Has something happened in the background on this blog? When I visit it on my iPad2, since yesterday afternoon, I have to scroll down quite a way to see Post articles & comments.
The TS banner doesn’t show, nor do posted pics with articles, nor do people’s coloured avatars – just their usernames are showing.
Things look perfectly normal on my smartphone & my win10 laptop. Just the iPad’s affected?
Oh. Ok just turned on JavaScript on the iPad2 & all’s normal.
The probs above only appear when I turn OFF JavaScript (which I have to do if I want to keep posting more than twice; after which it usually refuses to let me type any text in address fields & Comments with JacaScript turned on).
But prior to yesterday, turning off JavaScript didn’t stop the TS banner from appearing, nor pics in articles, nor folks’ avatars from displaying. A bit puzzling…
On the right hand side of this blog there's a link to The Civilian, and a piece of pitch-perfect satire. Very funny and sums up the state of National better than a dozen columns of "serious" commentary.
“Obviously it’s not the same thing,” he conceded. “But there are similarities. A lot of it, for example, is about managing an organisation that is in rapid decline.”
Herd immunity for polio is achieved at 80% of the ‘total population‘ vaccinated.
Herd immunity for measles is reached at 95% of the ‘total population‘ being vaccinated.
Nobody knows what the level for herd immunity for Covid-19 is, (because it has never been achieved). But it definitely is not reached at 90% of the over 12s, which is New Zealand's current target. If we want to get rid of this scourge, to have any chance of reaching herd immunity, total population immunisation, will mean immunising the under 12s.
Will Canada achieve herd immunity by vaccinating children?
The normal calculation is 1-1/R0 (x 100 to express as a percentage), so if R0 for Delta is 6, then herd immunity would 1-1/6 = 5/6 = 83.33%. Since 85% of the population are 12+, as you say that's highly unlikely without adding 5-11s. As at 30 September 2021, Stats NZ thinks that under 5s 304,590 of a total population of 5,126,300 = 5.94%, so the eligible population will be 4,821,710 = 94.06% of the total population.
5/6 of the total population is 4,271,917 people which is 88.6% of the total population. If 5/6 (or 83.33%) is herd immunity, then 90% of 5+ would get us there.
Confounding factors include that people can get Delta more than once and that the vaccine is not fully sterilising (it lessens transmission significantly, but at best around 90%, not nearly 100%).
Meanwhile deliberately undermining choice by sabotaging the vaccine roll out.
Increasingly anti-vaxxers are deliberating making it harder for people who's choice is to be vaccinated, stacking vaccination bookings with false registrations, threatening health workers and nurses, vandalising health clinics, and even "physical attacks".
Under 'Urgency' legislation with bi-partisan support in the House, the scum endangering public health by sabotaging the vaccine roll out, need to be threatened with 5 year prison sentences.
You're saying the govt needs to introduce such legislation urgently into the House? There's not something like that already in progress?
These pricks need to be videoed, tracked down, & locked up immediately by the police, pending assault & whatever other relevant charges are brought against them asap. Never mind waiting for legislation to do something.
God almighty! The poor cops. Gangs n guns everywhere. Expected to patrol internal Covid borders & probably to staff iwi roadblocks up North, now they have to also be mobile enuf to catch & lock up antivaxer thugs n nutters! 😠
Assaults have been reported. Folk can be arrested for assault, n’est-ce pas? Probably also for wilful damage if caught in the act. I’m just saying if you can catch em at it: “Book em Danyl.” Don’t wait till there’s some specific penalty legislated for (which may never get thru the final gate at Parliament).
Why not ban speech by them? Predictive sentencing in advance?
Why not whip up more moral fever to justify anything? Why try for nuance or human understanding when hatred helps feed your righteousness?
And those who care about human rights should shut up. It's just temporary and for our good, right – just like all those laws imposed after the 9/11 "emergency" still on our books, or how forced sterilisation and electro-shock therapy laws enacted on the bladvice of health experts lasted decades.
They would've all told you in professional tones how this was done for the greater good and required overriding any personal autonomy.
When gangs (or BLM protestors) lash out its just a consequence of racism and poverty and being so voiceless – when anyone against vaccines does so, its because they're inherently filthy scum.
You sound just like the law and order brigade now. Hyped up with media fear and self-righteousness – no means is unjustified to pursue the scum threatening every man, woman, and child.
Sounds like Maragaret Thatcher would approve of your tactics. Ah, the strange bedfellows that the Covid-19 has wrought on the wannabe Authoritarian-Left.
They've got a perfect right to say what they want about vaccines.
But they don't have a right to be heard, or to public platforms to promulgate their misinformation, and incite refusal.
Probably the safest indicator that antivax propaganda deserves to be discouraged is its supporters – the anti-government astroturfed extreme right. When Trump weaponised antivax sentiment in the US, and various trolls repeated his nonsense online, they were not acting in the public interest.
Are we into making up imaginary crimes now? Especially ones that involve now criminalising a refusal…which is a basic human right enshrined in multiple treaties and domestic law. "Officer, she incited refusal to vote National and incited refusal to be forced to worship God".
I'm also fully aware of Margaret Thatchers tactics – as you say, demonise those who disagree as enemies of the state. Something very similar has gone on with those unvacvinated and even those who disagree with mandates and passports.
Yesterday: "Health officials say Covid-19 hospitalisations and intensive care (ICU) usage have “very much levelled off” in Auckland, despite earlier modelling painting a much gloomier picture."
Fancy that, a Government adopting a hopelessly exaggerated risk and fear tactics to justify suppression of human rights and discrimination. Sounds a lot like George Bush post-9/11…
Also (and I dislike him immensely) Donald Trump boosted Operation Lightspeed to create a vaccine and has publicly supported vaccination.
The public interest is something you don't have a monopoly on defining. Sounds like you've been drinking too much of the Stuff/Spinoff koolaid.
Last week the Japanese with admirable modesty were attributing the decline in Delta to it seemingly mutating to such a degree that it is becoming less virulent there. Which is generally the way viruses go. Somewhere that I cant find, I have read that the common flu, another corona virus, may be a remnant of a Russian originating pandemic in the 1800s which mutated down to the manageable disease we know today. Sure, it is implicated in 500 deaths but I can not recall anyone I have known dying of it ( and I'm 71 ) that were not otherwise compromised.
My first reaction to hearing that Omnicron had multiple mutations was that maybe this is the light before the dawn. Fingers crossed.
A virus that mutates to become too deadly kills off the host, and cannot replicate and find new hosts and dies off itself.
The most successful parasites evolve to live with their hosts.
The 1918 influenza pandemic swept the world in three successive waves.
The first wave that likely jumped from birds to humans in the American Mid-West, was bad, but not that bad. The second wave which likely incubated in the appalling unsanitary and disease ridden conditions in the trenches of the First World War, was the deadliest and much, much worse.
The third wave of the Spanish flu pandemic was milder, and it is suspected that the annual flu that sweeps the world every year is a descendant of the 1918 virus, able to coexist with the host population with out killing us off in too greater numbers.
It is suspected that the Omicron mutation has similarly looked to have been incubating and circulating in a small host population of severely immune compromised and unwell community, possibly aid sufferers.
Time will tell whether this mutated virus is similar to the Second or third wave of the Spanish flu.
With respect to Jenny’s Chance mutations can either be good or bad, that’s not strictly correct either. Chance mutations can be either beneficial, detrimental or neutral – ie there’s a change but it doesn’t give the altered organism either any advantage or disadvantage in terms of competition or survival.
Survival isn’t a driver of evolution because organisms have evolved whether they have survived long-term in competition for resources, or in response to environmental changes, or not.
Many creatures that have evolved have not displaced others; they’ve simply exploited new niches alongside the original, still-living ancestor species.
As soon as pooklets are big enuf to fly they leave their nursery sleeping nest (they sleep with their dad, not their mum) and build their own individual sleeping nests some distance from each other. They tidy out their nests daily and build a new one in a different location when the old one gets too "tired".
Funny, that's the common name for the various sub-species dotted around the world, but a male would probably be better named as a Purple Swamp Rooster or Purple Swamp Cock. 🤔
Well the easiest way in that dilemma of stranded kiwis elsewhere is to just make them formally stateless. Strip them of their citizenship, send them a 50 NZD gift card for Aldi or something, call the leaders of the countries these stateless people are stranded and tell these leaders that these stateless kiwis are now their problem. These stateless people can then claim refugee status and begin their lifes again.
My solution is simply, lets all go to R+V in Gisborne, and some big markets elese where, go mingle in pubs and on the beach with gusto and have a right Covid Party everywhere. Once we are all infected we don't need MIQ anymore. Everyone can just come in, as the virus is as rampant as every where else.
Or, we can look at MIQ and find it the total failure it actually is, and finally come up with an idea that works so that people who are NZ Citizens can actually return to their country.
Fwiw, our beige suits on all sites have been a complete failure in finding a solution that would allow people to return that is safe and work able and above all human. In the meantime what we have is a lottery that works for no one really. We could televise that misery though, surely would make for some good reality TV for some Kiwis in the vain of Shortland street, bitchy and mean.
Instead of investing in the Americas Cup, sending people to the Olympics and other assorted crap, we should have build some decent Quarantine Facilities, maybe even invest in a Covid health Facilities, but then…hey, ………..we don't need that, and building stuff is hard hard work. Right? Priorities, have a good party, rub shoulders with the billionaires of the world, win a few medals, never mind the guys overseas that would like to come home. Sucks to be them? Right?
We can't build facilities that we need to keep the country safe and allow our citizens to return because we suddenly don't have builders and materials.
Good fucking grief.
As i said, the best the government can do right now is simply wash its hand of those stuck overseas, take away their citizenship, declare them stateless and let them fend for themselves, cause we don't have builders nor materials.
Totally and utterly Pathetic. Labour 2023 – we will build nothing, and then some.
We are fighting a pandemic individual rights have to take a back seat.
You know we have had a housing shortage for 20 yrs.
People know we have one of the safest responses to covid 19.
Now everyone wants to come back to the safe bolt hole but don't understand why it's become a safe bolt hole.
Not to mention where they are going to live.putting more pressure on the building trade.
It was all very well when those people went overseas to chase better careers and money after getting a highly subsidised education.then not pay back the student loan.
Now they want instant access to the country they turned their back on.
"People know we have one of the safest responses to covid 19."
That is the people who recognise reality.
On this thread Tricledrown comments on Japan being famous for wearing face masks to prevent the spread of airborne diseases the implication being that masks have positive effects. Yet some over time have rubbished mask wearing.
Sabine calls MIQ a "total failure." If the 190,000 who've been through it since March last year had simply come into the country and got on with whatever would the situation have been one of "total success"?
Of course we had the stuff about lockdowns not working. We've had experts on NZ blogsites knowing that and telling the world. More expert that those in more than 100 countries worldwide who have tried various forms of lockdown.
Handling the pandemic wasn't a 'paint-by-numbers' exercise. There has been plenty of boring, trite, facile 'paint-by-numbers' criticism of the handling of it though.
We can’t build facilities that we need to keep the country safe and allow our citizens to return because we suddenly don’t have builders and materials.
FFS! This is not a NEW bloody problem. We’ve been nationally short of skilled tradies for at least 2 decades. And the pandemic itself is causing materials shortages across industries becos if lockdowns aren’t shutting down local industries like timber milling some shipping companies can’t be bothered sending vessels here because we’re at the arse end of the world & there are greater profits to be made shipping between closer countries with much higher goods volumes.
Thank you Patricia – I became pretty agitated at the vitriol directed at the two Auckland MPs yesterday whom I happen to know from my days of living in West Auckland. This attitude among some commentors is making The Standard a hard read for me lately – it has been my go to blog for several years now, but I do notice that a lot of past contributors and commentors (particularly women) have fled the coop.
What annoys me wrt to the constant moans from "stranded kiwis" is the fact that just 50 years ago if someone left NZ for overseas if you wanted to return then it wasn't just a matter of hopping on a plane and flying back on a whim – however justified that whim may be. That was just one of the factors you took into account when you left parents and family behind – the fact that you might never see them again.
The early settlers spent up to 6 months at sea in the 1840's traveling here – some never even made it. Many never had the chance to return to their land of birth and their only communication with those they left behind was by intermittent letter. No texts or video calls then. Even in the early 20th C the likelihood of a return trip or seeing your family again was extremely low.
We have family overseas – they miss us – and we miss them. But the reality is that the world has changed in the past 2 years and we have to adapt to it and live with it.
Many never had the chance to return to their land of birth and their only communication with those they left behind was by intermittent letter.
I recall reading somewhere that in Ireland some families would hold a sort of 'living wake' for those about to depart – because it was almost certain they'd never see or hear from them again.
You make a reasonable point, yet travel has become woven into the fabric of modern life and making an appeal that because our ancestors didn't enjoy something means that we should not either – is fairly wobbly logic.
Local and international 'on demand' travel had undoubtedly "become woven into the fabric of modern life" for some, myself included. This pandemic, however, opened my eyes to the many relatively painless opportunities I have to shrink my travel footprint, and I'll be taking these up. Not for everyone, of course, and, if you must (or choose to) travel, don't forget your shots!
This created determined opposition in Britain – but it had far less impact in Ireland. The British Anti-Vaccination League, established in 1853, attacked the state’s infringement on personal liberty and the medical risks involved. The law, they argued, was despotic and un-British as it gave the government power over citizens’ bodies. Parents had a God-given right to protect their child’s welfare, enforced vaccination was against Natural Law. (Interestingly, when the Canadian government tried to enforce compulsory vaccination on French Canadians in Montreal, rioters resisted this despotic "English" practice.) Campaigners claimed that animal matter, "the filth of the cowshed", was being injected into their children, along with other diseases such as syphilis. They alleged a cover-up by the medical profession to hide evidence of deaths from vaccination. https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/anti-smallpox-vaccination-activism-ireland
I still have a look each day, though sometimes I despair at some of the comments and always enjoy reading yours and Anne's contributions, oh and Mickey Savage's posts.
Associate Professor Jennifer Lees-Marshment is from Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland and is an expert in political marketing.
She identifies "four key political marketing and management principles Luxon needs to follow".
#1 National needs to offer a new distinctive product that meets market needs
That will roll off the Nats like water off a duck's back. They usually seem barely capable of even doing the lipstick on a pig routine.
National needs new ideas.
That's been obvious since I was a kid! Trouble is, the Nats remain perpetually unaware of the fact.
#2 political leaders do not have as much management power as CEOs
Different type of social organism, different rules & ethos. Team sports is a closer model to use.
We ensure doctors, lawyers, teachers, plumbers, builders and hairdressers get training, but our politicians are left to learn on the job. This is also true for staff. A Canadian PM’s chief of staff once told me staff watched West Wing to prepare for their job as there was little professional orientation and development.
#3 the politician’s personality and personal life is part of the political product
True. Leader personifies brand.
Political branding research has shown a leader’s brand personality is very important… The new National leader now needs to build a positive brand personality. This means trying to convey leadership and strength, alongside honesty, energy and relatability, while offering something unique to give voters a reason to switch from the Labour leader.
The hard task for both politicians and their advisers is how to apply this to Luxon, especially given his socially conservative views on abortion and euthanasia. You can’t redesign a person the way you can redesign an iPhone or a car: we know a good brand personality when we see it, but less about how to create it.
But don't discount his ability to learn on the job. People morph to fit situations they work in. Character can build accordingly.
#4 The National Party needs re-branding
This one is the key. So far, no sign Luxon gets it. Quite the contrary. He got big on uttering trad shibboleths yesterday as if he tacitly assumed he needed to front like someone with training wheels on. Wrong!!
the reality is all leaders who take over a failing brand are limited by that brand. Simply changing leader won’t improve it. And worse still, this is a management exercise as well as a marketing one. As already noted, party leader power is less than a CEO and their position is dependent on other MPs. Yet the new leader needs to tell those MPs to behave differently; more emphasis must be put on lesser-known politicians to help convey that National has changed.
He does get the team-building side of this and I'm confident he'll show expertise quite rapidly. However even a smoothly-functioning invigorated team cannot sell a dead brand. Is National really dead or just pretending? Only a rebrand will prove the latter.
Some in depth poking around in his 'church' may yield some weirdo ideas but they will be a one shot wonder but enough to warn I would have thought. Already I am a bit tired of seeing his face all over the online media. I saw one yesterday taken half on turned slightly to the left and at first glance I thought it was Muldoon. Don't know if that is good or bad.
Perhaps he could start a fashion for wearing a little headband like some little girls have or as they used to have in the 1970s as hippies.
without Dirty Politics? THAT would be a change… but I think he will keep apart from that, not actively challenge it. If he had said “We won’t be doing that on my watch” but no.. just the usual plaster over the cracks.
the reality is all leaders who take over a failing brand are limited by that brand. Simply changing leader won’t improve it.
Ummm, …
… lateJuly 2017Colmar Brunton … Labour24%
… August 1 2017 Little stands down / Ardern elected Leader
… mid August 2017Colmar Brunton … Labour 37%
… late August 2017Colmar Brunton … Labour 43%
If this episode teaches us anything … it’s that a move to the right leader can indeed transform a Party’s fortunes … but arguably only if there is underlying public discontent with the Govt of the day / a tacit mood for change that can’t be fully expressed because the main Oppo Party seems to be struggling under a less than magnetic leader.
I agree, her analysis insufficiently factored in context. Generalisations fail when context doesn't support them.
Her marketing slant is useful for us, but a lecturer will always hew towards rules & principles, and the binary structure of western democracies means binary brand favouritism embeds in the typical voter psyche.
Therefore the effect of a bright shiny new leader is relative to how bright & shiny the alternative leader looks, and as you imply govt performance can tarnish a PM, so we'll have to wait & see. Despite a few speed wobbles in recent months I still think it's so far so good for Ardern…
There's also the argument that a leader needs to be a point of difference from the other parties. To me, blinglish and Little had the same energy/vibe. Not bad, but considered, methodical, an air of competence.
That type of leadership might work against a firebrand in the process of burning out, rather than trying to copy the firebrand, but not against itself.
Now, Luxon will have a different vibe to Collins, but the question is whether he will provide a credible leadership alternative to Ardern. There's only so long his media honeymoon will last, and only so long he can hide any dodgy opinions he might have re: everything the OT zealots go for in Leviticus (except all the times crayfish, paua, mussels, shrimp etc are prohibited).
And even if he's all good as a human being, he needs to keep caucus in line and light a spark of enthusiasm under tory voters. Maybe trying for something more than incessant negativity.
'Asic’s litigation showbag includes allegations Westpac charged more than 11,000 dead people more than $10m in fees, charged 7,000 people for two insurance policies over the same property, collected $12m in illegal commissions from 8,000 people, failed to properly disclose $7m in fees it charged to 25,000 customers, kept 21,000 accounts open for companies that no longer existed and on-sold debts to collectors at rates higher than it was allowed to charge.'
We don't do those things in our NZ operations…though!
The local branches of these banks found wanting in the Australian banking enquiry are doing some of the things the aussie enquiry has exposed.like selling mortgage protection and life insurance to cover mortgages when only one type should be required.
Came in very useful when I was in a disfunctional workplace. I literally had to take notes from it (and checked them off as other people worked down the list, lol).
But I like that section in particular, having been on both sides of the governance/operational divide. It nicely illustrates both perspectives: bureaucrats shouldn't unthinkingly "follow orders" when those orders are wrong, but nor should they be driving or even overruling policy decisions that are the purview of governance.
And where would they be if they zealously believed all conflicting policies demanded by governance groups, where consistency is as rare as hens' teeth? I believe the current service description is "community treatment team".
Lots of fuzzy grey lines in that divide, sometimes.
Some of our School Board meetings had that flavour. One chap was very fond of saying "the Ministry this and that…." A friend had a habit of muttering "He's been talking to God again" or some similar thing, and I would cough to cover laughter. There is a type of pomposity which went with that and his braces which he would pull while pontificating memories make me smile now.
Katherine interviews Luxton on 9 to Noon today, and it was very illuminating. He kept on interrupting Katherine and was challenged on the Health failures of the Key years. Not as suave as he would like. https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018822779
He's described the Covid traffic light system as "Mickey Mouse" (Hosking radio i-view). Sounds like something Judith would say.
He's all over the place on Covid, lots of rhetoric about opening up, little engagement with the reality of the virus and rapid change (a glance at the world news would help).
That was indeed illuminating ianmac. So much so, I had to stop listening half way through. The tone as well as the content was so John Key it spooked me. 😮
Apart from that, for a man who is supposed to have an “enormous intellect” well, let the listener be the judge.
7 houses, not fair to ask about, nothing to do with me.
Being shifty as f about where he has been to church and what his specific beliefs are. Refusing to answer questions about speaking in tongues and so on. I’m just going to be misrepresented- so this is going to be his approach, defensive.
He comes across as you'd expect from somebody who was gifted a safe seat, done no scrapping in Parliament and then got others (Key) to win the leadership on his behalf.
Ardern lost an electorate battle twice against a tough opponent, before she was even deputy.
Luxon is facing non-cuddles for the first time ever. It shows.
I have never noticed any business person being competent as a politician who is able to change anything. Your thesis sounds like an idiot parrot sprouting what they think is accepted wisdom – rather than someone who has ever bothered to think about the crucial differences between political work and business work.
At best some are like John Key, who managed to operate as PM in NZ for 8 years without ever changing anything in a significant way, except to allow existing problems get worse through inattention – like housing, homelessness, education results in providing a skilled workforce, reducing emigration of skills, pollution of waterways, etc. Basically he left the country in a worse state than before he took power.
The worst are destructive morons like Trump.
Now before you become like every other dumbarse right fuckwit – let me say that is an opinion of someone who has only worked in and/or for a range of private industries from SME locals with only a few employees to multinational corporates with thousands of engineers. I’ve worked in management (a role that I avoid), have MBA, and also as a highly skilled software engineer.
I have also have a lot of experience volunteering and helping out in local politics, a vast background of studying history, a lot odf work history across many companies, and a mind that never stops thinking.
So rather than continuing to wank out your little titbits of inane creamy wisdom – how about trying to justify your stupidity so I can continue to help educate you.
Because my considered opinion is that there are bad and good professional politicians in terms of looking back at their results from decades later. However the best that I have ever seen from a later stage businessman turning to politics is somewhere between barely competent to total disaster – and mostly well below required competency levels.
I could describe why I think that is the case. However I don’t think that you are competent enough in business to understand what I’d have to say about business skills.
sigh
Someday you should consider out exactly why I sometimes very deliberately write comments like this. It may or may not reflect my actual beliefs or personality traits. I usually make it so that it does reflect facets of myself because it reads truer (in this case MBA arrogance). But it is done with a purpose.
It falls out of experience of being online for networked discussions for slightly over 4 decades (I started on university networks in 1978). It has to do with reflecting back my opinion of the the behaviour of whoever I am responding to.
In this case just being bombastically even more extreme in the assertions, while also saying why. Instead of slyly implying stupidity of whomever you’re responding to – explicitly stating it with reasons. Making it a personal attack rather than hoping that the person you are responding to will see it that way.
As you say – (even) more puffed up and arrogant that the person I responded to. My experience is generally people who try to play ego-tripping and put-down games on online forums usually have a strong aversion to the same tactics being targeted at themselves. Especially when they are really really exaggerated.
If you have a look back over the 14 years, you will find a consistent pattern of my targeting people with extreme reflections, usually astonished replies, and changes in behaviour. I prefer using this as a technique because it is far more effective at behavioural change than bans.
If you look at various other forums (but Kiwiblog in particular), you will find a lot of people who don’t spend much time here whinging about lprent and what a complete bastard he is. They also tend to be more civilised and explanatory about their views when they come here.
Reciprocity is known to be extremely effective psychology. It is the basis of tit for tat – not just the trad behaviour but the computer game of the same name that famously won the tournament that led to usage in US foreign policy and was successful in bringing an end to the Cold War.
Anyone interested in verifying this ought to read Axelrod's book about it.
What is your point? Because my point is that theory is all very well, however that cruel reality tends dissipates theory almost every time. As anyone who has been around theoretical science will be able to point out happening over and over again.
After 14 years of moderating on here, it is my opinion that it might be that moderator bullying not be 'evolved' – but it is extremely effective on controlling the behaviour of comment bullies and dribblers. I suspect that it is also the opinion of every moderator who has moderated here after they get exposed to having to moderate.
Most start with the expectation that they can just talk nicely to people with poor behaviour to improve their behaviour. They also usually eventually stop moderating after they realise that they want to start finding a nice metaphorical bit of 4"x2" with which to beat those who just want to crap all over the site.
Interactive moderation is a task that destroys pacifists and creates authoritarians of them. Look at all of the sites that require logins or force auto-moderation and effectively run an authoritarian comment policy with silent moderation. This site is one of the few that has an open comment comment policy and open moderation. It is far harder to pull off, but in my view allows for a more open and robust debate.
Curiously official bullying is also effective on people who like to crap on the grass verges or have their dogs do it for them, people who like firing weapons into the air, people who like to drive drunk, and just about everything else that is in the crimes and summary offences acts, and local body by-laws. Just drop into any criminal court some time and watch it in action.
I can also point to when sysop bullying and moderation wasn't used on this site and when virtually no moderation was used at all – roughly from August 2007 to March 2008. In less than 6 months after startup, the comments section went from being pretty pleasant to unreadable. It then took about 4 years of very hard moderating to bring the comments section back to a readable level.
Come on francesca. I think you've been around long enough to know lprent.
He comes up with these diatribes every once in a while when he thinks someone needs to be brought down a peg or two. "Alan" has been asking for it for a while.
lprent gets in some damn good lines which leave me chuckling with delight. I won't be the only one.
Actually on this subject i.e Iprent's approach to people he thinks need bringing into line.
Yesterday I think I was on the receiving end of this approach from Iprent. I was shocked, because all I had done was asked him a simple question, something like was he referring to gender ideology when he was talking about change taking 30 years or so. It was a geniune question, because sometimes on these threads it can be a little hard to ascertain who is answering who.
I have to say I'prent I did find your response to quite intimidating. Partly because of the power inbalance here. You do a lot of work for this blog and I respect that. If you had had been another commentator I would have called you out more.
So of course you are entitled to use your technique. But actually I found it intimidating and unnecessary. Especially as all I did was ask a simple question. I suspect it is my gender critical views you object to. If I am correct and that is the case, at least argue with my views.
I have had a series of comments over recent months trying to get me to commit an opinion one way or another on the topic you were pushing. Mostly I have been saying I don't understand what is the issue nor see what in the hell it has to do with me nor see what those involved would explicitly like to happen. All of which I haven't seen any clear answers to when I have previously questioned it.
It is very hard to argue with 'views' when the people promulgating those views are pretty inarticulate in saying what their view are, why it should matter to whomever they are talking to, and when they have don't seem to have any idea on a course of action forward – while at the same time they are remarkably insistent at lecturing on what appears to me to be a ill-defined problem.
As I said, to me it feels like people trying for some kind of loyalty test or religious dogma from a person by framing questions as the kind of 'when did you kill your mother?' accusations. You'll find that I am remarkably intolerant towards people trying to put words into my mouth.
I respond to comments addressed at me when they show up on the Replies tab and seldom read comments in context – I'd suggest getting more careful about whom you answer.
Ok, thanks for clarifying I prent. I apprecate that.
I understand why people would not want to be into a roped into a view on this issue.
If you did want to hear where I am coming from with my gender critical views, I would be happy to say, but I am hearing pretty loud and clear that that is not the case and I completely support your right to assert that.
It is more that I'm tired of being having incidents described rather than what the fundamental issue is.
If you ever look at the history of worst of insurgent warfare (I like reading history) back at root causes level, you'll often find this kind of one-way focus where groups talk past each other about the other sides and how bad they are.
Meanwhile both sides just irritate everyone else trying to keep one ear open with their myopic tactical focus about others faults and habits of spreading away from whatever they upset about. Why if the hell would I be concerned about who called whom a TERF first?
In this case the complete lack of strategic points about what in the hell they're really arguing about. All it is engendering in me is a urge to close down all sport on the basis that no-one should be able to profit from whatever their genetic served them like height muscle confirmation or ATP tolerance levels. And to make all toilets unisex and capable of changing babies hygienically.
Totally right LPrent. The idea that someone who is a "businessmen" is better at running the country is obvious nonsense, but it does tend to convince a lot of people who tend to be the biggest victims of such businessmen/leaders when they do get in power. It's like how people think National are better at managing the economy.
He came across likable and easy to listen to on the AM show this am , imho, not slurpy like key, greasy like bridges or deranged like collins, early days but I'd be worried if I was the government and wanted to stay that way.
Key started by getting on the podium with Clark and solving a problem. Luxon announces he’s going to cause problems for an accord which has been almost the only bi-partisan action towards the decades long housing crisis, undercutting his deputy.
A good look saying that no, no she’s been right in the meeting as I fix her flawed work.
Yeah, nothing like being lectured on the housing crisis by someone with 7 houses. Big on more production…I take that to mean …build me more houses to buy.
So why has Labour failed to act ? But then 🙊🙉🙈 may apply to your world view. Perhaps you should apply the same expectations to both National and Labour, but then again that may require you to admit some failings 🤭
"New Zealand saw spectacular house price rises of about 114% (82.5% inflation-adjusted) from 2001 to 2007"
Perhaps you should apply the same expectations to both National and Labour,
Might as well throw in the greens and ACT, too. Fair enough.
National did fuckall about the housing market and downsized the state housing sector. They also have a very high proportion of multi-property owners/investors.
Labour tried kiwibuild, which has had little effect, and some bright line tweaks with similar results. They have expanded the state housing sector, though. They have a high number of mp property investors, but not as high as national.
The Greens want more significant efforts on housing, and have a lower proportion of mp/investors still.
The only outlier seems to be ACT, as several of their new MPs aren't property owners at all, and I don't know what ACT policy is on housing (but I suspect MJSavage wouldn't approve).
and that makes them a nice and polite family who take the dog shit home, compared to many who let their dogs shit everywhere and don't clean up after them.
‘McGregor Tioti Tume, 44, of Mataura, appeared in the Gore District Court this week and was sentenced to 10 and a half months’ home detention, to be served in Whanganui, with six months’ post-release conditions.’
'Tume admitted threatening to kill, impeding breathing or circulation, behaving threateningly and injuring with intent to injure after the incident on April 16.'
'The man's lawyer Sonya Vidal said Tume had been offended after the lifeguard hit him lightly on the head with a rope to gain his attention, because her actions were culturally offensive to Māori.'
'Vidal said Tume had been racially abused in the past.'
Yep that's disgusting. I know the government wants the prison population to reduce, but dangerous people who cannot control their temper need to be locked away to keep the general public safe. He will learn nothing from the home D, other than he can do it again.
For some time there has been a strong case for allowing returning Kiwis into Auckland home isolation (and using freed up places for those from other areas of the country and for some of the infection cases). And then from Dec 15 allow returning Kiwis to home isolation in orange areas (on the grounds they were no more of a risk than travelling Aucklanders double vaxxed – and less given the pre flight negative test and week at home).
The new leadership of National would have attacked on this and hard. But by the time it was made manifest on Tuesday, omicron had made its own global appearance. And so while the eagle may have landed, this prey is no longer to be found.
and the leadership old, current new, and future new could cry until the kingdom comes, Labour has a full majority and can do what it wants.
Atm, however People are stuck, their 'rights' are disregarded, they have to apply to an inhumane lottery, and are essentially stateless.
But lets talk not about what Labour is not doing, or to be fair the little they are doing after much kicking and screaming and some really bad press that will get worse btw, but lets talk what a dude says who is on his first day of the Job.
Funny how it seems that the people with no power seem to bully the people with all the power into doing their bidding. Is labour really that weak?
Nice detailed historical analysis of the unrest in the Solomon Islands, and why Minister Mahuta may be hesitating before sending our troops in to support the Australian and Fiji contingent.
Excellent – thanks for finding this. Lot's of good info I've not seen elsewhere.
I'm hoping – although with Dutton involved it may be a forlorn hope – that the Australian govt is very aware of the swamp of contradictions it's stepped into here. There have been mentions in the media around the apparent paradox of propping up a pro-CCP govt, yet I suspect they judged it better to stabilise the situation on the ground first and then see what can be done.
But yes a remarkable story that still has serious potential to go either very well or very badly.
Interesting read. It is another perspective focused mostly on a religious basis than a political or regional or clan. It also reads like justification for differences rather than causation.
I suspect that Mahuta, the police commissioner, and probably our GHQ will mostly be looking at is if there is any noticeable pathway out of the political morass in the Solomons this time. After all, despite its religious trappings highlighted in the article, the main issue appears to be limited understanding of the local politicians of how to negotiate political compromises and/or being able to lead their own followers to accept them.
My question and probably our authorising people would be what in the hell are we providing time for… Once you start ignoring the obvious propaganda about what people say that their reasons for conflict are, this feels like a continuation on a slightly different basis of the last conflict about the balance between nation and local interests.
Starts with COVID but dives into the problems and failures of our materialist society. Best quote: “You’re going to worship somebody – so what is your higher value and purpose ?”
“You’re going to worship somebody – as they say – so what is the higher value of your society?” [@31:37 mins]
This may sound contrarian, but you don't have to worship anybody – value yes; worship no. The question reads as a non sequitur to me. And I did like this comment (@31 mins):
You can make an argument that 'Freedom' is one of the things that's made society disintegrate over the last 50 years – you know – this, this constant obsession with individual freedom in all areas, whether it's economic or cultural, has has had exactly that kind of acidic impact on things.
The merit of this discussion to me is it's even-handedness. Yes it starts in one place and ends in another, but it's not disrespectful to anyone along the way.
(some scientists claim vaccines will lead to new variants trying to work around the vaccine)
News
The miracle of Africa – the populated continent least impacted
South Africa has enough vaccines, but there is not much take up
WHO present
Says that this new variant occurred because of spread in areas without the vaccine.
South Africa
The one place where there has been multi-variant spread – beta and delta, so it checks the variant type and thus picks such new variants as omicron faster than most (as might places with border controls and testing).
USA, UK and Oz Past
Now providing booster doses because the immunity against delta infection wanes by 6 months.
USA UK Oz Present
Considering booster doses at 2 or 3 months after the second dose, as if an earlier than required booster against delta would stop omicron getting around the vaccine.
USA UK Oz Future Plan?
The boosters did not work to stop omicron, which has has spread so fast herd immunity is realised (ignoring health system crisis and spike in earlier deaths). Freedom in our time. Victory.
One possible outcome is that Omicron becomes the dominant global strain because it is so infectious – but is sufficiently mild that the IFR and long-term health impacts become no worse than seasonal influenza or perhaps even the common cold.
Otherwise yes – your comment speaks to the loss of institutional trust Kingsnorth was as well.
Personally I would rather we had all the anti-viral treatments available for all those infected … just in case.
There is a risk a less deadly strain might kill more by overwhelming the health system with the number of cases – if it gets around before the anti-viral treatment are widely available.
Staff who choose not to be vaccinated will have their employment options worked through with HR, while students who choose not to be vaccinated may be able to choose from a limited range of online study options.
lols "worked through with HR".
It's dependent on the vaccine pass, so anyone who gets a medical exemption will go through that process and it'll come up "valid".
anybody else notice the inconsistincy, new nat leader doesnt want councils sidelined re 3 waters, new nat #2 very happy to sideline councils over housing. hmm.maybe nat #2 is more forward looking, this weaks leader looking for headlines.
She is from Wellington, and grew up with politics – her mother was a member of the press gallery. "It really is a sweet thing, when I walk in the back entrance of Parliament I walk past a photo of my mother in the press gallery line-up and in that photo she's actually pregnant with me … when I walk past it, it really strengthens my resolve for the day because I think about the sacrifices she made as a mum.
"She sacrificed her work as a journalist at Parliament in order to raise me and my sister and brother – and she was an incredible mother, I've got wonderful parents – and it makes me proud to be doing something I know she sees as making a big contribution to the country. That's how I feel about my work. I don't see Parliament as a place that's all about the house of cards type stuff
So she gestated in parliament. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I suspect it could be significant. It has become known that a human foetus gets affected by ambient vibes such as music & argument. A positive take on this for her would be along the lines of being innately acclimatised to the power matrix.
The test of a theory is the extent to which reality matches it, so time will tell. If the theory is correct, she'll be more comfortable in her functional roles within parliament than comparable others.
Luxon: "I love country music and that’s not cool to say and I apologise to New Zealand for saying it." He need not. It's country & western that's uncool. Country music is extremely cool because it's authentic. Not like that corny shit made for plastic people & sung by cardboard cutouts. Maybe he's a Garth Brooks addict?? Too ignorant to know the difference, in other words…
“He’s very green,” says political commentator and former national government staffer Ben Thomas.
Readers will assume that means he's very Green. Sigh.
McGraw is of Italian and Irish descent on his mother's side, and has Irish, English, Scottish, Swiss, Dutch, Czech, and German ancestry on his father's side… He has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
A concerned parent, Robin Redding, said her son, Treshan Bryant, is a student at the school but stayed home on Tuesday. She said he had heard threats that there could be a shooting.
“This couldn’t be just random,” she said.
Redding didn’t provide specifics about what her son had heard, but she expressed concern with school safety in general.
“Kids just, like they’re just mad at each other at this school,” she said.
Bryant said he texted several younger cousins in the morning and they said they didn’t want to go to school, and he got a bad feeling. He asked his mom if he could do his assignments online.
One of my Kiwi nephews & his US wife both teach at a school in Baltimore in the USA. I always immediately look to see where school shootings are when I hear of another one in that goddam gun-mad country. ☹️
It was alarming to hear the new National leader yesterday refuse to give a direct answer to specific questions given to him on the govts hidden unmandated separatist co-governance agenda.
It is tragic the opportunity wasn’t taken to give clarity and to take a strong opposing stance against this implementation of what is simply apartheid policies by stealth.
JuCo struck me as quietly working that seam like it was swamp kauri, and it didn't pay much. Toss a coin whether Winston will have better luck stripmining it.
He might have lost his connection to the zeitgeist. Zooming rather than getting out on the hustings.
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Are you deeply passionate about sharing Māori stories? We’re on the hunt for an experienced writer/editor to lead coverage in our Ātea section.Ātea is a deeply valued section of The Spinoff site, offering Māori perspectives and insights across politics, current affairs and culture. We are thrilled to be looking ...
By Aisha Azeemah in Suva With the lights on one of his sneakers blinking as he ran through the gallery, a little boy looked up at several works of art. One of them was a sculpture of his grandfather: the man who changed how we see the Pacific — Epeli ...
WHAT: Uber drivers are holding a rally outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington tomorrow, as the company begins its appeal against 2022’s Employment Court verdict (in a case taken jointly by FIRST Union and E tū) that four drivers were permanent ...
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Has something happened in the background on this blog? When I visit it on my iPad2, since yesterday afternoon, I have to scroll down quite a way to see Post articles & comments.
The TS banner doesn’t show, nor do posted pics with articles, nor do people’s coloured avatars – just their usernames are showing.
Things look perfectly normal on my smartphone & my win10 laptop. Just the iPad’s affected?
Oh. Ok just turned on JavaScript on the iPad2 & all’s normal.
The probs above only appear when I turn OFF JavaScript (which I have to do if I want to keep posting more than twice; after which it usually refuses to let me type any text in address fields & Comments with JacaScript turned on).
But prior to yesterday, turning off JavaScript didn’t stop the TS banner from appearing, nor pics in articles, nor folks’ avatars from displaying. A bit puzzling…
It caches things like css and javascript locally on your devices. After they expire it needs to reload them.
Also when the optimization plugin gets an update (may have yesterday), it resets the cache tag, and you need an cache update.
The Standard requires javascript for various parts of it's operation.
I have the comment bug on my radar. But haven't had much unused time.
On the right hand side of this blog there's a link to The Civilian, and a piece of pitch-perfect satire. Very funny and sums up the state of National better than a dozen columns of "serious" commentary.
Well done to Ben (and TS for the links).
Brilliant "Need to be a friend of John Key"
Heard of immunity?
Herd immunity for polio is achieved at 80% of the ‘total population‘ vaccinated.
Herd immunity for measles is reached at 95% of the ‘total population‘ being vaccinated.
Nobody knows what the level for herd immunity for Covid-19 is, (because it has never been achieved). But it definitely is not reached at 90% of the over 12s, which is New Zealand's current target. If we want to get rid of this scourge, to have any chance of reaching herd immunity, total population immunisation, will mean immunising the under 12s.
The normal calculation is 1-1/R0 (x 100 to express as a percentage), so if R0 for Delta is 6, then herd immunity would 1-1/6 = 5/6 = 83.33%. Since 85% of the population are 12+, as you say that's highly unlikely without adding 5-11s. As at 30 September 2021, Stats NZ thinks that under 5s 304,590 of a total population of 5,126,300 = 5.94%, so the eligible population will be 4,821,710 = 94.06% of the total population.
5/6 of the total population is 4,271,917 people which is 88.6% of the total population. If 5/6 (or 83.33%) is herd immunity, then 90% of 5+ would get us there.
Confounding factors include that people can get Delta more than once and that the vaccine is not fully sterilising (it lessens transmission significantly, but at best around 90%, not nearly 100%).
How often do you get vaccinated for Polio and Measles and how many times will we have to get vaccinated against Covid of whatever variant?
As for the 'flu. similar..
The anti-vaxxers say it is all about 'choice'
Meanwhile deliberately undermining choice by sabotaging the vaccine roll out.
Increasingly anti-vaxxers are deliberating making it harder for people who's choice is to be vaccinated, stacking vaccination bookings with false registrations, threatening health workers and nurses, vandalising health clinics, and even "physical attacks".
Under 'Urgency' legislation with bi-partisan support in the House, the scum endangering public health by sabotaging the vaccine roll out, need to be threatened with 5 year prison sentences.
Taranaki vaccination events moving indoors after physical and verbal attacks (msn.com)
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/10/auckland-vaccination-centre-vandalised-staff-targeted.html
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/454007/anti-vaxxers-making-fake-vaccination-bookings
You're saying the govt needs to introduce such legislation urgently into the House? There's not something like that already in progress?
These pricks need to be videoed, tracked down, & locked up immediately by the police, pending assault & whatever other relevant charges are brought against them asap. Never mind waiting for legislation to do something.
God almighty! The poor cops. Gangs n guns everywhere. Expected to patrol internal Covid borders & probably to staff iwi roadblocks up North, now they have to also be mobile enuf to catch & lock up antivaxer thugs n nutters! 😠
"Never mind waiting for legislation to do something.".
That sounds awfully like saying "You haven't broken and law but we are going to lock you up anyway". Surely not Gezza?
Assaults have been reported. Folk can be arrested for assault, n’est-ce pas? Probably also for wilful damage if caught in the act. I’m just saying if you can catch em at it: “Book em Danyl.” Don’t wait till there’s some specific penalty legislated for (which may never get thru the final gate at Parliament).
Why stop there?
Why not ban speech by them? Predictive sentencing in advance?
Why not whip up more moral fever to justify anything? Why try for nuance or human understanding when hatred helps feed your righteousness?
And those who care about human rights should shut up. It's just temporary and for our good, right – just like all those laws imposed after the 9/11 "emergency" still on our books, or how forced sterilisation and electro-shock therapy laws enacted on the bladvice of health experts lasted decades.
They would've all told you in professional tones how this was done for the greater good and required overriding any personal autonomy.
When gangs (or BLM protestors) lash out its just a consequence of racism and poverty and being so voiceless – when anyone against vaccines does so, its because they're inherently filthy scum.
You sound just like the law and order brigade now. Hyped up with media fear and self-righteousness – no means is unjustified to pursue the scum threatening every man, woman, and child.
Sounds like Maragaret Thatcher would approve of your tactics. Ah, the strange bedfellows that the Covid-19 has wrought on the wannabe Authoritarian-Left.
"Sounds like Margaret Thatcher would approve of your tactics".
You were going so well until this comment. When did Maggie ever do something like that?
Are you not aware of her activities around the Miners' Strike?
She was no model of democracy, even setting out to label the Labour Opposition enemies of state.
They've got a perfect right to say what they want about vaccines.
But they don't have a right to be heard, or to public platforms to promulgate their misinformation, and incite refusal.
Probably the safest indicator that antivax propaganda deserves to be discouraged is its supporters – the anti-government astroturfed extreme right. When Trump weaponised antivax sentiment in the US, and various trolls repeated his nonsense online, they were not acting in the public interest.
"incite refusal"?
Are we into making up imaginary crimes now? Especially ones that involve now criminalising a refusal…which is a basic human right enshrined in multiple treaties and domestic law. "Officer, she incited refusal to vote National and incited refusal to be forced to worship God".
I'm also fully aware of Margaret Thatchers tactics – as you say, demonise those who disagree as enemies of the state. Something very similar has gone on with those unvacvinated and even those who disagree with mandates and passports.
Yesterday: "Health officials say Covid-19 hospitalisations and intensive care (ICU) usage have “very much levelled off” in Auckland, despite earlier modelling painting a much gloomier picture."
Fancy that, a Government adopting a hopelessly exaggerated risk and fear tactics to justify suppression of human rights and discrimination. Sounds a lot like George Bush post-9/11…
Also (and I dislike him immensely) Donald Trump boosted Operation Lightspeed to create a vaccine and has publicly supported vaccination.
The public interest is something you don't have a monopoly on defining. Sounds like you've been drinking too much of the Stuff/Spinoff koolaid.
Last week the Japanese with admirable modesty were attributing the decline in Delta to it seemingly mutating to such a degree that it is becoming less virulent there. Which is generally the way viruses go. Somewhere that I cant find, I have read that the common flu, another corona virus, may be a remnant of a Russian originating pandemic in the 1800s which mutated down to the manageable disease we know today. Sure, it is implicated in 500 deaths but I can not recall anyone I have known dying of it ( and I'm 71 ) that were not otherwise compromised.
My first reaction to hearing that Omnicron had multiple mutations was that maybe this is the light before the dawn. Fingers crossed.
Just a comment about Japans rates.
Tokyo had 6 the other day, and the whole of Japan has less per day than NZ over the last week or so.
Remarkable!!!
Wearing face masks everywhere and handwashing Japan is famous for wearing face masks to prevent the spread of airborne diseases.
We need more mask wearing in places where there are high concentrations of people.It should become the norm.
Yes and a respect for authority.
Dr John Campbell had a good video on this hypothesising that the reduction in numbers was from:
1)Numerous mutations in the virus
2) Vaccination rate
3) Other control measures
4)/Maybe an antiviral enzyme more prevalent in Japan (very big maybe)
5):The voluntary use/intro of Ivermectin? Just questioned not really asserted
Chance is the main driver of evolution.
Evolution is not a one way arrow.
Chance mutations can either be good or bad.
A virus that mutates to become too deadly kills off the host, and cannot replicate and find new hosts and dies off itself.
The most successful parasites evolve to live with their hosts.
The 1918 influenza pandemic swept the world in three successive waves.
The first wave that likely jumped from birds to humans in the American Mid-West, was bad, but not that bad. The second wave which likely incubated in the appalling unsanitary and disease ridden conditions in the trenches of the First World War, was the deadliest and much, much worse.
The third wave of the Spanish flu pandemic was milder, and it is suspected that the annual flu that sweeps the world every year is a descendant of the 1918 virus, able to coexist with the host population with out killing us off in too greater numbers.
It is suspected that the Omicron mutation has similarly looked to have been incubating and circulating in a small host population of severely immune compromised and unwell community, possibly aid sufferers.
Time will tell whether this mutated virus is similar to the Second or third wave of the Spanish flu.
Fingers crossed.
No
Survival is the only driver of evolution
No. Chance mutation is the driver of evolution.
With respect to Jenny’s Chance mutations can either be good or bad, that’s not strictly correct either. Chance mutations can be either beneficial, detrimental or neutral – ie there’s a change but it doesn’t give the altered organism either any advantage or disadvantage in terms of competition or survival.
Survival isn’t a driver of evolution because organisms have evolved whether they have survived long-term in competition for resources, or in response to environmental changes, or not.
Many creatures that have evolved have not displaced others; they’ve simply exploited new niches alongside the original, still-living ancestor species.
Chance mutations are only part of the story – you also need a driver or selection pressure to confer an advantage to one mutation over another.
The other aspect that gets frequently overlooked is the role of sexual selection.
Some of the basic ideas of Darwinian evolution are simple, but this doesn't mean that simple explanations are always right.
As soon as pooklets are big enuf to fly they leave their nursery sleeping nest (they sleep with their dad, not their mum) and build their own individual sleeping nests some distance from each other. They tidy out their nests daily and build a new one in a different location when the old one gets too "tired".
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x71nu0f
Wondering why that video link didn't display in a playable format. Posted from my laptop.
Trying again from iPad:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x71nu0f
Weird. I posted a similar link from dailymotion just 2 days ago & it displayed here as a click n play video. 🤔 😕
Says we need a password to play it Gezza.
I posted that 2 years ago Patricia. Why I added a password I have no idea. Maybe I was just testing how the password function worked.
Anyway, whatever, I've changed the password. To see the video just enter the password: "pook".
That worked
Industrious little Purple Swamp Hen, isn't he?
Funny, that's the common name for the various sub-species dotted around the world, but a male would probably be better named as a Purple Swamp Rooster or Purple Swamp Cock. 🤔
Conehead goes against science wanting less people in MIQ ,Max Plank virus modeller says with Omricon we need tight border control.
Well the easiest way in that dilemma of stranded kiwis elsewhere is to just make them formally stateless. Strip them of their citizenship, send them a 50 NZD gift card for Aldi or something, call the leaders of the countries these stateless people are stranded and tell these leaders that these stateless kiwis are now their problem. These stateless people can then claim refugee status and begin their lifes again.
My solution is simply, lets all go to R+V in Gisborne, and some big markets elese where, go mingle in pubs and on the beach with gusto and have a right Covid Party everywhere. Once we are all infected we don't need MIQ anymore. Everyone can just come in, as the virus is as rampant as every where else.
Or, we can look at MIQ and find it the total failure it actually is, and finally come up with an idea that works so that people who are NZ Citizens can actually return to their country.
Fwiw, our beige suits on all sites have been a complete failure in finding a solution that would allow people to return that is safe and work able and above all human. In the meantime what we have is a lottery that works for no one really. We could televise that misery though, surely would make for some good reality TV for some Kiwis in the vain of Shortland street, bitchy and mean.
Instead of investing in the Americas Cup, sending people to the Olympics and other assorted crap, we should have build some decent Quarantine Facilities, maybe even invest in a Covid health Facilities, but then…hey, ………..we don't need that, and building stuff is hard hard work. Right? Priorities, have a good party, rub shoulders with the billionaires of the world, win a few medals, never mind the guys overseas that would like to come home. Sucks to be them? Right?
Sabine there is a massive shortage of builders and materials then land.
Easy to come up with ideas but putting them into action is the hard part.
lol, that is the newest idea now?
We can't build facilities that we need to keep the country safe and allow our citizens to return because we suddenly don't have builders and materials.
Good fucking grief.
As i said, the best the government can do right now is simply wash its hand of those stuck overseas, take away their citizenship, declare them stateless and let them fend for themselves, cause we don't have builders nor materials.
Totally and utterly Pathetic. Labour 2023 – we will build nothing, and then some.
No one in WW2 complained about getting stuck.
We are fighting a pandemic individual rights have to take a back seat.
You know we have had a housing shortage for 20 yrs.
People know we have one of the safest responses to covid 19.
Now everyone wants to come back to the safe bolt hole but don't understand why it's become a safe bolt hole.
Not to mention where they are going to live.putting more pressure on the building trade.
It was all very well when those people went overseas to chase better careers and money after getting a highly subsidised education.then not pay back the student loan.
Now they want instant access to the country they turned their back on.
"People know we have one of the safest responses to covid 19."
That is the people who recognise reality.
On this thread Tricledrown comments on Japan being famous for wearing face masks to prevent the spread of airborne diseases the implication being that masks have positive effects. Yet some over time have rubbished mask wearing.
Sabine calls MIQ a "total failure." If the 190,000 who've been through it since March last year had simply come into the country and got on with whatever would the situation have been one of "total success"?
Of course we had the stuff about lockdowns not working. We've had experts on NZ blogsites knowing that and telling the world. More expert that those in more than 100 countries worldwide who have tried various forms of lockdown.
Handling the pandemic wasn't a 'paint-by-numbers' exercise. There has been plenty of boring, trite, facile 'paint-by-numbers' criticism of the handling of it though.
We can’t build facilities that we need to keep the country safe and allow our citizens to return because we suddenly don’t have builders and materials.
FFS! This is not a NEW bloody problem. We’ve been nationally short of skilled tradies for at least 2 decades. And the pandemic itself is causing materials shortages across industries becos if lockdowns aren’t shutting down local industries like timber milling some shipping companies can’t be bothered sending vessels here because we’re at the arse end of the world & there are greater profits to be made shipping between closer countries with much higher goods volumes.
You
cannotshould not argue for ending MIQ and wanting the building of specialised facilities for this.It reminds one of National, they used to want the specialised facilities and now around the time we might have completed them they want to end MIQ …
It is too early to determine if the Omicron is a major risk. Best to wait.
Agreed Gossie
This Government is doing their best to keep us safe. They can not please everyone, and we got your message long ago Sabine.
Thank you Patricia – I became pretty agitated at the vitriol directed at the two Auckland MPs yesterday whom I happen to know from my days of living in West Auckland. This attitude among some commentors is making The Standard a hard read for me lately – it has been my go to blog for several years now, but I do notice that a lot of past contributors and commentors (particularly women) have fled the coop.
Totally agree
What annoys me wrt to the constant moans from "stranded kiwis" is the fact that just 50 years ago if someone left NZ for overseas if you wanted to return then it wasn't just a matter of hopping on a plane and flying back on a whim – however justified that whim may be. That was just one of the factors you took into account when you left parents and family behind – the fact that you might never see them again.
The early settlers spent up to 6 months at sea in the 1840's traveling here – some never even made it. Many never had the chance to return to their land of birth and their only communication with those they left behind was by intermittent letter. No texts or video calls then. Even in the early 20th C the likelihood of a return trip or seeing your family again was extremely low.
We have family overseas – they miss us – and we miss them. But the reality is that the world has changed in the past 2 years and we have to adapt to it and live with it.
Many never had the chance to return to their land of birth and their only communication with those they left behind was by intermittent letter.
I recall reading somewhere that in Ireland some families would hold a sort of 'living wake' for those about to depart – because it was almost certain they'd never see or hear from them again.
You make a reasonable point, yet travel has become woven into the fabric of modern life and making an appeal that because our ancestors didn't enjoy something means that we should not either – is fairly wobbly logic.
Like they didn't have vaccines either.
Local and international 'on demand' travel had undoubtedly "become woven into the fabric of modern life" for some, myself included. This pandemic, however, opened my eyes to the many relatively painless opportunities I have to shrink my travel footprint, and I'll be taking these up. Not for everyone, of course, and, if you must (or choose to) travel, don't forget your shots!
Forging a path to a better normal for conferences and collaboration
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01325-z
Forging a sustainable future for astronomy
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01486-x
Welcome back Jilly Bee.
I still have a look each day, though sometimes I despair at some of the comments and always enjoy reading yours and Anne's contributions, oh and Mickey Savage's posts.
Hell – we agree again. Wonders never cease.
😈
Hes coming………..lol and you cant do a thing to stop him,goodbye all your left woke policies ,hes coming.
Christ?
Do you think he will do austerity? Small Government means the removal of services.
Associate Professor Jennifer Lees-Marshment is from Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland and is an expert in political marketing.
She identifies "four key political marketing and management principles Luxon needs to follow".
#1 National needs to offer a new distinctive product that meets market needs
That will roll off the Nats like water off a duck's back. They usually seem barely capable of even doing the lipstick on a pig routine.
That's been obvious since I was a kid! Trouble is, the Nats remain perpetually unaware of the fact.
#2 political leaders do not have as much management power as CEOs
Different type of social organism, different rules & ethos. Team sports is a closer model to use.
#3 the politician’s personality and personal life is part of the political product
True. Leader personifies brand.
But don't discount his ability to learn on the job. People morph to fit situations they work in. Character can build accordingly.
#4 The National Party needs re-branding
This one is the key. So far, no sign Luxon gets it. Quite the contrary. He got big on uttering trad shibboleths yesterday as if he tacitly assumed he needed to front like someone with training wheels on. Wrong!!
He does get the team-building side of this and I'm confident he'll show expertise quite rapidly. However even a smoothly-functioning invigorated team cannot sell a dead brand. Is National really dead or just pretending? Only a rebrand will prove the latter.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/pro/the-rebrand-challenge-for-nationals-new-chief
What's the bet that the dirty politics brigade are anxiously salivating over fresh opportunities ?
If so, they're delusional. Just a question of how long till they figure out that Luxon is their real enemy! Mr Clean, they'll call him.
Some in depth poking around in his 'church' may yield some weirdo ideas but they will be a one shot wonder but enough to warn I would have thought. Already I am a bit tired of seeing his face all over the online media. I saw one yesterday taken half on turned slightly to the left and at first glance I thought it was Muldoon. Don't know if that is good or bad.
Perhaps he could start a fashion for wearing a little headband like some little girls have or as they used to have in the 1970s as hippies.
He said on the radio this morning that he hasn't been to a church in five years.
Listen carefully, qualified that by saying 'not a conventional church' and the interviewer never picked that up
And that's a good example of how his inexperience will hurt him.
It hardly matters at all if he's been to a church in the past 5 years. No issue there.
It only starts to matter if he's evasive/dishonest about it. That changes the issue.
The Upper Room. Look it up.
Thanks garibaldi, so he will get along with Scottie from Marketing of Hillside brand of Christianity.
without Dirty Politics? THAT would be a change… but I think he will keep apart from that, not actively challenge it. If he had said “We won’t be doing that on my watch” but no.. just the usual plaster over the cracks.
The Dirty politics brigade have destroyed the National Party and good for them hopefully they continue to do so infact they can't help themselves.
Very useful thanks Dennis.
.
Ummm, …
… late July 2017 Colmar Brunton … Labour 24%
… August 1 2017 Little stands down / Ardern elected Leader
… mid August 2017 Colmar Brunton … Labour 37%
… late August 2017 Colmar Brunton … Labour 43%
If this episode teaches us anything … it’s that a move to the right leader can indeed transform a Party’s fortunes … but arguably only if there is underlying public discontent with the Govt of the day / a tacit mood for change that can’t be fully expressed because the main Oppo Party seems to be struggling under a less than magnetic leader.
I agree, her analysis insufficiently factored in context. Generalisations fail when context doesn't support them.
Her marketing slant is useful for us, but a lecturer will always hew towards rules & principles, and the binary structure of western democracies means binary brand favouritism embeds in the typical voter psyche.
Therefore the effect of a bright shiny new leader is relative to how bright & shiny the alternative leader looks, and as you imply govt performance can tarnish a PM, so we'll have to wait & see. Despite a few speed wobbles in recent months I still think it's so far so good for Ardern…
Yep.
There's also the argument that a leader needs to be a point of difference from the other parties. To me, blinglish and Little had the same energy/vibe. Not bad, but considered, methodical, an air of competence.
That type of leadership might work against a firebrand in the process of burning out, rather than trying to copy the firebrand, but not against itself.
Now, Luxon will have a different vibe to Collins, but the question is whether he will provide a credible leadership alternative to Ardern. There's only so long his media honeymoon will last, and only so long he can hide any dodgy opinions he might have re: everything the OT zealots go for in Leviticus (except all the times crayfish, paua, mussels, shrimp etc are prohibited).
And even if he's all good as a human being, he needs to keep caucus in line and light a spark of enthusiasm under tory voters. Maybe trying for something more than incessant negativity.
Just another day for those community stalwarts…
'Asic’s litigation showbag includes allegations Westpac charged more than 11,000 dead people more than $10m in fees, charged 7,000 people for two insurance policies over the same property, collected $12m in illegal commissions from 8,000 people, failed to properly disclose $7m in fees it charged to 25,000 customers, kept 21,000 accounts open for companies that no longer existed and on-sold debts to collectors at rates higher than it was allowed to charge.'
We don't do those things in our NZ operations…though!
Westpac admits it broke law and agrees to pay $113m in penalties | Westpac | The Guardian
Wow!! Just sickening, and no one goes to prison, yet beneficiaries….
The local branches of these banks found wanting in the Australian banking enquiry are doing some of the things the aussie enquiry has exposed.like selling mortgage protection and life insurance to cover mortgages when only one type should be required.
Ouch..
Less than a tenth and he's off.
https://twitter.com/ClintVSmith/status/1465752463743471617
Very revealing.
@ Joe90 (10) … Oh dear, surely Luxon hasn’t began his leadership role telling porkies. Either he is a quick learner, or the trait was there already.
First thought on Luxon: when your underlying ideology is essentially shameful, you try to disguise it as operational competence.
So to paraphrase Sir Humphrey, it might have been "wrong", but it was frightfully well carried out. 🙂
https://youtu.be/cIYfiRyPi3o?t=164
Thanks Was a well written well acted series. Laughed out loud.
We always watched, or recorded and watched. Priceless.
Came in very useful when I was in a disfunctional workplace. I literally had to take notes from it (and checked them off as other people worked down the list, lol).
But I like that section in particular, having been on both sides of the governance/operational divide. It nicely illustrates both perspectives: bureaucrats shouldn't unthinkingly "follow orders" when those orders are wrong, but nor should they be driving or even overruling policy decisions that are the purview of governance.
And where would they be if they zealously believed all conflicting policies demanded by governance groups, where consistency is as rare as hens' teeth? I believe the current service description is "community treatment team".
Lots of fuzzy grey lines in that divide, sometimes.
Some of our School Board meetings had that flavour. One chap was very fond of saying "the Ministry this and that…." A friend had a habit of muttering "He's been talking to God again" or some similar thing, and I would cough to cover laughter. There is a type of pomposity which went with that and his braces which he would pull while pontificating memories make me smile now.
Katherine interviews Luxton on 9 to Noon today, and it was very illuminating. He kept on interrupting Katherine and was challenged on the Health failures of the Key years. Not as suave as he would like.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018822779
He's described the Covid traffic light system as "Mickey Mouse" (Hosking radio i-view). Sounds like something Judith would say.
He's all over the place on Covid, lots of rhetoric about opening up, little engagement with the reality of the virus and rapid change (a glance at the world news would help).
Conehead looks like another Todd Mueller out of his depth.
Couldn't keep up with Ryan questioning.
You cannot take from Luxon that he is the leader.
Give the man a chance….remember he is really busy looking after his 7 houses…
That was indeed illuminating ianmac. So much so, I had to stop listening half way through. The tone as well as the content was so John Key it spooked me. 😮
Apart from that, for a man who is supposed to have an “enormous intellect” well, let the listener be the judge.
The ghost of Sir John the Deceiver indeed!
Also, he said, "Kumbaya" which to me is the big reveal.
I've met people like him before *shudders
Early days, has a lot to learn about interviews. He does come across as slippery #2
Oh I am glad you said that Anne. I thought I was imagining it!!
Luzon: um, no, err, um, no
7 houses, not fair to ask about, nothing to do with me.
Being shifty as f about where he has been to church and what his specific beliefs are. Refusing to answer questions about speaking in tongues and so on. I’m just going to be misrepresented- so this is going to be his approach, defensive.
Key was a chameleon- Luxon feels more like Bridges, cocky, strong, but more a tree than bamboo.
He comes across as you'd expect from somebody who was gifted a safe seat, done no scrapping in Parliament and then got others (Key) to win the leadership on his behalf.
Ardern lost an electorate battle twice against a tough opponent, before she was even deputy.
Luxon is facing non-cuddles for the first time ever. It shows.
BS. Being the CEO of two major businesses involves daily non- cuddles moments.
He is a million times more experienced in that department than anyone in the labour cabinet, particularly the PM.
You are clutching at straws.
Daily non-cuddle moments. Funny.
Being CEO is like being a mafia boss. Any non-cuddling moment tasked to underlings. Cuddle moments (read: PR) are done by the CEO
I have never noticed any business person being competent as a politician who is able to change anything. Your thesis sounds like an idiot parrot sprouting what they think is accepted wisdom – rather than someone who has ever bothered to think about the crucial differences between political work and business work.
At best some are like John Key, who managed to operate as PM in NZ for 8 years without ever changing anything in a significant way, except to allow existing problems get worse through inattention – like housing, homelessness, education results in providing a skilled workforce, reducing emigration of skills, pollution of waterways, etc. Basically he left the country in a worse state than before he took power.
The worst are destructive morons like Trump.
Now before you become like every other dumbarse right fuckwit – let me say that is an opinion of someone who has only worked in and/or for a range of private industries from SME locals with only a few employees to multinational corporates with thousands of engineers. I’ve worked in management (a role that I avoid), have MBA, and also as a highly skilled software engineer.
I have also have a lot of experience volunteering and helping out in local politics, a vast background of studying history, a lot odf work history across many companies, and a mind that never stops thinking.
So rather than continuing to wank out your little titbits of inane creamy wisdom – how about trying to justify your stupidity so I can continue to help educate you.
Because my considered opinion is that there are bad and good professional politicians in terms of looking back at their results from decades later. However the best that I have ever seen from a later stage businessman turning to politics is somewhere between barely competent to total disaster – and mostly well below required competency levels.
I could describe why I think that is the case. However I don’t think that you are competent enough in business to understand what I’d have to say about business skills.
Jesus IPrent
That comes across awfully arrogant and puffed up
You could have just kept the fourth paragraph, and dispensed with the insult
sigh
Someday you should consider out exactly why I sometimes very deliberately write comments like this. It may or may not reflect my actual beliefs or personality traits. I usually make it so that it does reflect facets of myself because it reads truer (in this case MBA arrogance). But it is done with a purpose.
It falls out of experience of being online for networked discussions for slightly over 4 decades (I started on university networks in 1978). It has to do with reflecting back my opinion of the the behaviour of whoever I am responding to.
In this case just being bombastically even more extreme in the assertions, while also saying why. Instead of slyly implying stupidity of whomever you’re responding to – explicitly stating it with reasons. Making it a personal attack rather than hoping that the person you are responding to will see it that way.
As you say – (even) more puffed up and arrogant that the person I responded to. My experience is generally people who try to play ego-tripping and put-down games on online forums usually have a strong aversion to the same tactics being targeted at themselves. Especially when they are really really exaggerated.
If you have a look back over the 14 years, you will find a consistent pattern of my targeting people with extreme reflections, usually astonished replies, and changes in behaviour. I prefer using this as a technique because it is far more effective at behavioural change than bans.
If you look at various other forums (but Kiwiblog in particular), you will find a lot of people who don’t spend much time here whinging about lprent and what a complete bastard he is. They also tend to be more civilised and explanatory about their views when they come here.
Reciprocity is known to be extremely effective psychology. It is the basis of tit for tat – not just the trad behaviour but the computer game of the same name that famously won the tournament that led to usage in US foreign policy and was successful in bringing an end to the Cold War.
Anyone interested in verifying this ought to read Axelrod's book about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat
Bullying also changes behaviour.Not sure it's the most evolved way to go
What is your point? Because my point is that theory is all very well, however that cruel reality tends dissipates theory almost every time. As anyone who has been around theoretical science will be able to point out happening over and over again.
After 14 years of moderating on here, it is my opinion that it might be that moderator bullying not be 'evolved' – but it is extremely effective on controlling the behaviour of comment bullies and dribblers. I suspect that it is also the opinion of every moderator who has moderated here after they get exposed to having to moderate.
Most start with the expectation that they can just talk nicely to people with poor behaviour to improve their behaviour. They also usually eventually stop moderating after they realise that they want to start finding a nice metaphorical bit of 4"x2" with which to beat those who just want to crap all over the site.
Interactive moderation is a task that destroys pacifists and creates authoritarians of them. Look at all of the sites that require logins or force auto-moderation and effectively run an authoritarian comment policy with silent moderation. This site is one of the few that has an open comment comment policy and open moderation. It is far harder to pull off, but in my view allows for a more open and robust debate.
Curiously official bullying is also effective on people who like to crap on the grass verges or have their dogs do it for them, people who like firing weapons into the air, people who like to drive drunk, and just about everything else that is in the crimes and summary offences acts, and local body by-laws. Just drop into any criminal court some time and watch it in action.
I can also point to when sysop bullying and moderation wasn't used on this site and when virtually no moderation was used at all – roughly from August 2007 to March 2008. In less than 6 months after startup, the comments section went from being pretty pleasant to unreadable. It then took about 4 years of very hard moderating to bring the comments section back to a readable level.
Come on francesca. I think you've been around long enough to know lprent.
He comes up with these diatribes every once in a while when he thinks someone needs to be brought down a peg or two. "Alan" has been asking for it for a while.
lprent gets in some damn good lines which leave me chuckling with delight. I won't be the only one.
I prefer(and really rate )his more factual posts.I dislike any kind of bullying, don't think it's ever justified, no matter the political stripe
That's just me , you of course are free to enjoy and chuckle
Fair enough francesca. Each to his own.
I agree Francesca.
Actually on this subject i.e Iprent's approach to people he thinks need bringing into line.
Yesterday I think I was on the receiving end of this approach from Iprent. I was shocked, because all I had done was asked him a simple question, something like was he referring to gender ideology when he was talking about change taking 30 years or so. It was a geniune question, because sometimes on these threads it can be a little hard to ascertain who is answering who.
I have to say I'prent I did find your response to quite intimidating. Partly because of the power inbalance here. You do a lot of work for this blog and I respect that. If you had had been another commentator I would have called you out more.
So of course you are entitled to use your technique. But actually I found it intimidating and unnecessary. Especially as all I did was ask a simple question. I suspect it is my gender critical views you object to. If I am correct and that is the case, at least argue with my views.
I have had a series of comments over recent months trying to get me to commit an opinion one way or another on the topic you were pushing. Mostly I have been saying I don't understand what is the issue nor see what in the hell it has to do with me nor see what those involved would explicitly like to happen. All of which I haven't seen any clear answers to when I have previously questioned it.
It is very hard to argue with 'views' when the people promulgating those views are pretty inarticulate in saying what their view are, why it should matter to whomever they are talking to, and when they have don't seem to have any idea on a course of action forward – while at the same time they are remarkably insistent at lecturing on what appears to me to be a ill-defined problem.
As I said, to me it feels like people trying for some kind of loyalty test or religious dogma from a person by framing questions as the kind of 'when did you kill your mother?' accusations. You'll find that I am remarkably intolerant towards people trying to put words into my mouth.
I respond to comments addressed at me when they show up on the Replies tab and seldom read comments in context – I'd suggest getting more careful about whom you answer.
Ok, thanks for clarifying I prent. I apprecate that.
I understand why people would not want to be into a roped into a view on this issue.
If you did want to hear where I am coming from with my gender critical views, I would be happy to say, but I am hearing pretty loud and clear that that is not the case and I completely support your right to assert that.
Cheers,
It is more that I'm tired of being having incidents described rather than what the fundamental issue is.
If you ever look at the history of worst of insurgent warfare (I like reading history) back at root causes level, you'll often find this kind of one-way focus where groups talk past each other about the other sides and how bad they are.
Meanwhile both sides just irritate everyone else trying to keep one ear open with their myopic tactical focus about others faults and habits of spreading away from whatever they upset about. Why if the hell would I be concerned about who called whom a TERF first?
In this case the complete lack of strategic points about what in the hell they're really arguing about. All it is engendering in me is a urge to close down all sport on the basis that no-one should be able to profit from whatever their genetic served them like height muscle confirmation or ATP tolerance levels. And to make all toilets unisex and capable of changing babies hygienically.
Totally right LPrent. The idea that someone who is a "businessmen" is better at running the country is obvious nonsense, but it does tend to convince a lot of people who tend to be the biggest victims of such businessmen/leaders when they do get in power. It's like how people think National are better at managing the economy.
He came across likable and easy to listen to on the AM show this am , imho, not slurpy like key, greasy like bridges or deranged like collins, early days but I'd be worried if I was the government and wanted to stay that way.
Key started by getting on the podium with Clark and solving a problem. Luxon announces he’s going to cause problems for an accord which has been almost the only bi-partisan action towards the decades long housing crisis, undercutting his deputy.
A good look saying that no, no she’s been right in the meeting as I fix her flawed work.
Yeah, nothing like being lectured on the housing crisis by someone with 7 houses. Big on more production…I take that to mean …build me more houses to buy.
Here are the list of houses/ properties/interests in properties/blocks of land etc owned.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/05/2021-edition-the-full-list-of-how-many-properties-new-zealand-mps-own.html
For what its worth, the interim leader of the National party is doing well, but so do many others on both sides of the isle.
Take a closer look Sabine …..many more houses per MP on the Nats side
No wonder they did less than fuckall about the property market. Almost all of them owned multiple properties.
So why has Labour failed to act ? But then 🙊🙉🙈 may apply to your world view. Perhaps you should apply the same expectations to both National and Labour, but then again that may require you to admit some failings 🤭
"New Zealand saw spectacular house price rises of about 114% (82.5% inflation-adjusted) from 2001 to 2007"
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/nz-house-prices-up-191-annually-to-hit-680000-auckland-up-216-to-11m/OP6OFOCTHHWQFNWBKK4KU76CIU/
https://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Pacific/New-Zealand/Price-History
Might as well throw in the greens and ACT, too. Fair enough.
National did fuckall about the housing market and downsized the state housing sector. They also have a very high proportion of multi-property owners/investors.
Labour tried kiwibuild, which has had little effect, and some bright line tweaks with similar results. They have expanded the state housing sector, though. They have a high number of mp property investors, but not as high as national.
The Greens want more significant efforts on housing, and have a lower proportion of mp/investors still.
The only outlier seems to be ACT, as several of their new MPs aren't property owners at all, and I don't know what ACT policy is on housing (but I suspect MJSavage wouldn't approve).
Adrian @ 16
Deleted.
[RL: Pointless non-witty abuse.]
and that makes them a nice and polite family who take the dog shit home, compared to many who let their dogs shit everywhere and don't clean up after them.
Mod note
Hope the reset national party comes out yelling and screaming about this.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/127148602/prime-minister-unveils-37m-auckland-recovery-fund-free-tickets-to-attractions-and-facilities
gotta spread that covid thinly, evenly everywhere.
That's what Auckland business leaders and some National MPs have been asking for.
Including Michael Barnett the spokes person for retailing Auckland.
Look for another car to bark at.
Have another go.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/swimmer-attacked-lifeguard-held-head-under-water-in-gore-swimming-pool/XF3KTTBOKU2ZWWS5WY3JIQVBYM/
‘McGregor Tioti Tume, 44, of Mataura, appeared in the Gore District Court this week and was sentenced to 10 and a half months’ home detention, to be served in Whanganui, with six months’ post-release conditions.’
'Tume admitted threatening to kill, impeding breathing or circulation, behaving threateningly and injuring with intent to injure after the incident on April 16.'
Its not hard to lower the prison population
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125677622/lifeguard-thought-she-was-going-to-die-during-gore-swimming-pool-attack
'The man's lawyer Sonya Vidal said Tume had been offended after the lifeguard hit him lightly on the head with a rope to gain his attention, because her actions were culturally offensive to Māori.'
'Vidal said Tume had been racially abused in the past.'
Yeah…
Yep that's disgusting. I know the government wants the prison population to reduce, but dangerous people who cannot control their temper need to be locked away to keep the general public safe. He will learn nothing from the home D, other than he can do it again.
I just hope Act and National can come up with decent policies to deal with this because Labour and The Greens won't
Agree PR and Jimmy
PR hopefully the judge gives him a suitable sentence for the gutless coward.
Defence lawyers have a job to do as well.
You may not like what they say in this case its trying to blame shift from an attempted manslaughter.
The judge didn't, the guy got home d. In NZ trying to drown someone gets you home d.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/127099809/unprovoked-attack-leaves-wellington-bar-owners-with-permanent-injuries
In NZ stomping on someones head gets you home d.
I truly fear for NZ
Barry Soper the aggressive right wing journo, his son the violent criminal you barry and Heather can appeal for a stronger sentence.
Not a gang member but the son of a respected journalist.wow ironically avoids going to jail,one law for white Middle class male ..
The place of luck in politics.
For some time there has been a strong case for allowing returning Kiwis into Auckland home isolation (and using freed up places for those from other areas of the country and for some of the infection cases). And then from Dec 15 allow returning Kiwis to home isolation in orange areas (on the grounds they were no more of a risk than travelling Aucklanders double vaxxed – and less given the pre flight negative test and week at home).
The new leadership of National would have attacked on this and hard. But by the time it was made manifest on Tuesday, omicron had made its own global appearance. And so while the eagle may have landed, this prey is no longer to be found.
and the leadership old, current new, and future new could cry until the kingdom comes, Labour has a full majority and can do what it wants.
Atm, however People are stuck, their 'rights' are disregarded, they have to apply to an inhumane lottery, and are essentially stateless.
But lets talk not about what Labour is not doing, or to be fair the little they are doing after much kicking and screaming and some really bad press that will get worse btw, but lets talk what a dude says who is on his first day of the Job.
Funny how it seems that the people with no power seem to bully the people with all the power into doing their bidding. Is labour really that weak?
Nice detailed historical analysis of the unrest in the Solomon Islands, and why Minister Mahuta may be hesitating before sending our troops in to support the Australian and Fiji contingent.
Foreign Intervention Complicates Solomon Islands Unrest – The Diplomat
Excellent – thanks for finding this. Lot's of good info I've not seen elsewhere.
I'm hoping – although with Dutton involved it may be a forlorn hope – that the Australian govt is very aware of the swamp of contradictions it's stepped into here. There have been mentions in the media around the apparent paradox of propping up a pro-CCP govt, yet I suspect they judged it better to stabilise the situation on the ground first and then see what can be done.
But yes a remarkable story that still has serious potential to go either very well or very badly.
Interesting read. It is another perspective focused mostly on a religious basis than a political or regional or clan. It also reads like justification for differences rather than causation.
I suspect that Mahuta, the police commissioner, and probably our GHQ will mostly be looking at is if there is any noticeable pathway out of the political morass in the Solomons this time. After all, despite its religious trappings highlighted in the article, the main issue appears to be limited understanding of the local politicians of how to negotiate political compromises and/or being able to lead their own followers to accept them.
My question and probably our authorising people would be what in the hell are we providing time for… Once you start ignoring the obvious propaganda about what people say that their reasons for conflict are, this feels like a continuation on a slightly different basis of the last conflict about the balance between nation and local interests.
It's just the Solomon's bad luck their zone has Oz rather than Norway.
Just finished listening to this exceptional discussion on COVID and it's social implications:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_uAwsVn10Y
Starts with COVID but dives into the problems and failures of our materialist society. Best quote: “You’re going to worship somebody – so what is your higher value and purpose ?”
Philosphically opposed to passports and mandates and reality
1 – aged care worker goes to pub gets infected goes to work
2 – nurse …
It seems you watched the wrong video …
When Kingsnorth said he no longer supported mandates and passports I took him at his word and stopped listening – did he change his mind?
If you've stopped listening – then I'm under no obligation to explain anything.
This may sound contrarian, but you don't have to worship anybody – value yes; worship no. The question reads as a non sequitur to me. And I did like this comment (@31 mins):
The merit of this discussion to me is it's even-handedness. Yes it starts in one place and ends in another, but it's not disrespectful to anyone along the way.
That even-handedness is why we could each pick a different "best quote".
Thanks for that
Terrific!!
A story about health politics.
WHO of the past
Do not block travel from China
WHO of the present
Do not block travel from Africa
WHO of the past
(some scientists claim vaccines will lead to new variants trying to work around the vaccine)
News
WHO present
Says that this new variant occurred because of spread in areas without the vaccine.
South Africa
The one place where there has been multi-variant spread – beta and delta, so it checks the variant type and thus picks such new variants as omicron faster than most (as might places with border controls and testing).
USA, UK and Oz Past
Now providing booster doses because the immunity against delta infection wanes by 6 months.
USA UK Oz Present
Considering booster doses at 2 or 3 months after the second dose, as if an earlier than required booster against delta would stop omicron getting around the vaccine.
USA UK Oz Future Plan?
The boosters did not work to stop omicron, which has has spread so fast herd immunity is realised (ignoring health system crisis and spike in earlier deaths). Freedom in our time. Victory.
One possible outcome is that Omicron becomes the dominant global strain because it is so infectious – but is sufficiently mild that the IFR and long-term health impacts become no worse than seasonal influenza or perhaps even the common cold.
Otherwise yes – your comment speaks to the loss of institutional trust Kingsnorth was as well.
Personally I would rather we had all the anti-viral treatments available for all those infected … just in case.
There is a risk a less deadly strain might kill more by overwhelming the health system with the number of cases – if it gets around before the anti-viral treatment are widely available.
University of Otago going fully-vaxxed from next year, regardless of government requirements.
lols "worked through with HR".
It's dependent on the vaccine pass, so anyone who gets a medical exemption will go through that process and it'll come up "valid".
anybody else notice the inconsistincy, new nat leader doesnt want councils sidelined re 3 waters, new nat #2 very happy to sideline councils over housing. hmm.maybe nat #2 is more forward looking, this weaks leader looking for headlines.
So she gestated in parliament. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I suspect it could be significant. It has become known that a human foetus gets affected by ambient vibes such as music & argument. A positive take on this for her would be along the lines of being innately acclimatised to the power matrix.
If you’re postulating that Willis was somehow prepared for politics by osmosis in the womb, Dennis, I reckon you’re pulling our legs.
The test of a theory is the extent to which reality matches it, so time will tell. If the theory is correct, she'll be more comfortable in her functional roles within parliament than comparable others.
Only if you deliberately exclude all other possible factors, which, scientifically, you can’t legitimately do.
Luxon: "I love country music and that’s not cool to say and I apologise to New Zealand for saying it." He need not. It's country & western that's uncool. Country music is extremely cool because it's authentic. Not like that corny shit made for plastic people & sung by cardboard cutouts. Maybe he's a Garth Brooks addict?? Too ignorant to know the difference, in other words…
Readers will assume that means he's very Green. Sigh.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/30/who-is-new-zealands-new-opposition-leader-christopher-luxon
He mentioned-Tim McGraw.
He likes country music,ryobi tools,being a landlord,walking in the rain and the wind in his….hair.
Okay, I'm impressed. Cosmopolitan dude extraordinaire!
One of my Kiwi nephews & his US wife both teach at a school in Baltimore in the USA. I always immediately look to see where school shootings are when I hear of another one in that goddam gun-mad country. ☹️
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/300467177/student-kills-3-people-wounds-8-at-a-us-high-school
After decades of mining a seam of anti-immigrant and Maori sentiment for electoral gain.
Winston Peters has identified a new seam of Right wing sentiment to mine.
From Facebook:
A rich and deep seam it is too.
Makes it very much more likely Winston will be back … is that a good thing?
JuCo struck me as quietly working that seam like it was swamp kauri, and it didn't pay much. Toss a coin whether Winston will have better luck stripmining it.
He might have lost his connection to the zeitgeist. Zooming rather than getting out on the hustings.