The rise in Labour’s vote in Auckland is excellent news. If we can turn out last election’s stay away vote, then it really is game on. I see the Brash coup has yielded a positive result for ACT, lifting them by an awesome 0.2%. That’s enough to reduce them to just two MP’s, assuming that they win Epsom. Nice.
Yep, Ian. At all elections I can recall, the actual gap between Labour and the Nats narrows significantly from the polling, no matter which party was the favourite going in. That’s basically the undecided making up their mind. At the last election, Nationals actual vote dropped compared to the polling and Labour’s went up slightly. However, a significant number of potential Labour voters simply did not vote on the day. The challenge is to get the maximum number of that 11% undecided to a booth and ticking Labour twice.
MS pity Labs rise is not thru any positive policy, Then again I am waiting for the Ax the Tax to be policy, or when the $5k is to be fully implemented, or how a low wage economy can also be a net saver. Another case of succes as a result of protest against something, not that The Opposition is worthy of any support. rememerb that the crap we are in is part attributable to poor leadership that has gone before. 4 months to go and no solutions to our pressing problems.
With a close election looming all for me that will result is that a valuable few swing voters will be brought at the long term cost to the country.
The EMA is continuing to grapple with what to do with their CEO. I see that “Mr Thompson has been on leave since Friday”. I hope he is ill because if he is not actually sick we can add hypocrisy, lying and irony to the list of his transgressions.
From small bits I’ve caught on National Radio (checkpoint, mostly), he is making sure they go through a full and formal dismissal procedure before they can get rid of him, which is his right under the law.
One wonders if he’ll now have a better appreciation of those rules now that he is using them himself.
That was a question in my mind too.
But have a look at this:
“Thompson remains on sick leave”
Fiona Rotherham
16:32 30/06/2011
The EMA (Northern) says it’s uncertain when it will be able to speak with chief executive Alasdair Thompson who’s been on sick leave since he sparked a furore over his comments about women’s ”monthly sick problems”.
Association president Graham Mountfort says Thompson is ”not very well at all” but he wouldn’t comment on what that sickness entailed and whether it was related to stress over calls for his resignation since his controversial comments about gender pay equity last week.
Great material for me to show my boss later this afternoon to make a case for my working hours for the rest of the year.
I feel my testorone cycles tend to hit a low about 3pm every day. So I should be calling the afternoon off and going home then.
RNZ sports correspondent on the news this morning.
“At last Wimbledon’s Women’s tennis has a star quality final, lacking in the last few years…” Sharapova is one of the finalists.
So apparently the Williams sisters are not stars.
(Just wonder if the male reporter might be showing some of his personal preferences here.)
Heard it, too. Very odd remark, given that not only the Williams sisters, but Mauresmo, Davenport, Henin, Bartoli and Svonereva have all played the final since Sharapova last made an appearance. Of course, they’re only tennis players, whereas Sharapova is a celebrity, which makes all the difference.
When will the hard news component of TVNZ catch up up with the sports dept? Promo items should always contain a compilation package of newsreaders exposing their knickers during Wimbledon fortnight.
The treatment of the Williams sisters by both white fans and the MSM throughout their careers has been nothing short of disgraceful.
Every victory is depicted as a fluke, every upset even at the peak of their careers described as the beginning of the end.
It was if the media couldn’t wait till the Williams dominated era was at an end and “normal play” could resume. Now that the Williams sisters are getting older and that time is almost here, is it any surprise that this behavior still continues?.
Booed and defamed they have suffered every indignity down the years with grace and tolerance.
The RNZ comment, could more honestly have read: At last Wimbledon’s Women’s tennis has a WHITE quality final, lacking in the last few years…” Sharapova is one of the finalists.
Type in “Williams Sisters booed” into Google and this is only one of the incidents that comes up.
The wealthy white tennis loving fraternity don’t like the Williams’ and they never have.
They have never made any secret of it.
When you type “William sisters booed” there are numerous examples of the sisters being booed by white tennis audiences in the US and Paris, from Wimbledon to Australia.
The following is Serena’s account of one incident from a 2001 tennis tournament in California’s Indian Wells, a rich area in her home state of California.
“What got me most of all was that it wasn’t just a scattered bunch of boos. It wasn’t coming from just one section. It was like the whole crowd got together and decided to boo all at once. The ugliness was just raining down on me, hard. I didn’t know what to do. Nothing like this had ever happened to me. What was most surprising about this uproar was the fact that tennis fans are typically a well-mannered bunch. They’re respectful. They sit still. And in Palm Springs, especially, they tended to be pretty well-heeled, too. But I looked up and all I could see was a sea of rich people—mostly older, mostly white—standing and booing lustily, like some kind of genteel lynch mob. I don’t mean to use such inflammatory language to describe the scene, but that’s really how it seemed from where I was down on the court. Like these people were gonna come looking for me after the match. … There was no mistaking that all of this was meant for me. I heard the word nigger a couple times, and I knew. I couldn’t believe it. That’s just not something you hear in polite society on that stadium court. … Just before the start of play, my dad and Venus started walking down the aisle to the players’ box by the side of the court, and everybody turned and started to point and boo at them. … It was mostly just a chorus of boos, but I could still hear shouts of ‘Nigger!’ here and there. I even heard one angry voice telling us to go back to Compton. It was unbelievable. … We refused to return to Indian Wells. Even now, all these years later, we continue to boycott the event. It’s become a mandatory tournament on the tour, meaning that the WTA can fine a player if she doesn’t attend. But I don’t care if they fine me a million dollars, I will not play there again.”
Type in “Williams Sisters booed” into Google and this is only one of the incidents that comes up.
This is extremely misleading, and it’s not insignificant that it appears in the hard-right Telegraph. Serena Williams was being booed because the day before this match she had made several bumptious and ignorant remarks condemning the French government for “not supporting” the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Good on you VOR for commenting on this “odd remark”.
However if you are really taking notice you will see it is not that “odd”.
Talking of the almost unremarked racism we tolerate, when spoken by European New Zealanders:
When she visited this country Tony Veitch compared Serena Williams to “an ape” on the radio.
And still he has a job in Broad Casting.
Paul Holmes called Kofe Annan a “Cheeky Darky”. And it didn’t affect his career one bit.
Phil Goff says he will work with “non Maori” Mana MPs in the “unlikely” event they ever elect one.
Nobody even questions him about it.
Helen Clark labels the Maori Party as “Haters and wreckers” for opposing the confiscation of the Foreshore and Seabed, and is applauded.
We all think it is quite acceptable. And these people are held up and kept in their prominent positions in our society.
Compare this soft ride for European New Zealanders, to the way we pillory the like of North, or Harawira for thinking we’re racist, (and worse yet, voicing it).
Does this character description of controversial Californian professional tennis instructor and father of Serena and Venus Williams remind us of any controversial public figure, in this country?
Venus and Serena have quieted detractors who panned their father’s style and language. They said Richard Williams was arrogant, that he served from the mouth and that he hurt his daughters’ chances, not only by criticizing the racism and the stuffiness of the people who run tennis, but criticizing the game itself.
In an exclusive interview from his home in Palm Beach, Fla., Richard Williams says from day one others attempted to tell him a “better” way to raise Venus, and later Serena, to be tennis champions. And while he has maintained a public persona of a man who couldn’t care less what others thought, he does admit now that the negativity did get to him. “When people criticize you, I don’t care how much you say it doesn’t bother you, it does,” he says. “It bothers you when people criticize you, especially when you’re doing the best that you can do. Because once you are doing the best you can do, you realize there is nothing else you can do.
Is it obfuscation or can’t they remember? It would be interesting to see how many schools deliver their own charters today to the Ministry of Education’s regional offices. I hear at least half of the schools are rebelling.
I have heard of some schools who are submitting their charters but with a sort of Claytons nod at National Standards. A sort of compliance but not complying. Notice the comments of support on the Yahoo link are only about obedience and never about the validity of NS. (See my note below re “Insight.”)
It seems so… and I guess it depends on what you’re counting when a handful = 200 .
About 200 primary schools across the country – nearly ten per cent – have thumbed their noses at the Education Ministry by handing in their school charters without controversial national standards targets.
Many of the charters, which outline a school’s aims for the upcoming year, were taken to seven Education Ministry offices nationwide at 10am this morning by representatives from the schools, Boards Taking Action Coalition spokeswoman Jane Forrest said.
Charters were handed in with targets using ”existing and reliable achievement data” as required by National Education Guidelines, she said.
There is a quite brilliant read on todays Archdruid report where the question is asked:
The declining years of a rich and powerful society resemble nothing so much as a game of musical chairs in which, in the end, all the chairs will be taken away. What’s the winning strategy in a game in which everyone inevitably loses sooner or later?
A common thread on posts from left and right is the question of who should get what today? Very few ask the question in relation to a long gradual decline in what is available to divide diminishes.
National Standards was announced last Sunday as a topic for this Sunday’s “Insight” program on National Radio after 8am. (Some of those Insight programs start off OK but get bogged down especially if Chris is asking the questions.)
It was said on the radio a few days ago that Vietnam is having 30% inflation now. That will have a terrible effect on their economy and may be a forerunner of your link Kevin.
Can someone enlightren me as to if our PM actually draws his salary or donates it to charity (which one) or takes a token value of $1.
I’d also be interested to know if the MP for Mangakieie (sam the man) in akl has proved he donated one his salalries to charity as he was an akl city counciller and an MP for awhile there.
I’ve wanted this answered for years. Key made a deal of his donations. It should, therefore, be outed. He raised, it, not us. But he trades on it (or at least his supporters do, how many times have we seen, ‘he donates it to salary’ in posts?) so it should be a matter of record.
Also very interesting is that John Key has shares in BoA (bank of America). This is a matter of public record as they are mentioned on the Beehive website and they are not part of the blind trust.
This means that he might also have shares in other US banks as a lot of bonuses would have been paid in shares and bonds but we don’t know that as they would have been in his blind trust.
Why is this important? If John Key has a massive financial interest in the collapsing banking system he has a massive conflict of interest when it comes to making the best decisions for the NZ people.
For example the BoA is very exposed to the European debt crisis and the only way they can stave of collapse is by pushing the Greek people (and the other PIIGS countries for that matter) further into debt and thereby causing extreme poverty and deprivation for the people living in those countries.
With the MSM pointing out that we are already in debt per person for the sum of $ 4000 we are being prepared for the last great looting of our assets by the international banksters.
Are we to believe that John Key will actively look for better solutions for the people he represents or for the banks in which he own shares or who does he really represent: Us little people or the banks in which he holds such a stake.
His 20 year banking career tells me that he will let nothing interfere with him amassing a fortune, never has and never will.
Added to that: If he donates his wages to charity he can claim that since he did not receive any money form NZ he does not owe it allegiance. Well, he can to himself at least.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 10.1.1.1.1
This idea that John Key is in the pay of a secretive international cabal of bankers hell bent on taking over the world is, even by your standards, quite bonkers.
I am saying that John Key has a huge conflict of interest because he has millions worth of shares in banks which are exposed to huge financial risks in Economically week countries.
The loans given to these countries, most notably Greece at the moment mostly goes straight to French and German banks who hedged their investments in these countries with US banks.
And the SEC filings are those given by the BoA. What makes you think that these banks will not give loans to keep the financial system from collapsing especially if they can buy the countries assets for cents on the dollar. Whether you believe in secretive cabals or not has nothing to do with the way “to big to fail banks” operate.
John Key has millions he stands to loose if the BoA goes under. If he has to make a choice between the interests of us little people who have “made poor lifestyle choices” and his own millions what do you think he will do?
No “conspiracy theory” here. Just greed and a small group of greedy people working together to protect their interests.
Damn you, Felix. You’ve forced me go to her website and wade through nine flavours of nuttiness. My eyes hurt, and you are to blame. I just cannot resist a goading, especially when someone has skilfully and wittily worked excrement into my name. It is my one character flaw.
Ev is, of course quite right when she says: “Where do I say that in this comment “[emphasis, mine]. She did not explicitly say that John Key was guiding New Zealand towards a new World Order controlled by the shady Bilderberg group.
“Of course not a lot of people here even know about the existence of the Bilderberg group. But they should because their ambassador to the US is a Bilderberg man… Michael Moore, labour party man, ex-finance minister, WTO CEO and one time prime minister today is serving as the ambassador to the US and him together with John Key and Don Brash are the three finance guys guiding New Zealand towards a new World Order.”
John Key is a nice guy and people just gave him the $50 mill because they liked him and all that economic collapse is because people borrowed for mortgages they could not pay back.
And the banks really are the victims here and the ridiculous bonuses they pay themselves are really just little compensations for the hardship they go through.
Yeah right!
Here is a good link to an article about the Bilderberg group for those curious about this secretive group of rich pricks
@ Ev (a bit above): with such a flagrant misrepresentation of what I said, I think we should expect Felix to direct an angry tirade at “Travellerexcrement”. Or not.
Felix an me go back a long time Gormy, no chance of playing us against each other I’m afraid.
For those of you who want to educate themselves or who still believe that 19 young mostly Saudi’s directed by a mad man with kidney problems in a cave in Afghanistan could pull of 9/11 breaking all the laws of physics collapsing three buildings with two planes in free fall speed into pyroclastic flows here is one of the best doco’s called 9/11 mysteries.
And for those who warm their house with Kerosene heaters; Best beware, Kerosene burns so hot it collapses steel framed buildings within the hour. Your heater and your house don’t stand a change!!!
Intermittent signal getting through. I have just heard some things that I hope will be good news for us in NZ. One is that a person with meat and wool background has got the lead position in Federated Farmers. Of course that doesn’t mean that dairy interests have the wrong steer but its good to see a shift from the one sector fencepost.
Another signal – from Wools of NZ I think they call themselves. The sheep farmers have been thinking, coming up with ideas which didn’t take, then thinking again. Brilliant we need some smart forward thinkers with ideas to get ahead by mixing their own nous with best information and systems for best outcomes. Wool must come back into prominence with peak oil causing greater costs for synthetics. We will be ready to ride that wave.
And sheep pellets are good for the garden – so that helps with the pollution side. Perhaps dairy farmers can collect the pats, dry them in methane fuelled machines and ship them to India for fuel. The country people use them for cooking I have heard.
We can now work further on developing hemp which is a more than viable alternative to cotton I have heard. First we have to get some politicians who are interested in advancing the country, to take the bold step from criminalise, punish, imprison to acceptance, control, overview, treat excess, and tax anything taxable. This would require a change from the present of just tapping into our combined wealth to advance their mates never-ending wants and power plays.
It is a shame the “left”,(whateva that reduces to), do not have the leadership, (that understands what it would take), to win this election, win NZ back for people who want open government, insted of these neo-facists. I’m sure this is part of their ‘plan’ to make themselves richer while we down stream just get cow shit!
It is an even greater shame that the baby boomer generation have no attention span, are so easily mis-directed, mis-informed and led astray.
(yes, yes you are, no look over there, no, really).
I think it’s time we lost the incumbants, though there is probably a good one or two in any bunch, the vine is rotten and need to be cut down so it can grow towards the light again, the greens new paper ‘o lobbist is a very good start, but still doesn’t remove the problem of the highest-ups of all 3 main political parties answering to the same master.
Want to fix the economy? Get rid of USA political influence in NZ!
Want to fix the economy? Get rid of USA political influence in NZ!
Now this much, I agree with… Get rid of USA influence generally, I’d say. It’s why 20-something are so stooooooooooooooopid and 40-somethings on RNZ say that planes have bathrooms! 😀 (Has she ever tried taking a bath in one?)
Dr Brash says he is constantly regaled with horror stories of the “little Hitlers” who far too often seem to populate the lower levels of local and regional government. The comments came up as Brash was advocating for further reforms of the Resource Management Act.
The total cost to the United States of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus the related military operations in Pakistan, is set to exceed US$4 trillion ($4.8 trillion) – more than three times the sum so far authorised by Congress in the decade since the September 11 attacks.
The hawks initial estimates were between US$40 to US$80b and some even suggested that they would pay for themselves. Well, the initial estimates were quickly proven wrong but this has gone far beyond what even the pessimists were predicting at the time.
Family-owned company responds to downturn in sales by cutting half its workforce – and selecting only women for redundancy
An engineering firm in northern Italy has sparked controversy after making almost half its workforce redundant – and selecting only women.
A union official quoted the company as having reported to the small businesses association: “We are firing the women so they can stay at home and look after the children. In any case, what they bring in is a second income.”
No one at the company, Ma-Vib, which is based in Inzago near Milan, could be reached for comment.
Italians, what do you expect with a PM who thinks that bunga bunga parties are the way to rule Italy and where every show has to have one male presenter and 20 very blond bimbo’s keeping the guy’s ego from collapsing. Oh, and were every male has a mother complex. Jeez, That those women had a job at an engineering firm in the first place is something to behold.
Documents provided to Greenpeace by the Smithsonian under the US Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) show that the Charles G Koch Foundation, a leading provider of funds for climate sceptic groups, gave Soon two grants totalling $175,000 (then roughly £102,000) in 2005/6 and again in 2010. In addition the American Petroleum insitute (API), which represents the US petroleum and natural gas industries, gave him multiple grants between 2001 and 2007 totalling $274,000, oil company Exxon Mobil provided $335,000 between 2005 and 2010, and Soon received other grants from coal and oil industry sources including the Mobil Foundation, the Texaco Foundation and the Electric Power Research Institute.
British government officials approached nuclear companies to draw up a co-ordinated public relations strategy to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident just two days after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and before the extent of the radiation leak was known.
Internal emails seen by the Guardian show how the business and energy departments worked closely behind the scenes with the multinational companies EDF Energy, Areva and Westinghouse to try to ensure the accident did not derail their plans for a new generation of nuclear stations in the UK.
“This has the potential to set the nuclear industry back globally,” wrote one official at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), whose name has been redacted. “We need to ensure the anti-nuclear chaps and chapesses do not gain ground on this. We need to occupy the territory and hold it. We really need to show the safety of nuclear.”
I think we should both be grateful we are alive, with such a magnificent opportunity. I think at times, well most the time, you and I ‘both’ act like spoilt brats.
Considering we have this case, we are hardly truly appreciating it, well ‘I do’, but at times I forget to appreciate it as I worry about my minute problems, sulking and so on.
We just worry about the small things and hiccups without embracing the enormous blessing we both have.
Anyway-
Lets just say if you died, you are not going too, but if you did- I would miss you.
You’re not going to die, you need to solve the case, this is serious, you need to solve the case!!!
I have reason to believe if ‘we’ conduct ourselves properly and work towards revealing truths, I believe we may have some sort of way of controlling an outcome.
You need to solve the case and you need to get it together. It’s Her and She wants the case solved. I have a feeling She is angry with me at the moment for sulking.
Paula Bennett just made major stuff up at Friday nights Auckland stage challenge by announcing the wrong team had won, it appears she got her ST Peters and ST Cuths mixed up and yes their was tears.
What a circus this National Government are proving to be.
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Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
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 ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
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Well done Ian Wishart. I wonder if he could also solve the Kirsty Bentley murder for the dumbo keystone cops?
The trend is in the right direction and this election is getting interesting …
Latest Herald poll is out.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10735604
The rise in Labour’s vote in Auckland is excellent news. If we can turn out last election’s stay away vote, then it really is game on. I see the Brash coup has yielded a positive result for ACT, lifting them by an awesome 0.2%. That’s enough to reduce them to just two MP’s, assuming that they win Epsom. Nice.
Interesting too that “Undecided voters totalled 11.2 per cent of those polled,…..”
When deciding they might fall either way but might be persuadable?
Yep, Ian. At all elections I can recall, the actual gap between Labour and the Nats narrows significantly from the polling, no matter which party was the favourite going in. That’s basically the undecided making up their mind. At the last election, Nationals actual vote dropped compared to the polling and Labour’s went up slightly. However, a significant number of potential Labour voters simply did not vote on the day. The challenge is to get the maximum number of that 11% undecided to a booth and ticking Labour twice.
Latest roy out too.. not much change there
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2011/4681/
MS pity Labs rise is not thru any positive policy, Then again I am waiting for the Ax the Tax to be policy, or when the $5k is to be fully implemented, or how a low wage economy can also be a net saver. Another case of succes as a result of protest against something, not that The Opposition is worthy of any support. rememerb that the crap we are in is part attributable to poor leadership that has gone before. 4 months to go and no solutions to our pressing problems.
With a close election looming all for me that will result is that a valuable few swing voters will be brought at the long term cost to the country.
The EMA is continuing to grapple with what to do with their CEO. I see that “Mr Thompson has been on leave since Friday”. I hope he is ill because if he is not actually sick we can add hypocrisy, lying and irony to the list of his transgressions.
A bad case of manflu!
Thompson must have strong backers in the EMA, a number of them. Otherwise this would have been an open and shut case – gone by lunchtime.
From small bits I’ve caught on National Radio (checkpoint, mostly), he is making sure they go through a full and formal dismissal procedure before they can get rid of him, which is his right under the law.
One wonders if he’ll now have a better appreciation of those rules now that he is using them himself.
What a wonderful way of using ‘sick leave’ as a guise for his own pre-dismissal period.
Who said he was using sick leave? He could be using annual or unpaid.
That was a question in my mind too.
But have a look at this:
“Thompson remains on sick leave”
Fiona Rotherham
16:32 30/06/2011
The EMA (Northern) says it’s uncertain when it will be able to speak with chief executive Alasdair Thompson who’s been on sick leave since he sparked a furore over his comments about women’s ”monthly sick problems”.
Association president Graham Mountfort says Thompson is ”not very well at all” but he wouldn’t comment on what that sickness entailed and whether it was related to stress over calls for his resignation since his controversial comments about gender pay equity last week.
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5215151/Thompson-remains-on-sick-leave
No wonder, it appears males cycle hormonally every 24 hours. That explains a lot!
Great material for me to show my boss later this afternoon to make a case for my working hours for the rest of the year.
I feel my testorone cycles tend to hit a low about 3pm every day. So I should be calling the afternoon off and going home then.
AirNZ has withdrawn membership from the EMA.
Good on AirNZ for the brains to do that.
I’m visiting their site next to plan my next overseas flight with them .
http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=132919&fm=psp,nwl
RNZ sports correspondent on the news this morning.
“At last Wimbledon’s Women’s tennis has a star quality final, lacking in the last few years…” Sharapova is one of the finalists.
So apparently the Williams sisters are not stars.
(Just wonder if the male reporter might be showing some of his personal preferences here.)
Heard it, too. Very odd remark, given that not only the Williams sisters, but Mauresmo, Davenport, Henin, Bartoli and Svonereva have all played the final since Sharapova last made an appearance. Of course, they’re only tennis players, whereas Sharapova is a celebrity, which makes all the difference.
When will the hard news component of TVNZ catch up up with the sports dept? Promo items should always contain a compilation package of newsreaders exposing their knickers during Wimbledon fortnight.
The treatment of the Williams sisters by both white fans and the MSM throughout their careers has been nothing short of disgraceful.
Every victory is depicted as a fluke, every upset even at the peak of their careers described as the beginning of the end.
It was if the media couldn’t wait till the Williams dominated era was at an end and “normal play” could resume. Now that the Williams sisters are getting older and that time is almost here, is it any surprise that this behavior still continues?.
Booed and defamed they have suffered every indignity down the years with grace and tolerance.
The RNZ comment, could more honestly have read: At last Wimbledon’s Women’s tennis has a WHITE quality final, lacking in the last few years…” Sharapova is one of the finalists.
Type in “Williams Sisters booed” into Google and this is only one of the incidents that comes up.
The wealthy white tennis loving fraternity don’t like the Williams’ and they never have.
They have never made any secret of it.
When you type “William sisters booed” there are numerous examples of the sisters being booed by white tennis audiences in the US and Paris, from Wimbledon to Australia.
The following is Serena’s account of one incident from a 2001 tennis tournament in California’s Indian Wells, a rich area in her home state of California.
Serena Williams was only 19 at the time.
Type in “Williams Sisters booed” into Google and this is only one of the incidents that comes up.
This is extremely misleading, and it’s not insignificant that it appears in the hard-right Telegraph. Serena Williams was being booed because the day before this match she had made several bumptious and ignorant remarks condemning the French government for “not supporting” the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
THAT is why the French crowd was booing her.
Good on you VOR for commenting on this “odd remark”.
However if you are really taking notice you will see it is not that “odd”.
Talking of the almost unremarked racism we tolerate, when spoken by European New Zealanders:
When she visited this country Tony Veitch compared Serena Williams to “an ape” on the radio.
And still he has a job in Broad Casting.
Paul Holmes called Kofe Annan a “Cheeky Darky”. And it didn’t affect his career one bit.
Phil Goff says he will work with “non Maori” Mana MPs in the “unlikely” event they ever elect one.
Nobody even questions him about it.
Helen Clark labels the Maori Party as “Haters and wreckers” for opposing the confiscation of the Foreshore and Seabed, and is applauded.
We all think it is quite acceptable. And these people are held up and kept in their prominent positions in our society.
Compare this soft ride for European New Zealanders, to the way we pillory the like of North, or Harawira for thinking we’re racist, (and worse yet, voicing it).
Does this character description of controversial Californian professional tennis instructor and father of Serena and Venus Williams remind us of any controversial public figure, in this country?
Anne Tolley on Morning Report describing the number of schools refusing to submit national standards targets in their charters :
John Key on Morning Report describing the number of SAS troops involved in the Kabul hotel shoot out :
Have both been to the latest Crosby Textor night school on obfuscation?
Is it obfuscation or can’t they remember? It would be interesting to see how many schools deliver their own charters today to the Ministry of Education’s regional offices. I hear at least half of the schools are rebelling.
According to the Herald, the SAS have defeated the Taliban. So there must have been more than just a handful huh!
I have heard of some schools who are submitting their charters but with a sort of Claytons nod at National Standards. A sort of compliance but not complying. Notice the comments of support on the Yahoo link are only about obedience and never about the validity of NS. (See my note below re “Insight.”)
“….the National Standards Sector Advisory Group includes a recommendation that Education Minister Anne Tolley authorise the ministry to “explore with the sector the desirability of extending national standards to years 9 and 10”.
That would go down well eh?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/5216445/National-standards-in-high-schools-proposed
@jackal – hilarious headline! Those pathetic terrorists crushed under the mighty heel of the proud and mighty Key-wi Empire!
It seems so… and I guess it depends on what you’re counting when a handful = 200 .
Anne must have big hands. (John too.)
There is a quite brilliant read on todays Archdruid report where the question is asked:
The declining years of a rich and powerful society resemble nothing so much as a game of musical chairs in which, in the end, all the chairs will be taken away. What’s the winning strategy in a game in which everyone inevitably loses sooner or later?
A common thread on posts from left and right is the question of who should get what today? Very few ask the question in relation to a long gradual decline in what is available to divide diminishes.
The war in Libya is a rich man’s war!!!
Thanks for that! It’s all such a mess of confusion, but one thing is certain, it’s not as simple as it is portrayed…
National Standards was announced last Sunday as a topic for this Sunday’s “Insight” program on National Radio after 8am. (Some of those Insight programs start off OK but get bogged down especially if Chris is asking the questions.)
Toot, toot!!
All aboard, have your tickets ready.
It was said on the radio a few days ago that Vietnam is having 30% inflation now. That will have a terrible effect on their economy and may be a forerunner of your link Kevin.
Can someone enlightren me as to if our PM actually draws his salary or donates it to charity (which one) or takes a token value of $1.
I’d also be interested to know if the MP for Mangakieie (sam the man) in akl has proved he donated one his salalries to charity as he was an akl city counciller and an MP for awhile there.
I yam thinking …
The saying goes ‘charity begins at home’.
So pledges to donate to charity should go to the family trust?
🙂
I’ve wanted this answered for years. Key made a deal of his donations. It should, therefore, be outed. He raised, it, not us. But he trades on it (or at least his supporters do, how many times have we seen, ‘he donates it to salary’ in posts?) so it should be a matter of record.
Very interesting.
Also very interesting is that John Key has shares in BoA (bank of America). This is a matter of public record as they are mentioned on the Beehive website and they are not part of the blind trust.
This means that he might also have shares in other US banks as a lot of bonuses would have been paid in shares and bonds but we don’t know that as they would have been in his blind trust.
Why is this important? If John Key has a massive financial interest in the collapsing banking system he has a massive conflict of interest when it comes to making the best decisions for the NZ people.
For example the BoA is very exposed to the European debt crisis and the only way they can stave of collapse is by pushing the Greek people (and the other PIIGS countries for that matter) further into debt and thereby causing extreme poverty and deprivation for the people living in those countries.
With the MSM pointing out that we are already in debt per person for the sum of $ 4000 we are being prepared for the last great looting of our assets by the international banksters.
Are we to believe that John Key will actively look for better solutions for the people he represents or for the banks in which he own shares or who does he really represent: Us little people or the banks in which he holds such a stake.
His 20 year banking career tells me that he will let nothing interfere with him amassing a fortune, never has and never will.
Added to that: If he donates his wages to charity he can claim that since he did not receive any money form NZ he does not owe it allegiance. Well, he can to himself at least.
Brink. Abyss.
Motivation and arguments, gormless fool. Sticks and stones and all that.
This idea that John Key is in the pay of a secretive international cabal of bankers hell bent on taking over the world is, even by your standards, quite bonkers.
Where do I say that in this comment?
I am saying that John Key has a huge conflict of interest because he has millions worth of shares in banks which are exposed to huge financial risks in Economically week countries.
The loans given to these countries, most notably Greece at the moment mostly goes straight to French and German banks who hedged their investments in these countries with US banks.
And the SEC filings are those given by the BoA. What makes you think that these banks will not give loans to keep the financial system from collapsing especially if they can buy the countries assets for cents on the dollar. Whether you believe in secretive cabals or not has nothing to do with the way “to big to fail banks” operate.
John Key has millions he stands to loose if the BoA goes under. If he has to make a choice between the interests of us little people who have “made poor lifestyle choices” and his own millions what do you think he will do?
No “conspiracy theory” here. Just greed and a small group of greedy people working together to protect their interests.
Even for a Gormless Fool you’re a fucking idiot, Oleoleshitbucket.
Why don’t you learn to fucking read and then have another go at what Ev wrote, eh?
Damn you, Felix. You’ve forced me go to her website and wade through nine flavours of nuttiness. My eyes hurt, and you are to blame. I just cannot resist a goading, especially when someone has skilfully and wittily worked excrement into my name. It is my one character flaw.
Ev is, of course quite right when she says: “Where do I say that in this comment “[emphasis, mine]. She did not explicitly say that John Key was guiding New Zealand towards a new World Order controlled by the shady Bilderberg group.
She saves that really nutty stuff for her blog:
“Of course not a lot of people here even know about the existence of the Bilderberg group. But they should because their ambassador to the US is a Bilderberg man… Michael Moore, labour party man, ex-finance minister, WTO CEO and one time prime minister today is serving as the ambassador to the US and him together with John Key and Don Brash are the three finance guys guiding New Zealand towards a new World Order.”
Suit yourself Gormy,
John Key is a nice guy and people just gave him the $50 mill because they liked him and all that economic collapse is because people borrowed for mortgages they could not pay back.
And the banks really are the victims here and the ridiculous bonuses they pay themselves are really just little compensations for the hardship they go through.
Yeah right!
Here is a good link to an article about the Bilderberg group for those curious about this secretive group of rich pricks
All we have to do is wait until he leaves politics because at that time there will be 1, 2, 3 or whatever, charities having a big drop in funding. 🙂
That would be too late!
@ Ev (a bit above): with such a flagrant misrepresentation of what I said, I think we should expect Felix to direct an angry tirade at “Travellerexcrement”. Or not.
Felix an me go back a long time Gormy, no chance of playing us against each other I’m afraid.
For those of you who want to educate themselves or who still believe that 19 young mostly Saudi’s directed by a mad man with kidney problems in a cave in Afghanistan could pull of 9/11 breaking all the laws of physics collapsing three buildings with two planes in free fall speed into pyroclastic flows here is one of the best doco’s called 9/11 mysteries.
And for those who warm their house with Kerosene heaters; Best beware, Kerosene burns so hot it collapses steel framed buildings within the hour. Your heater and your house don’t stand a change!!!
Intermittent signal getting through. I have just heard some things that I hope will be good news for us in NZ. One is that a person with meat and wool background has got the lead position in Federated Farmers. Of course that doesn’t mean that dairy interests have the wrong steer but its good to see a shift from the one sector fencepost.
Another signal – from Wools of NZ I think they call themselves. The sheep farmers have been thinking, coming up with ideas which didn’t take, then thinking again. Brilliant we need some smart forward thinkers with ideas to get ahead by mixing their own nous with best information and systems for best outcomes. Wool must come back into prominence with peak oil causing greater costs for synthetics. We will be ready to ride that wave.
And sheep pellets are good for the garden – so that helps with the pollution side. Perhaps dairy farmers can collect the pats, dry them in methane fuelled machines and ship them to India for fuel. The country people use them for cooking I have heard.
We can now work further on developing hemp which is a more than viable alternative to cotton I have heard. First we have to get some politicians who are interested in advancing the country, to take the bold step from criminalise, punish, imprison to acceptance, control, overview, treat excess, and tax anything taxable. This would require a change from the present of just tapping into our combined wealth to advance their mates never-ending wants and power plays.
It is a shame the “left”,(whateva that reduces to), do not have the leadership, (that understands what it would take), to win this election, win NZ back for people who want open government, insted of these neo-facists. I’m sure this is part of their ‘plan’ to make themselves richer while we down stream just get cow shit!
It is an even greater shame that the baby boomer generation have no attention span, are so easily mis-directed, mis-informed and led astray.
(yes, yes you are, no look over there, no, really).
I think it’s time we lost the incumbants, though there is probably a good one or two in any bunch, the vine is rotten and need to be cut down so it can grow towards the light again, the greens new paper ‘o lobbist is a very good start, but still doesn’t remove the problem of the highest-ups of all 3 main political parties answering to the same master.
Want to fix the economy? Get rid of USA political influence in NZ!
Now this much, I agree with… Get rid of USA influence generally, I’d say. It’s why 20-something are so stooooooooooooooopid and 40-somethings on RNZ say that planes have bathrooms! 😀 (Has she ever tried taking a bath in one?)
Friday Fun with Photos #7
Dr Brash says he is constantly regaled with horror stories of the “little Hitlers” who far too often seem to populate the lower levels of local and regional government. The comments came up as Brash was advocating for further reforms of the Resource Management Act.
Official cost of wars short by trillions
The hawks initial estimates were between US$40 to US$80b and some even suggested that they would pay for themselves. Well, the initial estimates were quickly proven wrong but this has gone far beyond what even the pessimists were predicting at the time.
And you thought Alisdair Thompson was bad!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/30/italian-firm-women-job-cuts
Italians, what do you expect with a PM who thinks that bunga bunga parties are the way to rule Italy and where every show has to have one male presenter and 20 very blond bimbo’s keeping the guy’s ego from collapsing. Oh, and were every male has a mother complex. Jeez, That those women had a job at an engineering firm in the first place is something to behold.
Can the epmu spend some money on handsfree car kits!!!
Corporations managing the energy narrative… again. And the industries are not a surprise – again…
First up climate non-science and big petroleum
In second place Fukushima and the nuclear industry and the UK government.
Earthquake in Auckland 9:09pm.
2.9 on Richter Scale.
9km deep.
Centre located 10km east of Auckland.
Short and sharp.
My walls shook.
OK. Not in the same league as ChCh, but sent me scrambling to get outside.
I thought I had imagined it… Whew, only 2.9.. I am so scared of these things!
I popped out to offer assistance to whoever had run into the concrete wall in the garage. Figured out what it must have been when I didn’t find them.
Are you alright about that shake, I felt it for like a second, I felt it though.
If I died would you miss me?
I think we should both be grateful we are alive, with such a magnificent opportunity. I think at times, well most the time, you and I ‘both’ act like spoilt brats.
Considering we have this case, we are hardly truly appreciating it, well ‘I do’, but at times I forget to appreciate it as I worry about my minute problems, sulking and so on.
We just worry about the small things and hiccups without embracing the enormous blessing we both have.
Anyway-
Lets just say if you died, you are not going too, but if you did- I would miss you.
You’re not going to die, you need to solve the case, this is serious, you need to solve the case!!!
I have reason to believe if ‘we’ conduct ourselves properly and work towards revealing truths, I believe we may have some sort of way of controlling an outcome.
You need to solve the case and you need to get it together. It’s Her and She wants the case solved. I have a feeling She is angry with me at the moment for sulking.
Paula Bennett just made major stuff up at Friday nights Auckland stage challenge by announcing the wrong team had won, it appears she got her ST Peters and ST Cuths mixed up and yes their was tears.
What a circus this National Government are proving to be.