Has John Key’s slavish support of the US ( pimping for the TPP, sending soldiers to Iraq, slagging off Putin, joining in military exercises in the South China Sea) meant a lot of the world sees us now as merely a puppet of Uncle Sam ?
And as a consequence, they can think of better people to vote for leader of the UN than a New Zealander, Helen Clark.
Just wondering….
Your thought makes sense to me Paul. Key is so ego driven, he seems to suck up to anyone whom is famous or important. He was happy as to slam Helen when he was in opposition, but as soon as she wants to go for the top job he starts sucking up to her. He is a disgrace. Hopefully the wise will understand that Key is just a star struck fool and not all kiwis are like that.
Also our headline news in overseas newspapers about milk product contamination and China’s annoyance, also our Clean Green image rubbished on the world stage with 5,200 citizens poisoned by our city water supply, we seem to be in the headlines a bit lately and not with a good look for us. The PM doesn’t help when he makes an idiot of himself on the US TV channels and 3-way handshakes, cringe material for us. Poor Helen doesn’t look like she is in with a chance. Anything the PM touches turns to shit for us and with his hands off attitude to importers and business to do the job properly we have a reinforced steel class action in the making – all because the market will do its job properly for the Government, what a laugh that is.
By the way why isn’t OSH stepping in and helping the doctors in their long hours and stating it is a health and safety issue. Are they also in the pockets of big government, we need Helen Kelly bless her heart to be well enough to come to their aid, she sure helped the Forestry Sector and the mortality rate has now come down for their workers because of her determination.
I wonder how much money New Zealand has wasted on trying to get a deluded Helen her dream of being a leader on the world stage?
I think you are right about wanting her out of New Zealand. She left the Labour party in such a dire state that without her Key had no opposition at all.
Also, of course as long as she had her dream Key owned her. She couldn’t do anything if Key wouldn’t support it. It hasn’t been Key sucking up to Clark. For the last 8 years it has been Clark sucking up to Key.
Ooh! Another Labour-can-do-no-wronger! Thought you might’ve been, you little piece of poo. Alwyn might be a RWNJ or Alwyn might not be – I don’t know and right now I don’t care. But the analysis – this time – is spot on. It’s fuckwits like you who’re responsible for fucking this country. No analysis, no critical faculty. Just blind support for a neo-liberal opposition that fucks our democracy. I suggest it’s you who should fuck off to the sewer where you belong. Hey, you might even meet Leftie there. You two could snuggle up, keep warm, hope you’re not eaten.
Sucking up to bask in the glory of UN importance is what Key does well, only too happy to give her a push no doubt, good point, out of the way and all that.
Would love her to get the job, but i do wonder if ‘able to be manipulated’ is part of their judging criteria? Shame if it is
Next year may we please have a dignified, switched on, strong PM… please please.
Cinny- wait for it. From the Tory trolls here it’ll soon be ‘Crooked Helen’. They are so blatantly lacking in historical facts or even a semblance of truth. Very ideological Trumpish trolling.
Me too proud of Helen and If our present PM ever tried for the same office he’d quickly be jettisoned like the Aussie kevin. Blokiness is not leadership.
It’s utterly fake blokey-ness in the Weak Man of course. A man who repeatedly pulls a young woman’s hair in the face of her objections is no good bloke. Someone who giggles girlishly on global television about the escape of a murderer/child rapist from prison in the country of which he’s PM…….he’s no decent fulla. He’s an horrific embarrassment.
North..Yes. your ‘blokey-ness’ better spelling than my ‘blokiness’.
Hey the cloying (albeit one way) blokey relationship with Richie Mcaw seems to have lost its intensity.
Sir (no thanks) Richie must be relieved.
Kieran Read- be warned of fickle politicians seeking vicarious blokey-ness.
I think she just put herself forward, said what she thought she needed to say, tried her hardest and things played out accordingly. This of course includes looking at everything you’ve referred to, as well as the F&S debacle, accusations of bullying both here and in NY, her treatment of New Zealand’s poor when PM, and no doubt a whole bunch of other stuff, too.
Has John Key’s slavish support of the US ( pimping for the TPP, sending soldiers to Iraq, slagging off Putin, joining in military exercises in the South China Sea) meant a lot of the world sees us now as merely a puppet of Uncle Sam ?
the BRICS countries particularly. Remember the US strategy is not merely to isolate those nations, but to ensure that countries like NZ cannot relate to those nations independently.
OMG ! Did this facile crap from Herald’s deputy politicial editor Trev’ ‘need’ to be written at all. Main point – “Weeeee…….look at me I’ve been in The Big Apple !”. Almost preferable and certainly intellectually weightier – the headline (didn’t click) – “What it’s like to be a sex toy tester.” Herald and Trev’ are such shit.
Switch off the mainstream news.
There are good alternatives now.
Highly recommend Waatea 5th Estate. RNZ is the best of the MSM, although it sources it’s foreign news through propaganda outlets, do it’s reporting of the Syrian conflict, the Ukraine, the Olympics and the Yemen show a clear US bias.
Seemorerocks is good for environmental news.
To get independent UK news, try the Canary.
The following journalists are worth reading.
John Pilger.
Robert Fisk.
George Monbiot.
Bryan Bruce ( NZ)
Waatea fifth estate =real life in NZ .
The rest is an alternative reality called planet key.
The journalists you mention Paul represent what is real journalism and Bryan Bruce made a contribution on Waatea a few days ago and it was great to have his input.
Made the bypass some time ago and never looked back.
Stuff isn’t much better. Their main story yesterday was Crystal Chenery handing out “sex advice”. Front page, first thing you see — ex-bachelorette crapping on about sex. As “newspapers” go, they’re collectively about as much use as a roll of Purex 2-ply.
Maurice Williamson is to be our commissioner in LA. How embarrassing, sick of cushy jobs offshore for failed Nat Party Politicians. Winston is speaking out, saying if he is part of the next government that Williamson will be coming back to NZ and someone whom cares about our country will be placed there instead. Sounds like Winnie is not into backing Nationals jobs for the boys agenda. Well said Sir Winston, well said. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/83767989/outgoing-national-mp-maurice-williamson-picks-up-plum-la-diplomatic-posting
There is a reward given for serving the corporate multinational agenda.
Politicians who sell their souls get very comfortable pastures in return for the betrayal of the country and citizens’ interests.
Look at the sad list of ex MPs who now shill even more for the corporates.
I think Katherine Rich pimping for Coca Cola and Nestle must be the nadir.
Of course we don’t have anyone in NZ like Bill Clinton or Tony Blair.
They have made it an art form.
From Herald’s Deputy Trev’ – “Williamson, who has been an MP since 1987, follows in a long line of politicians appointed to diplomatic postings. In recent years that has included former Speaker Sir Lockwood Smith to London, former Trade Minister Tim Groser to Washington and former Labour MP Shane Jones as a newly created Pacific Economic Ambassador.”
As though the mention of former “Labour” MP Shane Jones says we’re not squarely in dodgy, “share the spoils boys”, territory. Heightens the impression in my book.
From Herald’s Deputy Trev’ – “Williamson, who has been an MP since 1987, follows in a long line of politicians appointed to diplomatic postings. In recent years that has included former Speaker Sir Lockwood Smith to London, former Trade Minister Tim Groser to Washington and former Labour MP Shane Jones as a newly created Pacific Economic Ambassador.”
As though the mention of former “Labour” MP Shane Jones says we’re not squarely in dodgy, “share the spoils boys”, territory. Heightens the impression in my book.
Winston hates Key and NZF’s policies seem to have mellowed (maybe not Ron Mark)…..so my rolling averages for the Roy Morgan polls show that we will have a new government next year regardless of the MP’s support for Key’s policies (not sure if ACT and UF are really parties as they poll well under 1%):
Lab/Gr/NZF 49.8%
Nats/UF/ACT/MP 48.3%
Governments lose elections rather than oppositions win them. The water and housing crises and the education reforms are the latest symptoms of a government out of touch with reality.
I don’t like the concept third-termitis. Governments are perfectly capable of operating as well in a third term as in a first term….but this government has lost it.
I doubt Winston will go into a coalition with anybody CV and will stay on the cross benches after agreeing to support the largest party on confidence and supply.
Labour is still polling to low and that has not changed, hardly in a position to gain the authority of parliament.
No one will want to go back to the country and fight an early election.
I think a series of significant policy concessions by National to NZF as well as a bunch of outside Cabinet posts may be sufficient for Winston to sign up to this.
Have you no ‘ashpirayshun’ CV ? Why aren’t you panting for a 6th nay 7th term for the National Party. You’d be well made up wouldn’t you ? The Left, not controlled/directed by you’d be despatched to the rubbish bin of history. Sweet !
My strategic analysis is simple. I’m sorry that you cannot understand it.
Allow me to restate: in this game, National needs to understand the benefits awaiting it if it chooses to bend over backwards and make a few significant concessions to Winston and NZ First. The goal would be to gain NZ First’s commitment as the National Party’s new, strong MMP partner.
With the 10% to 14% that Winston will bring to the table in 2017, as well as new policy energy, coming to such an arrangement will guarantee National not just a fourth term, but also a fifth term.
How many times does it have to be said? You cannot trust NZF.
What Winston says and what Winston does are poles apart. He makes the right populist noises but he takes his one man band where the pickings are best suited to his whims.Do not count on him backing the Left. NZF CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO SUPPORT US ON THE LEFT.
The difference Bearded Git with this third term government is the media is on side has been even before the 2008 election.
Normally even with third term National governments years past the media were always reminding us of how tired and out of touch they were and how prone the government was to a succession of disasters and their handling of them and being increasingly out of touch with the country and in the case of Labours last term we kept being told it was time for a change – but a change to what ? well we have found that one out.
The spin and manipulation with an aggressive PR machine and the loyal journalists to do their bidding this government is well placed to win next year and the National parties massive war chest is bursting with money to spend on the campaign.
Crosby Textor are still here advising them on strategy and Key will only respond to issues and how to handle them after he has polling data telling him what to think and how to play it.
Its not what they say , its how they say it.
This will be the first fourth term government scince 1969 when we had Mr holyoake followed of course with Big Norm Kirk and the watershed election of 1972.
Good to see the EU taking a stance against Apple.
Here’s a prediction.
Money man and corporate puppet Key will do absolutely nothing about these multinational bludgers.
And because these large internet companies don’t fulfil their part of the social contract, there will not be the taxes to pay for a civil society.
NZ companies ( who pay their taxes) will struggle to compete with these gigantic parasites. And some will go bust.
There will be fewer jobs.
And a lot more low quality precarious jobs. Working for Uber lacks the security of being employed in a regulated taxi industry.
The race to the bottom will accelerate.
More parts of the health, housing and education sectors will be privatised as a government without the necessary tax take will withdraw further from actually governing.
If you think New Zealand is bad now, it’s going to be a lot worse with 10 more years of neoliberal policies wreaking havoc.
As yet, the Labour Party is failing to offer a real alternative.
So Rousseff, leader of the Brazilian left has been impeached for “budget irregularities”. Surprise, surprise but what is interesting is the Senate vote (61 – 20). Considering the 2 opposition comminst parties (PCDoB and PT) are 12 of the opposition votes where did the majority of votes come from? Well the Centre/Centre Left screwed her (PSDP, PMDB, PDT etc). Hardly the political elite but more like the Left canabilising it’s own. Just like the left in NZ and UK, principals go out the door when it comes to money.
Righty @ 5 – “principals” ? Seems your’s didn’t do that well Righty. Guess you’d be a fan of results-based performance pay in the education sector. Can’t have shit product floating around can we ? Note…….you’re under recall Righty.
North, while I agree with you totally, you ought to be aware that your’s can mean only ‘your is’ or ‘your has’. And I find it hard to create a sentence where either could be used. Please be careful…
Turks lay siege to Rojava – Much like they did to the Christians in Constantinople in 1453, the Turks are now laying siege to the Syrian Kurdish automous region of Rojava in northern Syria. After the Kurds took the large city of Manbij from ISIS a couple of weeks ago (with the loss of 250 fighters) they were preparing to liberate Jarabulus west of Rojava and close to the Turkish border, which would have closed the corridor for Turkish assistance to ISIS and other jihadists groups. Instead, Turkey invaded with a proxy bunch of jihardist fighters, after prior agreement with ISIS who simply stayed in the city and were incorporated into the “liberating” forces (who have since reasserted Sharia law and murdered one of the city’s leaders one hour after he put out a press statement condemning the Turks and jihardists). The United States who assisted the Turkish forces with air strikes told the Kurds they had to retreat from Manbij back to across the Euphrates River to continue to get support from the US (mostly air support, small arms and advisors on the ground). Theoretically, the United States has managed to stop the Kurdish and Turkish forces from fighting but what is really happening is that the Turks are right now building a wall along Kobane (which is the originally Kurdish city that fought back at ISIS and expanded from there) so that no people or supplies can get in or out of there. It has its own jihardist forces blocking the Kurds in the west around Jarabulus (getting new fighters from the refugee camps in Turkey amongst other places, and using child solders), Assad’s Syrian government forces blocking them to the south (Russia, Iran, Turkey and Assad have come to an understanding over this) and ISIS blocking them from the east. The aim is to make sure the Kurds are completely isolated and then to wear them down by making life hell for everyone living in Rojava (Kurds, Arabs etc) and using Turkey’s proxy militias to wear them down militarily. If that doesn’t work, I expect the Turks will simply give up the veneer and simply go in with their full army.
To e.p. From current events, the Kurds have been prevented from gaining too much territory in Syria, despite these hard fighting men and women soldiers, unlike the Syrian army, are a real match for ISIS. The Turks have been playing a fast and loose game as a NATO member and ISIS associate, oil trade and slack border controls.
We hear very little of all those ISIS fighters now that they are beaten back. Where do they disappear to, back to Saudi Arabia, the Urals, Europe… no body count for them??? At the moment all we see on MSM is the discovery of mass graves of civilians killed by these ISIS thugs.
That’s the most depressing news I’ve heard in quite a while.
The “War on Terror”…. unless it’s ‘our’ “War with Terror” or terror being inflicted by ‘our’ many convenient friends.
If the peoples in Rojava are waiting for any international outcry or help, they’ll be waiting a long, long time. They don’t count. Worse, any ordinary person helping them out (eg Labor Party NT president Matthew Gardine), is deemed to be a terrorist sympathiser, threatened with many years in jail just for going to the region and regardless, subjected to what seems to have been, a very heavy handed gagging order .
And war pillocks like Hilary Ben have the gall to stand up in parliament and cynically evoke memories of the Spanish Civil War…
I wish I could contradict something in this to give some hope to the Kurds, but I can’t. I know they have the spirit to fight like hell, but why are they so alone? Utter corruption on the part of the West – our side. We started all this with the Sykes/Picot agreement, we are betraying them again, and their blood is on our hands.
Writing comments has been a bit painful so far this morning. I’m on ‘holiday’ doing a bit of maintenance. And we all know what that means…
I upgraded the firmware in the network WAN this morning. So the site was off for a while.
Just replaced a dodgy 120GB SSD on The Standard RAID with one where I am confident in the manufacturers ability to make good storage. The drive is copying and making writes really slow on TS. Should be done in 5 minutes.
Police calls from Oamaru are diverted to gawd knows where, so the locals are not bothering to report crime, & on the front page of the same paper was a story about crime rising in the south, go John Key rararara!!!!!
“”It’s bloody hopeless. We’ve had the situation in Oamaru where police have asked us to [keep an eye out] for someone who has gone missing, we find them, we end up trying to call them and you end up anywhere but Oamaru.””
With the police and social services budget being diverted to spying (65% budget increase to GCSB for terrorists here in NZ, sarc), and the police doing political ground work like investigating Nicky Hagar and investigative journalists rather than actually concentrating on law and order, the public are being left in the lurch and actually soon realise there is no point even reporting crime, especially if you don’t have an local police anymore (apart from revenue gathering traffic police).
All the cops are in South Auckland working through a backlog of burglaries as per Judith Collins instructions. I’m sorry ‘rest of New Zealand’, you’re just going to have to join the end of the queue. We’ll get to you eventually; try not to die in the meantime.
thats the thing, do most people think it’s handy or do they just have it lest the miss something from work or an update form something that actually does nothing to enhance their lifes?
One reason i believe the planet is so fucked up is this lack of quiet time, undisturbed me time or us time, time without beeps and bings.
It appears that folks end up quite addicted to their phones Sabine. They don’t take time to look around when they’re waiting at the bus stop, the train station etc and when they get on board their transport it’s all tap tap tap. Not looking at the scenery. They are not observing life passing by, noticing things, being aware of how they are feeling, except for maybe getting a crick in their neck for staring down at the god like screen for so long.
I got given an iphone as a gift recently. It’s my first one. It only gets used for taking photo’s and sending the odd message. It’s better that way. I don’t become reliant upon it. And the faceblab I keep on the P.C only. There’s a time for faceblab and a time for living life uninterrupted.
Then there’s that creepy stuff that CV was referring to, so best to keep as little info on your iphone/spy phone as possible.
“Now I have a smart phone and it mostly gets used for reading books”
lol the younger generation e by gum, when we were kids we had to HOLD the bloody books and they were on fucken paper and the skin of animals arrr but try telling that to the younguns now and they just laugh at ya
Yep your phone to produce is associated with slavery, exploitation, economic servitude, environmental destruction and toxic pollution. Yep real good device that one – as long as we close our ears and eyes to the immeasurable suffering created so you can read whilst holding your phone. And the comparison with books? Killing animals – if you were vegetarian your view may have a little wee wee merit – but you aren’t are you, so it doesn’t does it.
debatable in many ways, from many angles and certainly not true in any sense of the word true – let’s just say I disagree and find it amusing, your position that is.
“An 18-year-old black high school student in the United States was awarded just US$18 after being punched, Tasered and arrested over a crime he did not commit….
Local South Bend, Indiana pastor Reverend Mario Sims said the award sends an unfortunate message: “Your rights are worth a dollar.”
“To me it’s just solidifying that blacks in America, we have no rights,” says Mr Franklin’s nephew, Russell Thomas Jr.”
I see in the article that the police were at the right house, and mistook him for his brother (he matched the description fairly well) whom they were after for something serious (domestic violence related). They seem to have realised that they had the wrong man, but in the meantime he “resisted police”, and that is why they then arrested him.
Depending on what “resisted” actually means, and I expect the jury and judge heard the detail, then $18 might be $18 too much.
I guess you’re assuming the cops were white – or that just because he was black it is automatically a race issue.
Depending on the manner in which he resisted, he may well be lucky they did not empty a clip into him given the apparent American obsession with clip emptying (I think the report said he was tasered – shocking as it is).
Tauranga agencies struggling with growing number of homeless
A “tsunami” of homelessness has ripped through Tauranga, with more than 30 families seeking emergency accommodation each week, social agencies say.
i have been saying that for at least 3.5 years now. That shit is spreading like wildfire, and anyone who believes they are safe and it’s not gonna happen here cause its only AKL problem is in for a rude awaking.
This country is being sold, one house at a time and its not Kiwis that need a home doing the buying.
Yes ….New Zealand thought it could play USA off against China and get the best of both worlds .Instead we get the worst of both …. owned by American Corporates and overrun by immigrants.
So, so true. We are constantly lied to about what is the obvious takeover happening right in front of us. Kiwis have been betrayed by our elected leaders for 32 years. Now Pakehas get to feel what it’s like to be colonised.
not pakeha as in not of maori descend of whom many are not white?
I don’t understand at this comment as not all pakehas have been here when NZ was colonialised, and not all have been here literally like 25 years ago.
I do also believe that the ones to suffer the most in this recent sale of NZ is still the indigenous people of NZ as this is the only land they have, many pakehas can pack if and go back to where ever they came from if it gets to bad.
but for the Maori population and the what now up to 5th generation of born into NZ pakehas – many whom have maori family ties, where will they go?
So no, i don’t feel getting colonialised, I don’t feel angsty for mine self, but i do feel upset for those around me that only have this country to call Motherland or Fatherland if you are so inclined.
By Pakeha I mean NZers mainly of European descent who grew up here and assumed that by studying, working hard and saving they might have a future in NZ. But that has been taken away by Nat supporters’ greed for endless capital gains on housing, no matter the wider costs to the rest of society.
I am feeling pretty ripped off by prices inflating out of reach, driven by investors with zero stake in NZ and who have never paid 1c in tax here. I can’t go anywhere else, except perhaps Aussie, but they treat Kiwis like shit
Beware, beware……the persons quoted in the report are currently lined up, hand in each others pockets, with one of the biggest property developers in the area (who has a great cloak of ‘philanthropy’) to be gifted over 1000 State Houses..already making noises about wrong houses, wrong areas, big sections…this is a softening up exercise, a tilling of the ground.
I hope you’ll join the Boycott Wilson NZ Facebook group and come to the protest rally I’ve planned for Saturday. We aim to educate Kiwis that Wilson Parking, whom we all know for their extortionate prices, is a tentacle of the same corporate monster that operates Wilson Security, responsible for running Australia’s notorious offshore detention centres.
The rally (and call to boycott Wilson) is in solidarity with the Boycott Wilson campaign coordinated by Whistleblowers, Activists and Citizens Alliance
(waca.net.au/boycott_wilson) which has already claimed some success for getting Transfield (now known as Broad Spectrum) to back away from the contract to run the camps, but Wilson was brought in as a subcontractor and has perpetuated the abysmal record of human rights abuses.
The aim is to pressure Wilson so that they won’t be inclined to bid outright for the contract when it comes up for renewal. Of course the ultimate aim is to force the Australian government itself to process asylum seekers in a humane, timely and transparent fashion on their own soil ie to close these modern day concentration camps.
Nelson Mandela said our Springbok protests were like the sun coming out for him and his imprisoned comrades. It is time for Kiwis who believe in justice and love to once again raise our voices so that those unjustly held and mistreated on Nauru and Manus Island can feel our sunshine.
Also have heard that one of the reasons why we are not getting rail to the Auckland airport is that the airport is making something like 1 million dollars a week in ripping off people through parking charges. They don’t want public transport to interfere with their profits. (I don’t think this is Wilson Parking at the airport), but just shows how high parking charges are stopping public transport growth and groups like Auckland Council and the airport are profiting from having bad transport links.
Still waiting for it Ad though and we are in 2016, bit like those affordable houses in Auckland. That’s the point. In the meantime the parking people many of those who actually are making the rail decisions are actually benefiting from the lack of rail, coming soon, coming soon, um hopefully coming soon, bit more talking and then maybe coming soon.
You can catch some of this detail on TransportBlog.
To save you the pain of dealing with the transport nerds, it’s looking like this:
– The only new funded capex on rail of any note in Auckland is the City Rail Link. This job is underway. Central government has promised to pay half of about $3billion, but no firm agreement has been formed and signed. It’s by a fair way the most expensive piece of infrastructure in New Zealand.
– Next off the blocks for the City is light rail up some of the main arterials like Dominion Road and Mt Eden Road. There’s huge momentum for it inside Auckland Transport, but no funding and not much enthusiasm for it in central government. It would take at least a decade to do.
– Next off the blocks would be a third rail line in central and southern Auckland. This will separate the freight rail from the passenger rail. Very congested currently. Sometime in the next decade.
– After that I suspect would come the tunnel to Auckland’s North Shore, currently on the books for 2025 start. Gov’t may push for faster, but I haven’t seen it. This will have rail capacity underneath it. The North Shore busway has grades for conversion to light rail, but not heavy rail.
– Somewhere in that is rail to the airport. It’s in the mix, but TBH it’s competing against a bunch of other stuff. And TBH the hardest thing about rail projects is getting the funding through. It seriously takes at least a decade of argument to make it.
Which is quite a lot of your life, if you’re prepared to devote yourself to it.
“Any foodie will tell you it’s all about the ingredients. Yet Auckland’s ingredients – so fresh, so flavoursome – have been processed by forces so negligent they should be in jail. It’s like they took wagyu and decided to make mince lasagne.
The people who’ve tied up Auckland for 40 or 50 years have methodically worked through a recipe to produce not an oasis, but an aneurism. Traffic that’s fractal: from overhead, it is a seizure.
Inside the driver’s head, yet another seizure. The economic cost of cars not moving – another seizure. But I’m sure the traffic looks good in photos.”
This is fascinating and the type of research which should be happening in NZ.
“A forest is much more than what you see,” says ecologist Suzanne Simard. Her 30 years of research in Canadian forests have led to an astounding discovery — trees talk, often and over vast distances. Learn more about the harmonious yet complicated social lives of trees and prepare to see the natural world with new eyes.”
I see Raybon Kan is once again raising the finger to the Government in the Herald today about the state of the river water and how its acceptable to have a wading standard only. He really does sail close to the wind these days and I am amazed granny allows his columns to be published. He is either going to lose his job writing for the paper or Granny is becoming jaded with the Government and its lack lustre performance. He writes in such a funny way and I see he is a comedian – it shines through with his biting way he gets stuff across albeit it in a humorous way. The PR machine of the Government won’t be pleased.
Still funny though Paul – he’s channeling the government discourses so well…
“Then there’s Havelock North.
Of course Havelock North’s water is drinkable. Look how many people drank it.
A third of the population were laid low. But look on the bright side: while one third of the population of Havelock North were poisoned, that means two-thirds weren’t. And in a democracy, two-thirds is a majority, an absolute landslide, who support the local water and all its diverse populations of bacteria.”
Bears investigating, save nz. I’m believing my forest garden acts this way also and that’s why I champion it. No bears yet, though my wife said she saw an orangutan in the plum tree recently (but it was me:-)
Not if you read it: it’s probably largely the results of a publisher’s publicity arm.
Author of upcoming book (amazon link supplied) on US constitution is the main source for commentary on issue that the book “touches on” (lol of thirty-odd articles and amendments in constitution, four deal with the presidency) after rumours about Clinton’s health and Trump’s age/possibility of dropping out.
I am pleasantly surprised that Obama has made it thus far without someone taking a shot at him. When he was elected I thought it was only a matter of time before some redneck had a go.
Given their ages, the odds of either Trump or Clinton making it to the end of a term (let alone two) must be lower than most, and that is just from natural causes.
Converting the site to https is having a few quirks that didn’t show up on the test framework. Notable was the way that it lost all of the right hand site widgets.
Got the most of the tabs back, and the mobile theme is back again.
Just letting the database scan on the backend run at present.
Two Deeply Disliked Presidential Candidates
(Trigger warning: This may upset Clinton supporters of a nervous disposition)
From Time:
Hillary Clinton’s reputation among Americans has hit rock bottom, according to a new survey.
America’s Opinion of Hillary Clinton Hits Record Low
Daniel White @danielatlarge
Aug. 31, 2016
(But Donald Trump’s favorability rating is even lower)
A Washington Post–ABC News poll released Wednesday shows that 56% of Americans view Clinton unfavorably, while 41% have a favorable impression of the Democrat—the worst she’s been viewed in her time in public life.
Clinton’s previous low was in July when her favorable rating was 42%, according to the Post, while her previous unfavorable high was 55% in June.
Trump’s image, however, remains worse, with 63% of Americans holding an unfavorable opinion of him and only 35% having a favorable view.
Clinton’s image had managed to rebound a bit after the Democratic National Convention in July—48% favorable and 50% unfavorable—but things appear to have bottomed out.
The latest survey was conducted Aug. 24-28 among a national sample of 1,020 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%.
The Week
At first glance, Clinton’s favorability rating might at least look better than Donald Trump’s. But, The Washington Post noted, when only registered voters are taken into consideration, “Clinton’s image is about as bad as Trump’s.” While Clinton sees a split of 38 percent favorable and 59 percent unfavorable, Trump’s split is 37 percent favorable and 60 percent unfavorable.
So, Clinton at minus 21 / Trump on minus 23.
A look through Real Clear Politics also suggests Clinton has suffered worse Favourability negs in recent months – minus 25 / minus 26 – and higher overall Unfavourability ratings – 60% / 61%.
Maybe, they’re simply comparing it with previous Washington Post–ABC News polls.
538 pointed out that at least some of the ‘dislike’ of Hillary probably stems from sexism, eg people don’t like to see successful women, or at least a woman like HIllary who is not typically feminine.
Probably true for social conservatives. But, you know, there are other reasons … for those who care to look at her record and policy proposals from a cold, hard, objective left-leaning stance, unencumbered by tribal sentimentality or the outrageous romanticisation of the Centre-Right / Neo-Liberal power-mongers at the top of the Democratic Party hierarchy.
The Democrats are a coalition – only some factions can be considered in any way social democratic.
Many who have little regard for uber-Hawkish, Wall St Girl, Hillary, have a great deal of time for Jill Stein and Elizabeth Warren.
What I can’t get my head around is those individuals that point to every flaw in Hillary’s records and positions (real, perceived, and outright debunked smear), claim to support Stein and Warren based on their positions, that then go on to claim Trump is a better choice than Clinton.
Looks to me like a massive case of blinding Hillary-hatred comes first, then an overdose of confirmation bias in evaluating any subsequent information about Clinton and Trump.
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
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Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
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ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
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Has John Key’s slavish support of the US ( pimping for the TPP, sending soldiers to Iraq, slagging off Putin, joining in military exercises in the South China Sea) meant a lot of the world sees us now as merely a puppet of Uncle Sam ?
And as a consequence, they can think of better people to vote for leader of the UN than a New Zealander, Helen Clark.
Just wondering….
Your thought makes sense to me Paul. Key is so ego driven, he seems to suck up to anyone whom is famous or important. He was happy as to slam Helen when he was in opposition, but as soon as she wants to go for the top job he starts sucking up to her. He is a disgrace. Hopefully the wise will understand that Key is just a star struck fool and not all kiwis are like that.
Go for it Aunty Helen, proud of you.
Also our headline news in overseas newspapers about milk product contamination and China’s annoyance, also our Clean Green image rubbished on the world stage with 5,200 citizens poisoned by our city water supply, we seem to be in the headlines a bit lately and not with a good look for us. The PM doesn’t help when he makes an idiot of himself on the US TV channels and 3-way handshakes, cringe material for us. Poor Helen doesn’t look like she is in with a chance. Anything the PM touches turns to shit for us and with his hands off attitude to importers and business to do the job properly we have a reinforced steel class action in the making – all because the market will do its job properly for the Government, what a laugh that is.
By the way why isn’t OSH stepping in and helping the doctors in their long hours and stating it is a health and safety issue. Are they also in the pockets of big government, we need Helen Kelly bless her heart to be well enough to come to their aid, she sure helped the Forestry Sector and the mortality rate has now come down for their workers because of her determination.
+100 Whispering Kate.
This.
TPPA. Clark’s UN bid. Tea-towel flag. And those are just the things he’s touched personally.
Key backed Helen for her current UN position, partly to get her off the NZ stage.
I wonder how much money New Zealand has wasted on trying to get a deluded Helen her dream of being a leader on the world stage?
I think you are right about wanting her out of New Zealand. She left the Labour party in such a dire state that without her Key had no opposition at all.
Also, of course as long as she had her dream Key owned her. She couldn’t do anything if Key wouldn’t support it. It hasn’t been Key sucking up to Clark. For the last 8 years it has been Clark sucking up to Key.
Makes her shafting of labour on the tppa obvious .
Nasty little man/woman you are alwyn. Fuck off to the sewer where you belong.
Ooh! Another Labour-can-do-no-wronger! Thought you might’ve been, you little piece of poo. Alwyn might be a RWNJ or Alwyn might not be – I don’t know and right now I don’t care. But the analysis – this time – is spot on. It’s fuckwits like you who’re responsible for fucking this country. No analysis, no critical faculty. Just blind support for a neo-liberal opposition that fucks our democracy. I suggest it’s you who should fuck off to the sewer where you belong. Hey, you might even meet Leftie there. You two could snuggle up, keep warm, hope you’re not eaten.
There, there diddums.
Have a nice relaxing cup of herbal tea and a lie-down.
You’ll feel much better.
Sucking up to bask in the glory of UN importance is what Key does well, only too happy to give her a push no doubt, good point, out of the way and all that.
Would love her to get the job, but i do wonder if ‘able to be manipulated’ is part of their judging criteria? Shame if it is
Next year may we please have a dignified, switched on, strong PM… please please.
Time for a change
Cinny- wait for it. From the Tory trolls here it’ll soon be ‘Crooked Helen’. They are so blatantly lacking in historical facts or even a semblance of truth. Very ideological Trumpish trolling.
Me too proud of Helen and If our present PM ever tried for the same office he’d quickly be jettisoned like the Aussie kevin. Blokiness is not leadership.
Substance counts!
It’s utterly fake blokey-ness in the Weak Man of course. A man who repeatedly pulls a young woman’s hair in the face of her objections is no good bloke. Someone who giggles girlishly on global television about the escape of a murderer/child rapist from prison in the country of which he’s PM…….he’s no decent fulla. He’s an horrific embarrassment.
North..Yes. your ‘blokey-ness’ better spelling than my ‘blokiness’.
Hey the cloying (albeit one way) blokey relationship with Richie Mcaw seems to have lost its intensity.
Sir (no thanks) Richie must be relieved.
Kieran Read- be warned of fickle politicians seeking vicarious blokey-ness.
I think she just put herself forward, said what she thought she needed to say, tried her hardest and things played out accordingly. This of course includes looking at everything you’ve referred to, as well as the F&S debacle, accusations of bullying both here and in NY, her treatment of New Zealand’s poor when PM, and no doubt a whole bunch of other stuff, too.
Has John Key’s slavish support of the US ( pimping for the TPP, sending soldiers to Iraq, slagging off Putin, joining in military exercises in the South China Sea) meant a lot of the world sees us now as merely a puppet of Uncle Sam ?
You hit the nail on the head
the BRICS countries particularly. Remember the US strategy is not merely to isolate those nations, but to ensure that countries like NZ cannot relate to those nations independently.
OMG ! Did this facile crap from Herald’s deputy politicial editor Trev’ ‘need’ to be written at all. Main point – “Weeeee…….look at me I’ve been in The Big Apple !”. Almost preferable and certainly intellectually weightier – the headline (didn’t click) – “What it’s like to be a sex toy tester.” Herald and Trev’ are such shit.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11702315
The media sucks.
Lol Paul. Sex toy tester, the media sucks. Intentional?
Switch off the mainstream news.
There are good alternatives now.
Highly recommend Waatea 5th Estate. RNZ is the best of the MSM, although it sources it’s foreign news through propaganda outlets, do it’s reporting of the Syrian conflict, the Ukraine, the Olympics and the Yemen show a clear US bias.
Seemorerocks is good for environmental news.
To get independent UK news, try the Canary.
The following journalists are worth reading.
John Pilger.
Robert Fisk.
George Monbiot.
Bryan Bruce ( NZ)
We can bypass these corporate puppets.
May i add the “Listening Post” to that list? Richard Gizbert is worth watching, every sunday morning at 7;30am on Al Jazeera.
Best international media round up on the planet IMO
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/
yes i do enjoy this programme
The media sucks.
Switch off the mainstream news.
There are good alternatives now.
We can bypass these corporate puppets.
Good advice Paul.
You will be taking it?
No more wallowing in the filth of MSM lies for you?
Waatea fifth estate =real life in NZ .
The rest is an alternative reality called planet key.
The journalists you mention Paul represent what is real journalism and Bryan Bruce made a contribution on Waatea a few days ago and it was great to have his input.
Made the bypass some time ago and never looked back.
Stuff isn’t much better. Their main story yesterday was Crystal Chenery handing out “sex advice”. Front page, first thing you see — ex-bachelorette crapping on about sex. As “newspapers” go, they’re collectively about as much use as a roll of Purex 2-ply.
Wensleydale Stuff is a product of Fairfax media ( J M T P) just more tory propaganda and dumbed down crap.
Thank god the net has alternatives.
Maurice Williamson is to be our commissioner in LA. How embarrassing, sick of cushy jobs offshore for failed Nat Party Politicians. Winston is speaking out, saying if he is part of the next government that Williamson will be coming back to NZ and someone whom cares about our country will be placed there instead. Sounds like Winnie is not into backing Nationals jobs for the boys agenda. Well said Sir Winston, well said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/83767989/outgoing-national-mp-maurice-williamson-picks-up-plum-la-diplomatic-posting
There is a reward given for serving the corporate multinational agenda.
Politicians who sell their souls get very comfortable pastures in return for the betrayal of the country and citizens’ interests.
Look at the sad list of ex MPs who now shill even more for the corporates.
I think Katherine Rich pimping for Coca Cola and Nestle must be the nadir.
Of course we don’t have anyone in NZ like Bill Clinton or Tony Blair.
They have made it an art form.
Yes we do but you will not find out till he’s residing in the land of the free.
I would quite happily vote for you to go and take the job Paul
Williamson’s mouth will be kept well shut no doubt by the LA sinecure. And, oh joy !, he’ll have the time to catch up with Ellen.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11702315
From Herald’s Deputy Trev’ – “Williamson, who has been an MP since 1987, follows in a long line of politicians appointed to diplomatic postings. In recent years that has included former Speaker Sir Lockwood Smith to London, former Trade Minister Tim Groser to Washington and former Labour MP Shane Jones as a newly created Pacific Economic Ambassador.”
As though the mention of former “Labour” MP Shane Jones says we’re not squarely in dodgy, “share the spoils boys”, territory. Heightens the impression in my book.
Maybe Winnie will recall Groser as well. I’d love that lolololz.
Giving Jones the Pacific Economic Ambassador role, is a nice little distraction so national doesn’t look as biased as what they are.
Williamson’s mouth will be kept well shut no doubt by the LA sinecure. And, oh joy !, he’ll have the time to catch up with Ellen.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11702315
From Herald’s Deputy Trev’ – “Williamson, who has been an MP since 1987, follows in a long line of politicians appointed to diplomatic postings. In recent years that has included former Speaker Sir Lockwood Smith to London, former Trade Minister Tim Groser to Washington and former Labour MP Shane Jones as a newly created Pacific Economic Ambassador.”
As though the mention of former “Labour” MP Shane Jones says we’re not squarely in dodgy, “share the spoils boys”, territory. Heightens the impression in my book.
Share the spoils sums it up.
Treasonous politicians.
They need an appointment in court.
And a long stay at their local Serco house of fun.
Key can tell that funny joke about the shower soap, the boys will love that one.
Winston hates Key and NZF’s policies seem to have mellowed (maybe not Ron Mark)…..so my rolling averages for the Roy Morgan polls show that we will have a new government next year regardless of the MP’s support for Key’s policies (not sure if ACT and UF are really parties as they poll well under 1%):
Lab/Gr/NZF 49.8%
Nats/UF/ACT/MP 48.3%
Governments lose elections rather than oppositions win them. The water and housing crises and the education reforms are the latest symptoms of a government out of touch with reality.
I don’t like the concept third-termitis. Governments are perfectly capable of operating as well in a third term as in a first term….but this government has lost it.
LAB/GR/NZF 3 party coalition trying to govern with a 2 seat majority at the start of their first term?
That’s the recipe for a short lived government and a snap election at the end of year 2.
I doubt Winston will go into a coalition with anybody CV and will stay on the cross benches after agreeing to support the largest party on confidence and supply.
Labour is still polling to low and that has not changed, hardly in a position to gain the authority of parliament.
No one will want to go back to the country and fight an early election.
I think a series of significant policy concessions by National to NZF as well as a bunch of outside Cabinet posts may be sufficient for Winston to sign up to this.
It will also guarantee a fifth National term.
Have you no ‘ashpirayshun’ CV ? Why aren’t you panting for a 6th nay 7th term for the National Party. You’d be well made up wouldn’t you ? The Left, not controlled/directed by you’d be despatched to the rubbish bin of history. Sweet !
My strategic analysis is simple. I’m sorry that you cannot understand it.
Allow me to restate: in this game, National needs to understand the benefits awaiting it if it chooses to bend over backwards and make a few significant concessions to Winston and NZ First. The goal would be to gain NZ First’s commitment as the National Party’s new, strong MMP partner.
With the 10% to 14% that Winston will bring to the table in 2017, as well as new policy energy, coming to such an arrangement will guarantee National not just a fourth term, but also a fifth term.
How many times does it have to be said? You cannot trust NZF.
What Winston says and what Winston does are poles apart. He makes the right populist noises but he takes his one man band where the pickings are best suited to his whims.Do not count on him backing the Left. NZF CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO SUPPORT US ON THE LEFT.
The difference Bearded Git with this third term government is the media is on side has been even before the 2008 election.
Normally even with third term National governments years past the media were always reminding us of how tired and out of touch they were and how prone the government was to a succession of disasters and their handling of them and being increasingly out of touch with the country and in the case of Labours last term we kept being told it was time for a change – but a change to what ? well we have found that one out.
The spin and manipulation with an aggressive PR machine and the loyal journalists to do their bidding this government is well placed to win next year and the National parties massive war chest is bursting with money to spend on the campaign.
Crosby Textor are still here advising them on strategy and Key will only respond to issues and how to handle them after he has polling data telling him what to think and how to play it.
Its not what they say , its how they say it.
This will be the first fourth term government scince 1969 when we had Mr holyoake followed of course with Big Norm Kirk and the watershed election of 1972.
Good to see the EU taking a stance against Apple.
Here’s a prediction.
Money man and corporate puppet Key will do absolutely nothing about these multinational bludgers.
And because these large internet companies don’t fulfil their part of the social contract, there will not be the taxes to pay for a civil society.
NZ companies ( who pay their taxes) will struggle to compete with these gigantic parasites. And some will go bust.
There will be fewer jobs.
And a lot more low quality precarious jobs. Working for Uber lacks the security of being employed in a regulated taxi industry.
The race to the bottom will accelerate.
More parts of the health, housing and education sectors will be privatised as a government without the necessary tax take will withdraw further from actually governing.
If you think New Zealand is bad now, it’s going to be a lot worse with 10 more years of neoliberal policies wreaking havoc.
As yet, the Labour Party is failing to offer a real alternative.
Is that an acorn I felt or the sky falling, Mr Little?
So Rousseff, leader of the Brazilian left has been impeached for “budget irregularities”. Surprise, surprise but what is interesting is the Senate vote (61 – 20). Considering the 2 opposition comminst parties (PCDoB and PT) are 12 of the opposition votes where did the majority of votes come from? Well the Centre/Centre Left screwed her (PSDP, PMDB, PDT etc). Hardly the political elite but more like the Left canabilising it’s own. Just like the left in NZ and UK, principals go out the door when it comes to money.
Another unreported corporate coup.
New Zealand 1984 fronted by the puppet Douglas.
Brazil 2016 fronted by the puppet Temer.
And all the pseudo left polticiNs who stabbed Roussef in the back will be expecting their cushy job at Petrobas or diplomatic posting to Washington.
And neoliberalism will continue to put money above people in Brazil.
Righty @ 5 – “principals” ? Seems your’s didn’t do that well Righty. Guess you’d be a fan of results-based performance pay in the education sector. Can’t have shit product floating around can we ? Note…….you’re under recall Righty.
North, while I agree with you totally, you ought to be aware that your’s can mean only ‘your is’ or ‘your has’. And I find it hard to create a sentence where either could be used. Please be careful…
Thanks In Vino. As I wrote the question of its correctness did cross my mind. I blame my ‘principle’ of course.
Good job Brazil, the woman is a disgrace
Research the topic in more detail than what the msm tells you.
From what I’ve been reading and hearing, the entire impeachment process was total corruption from the right-wing.
US sponsored effort to break up the BRICS
Turks lay siege to Rojava – Much like they did to the Christians in Constantinople in 1453, the Turks are now laying siege to the Syrian Kurdish automous region of Rojava in northern Syria. After the Kurds took the large city of Manbij from ISIS a couple of weeks ago (with the loss of 250 fighters) they were preparing to liberate Jarabulus west of Rojava and close to the Turkish border, which would have closed the corridor for Turkish assistance to ISIS and other jihadists groups. Instead, Turkey invaded with a proxy bunch of jihardist fighters, after prior agreement with ISIS who simply stayed in the city and were incorporated into the “liberating” forces (who have since reasserted Sharia law and murdered one of the city’s leaders one hour after he put out a press statement condemning the Turks and jihardists). The United States who assisted the Turkish forces with air strikes told the Kurds they had to retreat from Manbij back to across the Euphrates River to continue to get support from the US (mostly air support, small arms and advisors on the ground). Theoretically, the United States has managed to stop the Kurdish and Turkish forces from fighting but what is really happening is that the Turks are right now building a wall along Kobane (which is the originally Kurdish city that fought back at ISIS and expanded from there) so that no people or supplies can get in or out of there. It has its own jihardist forces blocking the Kurds in the west around Jarabulus (getting new fighters from the refugee camps in Turkey amongst other places, and using child solders), Assad’s Syrian government forces blocking them to the south (Russia, Iran, Turkey and Assad have come to an understanding over this) and ISIS blocking them from the east. The aim is to make sure the Kurds are completely isolated and then to wear them down by making life hell for everyone living in Rojava (Kurds, Arabs etc) and using Turkey’s proxy militias to wear them down militarily. If that doesn’t work, I expect the Turks will simply give up the veneer and simply go in with their full army.
http://aranews.net/2016/08/turkey-building-barrier-wall-border-kobane-syrian-kurds-protest/
To e.p. From current events, the Kurds have been prevented from gaining too much territory in Syria, despite these hard fighting men and women soldiers, unlike the Syrian army, are a real match for ISIS. The Turks have been playing a fast and loose game as a NATO member and ISIS associate, oil trade and slack border controls.
We hear very little of all those ISIS fighters now that they are beaten back. Where do they disappear to, back to Saudi Arabia, the Urals, Europe… no body count for them??? At the moment all we see on MSM is the discovery of mass graves of civilians killed by these ISIS thugs.
That’s the most depressing news I’ve heard in quite a while.
The “War on Terror”…. unless it’s ‘our’ “War with Terror” or terror being inflicted by ‘our’ many convenient friends.
If the peoples in Rojava are waiting for any international outcry or help, they’ll be waiting a long, long time. They don’t count. Worse, any ordinary person helping them out (eg Labor Party NT president Matthew Gardine), is deemed to be a terrorist sympathiser, threatened with many years in jail just for going to the region and regardless, subjected to what seems to have been, a very heavy handed gagging order .
And war pillocks like Hilary Ben have the gall to stand up in parliament and cynically evoke memories of the Spanish Civil War…
The world’s a long time fucking fucked
RT have just done a good show on what the hell Turkey is up to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77OzrAoAWIo
Whew EP! You mean there is a plan? Whose plan do you reckon?
good post e.p…….who in this world would ever trust Erdogan?
Better to just regime change him out…whoops that was tried recently
There’s no surprise here – the Turks will carry out genocide on the Kurds just like they did on the Armenians.
I’m just surprised the yankers haven’t shafted the Kurds yet. They will: they always do.
I wish I could contradict something in this to give some hope to the Kurds, but I can’t. I know they have the spirit to fight like hell, but why are they so alone? Utter corruption on the part of the West – our side. We started all this with the Sykes/Picot agreement, we are betraying them again, and their blood is on our hands.
Writing comments has been a bit painful so far this morning. I’m on ‘holiday’ doing a bit of maintenance. And we all know what that means…
I upgraded the firmware in the network WAN this morning. So the site was off for a while.
Just replaced a dodgy 120GB SSD on The Standard RAID with one where I am confident in the manufacturers ability to make good storage. The drive is copying and making writes really slow on TS. Should be done in 5 minutes.
Should be back to normal now (Testing)
Yep – the delay has reverted to merely annoying – not like “get another cup of coffee” of the last 40 minutes.
lemmie guess, you are running some consumer level ssd in raid? samsung evo?
I do wonder if self-hosting is really a false economy these days.
For your smoko……..twisted sister Ann Coulter. Emblem of US right wing sociopathy. Debating the intelllect of George Dubya Bush. Not a large topic…….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpV2dTCSEzM
Police calls from Oamaru are diverted to gawd knows where, so the locals are not bothering to report crime, & on the front page of the same paper was a story about crime rising in the south, go John Key rararara!!!!!
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/north-otago/angry-calls-police-diverted
“”It’s bloody hopeless. We’ve had the situation in Oamaru where police have asked us to [keep an eye out] for someone who has gone missing, we find them, we end up trying to call them and you end up anywhere but Oamaru.””
With the police and social services budget being diverted to spying (65% budget increase to GCSB for terrorists here in NZ, sarc), and the police doing political ground work like investigating Nicky Hagar and investigative journalists rather than actually concentrating on law and order, the public are being left in the lurch and actually soon realise there is no point even reporting crime, especially if you don’t have an local police anymore (apart from revenue gathering traffic police).
All the cops are in South Auckland working through a backlog of burglaries as per Judith Collins instructions. I’m sorry ‘rest of New Zealand’, you’re just going to have to join the end of the queue. We’ll get to you eventually; try not to die in the meantime.
Face Book now geotracking mobile phones of everyone you are near/that you visit/that visit you
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-31/facebook-just-got-whole-lot-creepier
don’t have a mobile phone. seriously. we used to live quite well without phones.
Nice one. Now today I feel trapped by these technological “conveniences”.
No need to feel trapped by them CV. You don’t need to let them be your master. An “aid”. That’s all they are.
We used to live quite well without writing either, but most people find it very handy.
thats the thing, do most people think it’s handy or do they just have it lest the miss something from work or an update form something that actually does nothing to enhance their lifes?
One reason i believe the planet is so fucked up is this lack of quiet time, undisturbed me time or us time, time without beeps and bings.
I pity people on their phones. I do.
It appears that folks end up quite addicted to their phones Sabine. They don’t take time to look around when they’re waiting at the bus stop, the train station etc and when they get on board their transport it’s all tap tap tap. Not looking at the scenery. They are not observing life passing by, noticing things, being aware of how they are feeling, except for maybe getting a crick in their neck for staring down at the god like screen for so long.
I got given an iphone as a gift recently. It’s my first one. It only gets used for taking photo’s and sending the odd message. It’s better that way. I don’t become reliant upon it. And the faceblab I keep on the P.C only. There’s a time for faceblab and a time for living life uninterrupted.
Then there’s that creepy stuff that CV was referring to, so best to keep as little info on your iphone/spy phone as possible.
if face book get a hold of your mobile phone number they can track your movements with your smartphone even if you don’t have Face Book on your phone.
“I pity people on their phones. I do.”
Me too.
I have one (not smart) which I conveniently leave at home unless I feel the need to carry it for safety reasons. A $20 top up lasts me about 6 months.
It’s useful if travelling abroad and then only because you have to supply contact phone for bookings etc.
I used to use one of those (still have it actually). A $20 top up would last me a full year.
Now I have a smart phone and it mostly gets used for reading books and using public transport. Unfortunately, the data costs me $6/month.
“Now I have a smart phone and it mostly gets used for reading books”
lol the younger generation e by gum, when we were kids we had to HOLD the bloody books and they were on fucken paper and the skin of animals arrr but try telling that to the younguns now and they just laugh at ya
Strange, I still seem to have to hold the phone. Thankfully it’s no longer necessary to kill unnecessarily to produce the book.
Yep your phone to produce is associated with slavery, exploitation, economic servitude, environmental destruction and toxic pollution. Yep real good device that one – as long as we close our ears and eyes to the immeasurable suffering created so you can read whilst holding your phone. And the comparison with books? Killing animals – if you were vegetarian your view may have a little wee wee merit – but you aren’t are you, so it doesn’t does it.
Lol – silliest comment of the day, so far
Only if you failed to understand it.
“We used to live quite well without writing either, but most people find it very handy.”
there it is, explain away big brain…
and don’t forget this is in the context of Sabine’s comment which pm replied to
“don’t have a mobile phone. seriously. we used to live quite well without phones.”
way you go Bastard, the floor is yours
Keyboards and touchscreens, mate 🙂
no, still don’t get it – my bad 🙁
It’s simple.
Writing has allowed us to learn more and live better. Phones and the internet are now doing the same as writing did ~5000 years ago.
debatable in many ways, from many angles and certainly not true in any sense of the word true – let’s just say I disagree and find it amusing, your position that is.
“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?”.
Some interesting stuff in here:
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/income-and-work/employment_and_unemployment/improving-labour-market-statistics/union-memship-emplymt-agmt.aspx
“An 18-year-old black high school student in the United States was awarded just US$18 after being punched, Tasered and arrested over a crime he did not commit….
Local South Bend, Indiana pastor Reverend Mario Sims said the award sends an unfortunate message: “Your rights are worth a dollar.”
“To me it’s just solidifying that blacks in America, we have no rights,” says Mr Franklin’s nephew, Russell Thomas Jr.”
http://www.newshub.co.nz/world/innocent-man-awarded-18-after-punched-and-tasered-2016083121?ref=newshubFB
I see in the article that the police were at the right house, and mistook him for his brother (he matched the description fairly well) whom they were after for something serious (domestic violence related). They seem to have realised that they had the wrong man, but in the meantime he “resisted police”, and that is why they then arrested him.
Depending on what “resisted” actually means, and I expect the jury and judge heard the detail, then $18 might be $18 too much.
I guess the Black kid should be thankful he didn’t get a clip emptied into him, eh.
I guess you’re assuming the cops were white – or that just because he was black it is automatically a race issue.
Depending on the manner in which he resisted, he may well be lucky they did not empty a clip into him given the apparent American obsession with clip emptying (I think the report said he was tasered – shocking as it is).
Racist right wing Scott on the block again. Like he never heard about the spectacular brutalisation of blacks by US police.
” I guess you’re assuming the cops were white – or that just because he was black it is automatically a race issue.”
No, just saying you think the kid should thank his lucky stars that the cops didn’t empty a clip into him.
Beware ‘trickle up’ is spreading”
Tauranga agencies struggling with growing number of homeless
A “tsunami” of homelessness has ripped through Tauranga, with more than 30 families seeking emergency accommodation each week, social agencies say.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/201814355/tauranga-agencies-struggling-with-growing-number-of-homeless
i have been saying that for at least 3.5 years now. That shit is spreading like wildfire, and anyone who believes they are safe and it’s not gonna happen here cause its only AKL problem is in for a rude awaking.
This country is being sold, one house at a time and its not Kiwis that need a home doing the buying.
New Zealanders has been sold.
The fight is over who owns us.
China or the US.
Yes ….New Zealand thought it could play USA off against China and get the best of both worlds .Instead we get the worst of both …. owned by American Corporates and overrun by immigrants.
So, so true. We are constantly lied to about what is the obvious takeover happening right in front of us. Kiwis have been betrayed by our elected leaders for 32 years. Now Pakehas get to feel what it’s like to be colonised.
with pakeha you mean white people?
not pakeha as in not of maori descend of whom many are not white?
I don’t understand at this comment as not all pakehas have been here when NZ was colonialised, and not all have been here literally like 25 years ago.
I do also believe that the ones to suffer the most in this recent sale of NZ is still the indigenous people of NZ as this is the only land they have, many pakehas can pack if and go back to where ever they came from if it gets to bad.
but for the Maori population and the what now up to 5th generation of born into NZ pakehas – many whom have maori family ties, where will they go?
So no, i don’t feel getting colonialised, I don’t feel angsty for mine self, but i do feel upset for those around me that only have this country to call Motherland or Fatherland if you are so inclined.
By Pakeha I mean NZers mainly of European descent who grew up here and assumed that by studying, working hard and saving they might have a future in NZ. But that has been taken away by Nat supporters’ greed for endless capital gains on housing, no matter the wider costs to the rest of society.
I am feeling pretty ripped off by prices inflating out of reach, driven by investors with zero stake in NZ and who have never paid 1c in tax here. I can’t go anywhere else, except perhaps Aussie, but they treat Kiwis like shit
Beware, beware……the persons quoted in the report are currently lined up, hand in each others pockets, with one of the biggest property developers in the area (who has a great cloak of ‘philanthropy’) to be gifted over 1000 State Houses..already making noises about wrong houses, wrong areas, big sections…this is a softening up exercise, a tilling of the ground.
Glen Innes/Tamaki on repeat
I hope you’ll join the Boycott Wilson NZ Facebook group and come to the protest rally I’ve planned for Saturday. We aim to educate Kiwis that Wilson Parking, whom we all know for their extortionate prices, is a tentacle of the same corporate monster that operates Wilson Security, responsible for running Australia’s notorious offshore detention centres.
The rally (and call to boycott Wilson) is in solidarity with the Boycott Wilson campaign coordinated by Whistleblowers, Activists and Citizens Alliance
(waca.net.au/boycott_wilson) which has already claimed some success for getting Transfield (now known as Broad Spectrum) to back away from the contract to run the camps, but Wilson was brought in as a subcontractor and has perpetuated the abysmal record of human rights abuses.
The aim is to pressure Wilson so that they won’t be inclined to bid outright for the contract when it comes up for renewal. Of course the ultimate aim is to force the Australian government itself to process asylum seekers in a humane, timely and transparent fashion on their own soil ie to close these modern day concentration camps.
Nelson Mandela said our Springbok protests were like the sun coming out for him and his imprisoned comrades. It is time for Kiwis who believe in justice and love to once again raise our voices so that those unjustly held and mistreated on Nauru and Manus Island can feel our sunshine.
Protest event details: https://www.facebook.com/events/861707600640405/
+1 Julia Schiller
Maybe they can pay some tax too, for their outrageous charges
http://www.smh.com.au/business/wilson-parkings-tax-numbers-appear-to-defy-economic-reality-20160408-go1w4u.html
Also have heard that one of the reasons why we are not getting rail to the Auckland airport is that the airport is making something like 1 million dollars a week in ripping off people through parking charges. They don’t want public transport to interfere with their profits. (I don’t think this is Wilson Parking at the airport), but just shows how high parking charges are stopping public transport growth and groups like Auckland Council and the airport are profiting from having bad transport links.
The airport has designed for the future around light rail.
You can see their plans on line.
Still waiting for it Ad though and we are in 2016, bit like those affordable houses in Auckland. That’s the point. In the meantime the parking people many of those who actually are making the rail decisions are actually benefiting from the lack of rail, coming soon, coming soon, um hopefully coming soon, bit more talking and then maybe coming soon.
You can catch some of this detail on TransportBlog.
To save you the pain of dealing with the transport nerds, it’s looking like this:
– The only new funded capex on rail of any note in Auckland is the City Rail Link. This job is underway. Central government has promised to pay half of about $3billion, but no firm agreement has been formed and signed. It’s by a fair way the most expensive piece of infrastructure in New Zealand.
– Next off the blocks for the City is light rail up some of the main arterials like Dominion Road and Mt Eden Road. There’s huge momentum for it inside Auckland Transport, but no funding and not much enthusiasm for it in central government. It would take at least a decade to do.
– Next off the blocks would be a third rail line in central and southern Auckland. This will separate the freight rail from the passenger rail. Very congested currently. Sometime in the next decade.
– After that I suspect would come the tunnel to Auckland’s North Shore, currently on the books for 2025 start. Gov’t may push for faster, but I haven’t seen it. This will have rail capacity underneath it. The North Shore busway has grades for conversion to light rail, but not heavy rail.
– Somewhere in that is rail to the airport. It’s in the mix, but TBH it’s competing against a bunch of other stuff. And TBH the hardest thing about rail projects is getting the funding through. It seriously takes at least a decade of argument to make it.
Which is quite a lot of your life, if you’re prepared to devote yourself to it.
I agree more with Raybon Kan…
“Any foodie will tell you it’s all about the ingredients. Yet Auckland’s ingredients – so fresh, so flavoursome – have been processed by forces so negligent they should be in jail. It’s like they took wagyu and decided to make mince lasagne.
The people who’ve tied up Auckland for 40 or 50 years have methodically worked through a recipe to produce not an oasis, but an aneurism. Traffic that’s fractal: from overhead, it is a seizure.
Inside the driver’s head, yet another seizure. The economic cost of cars not moving – another seizure. But I’m sure the traffic looks good in photos.”
So in short nobody knows when rail will get to the airport, it’s a talk fest subject.
This is fascinating and the type of research which should be happening in NZ.
“A forest is much more than what you see,” says ecologist Suzanne Simard. Her 30 years of research in Canadian forests have led to an astounding discovery — trees talk, often and over vast distances. Learn more about the harmonious yet complicated social lives of trees and prepare to see the natural world with new eyes.”
https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_simard_how_trees_talk_to_each_other
I see Raybon Kan is once again raising the finger to the Government in the Herald today about the state of the river water and how its acceptable to have a wading standard only. He really does sail close to the wind these days and I am amazed granny allows his columns to be published. He is either going to lose his job writing for the paper or Granny is becoming jaded with the Government and its lack lustre performance. He writes in such a funny way and I see he is a comedian – it shines through with his biting way he gets stuff across albeit it in a humorous way. The PR machine of the Government won’t be pleased.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11702398
Faux balance.
That’s all.
Still funny though Paul – he’s channeling the government discourses so well…
“Then there’s Havelock North.
Of course Havelock North’s water is drinkable. Look how many people drank it.
A third of the population were laid low. But look on the bright side: while one third of the population of Havelock North were poisoned, that means two-thirds weren’t. And in a democracy, two-thirds is a majority, an absolute landslide, who support the local water and all its diverse populations of bacteria.”
Bears investigating, save nz. I’m believing my forest garden acts this way also and that’s why I champion it. No bears yet, though my wife said she saw an orangutan in the plum tree recently (but it was me:-)
Candidate death may delay or eliminate Presidential election
What a weird article from the US mainstream MSM
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-08-30/candidate-death-could-delay-or-eliminate-presidential-election
Not if you read it: it’s probably largely the results of a publisher’s publicity arm.
Author of upcoming book (amazon link supplied) on US constitution is the main source for commentary on issue that the book “touches on” (lol of thirty-odd articles and amendments in constitution, four deal with the presidency) after rumours about Clinton’s health and Trump’s age/possibility of dropping out.
I am pleasantly surprised that Obama has made it thus far without someone taking a shot at him. When he was elected I thought it was only a matter of time before some redneck had a go.
Given their ages, the odds of either Trump or Clinton making it to the end of a term (let alone two) must be lower than most, and that is just from natural causes.
yeah, apparently more than a couple had a go (beyond just mouthing off in bars). Fortunately they never got there.
Converting the site to https is having a few quirks that didn’t show up on the test framework. Notable was the way that it lost all of the right hand site widgets.
Got the most of the tabs back, and the mobile theme is back again.
Just letting the database scan on the backend run at present.
Font seems to have changed (seem to remember that happening in the past too). Looks like a different font, and it’s a bit blurry.
Yep.
That is because the font was a google font, and the code called for a http rather than a https.
Just got the replies tab back. I really don’t know how it was working before. It must have been picking up on some other plugin that I removed.
It’s back, but still just as broken.
Getting there. I have a few days away from work.
‘Replies’ Tab is working again for me, after quite a while not.
Thanks!
Yeah, looks like it’s fixed now. Thanks!
Two Deeply Disliked Presidential Candidates
(Trigger warning: This may upset Clinton supporters of a nervous disposition)
From Time:
The Week
So, Clinton at minus 21 / Trump on minus 23.
A look through Real Clear Politics also suggests Clinton has suffered worse Favourability negs in recent months – minus 25 / minus 26 – and higher overall Unfavourability ratings – 60% / 61%.
Maybe, they’re simply comparing it with previous Washington Post–ABC News polls.
I’m still picking an easy win by Trump…
Care to wager a lazy $100 on it……………charity of your choice ?
Already have skin in the game thanks 🙂
Clinton is 5% ahead on the Real Clear Politics site poll of polls. And she is ahead in all of the key battleground states.
And this changes the fact that most people don’t actually like her how?
538 pointed out that at least some of the ‘dislike’ of Hillary probably stems from sexism, eg people don’t like to see successful women, or at least a woman like HIllary who is not typically feminine.
Probably true for social conservatives. But, you know, there are other reasons … for those who care to look at her record and policy proposals from a cold, hard, objective left-leaning stance, unencumbered by tribal sentimentality or the outrageous romanticisation of the Centre-Right / Neo-Liberal power-mongers at the top of the Democratic Party hierarchy.
The Democrats are a coalition – only some factions can be considered in any way social democratic.
Many who have little regard for uber-Hawkish, Wall St Girl, Hillary, have a great deal of time for Jill Stein and Elizabeth Warren.
What I can’t get my head around is those individuals that point to every flaw in Hillary’s records and positions (real, perceived, and outright debunked smear), claim to support Stein and Warren based on their positions, that then go on to claim Trump is a better choice than Clinton.
Looks to me like a massive case of blinding Hillary-hatred comes first, then an overdose of confirmation bias in evaluating any subsequent information about Clinton and Trump.
” … then go on to claim Trump is a better choice than Clinton.”
I’d take that up with Trump supporters if I were you.
” … every flaw in Hillary’s records and positions (real, perceived, and outright debunked smear)”
You’re indulging in the usual minimisation / outright denial.