climate chaos is playing out in real time from California to the Caribbean, and from Africa to the Arctic and beyond. Those who contributed least to the problem are suffering the most.
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I have seen it with my own eyes from cyclone-battered Mozambique to the hurricane-devastated Bahamas to the rising seas of the South Pacific.
I called the Climate Action Summit to serve as a springboard to set us on the right path ahead of crucial 2020 deadlines established by the Paris Agreement on climate change. And many leaders – from many countries and sectors – stepped up.
A broad coalition – not just governments and youth, but businesses, cities, investors and civil society – came together to move in the direction our world so desperately needs to avert climate catastrophe.
The Summit also showcased ways in which cities and global industries like shipping can achieve major reductions in emissions. Initiatives to protect forests and safeguard water supplies were also highlighted.
More than 100 leaders in the private sector committed to accelerating their move into the green economy.
A group of the world's largest asset-owners – responsible for directing more than $2 trillion – pledged to move to carbon-neutral investment portfolios by 2050
This is in addition to a recent call by asset managers representing nearly half the world's invested capital – some $34 trillion – for global leaders to put a meaningful price on carbon and phase out fossil fuel subsidies and thermal coal power worldwide
The International Development Finance Club pledged to mobilise $1 trillion in clean energy funding by 2025 in 20 least developed countries
Too many countries still seem to be addicted to coal – even though cheaper, greener options are available already. We need much more progress on carbon pricing, ensuring no new coal plants by 2020, and ending trillions of dollars in giveaways of hard-earned taxpayers' money to a dying fossil fuel industry to boost hurricanes, spread tropical diseases, and heighten conflict
And I will make sure that the commitments that countries, the private sector and local authorities have made are accounted for – starting in December at the UN Climate conference in Santiago, Chile. The UN is united in support of realising these initiatives.
Climate change is the defining issue of our time
Science tells us that on our current path, we face at least 3C of global heating by the end of the century. I will not be there, but my granddaughters will
I refuse to be an accomplice in the destruction of their one and only home.
Young people, the UN – and a growing number of leaders from business, finance, government, and civil society – in short, many of us – are mobilising and acting. But we need many others to take climate action if we are to succeed
We have a long way to go. But the movement has begun.
António Guterres is Secretary-General of the United Nations
Kia Kaha Antonio keep up the excitement mahi.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/116296704/an-unstoppable-climate-change-movement-takes-hold
https://youtu.be/QAB6aXOfUmU
We need to stop all the plastic waste from entering our natural environment.
Stop producing the stuff stop using it all together we did not need plastic in the days of old. We used natural materials paper made from plant products
Glass bottles for our fluids don't let the pro carbon people's lies Te Tairawhitimate is going to fall on our heads if we choose to change the way we live to a non carbon closed loop system we're everything we use gets recycled.
That's the only way we are going to SURVIVE in my eyes care for our ENVIRONMENT care for others culture care and respect for everyone.
How worried should we be about microplastics?
Plastic is everywhere – in our food, air, water and oceans. But do we know enough to determine how harmful it is to our health?
If you enjoy a spot of food, like to breathe air and partake in the occasional drink of water (tap or bottled), then you’re almost certainly an unwitting consumer of microplastics.
People who use triangular nylon tea bags are the latest group to be shocked at their exposure to plastics. According to one study, they could be getting about 11bn or so particles of plastic with their Earl Grey or breakfast tea.
Microplastics have turned up pretty much everywhere that scientists have looked for them – from the bottom of the deepest parts of our oceans to the stomachs of whales, seabirds and in our own poo.
Those fancy tea bags? Microplastics in them are macro offenders
But should we be worried about our plastic diet – either for the sake of our own health or for the health of the environment?
What is microplastic?
There’s no agreed definition, but researchers have generally referred to pieces of plastic smaller than about 5mm as microplastic. However, the University of New South Wales’s Mark Browne, who has been researching plastics since 2004, says it’s better to think about plastics relative to the units they’re measured in. So microplastics are between one micrometre and 1,000 micrometres wide (there are 1,000 micrometres in one millimetre
What is it doing to our health?
“There’s an absence of science here,” says Browne. “We know that across particle sizes, plastics can cause issues. The critical issue now is what are the concentrations that people and wildlife are being exposed to. We don’t need more studies on which products emit plastics. We need studies that expose organisms or models to these doses to see if they cause problems
Lauren Roman, at CSIRO oceans and atmosphere, says that for all animals “the size of the plastic matters”.
“If the piece is too big, the animal won’t eat it or, in the case of seabirds, they will regurgitate it. If it’s very small then it can just pass straight through them.”
For larger pieces, Roman says there is some evidence that plastic accumulating in the stomachs of animals can suppress their appetite – known as the “dietary dilution effect” that could have knock-on effects Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/02/how-worried-should-we-be-about-microplastics
A study that tells us that it's just common sense that everyone everywhere needs to plant trees to sequence carbon emissions from the Tawhirimate. Planting trees does not need huge investment just the will of the tangata and government. The can be grown from seed or to jump ahead a year take cutting off Mama trees cloning them planting them and caring for them. I don't think many place are like Aotearoa we're we can just plant tree keeping the weeds in check for 2 years and walar you have a forests growing
Massive Forest Restoration Could Greatly Slow Global Warming
The right trees, planted in the right locations, could store 205 gigatons of carbon dioxide.
The team has also created a planning toollinked to the map that will be open to the public starting July 5. Individuals and organizations can zoom in to any location to see where new forests could be started.
Crowther has not studied other carbon sequestration techniques that have been discussed a lot lately, such as ocean fertilization (growing algae to soak up carbon) or direct air capture (machines that pull CO2 from the atmosphere), but he thinks they would be much more expensive than growing trees. He estimates it might cost the world $300 billion to plant the 0.9 billion hectares. And new forests provide another strong benefit: they restore biodiversity, which is crucial because so many plant and animal species are disappearing. Crowther says he began to study reforestation because he was really looking for ways to stop species loss. Tremendous benefits beyond carbon sequestration "come from biodiversity—providing food, medicines, clean water and all sorts of things for humans," he says.
Chazdon cautions that replanting may not be as simple as it sounds, and she wonders if 0.9 billion new hectares will ever be possible, given competing priorities. More trees consume more water, and this could threaten agriculture or other human activities in dry areas. And local people may not want forests if they need to generate income from the land, say from farming or herding. Some prominent reforestation programs, such as ones in the Philippines, have failed "because there was no local involvement," she says.
The best places to start reforestation are where multiple benefits can readily be gained. In a July 3 Science Advances paper, Chazdon and colleagues identify a series of locations in the tropics that have higher-than-average potential for benefits as well as ease of getting started.
All the new tree work, Chazdon says, signals that "we're entering into the practicality stage" of smart reforestation. "We can bring a lot of interdisciplinary science to bear. I hope there will be more interaction between scientists and politicians, realizing that the tools we now have can guide reforestation that is the most cost-effective, and has multiple benefits and fewer tradeoffs."
Ka kite Ano link below below
Eco Maori was trying to organise the planting of 50.000 trees this year but there are too many hurdles to jump through Ma Te Wa the trees will be planted in 2020
Kia Ora Newshub.
I tau toko the protests against the action Zealanders signs being plasted around the Auckland university the person in charge of the university needs to pulled up about this
Yes people have to learn to be careful around Awa and Tangaroa as Wai is a powerful force that can take lives quickly.
Another problem with the Westcoast access rail last time it was a road problem it caused by Global warming some of the people still want to mine coal.
That's good that our government has stopped the banning of refugees from the Middle East and Africa.
250 years since Cook landed in Turangi A Kiwa I'm not sure about the weaveing together.
Let's hope not to much damage is caused by the big Bush fire in Australia the bushfire season started early there this year.
If he didn't want heaps of tamariki he should not have donated his dna.
The Glacier in France and most of the other Glacier around Papatuanuku are dissolving because of Human Caused Global Warming I see some storys about Climate Change are being muted.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I tau toko the tangata striking of a living wage I like to see management live on their workers low wage.
Huge slip on another road the one by Ohakune Global Warming has given Tawhirimate heaps of Mana.
Te Waiariki Wai safety is well needed organisation especially with our long Tangaroa lines and all our Awa and lakes in Aotearoa.
Ka kite Ano