Open Mike 01/06/2017

24 comments on “Open Mike 01/06/2017 ”

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1. Carolyn_nth 1

   1 June 2017 at 6:58 am

   And still the Natz fiddle, while things keep getting worse.

   RNZ article: “Urgent housing need ‘big concern going into winter'”

   The number of people registered as urgently needing housing has doubled in the last two years.

   The Ministry of Social Development’s Housing Register shows people in the at-risk category with severe and persistent housing needs have risen from a low of 1641 in June 2015 to a new high of 3422 in March this year, the latest available figure.

   A further 1433 on the Priority B list have serious housing needs.

   Emergency housing providers and support groups say government measures to tackle the problem have fallen short.

   How can the Natz continue to be polling in the 40s, when they show so little concern for their/our own people?

   Shame on their lack of will to provide the infrastructure to support a decent life for all!
   • tc 1.1

     1 June 2017 at 7:36 am

     Says a lot about the electorates changing values from the welfare of society as a whole to look after number 1.

     National have done very well out of appealing to the self interest versus the interests of the whole.
   • Johan 1.2

     1 June 2017 at 8:44 am

     To C, “How can the Natz continue to be polling in the 40s, when they show so little concern for their/our own people?” Simply the Gnats have very little regard for those in serious need because in their stats, they know these people probably fail to vote or vote for an opposing party. The Tories will continue to tell porkies concerning the number of houses that are available for the needy by including local motels. Just listen to Amy Adams explain in the Beehive, National’s poor effort in providing emergency housing.
     • ianmac 1.2.1

       1 June 2017 at 9:25 am

       You can guarantee that National will announce a major Housing Project which will overwhelm Labour’s Plan and probably plagiarise Opposition ideas to add salt.
     • The Lone Haranguer 1.2.2

       1 June 2017 at 12:25 pm

       TC nailed it.

       But really, I blame the Clark lead Labour governments for inspiring the current bunch of Nats (who are really only carrying on the same message) about the aspirational NZ that winners needed to be part of.

       Clark and her team painted a picture where education was the key to future success wealth and happiness, and made a big effort to make education accessible to most, and those folk rewarded Labour with the Treasury benches.

       The Nats on the other hand, rarely ever have a defining philosophy upon which to base their policies, so they “grey it out” and pinch others ideas. And they pinched the bit about “aspirational NZ that winners need to be part of”.

       And Joe Voter, given the choice wants to be part of the winner group, so will turn their backs on the “losers” even if their wins predominantly come from owning property in the right areas at this time in history.

       You see this when Jim Anderton speaks more about restoring the Christchurch Catherdral, than about the work done by the Christchurch City Mission assisting those in need.
2. Adrian Thornton 2

   1 June 2017 at 7:44 am

   Email to RNZ this morning…

   Good morning,

   RNZ’s lead story this morning has been about a bomb that didn’t exist, where as an actual bomb that did exist and has killed at lest 80 humans in Kabul is relegated to second and now third place in RNZ’s lead stories.

   Does this indicate that RNZ has a sliding scale value of human life according to where in the world they live, what colour their skin is or some other difference that I am not aware of?, if so I, and I am sure many of your listeners, would be interested in seeing this scale for themselves so we can understand how it works, and we would be very interested in knowing who makes the decisions on who gets where on your ‘human life worth’ scale.

   After the huge amount of coverage of the Manchester bombing just last week, I would assume that RNZ would at lest have given a worse attack similar coverage?

   Best
   Adrian
   • greywarshark 2.1

     1 June 2017 at 9:41 am

     Adrian T
     I hadn’t heard this mornings news, but have had similar thoughts in the past.
     Good on you for keeping their possibly mechanical mind choices in contention so they have to think about them, and what backgrounds their reasons for this.

     \Salads song funny
     • greywarshark 2.1.1

       1 June 2017 at 9:47 am

       On Radionz this morning – goodies to read and listen. Plastic bags – easy to use, with a small personal change – eliminate, eliminate. (Send in the Daleks.)

       Councils around the country want a levy on single-use plastic bags and are calling on the government to step up and impose one. They say the country’s landfills are clogged with the non-biodegradable bags, which also blow away, into waterways damaging marine life.

       New Zealanders use more than 1.6 billion plastic bags every year. The government-backed soft plastic recycling scheme dealt with 25 million of those those bags last year – less than 2 percent of the total used.

       Kathryn talks to Vice President of Local Government NZ, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull, Sandra Murray, coordinator of the anti-waste lobby group the Product Stewardship Council and Associate Minister for the Environment Scott Simpson.
   • Anne 2.2

     1 June 2017 at 10:29 am

     Well spotted Adrian. Read the item on BBC last night and guessed it would receive far less news space on Western sites despite it being worse than Manchester. Don’t expect any ‘2 minute silences’ around the world and messages of sympathy from prime-ministers and presidents for the innocent victims in Kabul.
   • Grantoc 2.3

     1 June 2017 at 4:22 pm

     Adrian

     The situation you describe in your post occurs as a result of ‘Unconscious Bias’. Its a completely human way of interpreting the world that we live in.

     It happens naturally and is a deeply ingrained cognitive process that all humans use – regardless of race, culture, ethnicity,gender etc.

     In practice it means that we are biased more favourably towards people who are like us ( English Manchesterians) and biased less favourably towards people who less like us (Afghanistanians). For better or worse it is a natural cognitive human process.

     RNZ probably demonstrated ‘Uncouncious Bias’ when they ranked their stories this morning. I’m sure that they didn’t use a deliberate (conscious) technique like a ‘sliding scale’ to rank the stories they reported on.

     Addressing ‘Unconcious Bias’ is one of the major challenges in enabling a truly diverse society to come into being
     • Adrian Thornton 2.3.1

       1 June 2017 at 7:56 pm

       Yes, I do know that they don’t have a ‘sliding scale’ it was an ironic dig at their lazy ‘Unconscious Bias’, you see I thought we (the human race) where all in a project of an evolutionary kind, so I just naturally assumed that we where all trying to evolve to a stage where we moved beyond this so called ‘Unconscious Bias’, by consciously trying to move above and past that base instinct to hopefully one day reach a higher consciousness…I mean you have to start somewhere, and (RNZ) helping fellow humans come to understand that all human life is of equal importance to our own is a pretty good starting point I thought…but hey what the hell do I know.
       • Grantoc 2.3.1.1

         2 June 2017 at 11:01 am

         Adrian

         I think your sentiments are exactly right; but evolution is slow and difficult.

         I think we’ve only become aware of the concept of Unconscious Bias in the last few decades; and it has been deeply ingrained in the human brain for many many generations before that. There is research going on as to how to address it, but it will likely take several more decades before we as humans transition away from using Unconscious Bias as a tool for making sense of the world.
3. greywarshark 3

   1 June 2017 at 9:50 am

   Robert Guyton
   \You will like this. Radionz report on 9toNoon on plants contacting each other in a further way than just through their leaves, as is already known. Some botanists have found how they affect each other’s growth, they put out more roots when a neighbouring plant has been damaged and released something warning the others.

   We’ve all heard of talking to plants to make them grow – but what about when they talk to each other ?
   Harsh Bais, who’s a botanist at the University of Delaware, teamed up with high school student Connor Sweeney to make the discovery that a plant will warn its neighbours of impending danger when it has been injured itself.
4. greywarshark 4

   1 June 2017 at 9:55 am

   Sorry Adrian
   The bit about salads is meant for Robert Guyton. It takes a while for my comments to come through and I shoved it quickly onto what I thought was my last one which was to Robert.

   So Robert you might find the funny song which they 9toNoon played about 9.50 a.m. this morning about how unfair we are to vegetables, slaughtering them for our meals, murdering carrots etc.
   • Robert Guyton 4.1

     1 June 2017 at 10:33 am

     I heard about that song yesterday, Greywarshark; my broccoli were talking about it as I passed their bed, on my way to paint my roses red. Off with their heads, I thought; insurrection from the brassicas mustn’t be tolerated, it could easily spread to the curcubits and beets and where would that leave me? A breatharian, that’s where.
     • The decrypter 4.1.1

       1 June 2017 at 11:53 am

       Well Robert, all I can ,say if it’s of any help .is that I do think that james has finally entered your head.
       • Robert Guyton 4.1.1.1

         1 June 2017 at 12:28 pm

         Hi decryp, yeah, he’s in there alright, but James, or someone just like him, has always been around; I remember a mucusy little plug from kindergarten who spoke with the same whine James uses, demanding his right to use the biggest Tonka toy in the sand box, but I take your meaning and recognise how unedifying a sight it’s been for others. Watch me expel him from my world 🙂
     • greywarshark 4.1.2

       1 June 2017 at 4:47 pm

       Yes I think so. I’ve heard about a breatharian who died. It wasn’t just a satirical fiction?
     • weka 4.1.3

       1 June 2017 at 5:35 pm

       Breatharians, that bunch of murderers, all those bacterial deaths from them breathing in and out all day, not to mention when they stand on things or clean the bathroom. Nothing short of ascension onto another plane will do.
5. heman 5

   1 June 2017 at 11:18 am

   @weka replying to your earlier comment on the possibility of doing a guest post on the point england issue.

   This document clearly and eloquently explains it better than I ever could.
   http://saveourreserves.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Pt-England-AIDE-MEMOIRE.pdf

   tks
   • weka 5.1

     1 June 2017 at 11:38 am

     I’m sure it does heman, but it’s not suitable for a Guest Post as is. Someone would have to write the post from that material. That’s not going to be me, but as I said, if you want to pull your own comments together into one place, we can look at whether they would work as a post.
6. Carolyn_nth 6

   1 June 2017 at 1:05 pm

   An interesting article, which is mostly an interview with an urbanist, Chris Harris. He argues that it is a myth that NZ is an Arcadian, rural paradise. Rather, it has long been one of the most urbanised countries in the developed world. The denial of NZ’s urban make-up, means that the cities have been badly planned, especially Auckland.

   It creates this image of infinite rural promise, whereas in reality, if we look at the detailed topographical maps, we see that New Zealand is actually the dividing mountain range of a submerged continent, and it’s very mountainous and hilly. I like to say that no frontier society had less frontier. Very little of New Zealand is actually very fertile farmland – about a sixth of it. The rest is just hills.
   …
   A part of it, and this is something other historians have said, is that the urban population of New Zealand isn’t concentrated in one big place, or even in a compact sort of region. It’s scattered up and down the country, and in each of these urban centres, people look out the window and see all these mountains and hills and rural landscapes. So the urban principle in this country just doesn’t acquire a critical mass. And, in government terms, Wellington-based agencies tend to have a one-size-fits-all approach, and treat downtown Auckland the same way they would some hill outside Taihape that presents an obstacle to the state highway system.
7. Morrissey 7

   1 June 2017 at 7:20 pm

   She’s doomed.
   • Ed 7.1

     1 June 2017 at 7:53 pm

     That’s because ……
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