The contrast between English and Little is perhaps not as great as between May and Corbyn, and there are other factors at play here in NZ, but the same kind of reasoning could be applied to our election this year.
It also reminds of a discussion yesterday about the competence (or presumed lack thereof) of Phil Twyford to tackle the housing issues in New Zealand:
I would argue that the record of recent decades suggests that competence in politics is overrated.
Why wouldn’t he vote for Corbyn? Like Corbyn he’s about as hard core leftist as you can get in a Social Democracy. The problem for Labour is that Monbiot doesn’t represent to people Corbyn needs to convince in order to avoid a rout.
@Icognito I think you are wrong about English and Little. Little comes over as honest and I like the policies he supports. He is not particularly eloquent; a bit of media training would help here (he needs to cut out the “you knows”). He has a law degree, appears competent (witness the way he is reorganising the Labour Party) and will grow into the job as PM as did Clark.
English I don’t trust as far as I could throw him. He has presided over a regime obsessed with cutting costs (DOC, Radio NZ, education and health failing to keep up in real terms et al) though not for roading or where his Southland polluting farmer mates are concerned. A regime that has wrecked the RMA so his developer mates can make even more dosh. A regime that has allowed our rivers to become only “Smithable”. A regime that has cut taxes for the better off etc etc
In terms of personality, neither of them is a Lange, but at least Little has shown a disarming ability to laugh at himself.
“Smithable river”
Definition: A river that can be defined as anything at all depending on how the speaker feels on a given day
Usage: “I fell out of my kayak yesterday and swallowed a gallon of water but I’m Ok about it because the river so Smithable”
I don’t know whether you’ve read Monbiot’s piece or maybe missed his point and/or my analogy, which was more about the parties & policies rather than about personalities.
Please let me rephrase it and bastardise paraphrase Monbiot; hopefully the message becomes clearer this time.
With the upcoming election we have a choice: a party that through misguided neoliberal ideology and austerity allows kids to go hungry and homeless people to sleep in cars while overseas trusts set up shop here and property speculators getting richer every day and push the dream of owning a home well out of reach for ordinary law-abiding hard-working Kiwis or a party (better: coalition) that keeps on messing up (internally) but at least offers us a glimmer of hope of a kinder, more equal, fairer, more inclusive, and more compassionate nation.
To use nationals analogy. A party which is rowing briskly towards the rocks, or, a left wing bunch of parties who are pulling in several directions, but on a course which avoids the rocks.
Just to cheer you up. This historical summary of a past period shows a variety of tragedies and disasters that are available for a change from ones we may already have had.
The period from England’s King Edward I in the late thirteenth century through the end of the Hundred Years’ War in the mid-fifteenth century was an eventful one offering rich material for historical novels.
It featured:
* wars with Wales and Scotland that brought these once independent nations under English rule;
* a century-long war with France in which a young French peasant girl, Joan of Arc, turned the tide of war against England and was martyred for it;
* a peasant’s rebellion;
* and outbreaks of the Black Plague.
This wasn’t just a because-we-can experiment. Metal 3D printing is expensive (the printers alone cost hundreds of thousands of dollars). MIT’s printer, a Markforged Mark Two, costs “just” $13,499. That’s not exactly an impulse purchase, but it could give small teams a chance at building rockets that would otherwise be impossible with a relatively modest budget. And while it’s not stated, it’s easy to see larger space agencies using this to keep costs down, especially for rockets that are unlikely to be used more than once or for long durations.
There’s a lot to accomplish before that happens. The scientists are researching larger, more resilient motors. Eventually, they’re aiming for plastic-hulled rockets powerful enough for flight. Don’t be surprised if you one day see lighter, cheaper rockets that only use metal sparingly.
Now if our government would get stuck in and do some serious R&D on 3D printing and actually built some factories using that developed tech we’d be on to a good start to developing our economy.
Would you like to retain some shred of dignity and retract that and provide a link to NZ govt funds going to Fonterra research, or are you so pathetic that you’ll maintain the demonstrably false claim until others drop a few links?
Let alone farmers being excused from their burden regarding climate change.. Face it Gosman – NZ dairy farmers are in fact subsidised by the state. They are not the paragons of private enterprise that you misconceive them for.
Bill McKay talks to Kathryn Ryan about co-living and co-housing – once associated with hippies and alternative lifestylers – now they have gone mainstream, offering affordable housing solutions and a sense of community.
Sucks to be him, but I’m glad they seem to have selected some people who have worked hard for Labour for years if not decades, rather than automatically inserting a late-jumping parachutist into the top ten.
Maybe he should be working hard to ensure that he and the people above him on the list get in, instead of whinging that he was given position 21 – which is pretty darn high for someone that was trying to last-minute parachute into a high list position.
Plus, would have sent a great message if he was more like ‘Hey, position 21 is excellent, thank you Labour for giving me a go. I’m going to help Labour win enough seats to win the election, which gets me into parliament.”
Labour will have to pick up about 10-12 seats to get him in, which is what they need to win the election. Whinging about position 21 is therefore pretty defeatist.
Labour got 32 MPs last time, getting 27 electorate MPs and 5 list MPs. List place 11 was the last person in off the list (Andrew Little).
What I missed was the number of people from 11 onwards winning electorate seats. Position 21 (in that case Raymond Huo) would have got into parliament if Labour got 3 more MPs, not 10-12 as I stated.
So, you’re right, Jackson is not very far away from getting elected in the position he is in – the exact amount Labour need to get him in depends on how many electorates Labour win and how many above him on the list win electorates.
I couldn’t see what the problem is as Labour got 25% at the last election, which equals 32 MPs. Jackson is 21st on the list, so he’s a shoo in surely? But I just looked and see that Labour have 21 electorate MPs, so if the list vote drops far enough, he won’t get in. But if Labour dropped that low, would he really want to be parliament?
Shit-stirring is a high possibility, by Labour seemed to have gotten over that within the caucus lately. And of course now if he turns up at higher than 21, it looks like he shook his rattle and got what he wanted.
Going by last election’s Labour list and cutoff, the 21st spot didn’t get into parliament until Ardern won Mt Albert. But as you say, for WJ to miss out on a spot at 21 this time round, Labour would have to do as badly if not worse than in 2014 (assuming roughly the same number of electorate seats).
And if he’s not going to boost the party vote, why bother having him in?
Nope. The exact wording in public that I remember was a “high place on the list”. That was a mistake. Basically it meant that people who’d actually worked for Labour were bumped for a stupid political reasoning (in my opinion). It makes the list even more rigid for the ‘benefit’ of an unproven performer with a dubious ability to bring in votes and no particular track record in politics apart from being mates with that political idiot John Tamihere.
But where are you picking up your lie from? Kiwiblog or Whaleoil? It has a ring of their fake news style
But where are you picking up your lie from? Kiwiblog or Whaleoil? It has a ring of their fake news style
Think it was an article by Mathew Hooten, he was less than complimentary about Willy Jackson, basically, spend 90% of the article calling him a dumb arse.
So WJ can be there at the announcement and smile and shake hands and assure everyone that he respects the democratic processes in the party, and that this was always his understanding when he joined, and that he looks forward to helping Labour on its journey towards being the next government, and gosh jono mcjonolist needs to take a chill pill.
WTF? Are you thick? Because people aren’t happy with their position on the list and the specified process and they’re arguing about it.
In the case of Willie Jackson, he doesn’t like the process specified by the party and wants some kind of intervention from on high.
That in turn will cause a lash back from the more worthy candidates who were selected and ordered by the party members, the caucus, and the leadership in a predefined process. If Willie or his supporters had wanted to bump himself up the list, then there were a pile of list conferences that they could have done that at as well as the various processes that were used to arrive at the final list.
If he does bump himself up the list in a violation of common sense and the procedures, then I suspect that there will be a considerable amount of walking from support in the NZLP members and supporters to the Greens or NZ First who aren’t such idiots as to violate their previously agreed party processes.
I’d be one of them. I really don’t like idiotic and usually misogynist shock jocks at the best of times. I don’t think that Willie is going to bring much to the campaign apart from some serious level of distaste. I really don’t like dickheads in parliament and the staffers pissing on the procedures because they think it is a good idea.
And I know that I’m not alone with this. The adverse reaction amongst my relatives, acquaintances and friends to his promotion and especially with the roastbusters debacle is pretty strong. And these are mostly people like – the relative left conservatives.
Basically the position that Willie Jackson got is pretty good bearing in mind his political inexperience and the lack of campaigning experience that he has. He should be satisfied with it. So should anyone else.
Sue Moroney had the appropriate reaction to disappointment. But I guess that was because she knew the depth of the process and that you need to get widespread support. I’m not particularly happy with that myself as I think she was doing a pretty good job. But I’m perfectly willing to abide by the results of the process rather than whining like Willie..
The problem for the list-only people is that Labour gets a lot of electorate seats, so even with 32 MPs that doesn’t necessarily mean the 21st list MP gets in.
It is more complicated than that, Weka, as Labour win a lot of electorate seats. Basically Labour would probably need just over 30% to get Jackson in if he is number 21 on the list. Note I said probably – it depends on who wins marginal seats.
However, Labour need more than 30% to be in government so I don’t see Jackson’s problem, particularly as he claims to be able to increase Labour’s share of the urban Māori vote. If he can bring more votes he’ll get in, if he can’t then he is a waste of a place.
This is mostly to do with his ego. He wanted to be in the top 10 on the list (he told a friend of mine this) but that was never going to happen. I really hope Labour do not give into his temper tantrum. I will be highly pissed off if he is given a higher place than Kiri Allan for example.
Bringing in more votes was the rationale for head hunting Jackson in the first place.
There is no evidence to date that he is making any difference to Labour’s polling. There can’t be much confidence that that this will change as we approach the election.
It seems to me that he has no bargaining chips for arguing for a higher place on the list.
Jackson is irrelevant and if he doesn’t like the place he’s been offered by Labour the party should just let him go.
To give in to his tantrums would demonstrate incredible sycophancy, weakness and desperation by Labour.
Its not so much that it was assumed – it sounds like it was promised.
But yep – its biting Little in the arse now. This is the kind of press that makes Labour look like a shambles, and cannot even get something this ‘basic’ right.
yeah – I know its not basic – esp given gender quotas etc, but this should not be playing out in the press.
🙄
It’s not. Not being played out in public, not even much of a shambles. Massive improvement on Damien O’Conner’s petulance last time.
Nice throw to “quotas” as well, btw.
Basically, Little overextended himself a bit, and WJ just assumed he’d be greeted like a knight in shining armour. I love to imagine what WJ would have said if he was a mid-level Labour listie and the caucus leader tried to parachute someone in above. And yet the thought never occurred that others might feel the same.
So far, Little and to a greater extent WJ have learnt a bit more humility. Let’s see who spits their dummy in public.
Its hard not to see this as a shambles. And tomorrow if there is a change with WJ’s position – you just know that will be the main talking point in the news as well.
Yeah, keep talking it up. Blinglish needs a “pretty legal” story to distract from his own problems.
At the moment it’s all reporter supposition in search of a story. List announcements are always controversial to a certain degree. If it’s a gender thing, why is Moroney down? If WJ is making a last ditch threat to spit the dummy, we’ll see how the selection committee takes that under advisement.
Until someone actually says something public, you’ll keep fapping away. And if it’s a molehill you’ve been pinning your hopes on… bodes well for the left.
Nope. But five years ago everyone concerned would have been throwing petrol on the smouldering embers. Whereas today it’s just you and whatever 3news are calling themselves after their last financial quandary. And it’s not flaring up yet.
edit: so actually… if they maintain their discipline, not a bad light at all…
The Labour list announcement has been delayed until tomorrow because some candidate are upset with their placings.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest the reason why is allied to the new mandatory ruling that 50% of the caucus must be women. I am 100% for encouraging women in the Labour Party to aim for a parliamentary career, and it was pleasing to see a few years ago that the goal of 50% was close to becoming a reality and without any compulsion. I voted against introducing the mandatory aspect because it seemed to me to be unnecessarily divisive. It should have been obvious that it would cause ructions inside the party particularly in election year when we could least afford it.
I suspect that is what has happened. In an endeavour to implement the new rule, the list committee has effectively de-selected some highly desirable (for whatever reason) candidates simply because they are male. It was inevitable that would create angst and bitterness which plays directly into the hands of the NAct government.
Edit: they have changed the headline. It was “Discontent over list rankings” and started with the words “Some candidates are upset about their rankings…”
If it gets to the nitty gritty and 50% of each gender is an absolute, there will be some prepared to have another three years of English/Joyce and co. for sticking to the principle.
Somehow, doing a lap of honour for getting thrashed in the World Cup final though is not very satisfying.
I can understand the thought that the community will catch up and finally acknowledge the worth of the principle with electoral support. In that case the successors to English/Joyce and cobbers have a long road of governing ahead.
Not if societal assumptions about their gender played a part in their initial selection, and there were equivalently-qualified people of the other gender who had been deselected initially. In that case it would be the minimisation of sexist outcomes, if Anne’s suspicion is correct.
It could, of course, just be regular churn in list placements.
I don’t know if that is what happened James. If you read what I said you would know it is only a suspicion on my part. If it turns out something like I suggest has happened than no… it was not done in the name of “sexism”. It was an attempt to be in line with the mandatory nature of the new ruling. Quite different.
Well, in a perfect non sexist society a woman MUST be the right person for the job 50% of the time
Women generally not so good at jobs requiring brute strength, but apart from that….
BM, that article you’ve cited is about thinking differently. Would you like to give us a job or two that you have in mind that you think this article could be applied to, because it doesn’t talk about actual jobs?
Not speaking for BM – but generally I think all jobs could be filled by either sex. I have worked in the tech industry for years, and I would say two out of 3 of the best people I had as bosses were women.
It all comes down I think to 100’s of small things that make up the person who is best for the job – again, sex is only one of those.
maui
Mmm. Women are just as affected by the power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. The disappointing thing about many women who go up the power ladder is that they seem to become heckling nasties who talk down to most of the public, and utter ultimatums to the point of get going or get out to the despised ones with weaker moral fibre.
Women who gain power in very patriarchal systems tend to be people who are ok with those systems and are willing to behave accordingly. That’s quite different than if women ran those systems themselves. Women tend to organise differently and I think mauī is right, that the army, police force and prisons would look very different if run by women culturally (not run by a few women according to the way men set them up).
Yeah I agree with that weka. Women collaborate well together to achieve outcomes. This might be running a school or a nursing home for example. And you often see women in the critical leadership roles that make a community organisation function at all and of course the running of the individual household too. I don’t think men do this as well.
The collaborative, efficient and compassionate approaches that women would bring would be a really intersting contrast if they could start from scratch.
weka and maui
It may be so in many roles and the enforcing entities of society that a true feminine approach not bound by male certainties would result in better outcomes in society than when run by men. But there is a strong authoritarian type that can emerge who gathers fervent followers who keep the thinking along agreed lines. Then women tend to cluster
around this Queen Bee who is a dominant, charismatic, person and ideas of democracy can vanish in the glow of having feminine control, with no dissenters to spoil the beautiful harmony thank you.
It does happen, so optimistic beliefs that everything would be better if only women were in charge should be recognised, and then adjustments made to behaviour when women do get control to stop this style of hegemony getting established.
I think women are likely to choose consensus decision making, with the idea that all are involved and have their say, equally. This is likely to be using a flat organisational structure which has its weaknesses and benefits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_organization
Under ‘Criticisms’: …new power dynamics can emerge that undermine the equality afforded by a non-hierarchical context. …
[Problems]:…the formation of informal cliques, the “soft power” of popular employees, unprofessional and sexist attitudes, and lack of workplace diversity.
These are things that have occurred to me and I bring them up because there is a regular meme of women automatically being better in many spheres, which needs to be qualified, ie they with the right principles, breadth of vision and practicality probably would be better. But also if men with the above attributes could take over many entities now run by men and women without those attributes there would be huge improvements also.
It is just a thought that you can pick over as you want. I don’t want to argue for it but present it from observation, as a point of view.
I’ve worked in women’s groups and collectives and they do often function differently than ones designed by men.
I’ve also looked at how women organise in egalitarian societies, and again, there are differences.
So it’s not so much optimistic beliefs as observations.
There’s a whole thing about to what extent women can function in non-patriarchal ways when we are pretty much all socialised into the patriarchy. But I have seen women (and men) make conscious choices to organise differently. Giving women control in patriarchal structures is not the same thing.
To take it out of the gender realm, the Greens based their organisational structures on non-domination models as much as they could. It’s part of why you don’t see leadership coups and MPs leaking against the party. So we do have examples of people choosing to organise differently and that being beneficial.
The first computer programmers were women. It was seen as keyboard work so was given to the Navy typists. It was only once its imprtance was realised it got shifted to the blokes.
Looking at what of her code survived, she did pretty damn well considering she was writing for clockwork. It was pity that the difference engine and the other similar attempts in this period simply weren’t accurate enough to run it.
Well, by that article Babbage doesn’t count, either.
To a certain degree, the question is basically asking “how long is a piece of string?” The “first” is generally where you choose to cut the string.
The line about Lovelace becoming a “steampunk myth” is a bit harsh. Lovelace was basically the first one to make the leap into general problem abstraction for complex mahine instructions. She wasn’t the first to work regularly as a cruncher, but as benchmarks go, she’s a pretty good line.
As you say, what was interesting with her work was that she was the first one I know about who started from the principle of how should these operations be done rather than just trying to do them.
Her “Notes” had the first ‘program’ that I am aware of that was written on how it should operate rather than how I got the %*&^%&$^%#!!! thing to run. It was a technique for calculating one of the number sequences. But importantly it was written from the logical design of the Analytical Engine rather from its implementation (which never did finish).
Because she was (I suspect) the first person writing operating instructions who wasn’t the inventor and or tinker of the gadget running it, we got a programming algorithm rather than a series of after the implementation kludges.
Not really – You would have to assume that for every job there would be an equal number of exactly qualified people of both genders wanting that position.
Truth is – there will very rarely be so.
There will always be one person who would be a better match for the role. Gender may make up a small part of that equation – but should not be the number one decision making point.
Except that the old “we select the best candidate for the job” is complete bullshit. Most organisations select people from a pool of qualified folk, and frankly the distinction between selection and discard can be down to the colour of ink the person signed their cover letter in, once around half the applications have been filed because they’re completely unsuitable.
Oh, if you have only a few applicants you might whittle it down to only a few interviewees, but unless the pool from which you get your people is exceptionally small and brackish any one of those few could satisfactorily do the job. So it comes down to how easily they make social conversation, or whether they have an ancillary skill that might be interesting.
The problem we have in this country, and that parties like Labour and the greens are trying to address, is that while more and more women are in the “can satisfactorily do the job” category, that doesn’t seem to be reflected in the final hiring rates.
So using your logic – Im going to assume that you believe that every person on the Labour List could satisfactorily do the job.
Do you think that some of them could do the job better than others?
edit – and if so – do you think that the people who could do the job better than others should be ranked above the ones who, whilst still being able to do the job, are not as “good”?
Am I assuming that there would be no differences in suitability in the top fifty?
Nope.
In fact, there’d probably be at least one or two utter deplorables on any given list. And a few superstars.
But the point is that those variations are within the bounds of any reasonable application review process. Some might be slightly better than others, but so much better as to justify a sausage or taco fest in the top 20? Fuck no. And the dropkicks will be indistinguishable from the stars, by and large, until they’re in the job.
I mean, you could spend tens of thousands of bucks on each applicant with reviews, psych tests, work history back to McD’s after school, surprise drug tests, background trashers to find all the porn bills or what have you. You know what? You’d still end up with much the same list as before, except you ditched a star because they got a false positive for opioids in their piss test.
But much tifference between the top 5 and next 5? Nah. Nor the 10-15 and 20-25. By and large they’d all be reasonably equivalent, do the job, work hard, make mistakes, and try to do good things.
You’re not really using McFlock’s logic.
What he said was that generally, once the patently unsuitable have been eliminated, you end up with a group that could probably all do the job reasonably well. (The exception to this might be when you are looking for really rare skills.)
In any case, one of the hardest things in recruiting is finding some rational basis for picking one person from among your shortlist. In the end that decision is rarely rational – it’s pretty intuitive, though you do become good in dressing it up in the language of rationality.
So to suggest that we can just “pick the right person” irrespective of extraneous factors is an overly-idealised and purist view of how recruiting actually happens. I think McFlock has made a really important point.
And THIS is a major problem in our society, the old boys network! We currently have a large number of asses on seats that have no idea of how to do the job properly, but they know the handshake, talk the bullshit and have the same partly line engraved in their DNA. No need to send an email or such to stick a knife into John Campbell, just stand in the corridor and mumble “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?”
Not really interested in Willie Jackson but am interested and waiting to see what placing Sue Moroney got seeing as how she retired over the head of it. She was 11 or 14 last time around.
It could be the left of the party is getting the heave-ho.
As a Hamilton West voter, I will be expecting a damned good left-wing candidate, or Labour will lose even my electorate vote. It has never had my party vote because it has not reversed neo-liberalism.
If the reading is right (and I should say that Labour died to me quite a while back, but still…) there comes a point when you’ve said “Don’t pick up the gun”…when you’ve said “That’s a really bad idea where you’re pointing that”…when you’ve said “Look over there at the alternatives and see how it’s working out really quite well” … when you’re fed up saying things and get to quietly thinking… “Fuck off. Hurry up and just pull the trigger….Goodbye and good riddance”
it’s just that line about “the best person for the job” kind of misses the point. Theoretically a woman should be the best person half the time, a man half the time.
Physical ability in some jobs is an issue I accept.
R.I.P. Air New Zealand.
The Smiling assassin is joining their board in September.
How long before it is run into crippling debt like he left behind in his last job?
We have some of the best debt levels in the western world.
What makes you think it is crippling?
Because it hasn’t gone down. The problem is that we are a small economy that depends a lot on external trade. We don’t have anything lie an internal market in the way that most of the economies you are comparing us with have.
Consequently we get hit hard if we have a downturn in external and international trade, and the problems tend to pile on top of each other at once causing massive fluctuations in income. You only have to look at the effects of the recessions during my life time to see that.
This last one was the only one that we survived well. That was because we had no debt and therefore could raise debt cheaply rather than getting into a spiral of interest payments sucking the life out of the governments fiscal position. Having a dairy commodity boom at exactly the right time after having Labour do the Chinese FTA helped. Similarly the diversification of the economy outside of commodities from the early 2000s buffered the employment tax take.
Basically we’re due for another shock downturn in international trade. It’d have been useful if the government was in the same position as it was in 2007. However National are the party of government debt and fiscal imprudence. So we aren’t ready for it this time.
If the idea is to bail out banks and whatever financial institutions while inflicting austerity on society, then no – NZ isn’t in a good place (and never will be).
But if the idea is to bail out society by borrowing for the sake of stimulus, then there’s no real problem. Employment’s created (those houses, that other infrastructure). So the tax base doesn’t shrink – it grows. Upward pressure also becomes applied to wages because of more or less full employment = more tax revenue.
And any debt shrinks in terms of ratio to GDP.
edit – the caveat is that you got to be among the first to pursue that strategy for it to work well 😉
Your comment about how NZ is vulnerable to external trade is so true. Especially now with old fat boy threating to launch missiles and throw nukes around the place willy-nilly. 5 to 6 of NZ’s major trading nations will be up to their neck shit and if war does happen (I hope it doesn’t for everyone’s sake) a few chicken’s will come home to roast in NZ in more ways than one.
If war doesn’t break out as you said “Basically we’re due for another shock downturn in international trade. It’d have been useful if the government was in the same position as it was in 2007. However National are the party of government debt and fiscal imprudence. So we aren’t ready for it this time.”
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A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Stewart, Professor of Public Policy, ADFA Canberra, UNSW Sydney For years, First Nations people have been telling governments they want to be listened to. In particular, they want more ownership of the programs and services that are supposed to help them. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Why do trees have bark? Julien, age 6, Melbourne. This is a great question, Julien. We are so familiar with bark on trees, that most of us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Nasser, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of Technology Sydney PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an important ligament in the knee. It runs from the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia) and helps stabilise ...
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 I covered the May 2 United Kingdom local government elections for The Poll Bludger. The Blackpool South parliamentary byelection was also held, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor of Management, University of the Sunshine Coast The federal government has announced a “Commonwealth Prac Payment” to support selected groups of students doing mandatory work placements. Those who are studying to be a teacher, nurse, midwife or social ...
We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+. If you love a dark comedy: Bodkin (Netflix, May 9)An English podcaster, an Irish podcaster and American podcaster walk into a pub and…make a TV show? ...
By Eleisha Foon, RNZ Pacific senior journalist A Pacific regionalism academic has called out New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS and says the security deal “raises serious questions for the Pacific region”. Auckland University of Technology academic Dr Marco de Jong ...
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George Monbiot will vote Labour despite or perhaps in spite of Jeremy Corbyn and all his flaws.
http://www.monbiot.com/2017/04/27/the-case-against-competence/
The contrast between English and Little is perhaps not as great as between May and Corbyn, and there are other factors at play here in NZ, but the same kind of reasoning could be applied to our election this year.
It also reminds of a discussion yesterday about the competence (or presumed lack thereof) of Phil Twyford to tackle the housing issues in New Zealand:
I couldn’t agree more.
Why wouldn’t he vote for Corbyn? Like Corbyn he’s about as hard core leftist as you can get in a Social Democracy. The problem for Labour is that Monbiot doesn’t represent to people Corbyn needs to convince in order to avoid a rout.
Monbiot said he was voting Labour in the first place and gave his reasons why.
The convincing was done by Monbiot.
Nice try though 😉
@Icognito I think you are wrong about English and Little. Little comes over as honest and I like the policies he supports. He is not particularly eloquent; a bit of media training would help here (he needs to cut out the “you knows”). He has a law degree, appears competent (witness the way he is reorganising the Labour Party) and will grow into the job as PM as did Clark.
English I don’t trust as far as I could throw him. He has presided over a regime obsessed with cutting costs (DOC, Radio NZ, education and health failing to keep up in real terms et al) though not for roading or where his Southland polluting farmer mates are concerned. A regime that has wrecked the RMA so his developer mates can make even more dosh. A regime that has allowed our rivers to become only “Smithable”. A regime that has cut taxes for the better off etc etc
In terms of personality, neither of them is a Lange, but at least Little has shown a disarming ability to laugh at himself.
+1 Bearded Git
“Smithable river”
Definition: A river that can be defined as anything at all depending on how the speaker feels on a given day
Usage: “I fell out of my kayak yesterday and swallowed a gallon of water but I’m Ok about it because the river so Smithable”
I don’t know whether you’ve read Monbiot’s piece or maybe missed his point and/or my analogy, which was more about the parties & policies rather than about personalities.
Please let me rephrase it and
bastardiseparaphrase Monbiot; hopefully the message becomes clearer this time.With the upcoming election we have a choice: a party that through misguided neoliberal ideology and austerity allows kids to go hungry and homeless people to sleep in cars while overseas trusts set up shop here and property speculators getting richer every day and push the dream of owning a home well out of reach for ordinary law-abiding hard-working Kiwis or a party (better: coalition) that keeps on messing up (internally) but at least offers us a glimmer of hope of a kinder, more equal, fairer, more inclusive, and more compassionate nation.
To use nationals analogy. A party which is rowing briskly towards the rocks, or, a left wing bunch of parties who are pulling in several directions, but on a course which avoids the rocks.
🙂
If I may.
Just to cheer you up. This historical summary of a past period shows a variety of tragedies and disasters that are available for a change from ones we may already have had.
The period from England’s King Edward I in the late thirteenth century through the end of the Hundred Years’ War in the mid-fifteenth century was an eventful one offering rich material for historical novels.
It featured:
* wars with Wales and Scotland that brought these once independent nations under English rule;
* a century-long war with France in which a young French peasant girl, Joan of Arc, turned the tide of war against England and was martyred for it;
* a peasant’s rebellion;
* and outbreaks of the Black Plague.
Plastic 3D printed rocket
Now if our government would get stuck in and do some serious R&D on 3D printing and actually built some factories using that developed tech we’d be on to a good start to developing our economy.
Why don’t YOU get some like minded people together and invest in this technology instead of trying to risk OPM ?
Like Dairy farmers, you mean?
Yes. Like Dairy farmers. Don’t use the State to fund your commercial activity.
Would you like to retain some shred of dignity and retract that and provide a link to NZ govt funds going to Fonterra research, or are you so pathetic that you’ll maintain the demonstrably false claim until others drop a few links?
Yes. Like Dairy farmers. Don’t use the State to fund your commercial activity.
I dont recall seeing you speaking out loudly on farmers receiving $400million of taxpayer money for irrigation Gosman but maybe I missed the post.
Don’t forget $85mil of government funding to fonterra research.
Lol so there’s almost half a billion to draco’s wee rocket lab that gossy would think is okay.
And SCF.
Let alone farmers being excused from their burden regarding climate change.. Face it Gosman – NZ dairy farmers are in fact subsidised by the state. They are not the paragons of private enterprise that you misconceive them for.
The US is where it is because of the massive R&D that the US Federal government has funded (The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato).
The simple fact of the matter is that private individuals do not have the resources to fund decades long research.
Radionz this morning on co housing etc
environment housing
11:47 am today
Urbanist Bill McKay
From Nine To Noon, 11:47 am today Listen duration 12′ :00″
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201842110/urbanist-bill-mckay
Bill McKay talks to Kathryn Ryan about co-living and co-housing – once associated with hippies and alternative lifestylers – now they have gone mainstream, offering affordable housing solutions and a sense of community.
Denmark have been at the fore-front of co-housing for decades, and have developed a number of models that reflect the adaptability and diversity of living styles and demographics.
A good article on the history, on a Canadian website.
They cater from urban to rural, aged-care to young-families. A great model for traditional family based cultures to have a look at – I would think.
Christie Walk is an example a bit closer to our neck of the woods, in Adelaide.
Used an irregular shaped urban site of approx 2000m2 to provide for 27 dwellings.
Incorporates passive cooling systems and alternative energy use, as well as providing common spaces and equipment.
You are good value Molly. Thanks for the links, helpful.
Heh.
Apparently some prospective Labour list mps aren’t happy with their ranking, including Willie Jackson.
Sucks to be him, but I’m glad they seem to have selected some people who have worked hard for Labour for years if not decades, rather than automatically inserting a late-jumping parachutist into the top ten.
Maybe he should be working hard to ensure that he and the people above him on the list get in, instead of whinging that he was given position 21 – which is pretty darn high for someone that was trying to last-minute parachute into a high list position.
Plus, would have sent a great message if he was more like ‘Hey, position 21 is excellent, thank you Labour for giving me a go. I’m going to help Labour win enough seats to win the election, which gets me into parliament.”
Labour will have to pick up about 10-12 seats to get him in, which is what they need to win the election. Whinging about position 21 is therefore pretty defeatist.
“Labour will have to pick up about 10-12 seats to get him in, which is what they need to win the election.”
How so? (my numbers below).
Labour got 32 MPs last time, getting 27 electorate MPs and 5 list MPs. List place 11 was the last person in off the list (Andrew Little).
What I missed was the number of people from 11 onwards winning electorate seats. Position 21 (in that case Raymond Huo) would have got into parliament if Labour got 3 more MPs, not 10-12 as I stated.
So, you’re right, Jackson is not very far away from getting elected in the position he is in – the exact amount Labour need to get him in depends on how many electorates Labour win and how many above him on the list win electorates.
That is what I would have picked. 4 seats improvement required. It is a good position if he’d had any confidence in his ability to attract votes.
I couldn’t see what the problem is as Labour got 25% at the last election, which equals 32 MPs. Jackson is 21st on the list, so he’s a shoo in surely? But I just looked and see that Labour have 21 electorate MPs, so if the list vote drops far enough, he won’t get in. But if Labour dropped that low, would he really want to be parliament?
Or someone is shit-stirring with Stuff.
Shit-stirring is a high possibility, by Labour seemed to have gotten over that within the caucus lately. And of course now if he turns up at higher than 21, it looks like he shook his rattle and got what he wanted.
Going by last election’s Labour list and cutoff, the 21st spot didn’t get into parliament until Ardern won Mt Albert. But as you say, for WJ to miss out on a spot at 21 this time round, Labour would have to do as badly if not worse than in 2014 (assuming roughly the same number of electorate seats).
And if he’s not going to boost the party vote, why bother having him in?
And if he’s not going to boost the party vote, why bother having him in?
Would love to see a journo put this question to him…
Wasn’t Jackson going to run for the Maori party but Little convinces him not to?
Maybe promised him a “guaranteed to get into parliament” list placing.?
Cutting Jackson would look like Labour has fucked over Jackson which would not go down well with many Maori voters.
You would also have Jackson spending the next 4 months sticking it to Labour
Nope. The exact wording in public that I remember was a “high place on the list”. That was a mistake. Basically it meant that people who’d actually worked for Labour were bumped for a stupid political reasoning (in my opinion). It makes the list even more rigid for the ‘benefit’ of an unproven performer with a dubious ability to bring in votes and no particular track record in politics apart from being mates with that political idiot John Tamihere.
But where are you picking up your lie from? Kiwiblog or Whaleoil? It has a ring of their fake news style
But where are you picking up your lie from? Kiwiblog or Whaleoil? It has a ring of their fake news style
Think it was an article by Mathew Hooten, he was less than complimentary about Willy Jackson, basically, spend 90% of the article calling him a dumb arse.
Why are they delaying the announcement of their list if not because of dissension in the ranks?
So WJ can be there at the announcement and smile and shake hands and assure everyone that he respects the democratic processes in the party, and that this was always his understanding when he joined, and that he looks forward to helping Labour on its journey towards being the next government, and gosh jono mcjonolist needs to take a chill pill.
You know, like a grownup politician would.
WTF? Are you thick? Because people aren’t happy with their position on the list and the specified process and they’re arguing about it.
In the case of Willie Jackson, he doesn’t like the process specified by the party and wants some kind of intervention from on high.
That in turn will cause a lash back from the more worthy candidates who were selected and ordered by the party members, the caucus, and the leadership in a predefined process. If Willie or his supporters had wanted to bump himself up the list, then there were a pile of list conferences that they could have done that at as well as the various processes that were used to arrive at the final list.
If he does bump himself up the list in a violation of common sense and the procedures, then I suspect that there will be a considerable amount of walking from support in the NZLP members and supporters to the Greens or NZ First who aren’t such idiots as to violate their previously agreed party processes.
I’d be one of them. I really don’t like idiotic and usually misogynist shock jocks at the best of times. I don’t think that Willie is going to bring much to the campaign apart from some serious level of distaste. I really don’t like dickheads in parliament and the staffers pissing on the procedures because they think it is a good idea.
And I know that I’m not alone with this. The adverse reaction amongst my relatives, acquaintances and friends to his promotion and especially with the roastbusters debacle is pretty strong. And these are mostly people like – the relative left conservatives.
Basically the position that Willie Jackson got is pretty good bearing in mind his political inexperience and the lack of campaigning experience that he has. He should be satisfied with it. So should anyone else.
Sue Moroney had the appropriate reaction to disappointment. But I guess that was because she knew the depth of the process and that you need to get widespread support. I’m not particularly happy with that myself as I think she was doing a pretty good job. But I’m perfectly willing to abide by the results of the process rather than whining like Willie..
The problem for the list-only people is that Labour gets a lot of electorate seats, so even with 32 MPs that doesn’t necessarily mean the 21st list MP gets in.
It is more complicated than that, Weka, as Labour win a lot of electorate seats. Basically Labour would probably need just over 30% to get Jackson in if he is number 21 on the list. Note I said probably – it depends on who wins marginal seats.
However, Labour need more than 30% to be in government so I don’t see Jackson’s problem, particularly as he claims to be able to increase Labour’s share of the urban Māori vote. If he can bring more votes he’ll get in, if he can’t then he is a waste of a place.
This is mostly to do with his ego. He wanted to be in the top 10 on the list (he told a friend of mine this) but that was never going to happen. I really hope Labour do not give into his temper tantrum. I will be highly pissed off if he is given a higher place than Kiri Allan for example.
” If he can bring more votes he’ll get in, if he can’t then he is a waste of a place.”
If he can bring in more votes than some of the people ranked higher than him – would it not be them who are the waste of a place?
I think he finds it a bit of an insult that his list placing may be lower than other people who haven’t got as much media presence as he does.
But his almighty presence will bring more than enough people to Labour to ensure his selection and promotion to the front bench…
Bringing in more votes was the rationale for head hunting Jackson in the first place.
There is no evidence to date that he is making any difference to Labour’s polling. There can’t be much confidence that that this will change as we approach the election.
It seems to me that he has no bargaining chips for arguing for a higher place on the list.
Jackson is irrelevant and if he doesn’t like the place he’s been offered by Labour the party should just let him go.
To give in to his tantrums would demonstrate incredible sycophancy, weakness and desperation by Labour.
Seems he was suckered in on Littles promise of a high list placing. No wonder he is upset.
new opinion piece on stuff: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/92074732/labour-sustains-selfinflicted-wounds-from-lastminute-list-turmoil
lol if that’s true then it’s funny when assumed privilege finally bites someone in the arse.
Its not so much that it was assumed – it sounds like it was promised.
But yep – its biting Little in the arse now. This is the kind of press that makes Labour look like a shambles, and cannot even get something this ‘basic’ right.
yeah – I know its not basic – esp given gender quotas etc, but this should not be playing out in the press.
🙄
It’s not. Not being played out in public, not even much of a shambles. Massive improvement on Damien O’Conner’s petulance last time.
Nice throw to “quotas” as well, btw.
Basically, Little overextended himself a bit, and WJ just assumed he’d be greeted like a knight in shining armour. I love to imagine what WJ would have said if he was a mid-level Labour listie and the caucus leader tried to parachute someone in above. And yet the thought never occurred that others might feel the same.
So far, Little and to a greater extent WJ have learnt a bit more humility. Let’s see who spits their dummy in public.
Whilst I agree its better that the O’Conner situation. – despite what you say it is being played out in public.
Its on the front page of almost every news site in NZ – with headlines such as “Labours List of Woes”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/92074732/labour-sustains-selfinflicted-wounds-from-lastminute-list-turmoil”
and “Labour delays candidate list amisdt discontent”
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/04/labour-to-reveal-election-candidate-list.html
Its hard not to see this as a shambles. And tomorrow if there is a change with WJ’s position – you just know that will be the main talking point in the news as well.
lol
Yeah, keep talking it up. Blinglish needs a “pretty legal” story to distract from his own problems.
At the moment it’s all reporter supposition in search of a story. List announcements are always controversial to a certain degree. If it’s a gender thing, why is Moroney down? If WJ is making a last ditch threat to spit the dummy, we’ll see how the selection committee takes that under advisement.
Until someone actually says something public, you’ll keep fapping away. And if it’s a molehill you’ve been pinning your hopes on… bodes well for the left.
So – you think the news links above show labour in a good light?
Nope. But five years ago everyone concerned would have been throwing petrol on the smouldering embers. Whereas today it’s just you and whatever 3news are calling themselves after their last financial quandary. And it’s not flaring up yet.
edit: so actually… if they maintain their discipline, not a bad light at all…
Indeed, because online news media knows that gossip gets clicks.
It would be an even sadder reflection on news networks if they give this any airtime on the evening news.
If anyone is worried about their ranking on the list, maybe they should stand for an electorate instead of being list only. JS
Wanganui housing crisis update
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503426&objectid=11846358
The Labour list announcement has been delayed until tomorrow because some candidate are upset with their placings.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest the reason why is allied to the new mandatory ruling that 50% of the caucus must be women. I am 100% for encouraging women in the Labour Party to aim for a parliamentary career, and it was pleasing to see a few years ago that the goal of 50% was close to becoming a reality and without any compulsion. I voted against introducing the mandatory aspect because it seemed to me to be unnecessarily divisive. It should have been obvious that it would cause ructions inside the party particularly in election year when we could least afford it.
I suspect that is what has happened. In an endeavour to implement the new rule, the list committee has effectively de-selected some highly desirable (for whatever reason) candidates simply because they are male. It was inevitable that would create angst and bitterness which plays directly into the hands of the NAct government.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11848145
Edit: they have changed the headline. It was “Discontent over list rankings” and started with the words “Some candidates are upset about their rankings…”
If it gets to the nitty gritty and 50% of each gender is an absolute, there will be some prepared to have another three years of English/Joyce and co. for sticking to the principle.
Somehow, doing a lap of honour for getting thrashed in the World Cup final though is not very satisfying.
I can understand the thought that the community will catch up and finally acknowledge the worth of the principle with electoral support. In that case the successors to English/Joyce and cobbers have a long road of governing ahead.
“the list committee has effectively de-selected some highly desirable (for whatever reason) candidates simply because they are male.”
Isn’t that almost the epitome of sexism? De-selecting people simply because of their sex when they may be the best person for the job?
Not if societal assumptions about their gender played a part in their initial selection, and there were equivalently-qualified people of the other gender who had been deselected initially. In that case it would be the minimisation of sexist outcomes, if Anne’s suspicion is correct.
It could, of course, just be regular churn in list placements.
I don’t know if that is what happened James. If you read what I said you would know it is only a suspicion on my part. If it turns out something like I suggest has happened than no… it was not done in the name of “sexism”. It was an attempt to be in line with the mandatory nature of the new ruling. Quite different.
Well, in a perfect non sexist society a woman MUST be the right person for the job 50% of the time
Women generally not so good at jobs requiring brute strength, but apart from that….
https://www.powerofpositivity.com/ways-men-women-think-differently/
There are jobs better suited for men, there are jobs better suited for women.
BM, that article you’ve cited is about thinking differently. Would you like to give us a job or two that you have in mind that you think this article could be applied to, because it doesn’t talk about actual jobs?
Not speaking for BM – but generally I think all jobs could be filled by either sex. I have worked in the tech industry for years, and I would say two out of 3 of the best people I had as bosses were women.
It all comes down I think to 100’s of small things that make up the person who is best for the job – again, sex is only one of those.
Teaching, nursing, vets, child care, counselors, care workers, all predominately female occupations.
Police, armed forces, firemen, pretty much all the trades, computer related fields seem to be mainly done by guys.
computer related fields – That was the case before but I see a real shift in developers, PM’s and BA with a lot more females coming into the field.
That’s good most places I’ve seen are real sausage fests.
A shift reversing the earlier shift against women.
I guess women had a massive shift in their suitability for coding in the 1980s 🙂
A women run army, police force and prison system would be a lot more successful than what we’ve currently got.
maui
Mmm. Women are just as affected by the power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. The disappointing thing about many women who go up the power ladder is that they seem to become heckling nasties who talk down to most of the public, and utter ultimatums to the point of get going or get out to the despised ones with weaker moral fibre.
Women who gain power in very patriarchal systems tend to be people who are ok with those systems and are willing to behave accordingly. That’s quite different than if women ran those systems themselves. Women tend to organise differently and I think mauī is right, that the army, police force and prisons would look very different if run by women culturally (not run by a few women according to the way men set them up).
Yeah I agree with that weka. Women collaborate well together to achieve outcomes. This might be running a school or a nursing home for example. And you often see women in the critical leadership roles that make a community organisation function at all and of course the running of the individual household too. I don’t think men do this as well.
The collaborative, efficient and compassionate approaches that women would bring would be a really intersting contrast if they could start from scratch.
weka and maui
It may be so in many roles and the enforcing entities of society that a true feminine approach not bound by male certainties would result in better outcomes in society than when run by men. But there is a strong authoritarian type that can emerge who gathers fervent followers who keep the thinking along agreed lines. Then women tend to cluster
around this Queen Bee who is a dominant, charismatic, person and ideas of democracy can vanish in the glow of having feminine control, with no dissenters to spoil the beautiful harmony thank you.
It does happen, so optimistic beliefs that everything would be better if only women were in charge should be recognised, and then adjustments made to behaviour when women do get control to stop this style of hegemony getting established.
I think women are likely to choose consensus decision making, with the idea that all are involved and have their say, equally. This is likely to be using a flat organisational structure which has its weaknesses and benefits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_organization
Under ‘Criticisms’:
…new power dynamics can emerge that undermine the equality afforded by a non-hierarchical context. …
[Problems]:…the formation of informal cliques, the “soft power” of popular employees, unprofessional and sexist attitudes, and lack of workplace diversity.
These are things that have occurred to me and I bring them up because there is a regular meme of women automatically being better in many spheres, which needs to be qualified, ie they with the right principles, breadth of vision and practicality probably would be better. But also if men with the above attributes could take over many entities now run by men and women without those attributes there would be huge improvements also.
It is just a thought that you can pick over as you want. I don’t want to argue for it but present it from observation, as a point of view.
I’ve worked in women’s groups and collectives and they do often function differently than ones designed by men.
I’ve also looked at how women organise in egalitarian societies, and again, there are differences.
So it’s not so much optimistic beliefs as observations.
There’s a whole thing about to what extent women can function in non-patriarchal ways when we are pretty much all socialised into the patriarchy. But I have seen women (and men) make conscious choices to organise differently. Giving women control in patriarchal structures is not the same thing.
To take it out of the gender realm, the Greens based their organisational structures on non-domination models as much as they could. It’s part of why you don’t see leadership coups and MPs leaking against the party. So we do have examples of people choosing to organise differently and that being beneficial.
The first computer programmers were women. It was seen as keyboard work so was given to the Navy typists. It was only once its imprtance was realised it got shifted to the blokes.
The first computer programmer was Ada Lovelace.
Second. (First was Babbage.)
A.
Nope. He was the engineer, not a programmer. It was Lovelace who actually realised the potential of his machine.
Looking at what of her code survived, she did pretty damn well considering she was writing for clockwork. It was pity that the difference engine and the other similar attempts in this period simply weren’t accurate enough to run it.
I’m working off e.g. https://www.quora.com/Can-Ada-Lovelace-be-regarded-as-the-first-programmer
Well, by that article Babbage doesn’t count, either.
To a certain degree, the question is basically asking “how long is a piece of string?” The “first” is generally where you choose to cut the string.
The line about Lovelace becoming a “steampunk myth” is a bit harsh. Lovelace was basically the first one to make the leap into general problem abstraction for complex mahine instructions. She wasn’t the first to work regularly as a cruncher, but as benchmarks go, she’s a pretty good line.
As you say, what was interesting with her work was that she was the first one I know about who started from the principle of how should these operations be done rather than just trying to do them.
Her “Notes” had the first ‘program’ that I am aware of that was written on how it should operate rather than how I got the %*&^%&$^%#!!! thing to run. It was a technique for calculating one of the number sequences. But importantly it was written from the logical design of the Analytical Engine rather from its implementation (which never did finish).
Because she was (I suspect) the first person writing operating instructions who wasn’t the inventor and or tinker of the gadget running it, we got a programming algorithm rather than a series of after the implementation kludges.
Anyway, they were both pretty awesome.
we stand on the shoulders of giants 🙂
Thanks, BM. How do these jobs pan out when lined up against the different thinking outlined in the article you cited?
The 1950’s called; it wants it’s obsolete debunked psychology back.
Not really – You would have to assume that for every job there would be an equal number of exactly qualified people of both genders wanting that position.
Truth is – there will very rarely be so.
There will always be one person who would be a better match for the role. Gender may make up a small part of that equation – but should not be the number one decision making point.
Except that the old “we select the best candidate for the job” is complete bullshit. Most organisations select people from a pool of qualified folk, and frankly the distinction between selection and discard can be down to the colour of ink the person signed their cover letter in, once around half the applications have been filed because they’re completely unsuitable.
Oh, if you have only a few applicants you might whittle it down to only a few interviewees, but unless the pool from which you get your people is exceptionally small and brackish any one of those few could satisfactorily do the job. So it comes down to how easily they make social conversation, or whether they have an ancillary skill that might be interesting.
The problem we have in this country, and that parties like Labour and the greens are trying to address, is that while more and more women are in the “can satisfactorily do the job” category, that doesn’t seem to be reflected in the final hiring rates.
So using your logic – Im going to assume that you believe that every person on the Labour List could satisfactorily do the job.
Do you think that some of them could do the job better than others?
edit – and if so – do you think that the people who could do the job better than others should be ranked above the ones who, whilst still being able to do the job, are not as “good”?
Am I assuming that there would be no differences in suitability in the top fifty?
Nope.
In fact, there’d probably be at least one or two utter deplorables on any given list. And a few superstars.
But the point is that those variations are within the bounds of any reasonable application review process. Some might be slightly better than others, but so much better as to justify a sausage or taco fest in the top 20? Fuck no. And the dropkicks will be indistinguishable from the stars, by and large, until they’re in the job.
I mean, you could spend tens of thousands of bucks on each applicant with reviews, psych tests, work history back to McD’s after school, surprise drug tests, background trashers to find all the porn bills or what have you. You know what? You’d still end up with much the same list as before, except you ditched a star because they got a false positive for opioids in their piss test.
But much tifference between the top 5 and next 5? Nah. Nor the 10-15 and 20-25. By and large they’d all be reasonably equivalent, do the job, work hard, make mistakes, and try to do good things.
You raise really good points.
Honestly, I hadn’t really thought of it like that – but what you are saying makes a lot of sense.
Wow.
Cheers for that.
Credits due when credits due. 🙂
You’re not really using McFlock’s logic.
What he said was that generally, once the patently unsuitable have been eliminated, you end up with a group that could probably all do the job reasonably well. (The exception to this might be when you are looking for really rare skills.)
In any case, one of the hardest things in recruiting is finding some rational basis for picking one person from among your shortlist. In the end that decision is rarely rational – it’s pretty intuitive, though you do become good in dressing it up in the language of rationality.
So to suggest that we can just “pick the right person” irrespective of extraneous factors is an overly-idealised and purist view of how recruiting actually happens. I think McFlock has made a really important point.
But all this guff about skills and Gender and experience and such all fall by the wayside when you’ve got the right connections.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8507144/Key-forgets-tip-to-friend-over-spy-job
And THIS is a major problem in our society, the old boys network! We currently have a large number of asses on seats that have no idea of how to do the job properly, but they know the handshake, talk the bullshit and have the same partly line engraved in their DNA. No need to send an email or such to stick a knife into John Campbell, just stand in the corridor and mumble “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/79593244/Mark-Weldon-right-to-resign-from-MediaWorks-former-TV3-news-boss-says
Not really interested in Willie Jackson but am interested and waiting to see what placing Sue Moroney got seeing as how she retired over the head of it. She was 11 or 14 last time around.
It could be the left of the party is getting the heave-ho.
Moroney is a big loss for Hamilton West.
She has done some great work but has been poleaxed by Little’s list.
Thanks Sue for your work. Especially around paid parental leave.
As a Hamilton West voter, I will be expecting a damned good left-wing candidate, or Labour will lose even my electorate vote. It has never had my party vote because it has not reversed neo-liberalism.
“It could be the left of the party is getting the heave-ho.”
That’s my reading.
Labour consolidating it’s centrist position.
I wonder if they’ve given thought to the possibility that their target voter just might opt for the devil we know rather than risk a change.
Ho hum.
O’Conner the gregbert is apparently in an “Ohariu or bust” placing.
I guess we’ll see what it is tomorrow – if WJ is any higher than 21 it would look like he threw a tantrum and the panel caved.
If the reading is right (and I should say that Labour died to me quite a while back, but still…) there comes a point when you’ve said “Don’t pick up the gun”…when you’ve said “That’s a really bad idea where you’re pointing that”…when you’ve said “Look over there at the alternatives and see how it’s working out really quite well” … when you’re fed up saying things and get to quietly thinking… “Fuck off. Hurry up and just pull the trigger….Goodbye and good riddance”
it’s just that line about “the best person for the job” kind of misses the point. Theoretically a woman should be the best person half the time, a man half the time.
Physical ability in some jobs is an issue I accept.
R.I.P. Air New Zealand.
The Smiling assassin is joining their board in September.
How long before it is run into crippling debt like he left behind in his last job?
New Zealand hardly has crippling debt.
We have some of the best debt levels in the western world.
What makes you think it is crippling?
Because it hasn’t gone down. The problem is that we are a small economy that depends a lot on external trade. We don’t have anything lie an internal market in the way that most of the economies you are comparing us with have.
Consequently we get hit hard if we have a downturn in external and international trade, and the problems tend to pile on top of each other at once causing massive fluctuations in income. You only have to look at the effects of the recessions during my life time to see that.
This last one was the only one that we survived well. That was because we had no debt and therefore could raise debt cheaply rather than getting into a spiral of interest payments sucking the life out of the governments fiscal position. Having a dairy commodity boom at exactly the right time after having Labour do the Chinese FTA helped. Similarly the diversification of the economy outside of commodities from the early 2000s buffered the employment tax take.
Basically we’re due for another shock downturn in international trade. It’d have been useful if the government was in the same position as it was in 2007. However National are the party of government debt and fiscal imprudence. So we aren’t ready for it this time.
If the idea is to bail out banks and whatever financial institutions while inflicting austerity on society, then no – NZ isn’t in a good place (and never will be).
But if the idea is to bail out society by borrowing for the sake of stimulus, then there’s no real problem. Employment’s created (those houses, that other infrastructure). So the tax base doesn’t shrink – it grows. Upward pressure also becomes applied to wages because of more or less full employment = more tax revenue.
And any debt shrinks in terms of ratio to GDP.
edit – the caveat is that you got to be among the first to pursue that strategy for it to work well 😉
Your comment about how NZ is vulnerable to external trade is so true. Especially now with old fat boy threating to launch missiles and throw nukes around the place willy-nilly. 5 to 6 of NZ’s major trading nations will be up to their neck shit and if war does happen (I hope it doesn’t for everyone’s sake) a few chicken’s will come home to roast in NZ in more ways than one.
If war doesn’t break out as you said “Basically we’re due for another shock downturn in international trade. It’d have been useful if the government was in the same position as it was in 2007. However National are the party of government debt and fiscal imprudence. So we aren’t ready for it this time.”
So true my dear sir.
NZjester.Crippling debt. Yep then sell off the rest of it.(cheap)
It appears Martyn Bradbury’s site at The Daily Blog has been attacked by the Deep state tonight as the site is down with a message 502 Bad Gateway.
Long live the freedom of speech, and Martyn Bradbury.
I hope when the morning comes of the 2nd may 2017 TDB will be back again.
The fight goes on!!!
probably overloaded by breathless commentary on the Great List Fire of 2017…
It will be a network misconfiguration.