“No business owner would ever wish this upon anybody in their workplace.”
Actually, some business owners wish it upon the workers all the time. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be complaining about increasing health and safety rules.
Some things in that item that stand out. The worker was 60 not 16.
Corboy Earthmovers had been in business for a number of decades, Mr Baxter said, but was now under new ownership after the original founder – Craig “Cactus” Corboy – died in a digger accident about three years ago….
The workplace fatality was November’s third. John Douglas Howe died last Wednesday when he was hit by a truck at a Mangere freight yard, and Mario Lelina was killed using machinery at a Southland gold mine on November 5.
I remember a politician, may have been David Lange, commenting that ACC was needed by workers particularly – he had never heard of a solicitor falling off a chair and breaking anything.
‘The release of a critical report on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ decision to grant immunity to a Malaysian diplomat will be put off at least until he is sentenced.’
‘Growing numbers of Kiwis risk becoming homeless in old age because of falling home ownership rates, rising rents and static housing subsidies, the Salvation Army says.
Homeless Baby Boomers, a hard-hitting report by the army’s social policy unit, says superannuitants in private rentals will jump almost four-fold from 61,000 in 2013 to 237,000 by 2030, as those owning their own homes drop from 73 per cent of the age group to 63 per cent.
It says rents have risen 4 per cent a year over the past five years, while the accommodation supplement has not changed since 2007, making it harder for many elderly renters to survive.’
This article by Chris Hedges shows how the USA has progressed under neo-liberalism.
The liberal class failed for decades to decry neoliberalism’s assault on the poor and on workingmen and -women. It busied itself with a boutique activism. It is not that cultural diversity is bad. It isn’t. It is that cultural diversity when divorced from economic and political justice, from the empowerment of the oppressed, is elitist. And this is why these liberal values are being rejected by a disenfranchised white underclass. They are seen as serving the elites, and marginalized groups, at the expense of that underclass.
Inequality doesn’t create every problem we face. Inequality just makes every problem we face much harder to solve. The latest case in point: the current four-year drought in California.
This drought — the worst in recorded state history — has average Californians skipping showers and still paying fines for using too much water. Meanwhile, in the state’s poshest neighborhoods, the owners of manses are keeping multiple swimming pools full.
In Los Angeles, investigators have revealed, one exceedingly wealthy “wet prince” went through 11.8 million gallons of water over a year’s time, enough for 90 families, and paid not one penny in penalty. Says his angry neighbor: “Someone has to say, ‘You can’t have five pools — you can have one pool.’”
One pool per plutocrat? We have to start somewhere. Lots more on our inequality and the struggle for much less of it in this month’s Too Much.
And the US has been neo-liberal for longer than NZ. The worship of the rich that we’ve had for the last thirty years causes huge problems for the poor and society in general.
That story is only a look at a very minor symptom and kind of irrelevant in the greater scheme. The real issue is agricultural usage – more than 80% of water usage – growing high water usage crops in an arid region. Think the recent law about offering restaurant diners water without a request matters versus intensive almond and rice cropping? California even produces hay for export using irrigation.
Actually, it’s a major symptom as it’s indicative of how the unsustainable agriculture in California is treated. Those rich and powerful get to do whatever they like no matter how much damage it does.
This kowtowing to the rich happens across the world and it causes all sorts of grief.
imo we need to retain a universal super … and we need to progress it further into a to a Universal Basic Income…universal super is the first step along the way to a UBI.
“She’s already kicked the guy’s arse once and it’s good to see her being saved the bother of doing it again – because she totally kicked his arse. It was amazing,” Tania Billingsley rulz!
Also the report into why & how he was able to leave the country & Tolleys & Mcullys actions was completed last December has been delayed release again….nothing to hide nothing to fear is one of the right wings mantra innit? Bollocks!
Everywhere you look this toxic regime has been busy robbing kiwis of liberties, justice, resources and any ability to use the ‘independant’ bodies to bring them to account by gutting them of funds and placing their poodles in charge.
Link for Weka – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPH_mnWdmho @26 min –
“Yes, flocks of chickens, herds of cows, and thousands of swine contribute to more green house gas emissions than all the worlds cars, lorries, buses, trains, ships and planes combined.
Yep http://www.vhemt.org
But even if the population went to 10 billion tomorrow, it wouldn’t change what is already locked in for the next 10 – 15 years.
And if we all became walking vegans, the locked in shit will still get us, that is what 700ppm CO2/CO2e looks like 🙂 (happy face for Rosie)
not sure what your point is Robert. I agree that agribusiness is a huge contributor to GHG emissions. I just don’t think that making the world vegan will solve that. The solution to those GHG emissions is to eat local. That will do multiple things. It will reduce meat consumption. It will create better local economies and real CC age jobs for people. It will undercut agribusiness. It will support organics, regenag etc and shift us to sustainable land use. Win, win, win, win.
What going vegan will do is shift the profits from dairy and feedlot cow growers to corn and soy growers. It won’t undermine agribusiness at all, they will just carry on regardless. It will also create a bunch of malnourished humans (there’s very good reasons why we don’t have vegan cultures on planet earth, it’s not sustainable).
My point is, you were giving me shit over http://www.cowspiracy.com/ , as if they were lying or something ?????, so just pointing out RT are saying the fing same thing.
They’re not saying the same thing, and Cowspiracy does appear to be lying.
All I saw in the vid were some random figures about agribusines out of context that appeared to be saying that agribusiness is a huge contributor to GHG emissions levels.
Cowspiracy is vegan propaganda, it has manipulated statistics to suit its proselytising agenda to turn the world vegan, it misleads the public because of that, and it has attempted to ruin people’s reputations in the process (see the shit it tried to pull on Greenpeace).
So, yeah, I will continue to give you shit about using Cowspiracy as a source of valid data or commentary on climate change and what we should be doing. Especially when you ignore the counter arguments.
The solution to those GHG emissions is to eat local. That will do multiple things. It will reduce meat consumption. It will create better local economies and real CC age jobs for people. It will undercut agribusiness. It will support organics, regenag etc and shift us to sustainable land use. Win, win, win, win.
No it won’t. All it would do is make it so that all the animals are grown locally. The problem is raising animals to eat – both as dairy and as meat. We need to decrease the number of cows in the world and we’d do that by eating less meat/dairy. In a market environment that means increasing the price of meat which would boost profits and so increase the amount of meat being produced.
Basically, the market can’t do it. In fact, the market simply can’t do anything that we need to do to save ourselves. It is, in fact, what’s killing us.
Most meat and dairy farms in NZ exist because of exports. That’s a completely different issue than NZers eating locally, and NZers eating less meat and dairy won’t primarily affect the export markets. I agree there are huge issues with organising ourselves around the corporate market structure. Eating local undermines that because it connects people who eat directly with people who grow food. The ability to influence how food is grown increases exponentially. It also gives farmers a way out of the global economy export structure that most are caught in. Those are the farmers that are and will lead the way on sustainable agriculture.
I think what you are describing is that the markets adapt to selling locally, which isn’t what I was meaning at all. Eating local is a highly political act because of the ways that it undermines the global economy. It has a culture of its own that precludes what you describe, although I do think it is open to corporate capture in similar ways to how organics has been.
I agree that NZers could do with eating less dairy and meat, but it has to be done in a thoughtful and evidence based way, not in a ‘we should all be vegan because the global economy says eating industrial meat is worse for GHG emissions than eating industrial soy’. Swapping out soy for meat is daft, esp in NZ where most of our soy is imported from monocropped, Monsantoed farms in the US and China. Better to eat a range of locally produced protein and that includes meat/dairy for those that want to eat meat/dairy.
What do dysfunctional and troubled societies do?
They self-medicate.
Just another consequence of 30 years of neo-liberalism.
I don’t expect the msm to join the dots as it’s job is to prevent people seeing the big picture.
However when will NZers make the connection.
What’s new?
Nothing. This is the line up when Shearer announced his “team”.
Robertson is pulling the strings today, just like he was when he put Shearer into the saddle three years ago.
Dalziel dropped from Labour’s top 20
ANDREA VANCE
25/02/2013. From STUFF
“Annette King, Phil Twyford and David Clark have been promoted to Labour’s front bench in a party reshuffle unveiled today.
Shane Jones will remain on the front bench pending the Auditor-General’s report into the Bill Liu case. Among the big losers were Trevor Mallard who was bumped off the front bench.
Labour leader David Shearer unveiled his new line-up this morning. He said it was a mix of “new talent and experienced hands”.
King returns to the front bench after some time in the middle benches following her demotion as deputy leader. She will take up the health protfolio. Dunedin North MP David Clark has flown up the ranks and will take on the economic development portfolio. Chris Hipkins will take on education, Andrew Little justice and Phil Twyford housing.
Leadership contender David Cunliffe and Christchurch East MP Lianne Dalziel have been bumped from the top 20-ranked Labour MPs.
Shearer said Clark was a “rising star” with the economic grunt needed for his new portfolio. He will work alongside David Parker who retains the finance portfolio. King was passionate and formidable, Shearer said.
Twyford was “one of our top performers”.
Wigram MP Megan Woods will pick up tertiary education and Sue Moroney has returned to the top 20.
Those outside the top 20 MPs are not ranked.
Iain Lees-Galloway and Kris Faafoi have also picked up new portfolios although they remain on the backbenches.
………
Deputy leader Grant Robertson remains in the number two spot and picks up responsibility for jobs.”
Thanks for that reminder Northsider. I am not close enough to the centre of the action to know exactly who is calling the shots, but I do see the continuous rearrangement of the same dwindling group of people. Sigh.
Nope. The simple fact is that the Labour party caucus did not get serious refreshment at the last election, so the talent pool remains pretty much the same. Little has played the cards he has been dealt and done a pretty positive job of it by promoting where he could.
That does not explain electorate-winning MP’s being pushed out into unranked spots. On morning report, people were expressing anger at the demotion of Mahuta, given her contribution to bringing the Maori seats back to Labour.
Yeah, Tuku Morgan was expressing outrage. You know, National supporting Tuku Morgan of underpants fame. Yawn.
What difference does it make if MP’s hold electorates? They’re all part of the same caucus and it’s their work between elections that gets them higher rankings.
Winning a seat does evidence the ability to garner active support within the broader community, which is where elections are won and lost. It is not everything, but it does give concrete proof that at least some people see you as up to representing them.
…another reason for the Cunliffites and Labour membership ( which has been ignored and spurned ) to be jumping ship and help in the forming of a new and dynamic activist grassroots New Zealand Labour Party incorporating Mana and the Internet Party
I do not think that we need a new party, but we desperately need an economically left wing activist movement, along the lines of the People’s Assembly in Britain. It is not hard to see why purportedly left wing MP’s end up representing the political establishment itself rather than a left wing constituency – the power of our historic institutional bases is too eroded to put anyone under real pressure, while the threat of being persona non grata in political/media/donor circles still has force. One by one the bases have been lost – job/income security, state benefits, housing – once a line of defense has fallen, the next is easier to take. We need to make up for our lack of institutional power with people power. Until we are able to muster such power, those meant to represent us will continue to largely dismiss us.
As I have said, she played a large part in winning back the Maori seats. She does do stuff, although she does not have a high profile. The ability to win people’s trust, however, in a party with Labour’s recent history, is not something to be sneezed at, whether or not one’s accomplishments are heralded with trumpets and drums.
I note that tanning beds need to be regulated. For the health and saefty of the pubic… but no sign of regulating junk food and beverages which also impact (in much higher numbers) on the health and saftey of NZers. Strange huh?
“Jeremy Corbyn is to offer a free vote to MPs on David Cameron’s proposals for UK to bomb Isis in Syria but will make it clear that Labour party policy is to oppose airstrikes.
The Labour leader will also press Cameron to delay the vote until Labour’s concerns about the justification for the bombing are addressed, as part of a deal he has thrashed out with the deputy leader, Tom Watson, and other senior members of the shadow cabinet over the weekend.
His decision averts the threat of a mass shadow cabinet walkout, while making it clear that his own firmly held opposition to airstrikes is official Labour party policy, backed by the membership.”
MIKE IN AUCKLAND says:
DECEMBER 1, 2015 AT 1:26 AM
Hey, Mr Little, was David Cunliffe not once voted for by the majority of the Labour Party membership? It was only too many in caucus that opposed him as leader before the last election. And as I hear it, there is still a fair level of support and sympathy that goes out to David Cunliffe.
Maybe he disappointed some that once supported him, with his talk about being “ashamed to be a man”, and not answering one or another question well during a pre-election debate on TV.
Cunliffe was already stabbed in the back, or at least undermined, while the election campaign was still in preparation last year, then when some polls did not seem to deliver, and when the MSM turned nasty at him and Labour, the rest of the stab in the back was dealt out by those in caucus that disliked him. Some in caucus got nervous or even panicked, and then turned at Cunliffe, I remember it well, it was revealed in comments after the election loss was announced.
David hesitated accepting defeat on election night, but had to see the sombre reality afterwards. So after some reflecting he stepped down.
Many still respect him for his skills and experience, and for his passion, expressed well and in oratory skill in his speeches. So some of us had hoped he may be back in a better role, ranked higher as he had been until yesterday.
But why the hell did you rank him down to number 28 out 0f 32 (or is it 34?). That is an insult, a slap in the face of the man. Did he signal not standing again in 2017, or did some breathe down heavily on your neck, Mr Little?
Have the ABC “gangsters” been putting on the pressure, or been pulling some strings behind the scenes? Did some of your caucus dare bully you? I cannot believe you, but your decision yesterday raises many, many questions.
It does not make sense what I see, some like Stuart Nash now moving up, and Jacinda Ardern ranked higher than many can see as being justified. Annette King must be transitioning into retirement over the coming years, so why is she still right next to you, in the front line and co driver’s seat?
Andrew Little, you have certainly disappointed me, if you would have appreciated and had been able to recognise talent and also fairness, you would have treated David Cunliffe differently, and given him a spokesperson role and ranking further up. That would have mended some divisions that still may well exist within the party.
It appears that caucus considers itself as the dominant professional elite within your party, ignoring the input someone like David Cunliffe can still offer, by marginalising him.
You only became leader with a rather marginal majority, so how does that feel? Are you having second thoughts now to hold the balance in the party, and have you given in to some others, who seem to be setting the agenda now?
For me Labour has now become unvotable, I will not even vote for the electorate seat candidate anymore. My trust is gone, after seen what has been dealt out to the MP for New Lynn, David Cunliffe, that is NOT an olive branch for someone who could perhaps contribute so much for Labour in future.
Good luck with your future as leader, and your campaign in 2017, you will certainly need it.
– See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/11/30/puppet-on-a-string-has-andrew-little-become-the-plaything-of-labours-dominant-factions/#.dpuf
Not Guilty, but the crap hasn’t ended. Chris Cairns will be
thinking: God save me from my ex-friends and coaches.
RNZ National, Tuesday 1 December 2015, 8:11 a.m.
Chris Cairns may have got off free in his London court case, but nothing will save him from people like his former coach Glenn Turner.
This morning on RNZ National, Glenn Turner told Susie Ferguson: “Sadly, there’s a lot goes on in the background today that the spin-doctors seem to be employed to conceal or fudge.”
Not every listener will have got Turner’s witty allusion. In 1998, Chris Cairns and his father Lance started Cairns Fudge. Unwisely, he came onto TV3 to be interviewed by Pam Corkery about it. After he had spent a few minutes discoursing on the subtleties involved in producing Russian and chocolate fudge, Corkery delivered her coup de grâce: “Chris Cairns,” she cackled, “fudge-packer! Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh!”
Chris Cairns did not laugh, much to her annoyance.
How ISIS squeezes every last dollar, dinar and pound out of the people it rules.
.
Across wide expanses of Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State, with the goal of building a credible government, has set up a predatory and violent bureaucracy that wrings every last American dollar, Iraqi dinar and Syrian pound it can from those who live under its control or pass through its territory.
Interviews with more than a dozen people living inside or recently escaped from the Islamic State-controlled territory, and Western and Middle Eastern officials who track the militants’ finances, describe the group as exacting tolls and traffic tickets; rent for government buildings; utility bills for water and electricity; taxes on income, crops and cattle; and fines for smoking or wearing the wrong clothes.
[…]
In the short term, American and European officials are struggling to cut the group’s revenues. But the old strategy for stopping the flow of money to terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, which was largely based on cutting them off from donors in the Persian Gulf upon which they depend, does not apply to the Islamic State.
“They derive so much of their resources internally, that more traditional counterterror finance tools we would apply, say in the case of Al Qaeda, to cut off a terror organization from its income sources are not applicable in this case,” said Daniel L. Glaser, the assistant Treasury secretary for terrorist financing. “They don’t rely on donors.”
The smuggling networks are old, and tribal. It’s not just a metter of ISIS having taken the fields and selling the oil on a black market. They repaired the firleds, if you like, and allow the local smuggelrs to operate in return for a massive cut. It’s more like a mafia economy, or warlordism. They set up favorites with power, and then take their cut. Same as it ever was.
So when you hit those networks, you are not just hitting ISIS, you are hitting the local tribes and economy.
The Kurds in that peice, talking to wetsern journos, talk about ‘oh we do what we can about kurdish smugglers, but the big fish always escape,’ and frame it as ‘corruption’ but in reality it’s just how an economy works in a civil war.
Bilal Erdogan (son of the Turkish PM) – a key middle man in the sale of ISIS oil:
And while we patiently dig to find who the on and offshore “commodity trading” middleman are, who cart away ISIS oil to European and other international markets in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars, one name keeps popping up as the primary culprit of regional demand for the Islamic State’s “terrorist oil” – that of Turkish president Recep Erdogan’s son: Bilal Erdogan.
ISIS uses thousands of oil tanker trucks to move their product. These trucks form queues at the Turkish border many kilometres long – easily observable from the air or space. The Russians and now the US have started destroying hundreds of these vehicles.
Yeah. That’s known, it’s all the old smuggling routes, not really new. Everyone is involved.
While you’re here though, why do you think Assad released all those hard core Islamist terrorists from prison when the rebellion was kicking off?
Why do you think he put them in with captured university students and Marxists first CV? What do you think he was up to there?
Was that all part of the CIA plot too was it?
And why doesn’t Putin do more to stop the flow of militants from Russia, where he has his state security people coming down on Muslims, to Syria? Why are these things happening CV? Mystery eh, probably the Saudis making them do it I guess.
Not sure why Assad emptied out the prisons. I suspect many reasons behind such a general amnesty.
And why doesn’t Putin do more to stop the flow of militants from Russia, where he has his state security people coming down on Muslims, to Syria?
Yes, several thousand militants have come from Russia to help ISIS. But have you seen how large Russia’s borders are? And Putin is currently incinerating said militants from Chechnya and the Caucuses.
Per capita however, France, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden contribute notably more fighters to ISIS than Russia does.
It wasn’t really a general amnestry though. many were not released. many bloggers, poets, civil servants, artists who opposed the regime were not released.
He released the hardest jihadis though, veterans of the Iraq insurgency with links to Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Come on CV, what is the obvious reason for doing that.
And given I know your deep concern about war crimes, what are your thoughts on the torture he is using? And how do you feel about cluster munitions?
Are they ok when Assad or Russia does it?
And the point about Russia is that they are doing very little to stop militants from travelling, (it’s not the length of the borders, they aren’t even trying) while they are doing things that radicalise them to go. Do you think Putin is unaware of this dynamic, given his history?
Why can’t you offer the slightest criticisms toward Russia or Assad for doing things you would condemn the West for?
I know you have seen me condemn the west for doing the things I criticise them for, so what is your problem?
it’s the elites turning a convenient blind eye to the corruption and malfeasance of other elites.
It wasn’t really a general amnestry though. many were not released. many bloggers, poets, civil servants, artists who opposed the regime were not released.
He released the hardest jihadis though, veterans of the Iraq insurgency with links to Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Come on CV, what is the obvious reason for doing that.
And given I know your deep concern about war crimes, what are your thoughts on the torture he is using? And how do you feel about cluster munitions?
Frankly, if he released highly trained militant jihadis back into the general populace, he harmed his own government stability and military control to a great extent.
Yes, the US did use Syria as one of their CIA torture black sites after 9/11. That’s kind of place Syria is. Like Egypt is. Like US supervised Iraq was.
And cluster munitions, like AP mines, are commonly used in war nowadays.
Assad has by now lost 100,000 or more men from his army to overseas funded foreign fighters. He’s not going to be holding back.
“Syrian government officials could face war crimes charges in the light of a huge cache of evidence smuggled out of the country showing the “systematic killing” of about 11,000 detainees, according to three eminent international lawyers.
The three, former prosecutors at the criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Sierra Leone, examined thousands of Syrian government photographs and files recording deaths in the custody of regime security forces from March 2011 to last August.”
That’s the first 6 months of the uprising, he took the gloves off early.
I strongly recommend people read that link to see what CV is minimising, and refusing to condemn.
The rest of his comment where he justifies the use of cluster munitions, and I assume everything else Assad has been using (white phosphorous etc) speaks for itself.
For the record, the obvious reason to release the jihadis was sp that they would join the rebellion, and use their skills to take it over, justifying the claims that he is fighting terrorists.
This is what CV supports, and has been given ample and repeated oppurtunity to condemn. Not a peep. You can imagine what he would be saying if it was the US being accused of these things with the exact same evidence.
Like I said, it speaks for itself what he has become.
PB you are a blind man. Assad, Hussein, Gaddafi, were all bad men. They all killed their own people. Yet the Western Cure to the Arab Strong Man disease has always proven one hundred times more deadly and tragic than the original ailment itself.
Look at Afghanistan. Look at Iraq. Look at Libya. Look at Syria. Look at Yemen. Now all failed states or states on the verge of failure.
PB, the West has caused the death of 2M-3M or more Arabs and Muslims since Gulf War 1. And the western Empire of Chaos is still rampaging through the Middle East. But all in a good (anglo-american) cause, right?
And the US were more than happy to use Saddam Hussein and Assad to get the dirty work done when it suited them.
you want Assad gone PB? Fine, say that Assad’s government collapsed tomorrow and Assad and his family are hunted down and killed in the street by western supported Islamists like Gaddafi was.
And just like in Libya, Syria will have a dozen or two dozen heavily armed Jihadist militias left fighting it out to fill the power vacuum as Syrian civil society and social services collapse, just like Libya. The death toll, bad as it has been will climb exponentially as the likes of ISIS and Al Nusra finish off the minority Christians, Druze, Alawites and Shia in the country, and enslave the women.
Wake up and realise what you are advocating for. The west and NATO countries have allowed many tens of thousands of Islamist fighters to enter Syria to take out Assad. US intelligence reports give this strategy the thumbs up as a good way to finish off Assad. This is utterly illegal regime change by Western nations who still see themselves as the rightful colonial masters of the Levant.
PB you are nothing but an advocate for the western Chaos strategy that has plunged country after country in the Middle East into jihadist militant hell.
And then have the nerve to pretend to be morally superior. God the western colonial mindset are such pitiful slow learners. You keep making failed states as easily as bad batches of scones.
As for Putin. Not only has he had enough of the West using Islamic jihadists to institute regime change – a CIA strategy from the days of Soviet Afghanistan and before – but he has actually been legally invited by the sovereign Damascus government to put an end to it.
No wonder the western colonialists are bitching and moaning. Imagine a sovereign state having the nerve to declare independence from western interference. How unacceptable.
And there we have it, instead of codemning torture and war crimes, the targeting of civilians, and hospitals and bread factories etc, CV choosese to make up shit about what I support. Classic mixes of There Is No Alternative and You Did It Too.
In support of torture. 50 People a day tortured to death. The Regime deliberately releasing jihadists and CV is fine with it because it’s not western. In fact he just ignores it and claims all the jihadists are actually there because of the CIA because of one briefing paper that mentioned they exist.
I’m on the record all over this blog opposing western policies in the ME, opposing torture and all CV can do is lie about me and claim that all of a sudden he is some sort of hard man realist and make arguments that are the perfect mirror image of those used by neocons.
So much for all the arguments CV has made about western torture, turns out it isn’t the torture part he actually opposes.
Good luck with your new left venture CV, you stalinist fuck.
PB, for starters fuck off with your “unless you condemn this to my satisfaction, you’re an evil prick” bullshit. Newsflash – you’re not a moral authority.
In support of torture. 50 People a day tortured to death.
That’s a convenient round figure. Works out to just over 18,000 per year under Assad’s rule. Which is BS considering (as you said) he kept people alive in prisons overflowing with military, religious and political enemies. So he was hardly mowing them all down.
Make up your mind eh.
Yet with the West’s facilitated colour revolution and sponsored Jihadi campaign against Assad, we are getting 70,000 deaths a year and maybe 4M people displaced or homeless.
Guess what, I think the West’s Empire of Chaos strategy is far far worse than Assad ever was. Mind you, the West didn’t mind using Assad to get their dirty work done when it suited them, eh?
So PB, you want to see Assad and his government gone?
And which of the Jihadist groups (or “moderate terrorists”) would you prefer to make that happen, and to take Damascus? Do you really think they will improve governance in comparison to Assad?
Will your moderate Jihadis have women and minorities in universities and as government ministers, like Assad does, for instance?
Of course, like the current crop of western leaders you can’t think more than one step ahead of your own self proclaimed moral righteousness.
Good luck with your new left venture CV, you stalinist fuck.
You clearly have no idea. European and American leadership were more than happy to facilitate the illegal and permanent disappearing of people picked arbitrarily into torture black sites like Syria and Egypt whenever it suited them. As well as innocent taxi drivers and shop keepers caged up and tortured in Guantanamo Bay. Thousands of innocent bystanders droned and bodies left where they fall.
These same leaders have waged a campaign which since Gulf War 1 has killed 2M-3M Muslims and Arabs, perhaps more.
That’s “Stalinism” mate. A body count so high it makes Assad’s bad deeds look like a rounding error.
These same “leaders” want to turn Syria into yet another failed state, and have already halfway succeeded. Israel and Saudi Arabia and Qatar would love to see Syria fall into chaos to fuck both Hezbollah and Iran in one foul swoop.
And idiots like you are willing to ignore how disastrously the same playbook has worked out in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, while giving them morality cover to justify their plan.
No wonder Putin decided to throw a spanner into this western scheme by intervening directly.
I think Assad needs to transition out of power. Even Putin thinks so. That’s what Vienna was about. But no way should the sovereign government of Syria be permitted to collapse and be taken over by the Islamists supported by the west and western Gulf allies.
Why do you keep saying I support things I have repeatedly said I do not support?
And the point isn’t that you haven’t condemned things to my satisfaction, it’s that you refuse to condemn them at all, you justify them.
You suggest I’m riding a moral high horse, but I’m not. I’m just condemning torture and other massive war crimes. You don’t need a high horse for that.
You were condemning the shooting of a pilot, yet you ignore worse crimes. That’s all I’m saying.
And your ranting about western this and that is shown to be hollow becaus eyou are supporting more of the same behaviour from Assad and Putin. That’s all I’m saying, that it is legitimate to say:
“fuck this noise, and fuck that noise too”
You don’t have to support Putin and Assad in order to oppose current or historic western policy. That is a choice you are making. And you are allowed to, but stop acting like I’m being mean for calling it what it is.
At first I thought he needed a speech therapist. When it didn’t improve over time, I figured he must be a drunk. Now I think it’s deliberate.
From a 2008 article ‘Who is John Key’:
‘The only tangible sense in which Key asserted a persona of his own was in his accent. “We sometimes felt he would lay on his Kiwi accent so thick in meetings that none of us could understand what he was saying, it was kind of deliberate,” says Kelly.’
lolz, I was looking for that too. I couldn’t find the results of any of their polls, so presumably you have to actually watch the dipstick to find out. Ain’t gonna happen, so I didn’t vote.
Besides, whether DC wants to resign or not is his business. I’m willing to be there are aspects to consider that aren’t in the public domain.
An impossible question to answer as I’m not DC. Considering his principles that he has shown he probably should resign from the Labour Party and join either the Alliance, The Greens or Internet Party.
Cunliffe’s NO vote seems to be winning at nearly 2:1
Would you resign if you were David Cunliffe?
64% are saying Cunliffe should stay and fight on.
36% are saying they would leave a party that behaved in such a bastardly manner.
100% are saying See You Next Tuesday Grant Robertson.
In an ad break during their 6pm news the other night, it cut first to an ad about tv3 programmes (as they do), namely Paul Henry’s awful breakfast show…..
….. the ad involved Paul Henry talking about how if some person bent over naked the asshole would change from the appearance of a bud to a flower.
I kid you not
child toilet humour
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry
I don’t know if it reflects on society or on tv3 (it most definitely reflects on Henry tho)
Manuka AOR @20.1
I think you will find the raid on Du Plessus-Allan was carried out as a warning to all journalists and reporters – DON’T MESS WITH US OR ELSE.
Something very strange about the timing of the raid – So soon after we’ve been told to (in effect) “be afraid, be very afraid” of radical extremist thuggos planning an attack, possibly a gun-fuelled Paris-style attack .
… They want the guns to be easily accessible by these attack plotters?
They called and made an appointment. They went at a time suitable with the occupants.
Kim Dotcom – that was a raid. This was just a search warrant. Good try using the language trying to make it worse than it is.
“Asked how du Plessis-Allan had reacted to the police search, he said: “It’s always worrying, these things. But the fact is that the story was done in the full knowledge that there could have been repercussions.”
“The police have been caught napping and publicity was given to it, they don’t like the fact that they’ve been seen as perhaps not doing their job as well as they could have, so this is a way…because its a high public profile case now and its a way that the police can get back at those who made them I guess look a bit foolish and it would seem that there’s nothing more to it than this.” – Barry Soper.
The whole thing is pointless, though. If it ever gets in front of a judge, it’ll be pleading guilty and discharge without conviction.
1. She’s a journalist, it’s her job
2. They didn’t make any sort of secret of it
3. There was legitimate public interest, and the police closed the loophole after it was reported (having previously done nothing about it)
4. If she gets a conviction from this, it would harm her ability to enter foreign countries to do her job
There’s a lot about this that bothers me…not the least of which is that they raided their Welly home and they kinda phoned to make an appointment to do so.
So, just finished my study year living on the Student loan. Applied for Hardship over summer and found out that that has a one week stand down on it as well.
This government is cutting everything it can to save money but, of course, they only apply it to the people who need it most. Rio Tinto and SkyCity still get the millions of dollars subsidy. Meanwhile, people are going hungry because of Nationals ongoing attack on the poor.
I love how it’s ok for the Speaker to be “incompetent, bias, doesn’t like the job, lazy, sexist and doesn’t give a toss”, but pointing this out is a serious undermining of the integrity of the House.
Fuck, the only thing Carter has contributed to the integrity of the House is its structural integrity – propping up the back of the Speaker’s chair as he slouches his way through another abuse of power.
I attended a question time a fortnight ago, and then the Speaker said that the public could judge whether members were right or wrong………………… you should have seen the rolling of eyes around the public gallery at the Speaker’s ruling that day! This member of the public adjudged the Speaker to be incompetent and ineffectual.
The King of Contra claims that Hans Kriek is “bordering on espionage.”
Even for Mike Hosking, this was a particularly braindead performance. Seven Sharp, Television One, Tuesday 1 December 2015, 7:17 p.m.
I’ve just watched what was possibly the most ridiculous television interview of the year. In his typically bumptious manner, Mike “King of Contra” Hosking accused SAFE’s Hans Kriek of endangering our international reputation by releasing secretly filmed video of bobby calves being tortured and killed on Waikato dairy farms. They should have “had a quiet word” with Fonterra instead of “going international” like they have.
“It’s bordering on espionage,” he fumed.
In response, Hans Kriek simply laughed.
What other reaction is possible in the face of such militant ignorance?
Labour says it will back the legislation through it’s first reading. I presume it then goes to a select committee and they will wait and see what comes out of that committee before making a final decision whether to vote for or against the ‘amended’ RMA.
Parker says it’s a step in the right direction, seeing it as a surrender by National because they know “gutting the Act is not the solution”.
Yet, Eugenie Sage said National has wasted its opportunity to strengthen the RMA, stating many of the changes proposed to the Act weaken rather than improve the protection of the environment and reduce the opportunities for public participation.
Of no significance to anybody but I will not be renewing LP membership due to the relegation of David Cunliffe. Nothing ideological or personal but he is simply one of the most obviously competent.
Andrew – what were you thinking?
NZ First portrays itself as an anti-establishment party, standing up for "the little guy" (always a guy) against Big Auckland Money and its tool-parties. But it turns out that its secret slush fund is funded by the very people it claims to oppose:Stuff can reveal a longer list of donors ...
Peter TalleyI really don’t envy Jacinda Ardern’s position as Prime Minister of New Zealand. She’s probably got the hardest job in the country. Not only does she have to ensure her own MPs are behaving properly, she has to negotiate with Winston Peters and other NZ First MPs who seem ...
Will She, Or Won't She? Jacinda’s white vestments may look impressive on the cover of the international edition of TIME magazine, but every day Labour’s relationship with Winston Peters and NZ First continues, her ability to go on wearing them back home in New Zealand – without exciting derision – diminishes.IT WAS ...
BAMS survey of 2018 extreme weather The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society has published a collection of articles examining unusually extreme weather events of 2018 and connections of those to climate change. These investigations are listed separately below but thanks to the generosity of AMS appear free for ...
Less than two months after China told the WHO there was a problem, a lot has happened. Sadly, deaths, confirmed cases and countries affected are increasing every day. However, on a scientific and medical level, what is going on to contain, cure and prevent this new disease is truly inspirational. ...
From 2015 to 2019 the NSA ran a program of mass surveillance of Americans' domestic communications. It was intrusive, totalitarian, and a collosal waste of money:A National Security Agency system that analyzed logs of Americans’ domestic phone calls and text messages cost $100 million from 2015 to 2019, but yielded ...
I must say that it’s at loggerheads with the inclusive and free society we want to create in New Zealand that one of our largest media outlets, MediaWorks, would allow Hannah Tamaki to perform on their show, Dancing With The Stars.Hannah Tamaki and her husband Brian are after all well-known ...
The media is reporting that an Auckland man has been charged with terrorism. Unfortunately, that's all we know, because all details have been suppressed. Who are they? What are they alleged to have done? Its all secret. There may be good reason for some of this (e.g. protection of the ...
Dr David ChagnéNew Zealand is involved in a US$12.8 million USDA grant to improve the quality of blueberry and cranberry. The four-year project, led by North Carolina State University, is part of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative, which funds multi-year, multi-institutional collaborative ...
The Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change book is now available! The book uses cartoons, humor, and critical thinking to expose how and why some people reject climate science. It's now available for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other book outlets. If you're near the DC area, you're very welcome to ...
by the Council of Disobedient Women When Moana Maniapoto recently lamented that Rachel Stewart was no longer writing for the Herald, political commentator Morgan Godfery was quick to brag on Twitter, like a schoolyard bully, how proud he was of “driving Rachel Stewart from the Herald”. What a contrast Morgan ...
You’re probably aware that the Achievement Standards used to assess senior school students’ learning are being reviewed. Science is one of the ‘pilot’ subjects in this process, where a ‘Subject Expert Group’ has developed 4 draft Science standards¹ (a significant step away from the current 30+, and a response to ...
John MacCormickTo succeed in an unpredictable and changing world, adaptability is the key. Let’s be chameleons. Technology continues to change people’s jobs and work environments. But change so far is not as fast and extensive as some pundits claim. Nor is it as fast and extensive as it needs ...
It seems we can’t even get through a week these days without the National Party's leader, Simon Bridges, making some sort of silly announcement about a policy that doesn’t actually exist.Usually concerning Bridges’ gut instinct and the undoing of whatever the Government has recently announced, National’s reactionary opinions and uncosted ...
Oh look! NZ First's secret slush fund was laundering donations from Talley's:One of the country's biggest fishing companies, Talley's, and its managing director donated nearly $27,000 to the New Zealand First Foundation, which has been bankrolling the New Zealand First Party. The foundation received $26,950 from seafood giant Talley's and ...
Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards, Andrew Waa, Nick Wilson, George ThomsonMinister Jenny Salesa announced the Government’s long-awaited Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill on Sunday 23 February. The Bill contains some important provisions as it works to strike a balance between ensuring regulated products are available to ...
Surprisingly enough, one could argue (as I often do) that the day inserted into a leap year is not that we label 29th February, but actually the 24th of February. Here I explain why, briefly. Almost everyone assumes that the day added into February in a leap year is the ...
If you haven’t watched Newsroom’s video showing Oranga Tamariki staff attempting to uplift a newborn baby yet you should do so. Although it's not the worst case as far as interventions go, it’s certainly not a good look for the Government. Because of this controversy there’s been a plethora of ...
Genesis Energy is planning to build the country's biggest PV solar farm:Power generator and retailer Genesis Energy says it is in advanced discussions to build New Zealand's biggest solar farm in northern Waikato. The company, which earlier reported a 15 per cent decline in operating earnings to $167.2 million, said ...
Transport is our second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Any credible effort to reduce emissions to net-zero has to target it. So what is the government doing? Subsidising some of the dirtiest, most inefficient vehicles on the roads:New Zealand's favourite cars - double cab utes - are largely exempt ...
You’ve really got to wonder what the NZ First Party was thinking and drinking last Friday? Not only did they hamstring the Greens by halting one of their main environmental policies, the electric vehicle fee-bate scheme, a policy that the public was led to believe was a done deal…but they ...
High Risk Call: Insensitive though it may seem to even pose the question: how will the electorate respond to what the Prime Minister’s opponents will undoubtedly characterise as an attack on New Zealanders’ freedom of speech? At more than twelve month’s remove from the terrible events of 15 March 2019, ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Climate change leads to more violence against women, girlsRape, domestic violence, forced marriages: A new ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 16, 2020 through Sat, Feb 22, 2020 Editor's Pick JP Morgan economists warn climate crisis is threat to human raceLeaked report for world’s major fossil fuel financier says ...
Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article ‘The Dangerous Denial of Sex by two scientists Colin Wright and Emma Hilton. Write is an evolutionary biologist at Penn State and Hilton is a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester. It is well worth reading the article in full. Here ...
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...
Winston Peters - Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NZ First PartyWe all know that politics can be pretty messy at times. Just look at the Dirty Politics saga in New Zealand, the misgovernment of the Australian bushfires or the recent Trump impeachment debacle in the US. In a ...
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...
It’s amazing just how many attack ads $100,000 buys you these days. The National Party has really been going to town lately, with their latest Twitter campaign making a number of questionable and blatantly false assertions, one being that poverty has worsened under the Labour led Government.The National Party's claim ...
OMV's exploratory drilling in the Great South Basin has failed to find oil. Good. Firstly, because we can't afford to burn the oil and gas we've already found, so there's just no point looking for more. And secondly, because offshore, deep-water drilling poses a risk of an environmental catastrophe, which ...
The government has announced it will strengthen whistleblower protections. The major change is "allowing people to report serious wrongdoing direct to an external authority if they wish", which fixes one of the big flaws in the Act. At present, whistleblowers must generally make their disclosure direct to the body they ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman CARLSBAD, CA. – When it comes to paying the electric bill, most people don’t give it a second thought – it’s something that in effect is “baked in.” But across California and several other states, local governments increasingly are ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, Spinifex Press, 2013. Part 4 Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the fourth part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...
Another day, another IPCA report on criminal conduct by policy. This time they kicked a child in the head when he was handcuffed:Police chased him and yelled out for him to stop. When he turned to face the police, he threatened them with a hammer. That's when the officers tasered ...
The investigation of two of the five parties in Parliament for fraud around their election donations has pushed the issue of party funding back into the spotlight. And while there are obvious things we can do to tighten up the donations regime - a much lower declaration threshold, realtime disclosure ...
While the south of New Zealand has been struggling with too much rain in recent days, here in the north we are so very short of it (though Saturday’s forecast looks promising). Basically, we have had almost none since Christmas.As someone who relies on rain to wash the car, ...
Former National Party MP Jami-Lee RossIt comes as no surprise that Jami-Lee Ross has been named as one of the defendants in the X2 $100,000 National Party donations case currently before the courts. Click bait journalists who were chaffing at the bit to discredit the former senior whip had already ...
Stand Clear! Winston Peters is encouraging voters to think of RNZ as belonging to “The Media Party”. He wants them to see it as a politically partisan institution with its own, vicious attack-dogs in the electoral fight. If he succeeds, it will be, and probably should be, the end of ...
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...
Former National Party chief whip Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four people charged over National's multiple fraudulent donations. How unsurprising. Meanwhile, just days ago National leader Simon Bridges was trying to pretend the charges were nothing to do with his party. Yeah, right. When your chief whip effectively publicly ...
If you've been watching FYI for a while, you'll have noticed that the police have a bad habit of demanding ID from requesters. They have apparently been repeatedly told to stop doing this by the Ombudsman, but we all know what law enforcement thinks of the law, so thye keep ...
Collateral Damage: For the Green Phoenix to be reborn, the funeral pyre so patiently assembled by its identity politicians over the course of many fractious years – but with growing intensity over the past three – first has to be ignited. The terrible probability, of course, is that, in setting ...
If you follow politics in New Zealand you've likely noticed that the right wing have been going on and on about the Coalition Government failing to reduce poverty. In fact they’ve been incessantly claiming, in the absence of any conclusive data, that poverty has been getting worse.Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:Mike Hosking: ...
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...
Just days after talking about how people feel "squeezed" and promising tax and service cuts as a "solution", National is talking about cancelling a rise in the minimum wage if elected: National is considering scrapping the Government's planned minimum wage increase if it wins this year's election, the party's finance ...
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...
A Labour government desperate for the numbers crawls into bed with Winston Peters. Winston ignores the law and secretly takes money under the table from someone. When it is exposed just months out from an election, he is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. That's what happened back in 2008. ...
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 9, 2020 through Sat, Feb 15, 2020 Editor's Pick ANALYSIS-Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?Climate change could expand farmland globally by ...
After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre.(Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...
Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew MoorePublic health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 require us to draw on our common humanity and be explicit about our values. Recognising this will help us make good decisions in difficult situations so that, for example, the need to impose restrictive measures ...
The Helen Clark Foundation has released its report on the housing crisis, and found that house-hoarders are to blame for it:Property investors are to blame for New Zealand's high house prices, a new research paper published by the Helen Clark Foundation says. [...] McArthur said previous attempts to address housing ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has reported back on the Abortion Legislation Bill and recommended that it be passed with some amendments. Unfortunately, the latter include even more hoops to jump through for those seeking abortions after 20 weeks, including a time-wasting requirement to consult a second doctor. No-one casually seeks ...
Brexit is likely to be a disaster for the UK (how sad, never mind). But now that they're out of the EU, the latter has finaly taken the opportunity to blacklist one of their key tax havens:The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU ...
I’m not quite sure of what to make of the new figures for COVID-19 (as we must now call the novel coronavirus – though I’m not sure the capitalisation is correct) from Hubei province:Image from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51495484The spike yesterday is a consequence of a using a different way of ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, New Zealand First Deputy Leader A total delivery of 2,000 new Police Officers has been achieved. New Zealand First Deputy Leader, Fletcher Tabuteau attended the latest police graduation of Recruit Wing 335 in Porirua today. Mr Tabuteau said, “Increasing police numbers and boosting their resources was one of ...
Taupō District mayor David Trewavas has welcomed today’s announcement from regional economic development minister Shane Jones outlining $5.87m of funding for the re-development of the Taupō Airport. The bulk of the investment ($5 million) will come from the Provincial Growth Fund, while the rest will be from the New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has defended multi-million dollar provincial growth fund money for Northland water storage. The New Zealand First leader, along with Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones, were recently in Dargaville to announce up to $12.745 million PGF funding top-up for water storage initiatives in the ...
One of our most immediate priorities upon forming Government was to get people out of sleeping in cars, garages, or on the street and into safe and warm housing. Since then, we've made major progress towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, including expanding Housing First, building more state houses, and ...
Kids learn better with a full stomach. That's why we launched our Lunches in Schools programme, which is already providing free and healthy school lunches to thousands of children so they can focus on what's important - learning. ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland This afternoon to a crowd of over 100 people in Mataura -- Mark Patterson, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland launched a parliamentary petition regarding the aluminium dross issue in Mataura, Southland. The petition asks that the ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Finance, Fletcher Tabuteau has welcomed Statistics New Zealand’s latest report as a timely reminder of the value that this Coalition Government brings to every day New Zealanders: “This Coalition Government has meant a ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
A milestone has been reached with the graduation of more than 2,000 new Police officers since the Coalition Government took office in October 2017. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the graduation today of Wing 335 marks a surge of 2,023 new officers, and coincides with some significant breakthroughs against organised ...
Government Ministers today celebrated 20 years of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park/ Ko te Pataka kai o Tikapa Moana/ Te Moananui a Toi, and recognise there is much to celebrate and so much more to do to give nature a helping hand. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said “New Zealanders care deeply about nature.I want to ...
Prepared remarks on coronavirus by Finance Minister Grant Robertson to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and Massey University. Good morning ladies and gentlemen, The topic of this speech is the Budget 2020 priorities. But, given the considerable interest that I imagine is in the room about COVID-19 coronavirus, I do ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Ni sa bula vinaka. Namaste Thank you Shamima, Hon. Minister Vuniwaqa, community leaders and Women’s Crisis Centre staff for your warm welcome. It’s an honour and privilege to officially ...
The Government has released a comprehensive response to ensuring New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump. This follows the Commerce Commission fuel market study which found motorists were paying more than they should for petrol and includes: Fuel Market Bill drafting, to pass mid-year Industry consultation in ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma Tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula vinaka As-salaam alaikum It is a privilege to be here today. Thank you for welcoming us to your house of prayer. Thank you for your warmth. Thank you for greeting ...
Taupō Airport is to be upgraded and expanded through a $5.9 million Government funding boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. “Taupō Airport is the gateway to the Central North Island. It is essential for both keeping local people and businesses connected, but also to bring more people ...
The Minister of Housing Megan Woods has confirmed the Government is working with Rotorua Lakes District Council and Te Arawa for the second place-based assessment to better understand the housing and urban issues affecting the city. “Every New Zealander has a right to a warm, safe and secure place to ...
19 new community homes (in addition to 14 opened in December) delivered in Takanini, Auckland 500 people housed by CORT Housing Trust by end of March 2,290 new public housing homes delivered in Auckland (November 2017 – December 2019). Another nineteen new public housing homes are being delivered in Auckland, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker met today with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to discuss ways to strengthen ties between New Zealand and India. “India is a priority relationship for New Zealand. We share common democratic traditions, growing two-way trade, extensive people-to-people links, ...
Speech to the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) Delhi, India Wednesday 26 February 2020 [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] The Indo-Pacific: from principles to partnerships Distinguished guests, good afternoon and thank you for your invitation. It is good to be here at a time where New Zealand needs less of an introduction than ...
Tihei mauri ora Te Whare e tu nei Te Papa e takoto Tēnā korua No reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula Vinaka It is a real pleasure to be here today, and to have the honour of addressing you all. If you’ll indulge me I’m ...
Improved air quality to support better health and environmental wellbeing is the focus of proposed amendments to air quality regulations, says the Associate Minister for the Environment, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. “Although our air quality is good in most places, during winter certain places have spikes in air pollution, mainly from ...
The remote eastern Bay of Plenty community of Raukokere will receive a Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $10.6 million for a water storage facility, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “This is great news for the rural community. The landowner, Te Whānau a Maruhaeremuri Hapū Trust, will use ...
The Lake Ōkaro lakebed has transferred to Te Arawa Lakes Trust, Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis joined Te Arawa at Te Papaiōuru Marae in Rotorua to celebrate the reinstatement of Te Arawa Lakes Trust as a key decision maker over the bed ...
New legislation is being proposed which aims to reduce the stress and financial hardship caused by late payments to small businesses. The Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash is considering stricter rules around payment practices between businesses. “Late payments from large organisations to smaller suppliers can be crippling for these ...
A new partnership programme between the New Zealand Police and Fiji Police will focus on combatting transnational organised crime and enhancing investigative skills, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on the first day of her visit to Fiji. The programme will see: · New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama met today in Suva, and renewed their commitment to continue to strengthen Fiji-New Zealand relations on a foundation of shared values and equal partnership. The Prime Ministers acknowledged the kinship between Fijians and New Zealanders, one that has endured over ...
A $19.9 million investment from the Provincial Growth Fund will help develop essential infrastructure for an industrial hub in the Bay of Plenty town of Kawerau, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “The funding will go to three projects to further develop the Putauaki Trust Industrial Hub, an industrial ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing $8.3 million on a roading package for Mahia that will lead to greater and wider economic benefits for the region and beyond, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at an event in Mahia today. The $8.3 million announced consists of: $7 ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed new reporting showing the Coalition Government is on track to meet its child poverty targets, with 18,400 children lifted out of poverty as a result of the Families Package. Stats NZ has released the first set of comprehensive child poverty statistics since the Government ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today announced that Bikes in Schools facilities have been rolled out to 20,000 more kiwi kids under this Government. She made the announcement at the opening of a new bike track at Henderson North School in Auckland. “Bikes in Schools facilities give kids ...
Benefit settings rise in line with wages as of 1 April Main benefits will increase by over 3 percent, instead of 1.66 percent, on 1 April with the Government’s decision to annually adjust benefit rates to increases in the average wage. The Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni, said ...
Strengthening New Zealand’s political and business ties with India will be the focus of Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters’ and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker’s visit to India this week. The Ministers are co-leading a high level business delegation to India to support increased people and economic engagement ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio continues to champion for greater Pacific participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers with the announcement of the Toloa Awards, with 8 recipients of the Toloa Community Fund and 13 Toloa Tertiary Scholarships. “The Toloa Programme encourages more Pacific peoples ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has extended the date for people to have their say on proposed changes to improve management of whitebait across New Zealand. Submissions were due to close on 2 March 2020 but will now remain open until 9am on Monday 16 March 2020. “I have ...
The endangered toroa/Antipodean albatross has new international protection for its 100,000km annual migration, thanks to collaborative efforts led by New Zealand, Australia and Chile. Today, 130 countries agreed to strictly protect Antipodean albatross at the Conference of Parties on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild ...
No sales to under-18-year-olds No advertising and sponsorship of vaping products and e-cigarettes No vaping or smokeless tobacco in smokefree areas Regulates vaping product safety comprehensively, - including devices, flavours and ingredients Ensure vaping products are available for those who want to quit smoking Vaping regulation that balances ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little will travel to Berlin tomorrow to represent New Zealand at a high-level summit on nuclear disarmament. This year, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) celebrates 50 years since it entered into force. “New Zealand’s proud record and leadership on nuclear disarmament is unwavering, so it’s important we are present ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit two of New Zealand’s most important Pacific partners, Fiji and Australia, next week. The visit to Fiji will be the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister in four years and comes during the 50th anniversary of Fijian independence and diplomatic relations between our ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little and New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, have today announced the appointment of the Chief Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the location, and the membership of the Establishment Advisory Group. Colin Carruthers QC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the CCRC for an ...
Māori Development Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor co-announced the first horticultural finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy celebrating excellence in the Māori agricultural sector. The three finalists are Ngai Tukairangi Trust from Mt Maunganui, Otama Marere Trust from Tauranga, and Hineora Orchard Te Kaha 15B Ahuwhenua ...
A new kete of resources to strengthen support for students with dyslexia will provide extra tools for the new Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) as they start in schools, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Minister launched the kete in Wellington this morning, at the first of three induction ...
The Government continues to make progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the First Reading of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill and its referral to the Social Services and Community Select Committee. “Now is the opportunity for landlords, tenants and others who want ...
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Hon James Marape will visit New Zealand from 21-25 February, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have a warm and friendly relationship. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Marape here and strengthening the relationship between our two countries,” ...
Thousands of children have begun receiving a free lunch on every day of the school week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Government’s free and healthy school lunch programme is under way for 7,000 students at 31 schools in Hawke’s Bay / Tairāwhiti and Bay of Plenty / Waiariki, extending ...
The Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni today announced a new approach that continues to broaden the Government’s social sector focus from a narrow, investment approach to one centred on people and wellbeing. Minister Sepuloni said redefining the previous approach to social investment by combining science, data and lived experience ...
The Government is strengthening the Protected Disclosures Act to provide better protection for whistle blowers, Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said today. “The Protected Disclosures Act is meant to encourage people to speak up about serious wrongdoing in the workplace and protect them from losing their jobs or being ...
Nǐn hǎo (Hello in Mandarin). Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year in Mandarin) Néi Hóu (Hello in Cantonese). Sun Nin Fai Lok (Happy New Year in Cantonese) Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you for your invitation to attend this celebration today. I would like to acknowledge ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ...
The Government says it wants to protect small businesses from getting shafted by big companies who don’t or won’t pay their bills on time. The move can’t come too soon. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Muecke, Clinical senior lecturer in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Adelaide Humans are physiologically hardwired to love and seek out sweet things. It’s an ancient survival mechanism that evolved to prepare our bodies for periods of fasting when food supplies ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marilyn McMahon, Deputy Dean, School of Law, Deakin University The NSW government has just introduced a bill that will, among other significant reforms, make it easier for a jury to be informed about the prior convictions of a person on trial for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marilyn McMahon, Deputy Dean, School of Law, Deakin University The NSW government has just introduced a bill that will, among other significant reforms, make it easier for a jury to be informed about the prior convictions of a person on trial for ...
By RNZ Pacific Jacinda Ardern has paid tribute to the three Fijians who died in last year’s Christchurch mosque shootings. Ardern spoke today at Lautoka Mosque as part of her trip to Fiji to remember Imam Hafiz Musa Patel, Ashraf Ali Razak and Ashraf Ali, who died almost a ...
The Real Pod reassembles to dissect the cultured fourth week of The Bachelorette NZ with special thanks to Nando’s.This week on The Bachelorette NZ, a burrito bust-up ends in anaphylaxis, Steve chows down on some one-ply, and the Buenos Aires hostel goes full Lord of the Flies. It’s become abundantly ...
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, the Catholic Bishops' agency for justice, peace and development, is concerned that the latestchild poverty numbers show that there has been anincrease in material hardship,with 4100 more children living in ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni described this year’s annual benefit increases of 3 per cent as “significant”, and “a way of sharing the wealth”. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also heralded them as the biggest increase to benefits in nine years, if National’s 2015 one-off adjustments are excluded. ...
Is it the kind of headline that will win votes at the general election? “Rock-star reception in Fijian village” followed by a sub-head “Rapturous greeting for Ardern during visit to launch $3m sanitation project”. The reporter (veteran Barry Soper, Newstalk ZB’s political editor) poses the rhetorical question: “Is there any ...
The New Zealand First Foundation received $100,000 in just one week from two rich-listers, whose donations remained secret because the individual payments fell below the disclosure threshold. ...
BusinessNZ says legislation requiring more transparent petrol pricing will probably be well-received, but there are concerns about the market study that prompted it. The Government has announced it is drafting a Fuel Market Bill to introduce requirements ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Andrea Watson, Sparrows CEO and founder, and Simon Yarrow, who leads Callaghan Innovation’s ...
LGNZ say a new report from the Deep South National Science Challenge is a reminder for central government policy makers to step up the pace on progressing a national strategy on climate change adaption. LGNZ is the peak body representing New Zealand’s ...
Art schools are seen by many as beacons of liberalism. But is this the reality? Former Māori student Anna McAllister recounts her fraught journey through an Auckland art school.In high school, the only subjects I was remotely good at were the practical arts. I stayed in the art block during ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Madeline Taylor, Academic Fellow, University of Sydney This week’s decision by Norwegian company Equinor to abandon a A$200 million plan to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight surprised both its critics and backers. Equinor says it abandoned the project off ...
Finance Minister sees serious, short-term impact on economy from Covid-19. He says the Government is able to deliver more general fiscal stimulus and sector-specific help if the economic hit is longer and harder. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has given his first comprehensive update on the economic effects expected from the ...
In response to reports that 30,000 New Zealanders earning over $100,000 are taking superannuation, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson Casey Russell says: “It’s clear that many wealthy New Zealanders are collecting superannuation they don’t ...
Fancy a quick trip to Europe without leaving the comfort of your own couch? Tara Ward rounds up the best European drama for your viewing pleasure. Anyone who reckons travel is the only way to expand your mind has never had the pleasure of lying on a couch for three days ...
Child protection social work involves risk. It always will. The right decisions cannot always be made and sometimes it can be a question of choosing between the least damaging alternatives. We have had a long list of child abuse tragedies for over 30 years now – in Aotearoa New Zealand and ...
SFO scrutiny of National and NZ First donations sparked debate about party funding and electoral laws. Now, Transparency International has a warning. ...
Not paying NZ Super out to those on incomes of $100,000 or more would save taxpayers around $608 million. Is it time we shake up who gets paid and what? RNZ‘s Nita Blake-Persen reports.The number of New Zealand retirees getting their superannuation while earning more than $100,000 has topped 30,000, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentCoronavirus John Gibb (ODT): Otago academic fears ‘massive’ impact Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Nothing Xenophobic Or Racist About The Chinese ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won power in 2017 on the basis of statements such as “My goal is to eradicate child poverty in New Zealand”. The Government’s progress on child poverty will be under scrutiny at this year’s general election, but progress is slow, and many are claiming ...
New Zealand King Salmon has had a better-than-expected first half, driven by record prices for its fish products. The Marlborough-based salmon farmer's net profit rose nearly 38 percent to $20.8 million in the six months to December, with the average sale price up 6.6 percent. However, revenue of $84.2m was ...
Reform of superannuation is overdue, with new figures showing more than 30,000 superannuitants are earning more than $100,000 per year. This number is growing fast as more people keep working past 65. More than 126,000 superannuitants (17% of the total) are earning ...
Funding to give nature a helping hand and support community conservation projects opens this week, with $5.6m available for community-led projects. “The Department of Conservation (DOC) Community Fund enables us to go further and faster in our conservation ...
Police acknowledge the findings of the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) in relation to decision-making in a sexual assault investigation in Palmerston North. The IPCA found that the decision-making was sound, and there was no conflict of interest ...
Thursday, February 27: Greenpeace has published an open letter calling on the organisers of music festival WOMAD to dump oil industry sponsorship. Todd Energy and Austrian oil giant OMV are on the bill again this year, despite persistent criticism from ...
The clash between urban cyclists and car drivers has been brewing for several years now. But pedestrians have been advocating for their rights for far longer, writesNot so long ago, the journalist Bernard Hickey predicted that cyclists vs motorists will become one of the political issues of our age. “We ...
A2 Milk has delivered a strong financial result, with increased sales in its infant nutrition business and with better than expected profit margins. The specialty milk company's net profit rose 21 percent in the six months to December to $184.9m, with an underlying sales margin of 32.6 percent. Sales rose ...
Air New Zealand's half year profit has taken a larger hit than expected, falling 33 percent amid slowing demand for air travel and increased costs. Its net profit was $101 million in the six months ended December, compared with $150m the year before. Costs rose due to price hikes for ...
You might be trying to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life, but what about in death? Alex Casey talks to Becs Bartells, founder of Outside the Box about creating the perfect cardboard casket. Becs Bartells often forgets she has an empty coffin sitting in the back of her station wagon, ...
As government services shut their doors in communities and drive people to interact online, the wellbeing of New Zealand's most vulnerable people is being diminished, says the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). CAB has released the report 'Face to Face ...
New research from justice advocacy group JustSpeak released today shows that structural bias in policing continues to disproportionately harm Māori and demonstrates the urgent need for transformative change across our justice system. Using the Statistics ...
A Spinoff article last year rightly raised concerns that citizens’ assemblies could be yet another imposition of Western ideas on Māori. But assemblies and tino rangatiratanga-based visions in fact share a critique of our current democratic system – and could together transform politics, write Emily Beausoleil and Max Rashbrooke.Nadine Anne ...
More new coronavirus cases have for the first time been reported outside China than inside, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. ...
Simon Bridges wouldn't deport mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant if found guilty despite calling for reciprocal policy; and Why climate change should be on the agenda for Jacinda meet Morrison. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David A. Savage, Associate Professor of Behavioural Economics , Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle Recent days have brought reports of shoppers clearing out supermarket shelves from Wuhan and Hong Kong to Singapore and Milan in response to the spread of coronavirus. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato The Christchurch mosque attacks on March 15 last year have prompted a significant rise in tip-offs about people expressing extremist views, according to a report by New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS). During the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Beirman, Senior Lecturer, Tourism, University of Technology Sydney The coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) has now reached more than 80,000 recorded cases, largely concentrated in China, with a death toll over 2,700 and rising. There are few signs the epidemic is abating. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tessa Copp, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common hormonal condition. When using the definition supported by the international guidelines, it affects just under one in six young Australian women. To meet the diagnostic criteria of PCOS, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul McGorrery, PhD Candidate in Criminal Law, Deakin University The recent killing of Hannah Clarke and her three children by her estranged husband has raised national attention to the types of behaviour that might lead to such a horrific crime, and how ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominique Hes, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Architecture, University of Melbourne Despite a wealth of evidence to the contrary, some still propagate the myth that the world will need Australian coal for decades to come. Last weekend Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese joined in, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mehmet Ulubasoglu, Professor of Economics, Head of the Department of Economics and Director of the Centre for Energy, the Environment and Natural Disasters, Deakin University My team and I have analysed the incomes of people affected by some of Australia’s worst bushfires, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tiffani J. Howell, Research Fellow, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University Australians are slightly obsessed with our dogs. But are we obsessed enough to watch a reality doggy makeover show? The reality makeover concept has a long history, from ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Saving water becomes crucial amid drought, means testing Super back in the news, and a hard look at a Special Purpose Vehicle.Aucklanders need to get serious about saving water or restrictions will come in. Newshub reports that’s the message from Watercare, who ...
Up-and-coming teenage freeskiier Ruby Andrews has shown she has the boldness and the bravery to become one of the world's top women in not one, but three, different events. There’s no questioning Ruby Andrews’ grit and determination. While most 15-year-olds are spending this summer hanging with friends on the beach, Andrews ...
An anonymous international student at the University of Auckland grapples with when and how she might return to NZ amid the coronavirus outbreak, and what challenges she will face if she makes it back. I am a Chinese international student at the University of Auckland. Having completed my language course and ...
When will there be a vaccine? What can we do and how do we stay up to date? Helen Petousis-Harris gives an update on the COVID-19 global health emergency Less than two months after China told the World Health Organisation there was a problem, a lot has happened. Sadly, deaths, confirmed ...
From February 28, Kiwibank will be cheque-free. Mark Jennings looks at how it has been preparing its customers for the big change. It’s raining heavily in Nelson, something it hasn’t done for a while. Local MP and former cabinet minister Nick Smith hurriedly climbs into an old bus parked outside the city’s library. ...
Experts in far-right extremism see a number of similarities between the Christchurch terror attack and last week's mass shooting in Hanau, Germany. Marc Daalder reports. On the evening of February 19, a man shot up two shisha bars frequented by Muslims in Hanau, Germany. It later emerged that he had released ...
ReadingRoom has devoted all week to the biggest-selling book in New Zealand right now, In The Clearing, a brilliant thriller by Ngāpuhi author JP Pomare, based on creepy Australian cult The Family. We conclude the series with a review by Bill Ralston.JP Pomare's second novel In ...
New Zealand’s travel ban on China has been extended another week. The president of the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations argues for a student exemption.The loss of lives and poor health caused by coronavirus is devastating. We must acknowledge the families, across the globe, who have lost loved ones ...
The first issue of the Otago student magazine for 2020 had barely hit campus before it was making headlines in the wider media. The cover was censored by Facebook, and a furious editorial denounced party politics, promising to give them a miss. Josie Adams speaks to editor Sinead Gill about ...
The global health emergency that is the Coronavirus - or Covid-19 - has become a game-changer for scientists around the world in terms of the speed of the response. But at the same time it's been termed a 'misinfodemic' Covid-19 – or coronavirus – is a game changer for scientists around the ...
President Rodrigo Duterte administers the oath of office to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) officials in a ceremony at the Rizal Hall in Malacañang Palace on February 26, 2020. Video: RapplerBy Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila Reporters have finally got the chance to ...
Andy Ayamiseba died a few days ago. While the West Papuan was loved, admired and supported in Vanuatu, he fought tirelessly to win a home he could return to. He died before the dream was achieved.Originally published by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PIPP), this 2013 profile ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Merryn McKinnon, Senior lecturer, Australian National University Public representation of science in the media still struggles to reflect the true diversity of those who work in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). According to the Women in Leadership Australia’s 2019 Women for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Mathews, Professor of Strategic Management, Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University Australia is the world’s third largest fossil fuels exporter – a fact that generates intense debate as climate change intensifies. While the economy is heavily reliant on coal and ...
The Otago Regional Council (ORC) voted today to request that Minister for the Environment Hon. David Parker exercise his authority to ‘call in’ upcoming proposed plan changes to the Regional Plan for Otago: Water and Regional Plan for Otago: Waste ...
This week’s plummeting international stock markets are a sign the ‘best case scenario’ economic outcomes of the coronavirus are increasingly unlikely. And that’s a worry for NZ’s manufacturers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Mark Butler, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, is optimistic that Labor is better placed to prosecute its climate policy at the next election, compared to the last. “I think we are better positioned ...
The huge majority of New Zealanders think fishing industry donations to Members of Parliament at the last election have the potential to “strongly influence” decisions the MPs make, according to a poll conducted by Horizon Research. The poll, ...
Wellington councillors have voted to expand the mayor's proposed taskforce on the city's water problems, to include business and community members and water experts. The council has today voted to establish the taskforce proposed by mayor Andy Foster. The group he envisaged comprised only councillors, officials and iwi representatives. However, ...
“Let me be clear, Maori have a guardianship, ownership and protection role when it comes to the nations freshwater ways and let me be even clearer – if what has been happening to our freshwater eco-systems and ecology over the last hundred years ...
Open mike 01/12/2015 
Open mike is your post.
A New Hope from the National Party leader ...7 hours ago
NZ First portrays itself as an anti-establishment party, standing up for "the little guy" (always a guy) against Big Auckland Money and its tool-parties. But it turns out that its secret slush fund is funded by the very people it claims to oppose:Stuff can reveal a longer list of donors ...8 hours ago
9 hours ago
Will She, Or Won't She? Jacinda’s white vestments may look impressive on the cover of the international edition of TIME magazine, but every day Labour’s relationship with Winston Peters and NZ First continues, her ability to go on wearing them back home in New Zealand – without exciting derision – diminishes.IT WAS ...9 hours ago
BAMS survey of 2018 extreme weather The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society has published a collection of articles examining unusually extreme weather events of 2018 and connections of those to climate change. These investigations are listed separately below but thanks to the generosity of AMS appear free for ...16 hours ago
Fans are outraged at the prospect of Destiny Church pastor Hannah Tamaki joining the Black Caps ...1 day ago
Less than two months after China told the WHO there was a problem, a lot has happened. Sadly, deaths, confirmed cases and countries affected are increasing every day. However, on a scientific and medical level, what is going on to contain, cure and prevent this new disease is truly inspirational. ...1 day ago
by the Council of Disobedient Women When Moana Maniapoto recently lamented that Rachel Stewart was no longer writing for the Herald, political commentator Morgan Godfery was quick to brag on Twitter, like a schoolyard bully, how proud he was of “driving Rachel Stewart from the Herald”. What a contrast Morgan ...2 days ago
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...5 days ago
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...1 week ago
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...2 weeks ago
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, New Zealand First Deputy Leader A total delivery of 2,000 new Police Officers has been achieved. New Zealand First Deputy Leader, Fletcher Tabuteau attended the latest police graduation of Recruit Wing 335 in Porirua today. Mr Tabuteau said, “Increasing police numbers and boosting their resources was one of ...6 hours ago
One of our most immediate priorities upon forming Government was to get people out of sleeping in cars, garages, or on the street and into safe and warm housing. Since then, we've made major progress towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, including expanding Housing First, building more state houses, and ...1 day ago
A milestone has been reached with the graduation of more than 2,000 new Police officers since the Coalition Government took office in October 2017. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the graduation today of Wing 335 marks a surge of 2,023 new officers, and coincides with some significant breakthroughs against organised ...5 hours ago
The Government says it wants to protect small businesses from getting shafted by big companies who don’t or won’t pay their bills on time. The move can’t come too soon. ...2 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Muecke, Clinical senior lecturer in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Adelaide Humans are physiologically hardwired to love and seek out sweet things. It’s an ancient survival mechanism that evolved to prepare our bodies for periods of fasting when food supplies ...2 hours ago
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, the Catholic Bishops' agency for justice, peace and development, is concerned that the latestchild poverty numbers show that there has been anincrease in material hardship,with 4100 more children living in ...4 hours ago
Is it the kind of headline that will win votes at the general election? “Rock-star reception in Fijian village” followed by a sub-head “Rapturous greeting for Ardern during visit to launch $3m sanitation project”. The reporter (veteran Barry Soper, Newstalk ZB’s political editor) poses the rhetorical question: “Is there any ...5 hours ago
The New Zealand First Foundation received $100,000 in just one week from two rich-listers, whose donations remained secret because the individual payments fell below the disclosure threshold. ...5 hours ago
Art schools are seen by many as beacons of liberalism. But is this the reality? Former Māori student Anna McAllister recounts her fraught journey through an Auckland art school.In high school, the only subjects I was remotely good at were the practical arts. I stayed in the art block during ...6 hours ago
Jacinda Ardern has paid tribute to the three Fijians who died in last year's Christchurch mosque shootings. ...6 hours ago
Finance Minister sees serious, short-term impact on economy from Covid-19. He says the Government is able to deliver more general fiscal stimulus and sector-specific help if the economic hit is longer and harder. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has given his first comprehensive update on the economic effects expected from the ...7 hours ago
Child protection social work involves risk. It always will. The right decisions cannot always be made and sometimes it can be a question of choosing between the least damaging alternatives. We have had a long list of child abuse tragedies for over 30 years now – in Aotearoa New Zealand and ...8 hours ago
New Zealand King Salmon has had a better-than-expected first half, driven by record prices for its fish products. The Marlborough-based salmon farmer's net profit rose nearly 38 percent to $20.8 million in the six months to December, with the average sale price up 6.6 percent. However, revenue of $84.2m was ...9 hours ago
The Government has accepted a majority of the recommendations of the Commerce Commission's retail fuel market study, Marc Daalder reports Energy Minister Megan Woods announced today that the Government will regulate the wholesale fuel market, in line with recommendations from the Commerce Commission. In legislation due to be passed by ...9 hours ago
A2 Milk has delivered a strong financial result, with increased sales in its infant nutrition business and with better than expected profit margins. The specialty milk company's net profit rose 21 percent in the six months to December to $184.9m, with an underlying sales margin of 32.6 percent. Sales rose ...10 hours ago
Air New Zealand's half year profit has taken a larger hit than expected, falling 33 percent amid slowing demand for air travel and increased costs. Its net profit was $101 million in the six months ended December, compared with $150m the year before. Costs rose due to price hikes for ...10 hours ago
More new coronavirus cases have for the first time been reported outside China than inside, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. ...12 hours ago
New Zealand is flush with Lotto fever, with a $50 million must-win record jackpot up for grabs this Saturday. ...12 hours ago
Simon Bridges wouldn't deport mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant if found guilty despite calling for reciprocal policy; and Why climate change should be on the agenda for Jacinda meet Morrison. ...12 hours ago
Up-and-coming teenage freeskiier Ruby Andrews has shown she has the boldness and the bravery to become one of the world's top women in not one, but three, different events. There’s no questioning Ruby Andrews’ grit and determination. While most 15-year-olds are spending this summer hanging with friends on the beach, Andrews ...15 hours ago
An anonymous international student at the University of Auckland grapples with when and how she might return to NZ amid the coronavirus outbreak, and what challenges she will face if she makes it back. I am a Chinese international student at the University of Auckland. Having completed my language course and ...15 hours ago
When will there be a vaccine? What can we do and how do we stay up to date? Helen Petousis-Harris gives an update on the COVID-19 global health emergency Less than two months after China told the World Health Organisation there was a problem, a lot has happened. Sadly, deaths, confirmed ...15 hours ago
From February 28, Kiwibank will be cheque-free. Mark Jennings looks at how it has been preparing its customers for the big change. It’s raining heavily in Nelson, something it hasn’t done for a while. Local MP and former cabinet minister Nick Smith hurriedly climbs into an old bus parked outside the city’s library. ...15 hours ago
Experts in far-right extremism see a number of similarities between the Christchurch terror attack and last week's mass shooting in Hanau, Germany. Marc Daalder reports. On the evening of February 19, a man shot up two shisha bars frequented by Muslims in Hanau, Germany. It later emerged that he had released ...15 hours ago
ReadingRoom has devoted all week to the biggest-selling book in New Zealand right now, In The Clearing, a brilliant thriller by Ngāpuhi author JP Pomare, based on creepy Australian cult The Family. We conclude the series with a review by Bill Ralston. JP Pomare's second novel In ...15 hours ago
The global health emergency that is the Coronavirus - or Covid-19 - has become a game-changer for scientists around the world in terms of the speed of the response. But at the same time it's been termed a 'misinfodemic' Covid-19 – or coronavirus – is a game changer for scientists around the ...15 hours ago
Global health officials have declared the world is not ready for coronavirus - but can we be ready for future outbreaks? ...1 day ago
This week’s plummeting international stock markets are a sign the ‘best case scenario’ economic outcomes of the coronavirus are increasingly unlikely. And that’s a worry for NZ’s manufacturers. ...1 day ago
Wellington councillors have voted to expand the mayor's proposed taskforce on the city's water problems, to include business and community members and water experts. The council has today voted to establish the taskforce proposed by mayor Andy Foster. The group he envisaged comprised only councillors, officials and iwi representatives. However, ...1 day ago
NZRS killed by Islamic terrorists in November = 0
NZRS killed by their workplace in November = 3
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11553651
Teenage worker covered in bitumen, burned alive, the boss is sad.
Quoting article:
Actually, some business owners wish it upon the workers all the time. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be complaining about increasing health and safety rules.
Some things in that item that stand out. The worker was 60 not 16.
Corboy Earthmovers had been in business for a number of decades, Mr Baxter said, but was now under new ownership after the original founder – Craig “Cactus” Corboy – died in a digger accident about three years ago….
The workplace fatality was November’s third. John Douglas Howe died last Wednesday when he was hit by a truck at a Mangere freight yard, and Mario Lelina was killed using machinery at a Southland gold mine on November 5.
I remember a politician, may have been David Lange, commenting that ACC was needed by workers particularly – he had never heard of a solicitor falling off a chair and breaking anything.
‘The release of a critical report on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ decision to grant immunity to a Malaysian diplomat will be put off at least until he is sentenced.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11553593
More Kiwis face homeless old age
‘Growing numbers of Kiwis risk becoming homeless in old age because of falling home ownership rates, rising rents and static housing subsidies, the Salvation Army says.
Homeless Baby Boomers, a hard-hitting report by the army’s social policy unit, says superannuitants in private rentals will jump almost four-fold from 61,000 in 2013 to 237,000 by 2030, as those owning their own homes drop from 73 per cent of the age group to 63 per cent.
It says rents have risen 4 per cent a year over the past five years, while the accommodation supplement has not changed since 2007, making it harder for many elderly renters to survive.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11553671
sad and shameful
we should be ashamed of ourselves for what we have done to our society
This is the result of 30 years’ neo-liberalism.
This article by Chris Hedges shows how the USA has progressed under neo-liberalism.
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/11/30/age-demagogues
And a leaked Congress document shows that Obama can only talk hot air at the Climate Conference cos they aint gonna sign nothin.
Even our own Media focused its coverage this morning, firstly on statements/actions against terrorism… not Climate, that came later
December’s Too Much
And the US has been neo-liberal for longer than NZ. The worship of the rich that we’ve had for the last thirty years causes huge problems for the poor and society in general.
That story is only a look at a very minor symptom and kind of irrelevant in the greater scheme. The real issue is agricultural usage – more than 80% of water usage – growing high water usage crops in an arid region. Think the recent law about offering restaurant diners water without a request matters versus intensive almond and rice cropping? California even produces hay for export using irrigation.
Actually, it’s a major symptom as it’s indicative of how the unsustainable agriculture in California is treated. Those rich and powerful get to do whatever they like no matter how much damage it does.
This kowtowing to the rich happens across the world and it causes all sorts of grief.
From Morning Report on this issue …quite comprehensive and thought provoking. It is not just young New Zealanders who are the new poor.
‘Looming homeless’
A Salvation Army report published today warns hundreds of thousands of baby boomers could be left homeless in retirement.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201780869/looming-homeless
imo we need to retain a universal super … and we need to progress it further into a to a Universal Basic Income…universal super is the first step along the way to a UBI.
So how do we go about doing this?
“She’s already kicked the guy’s arse once and it’s good to see her being saved the bother of doing it again – because she totally kicked his arse. It was amazing,” Tania Billingsley rulz!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11553665
Also the report into why & how he was able to leave the country & Tolleys & Mcullys actions was completed last December has been delayed release again….nothing to hide nothing to fear is one of the right wings mantra innit? Bollocks!
Everywhere you look this toxic regime has been busy robbing kiwis of liberties, justice, resources and any ability to use the ‘independant’ bodies to bring them to account by gutting them of funds and placing their poodles in charge.
+100 …”Tania Billingsley rulz!”
Tania Billingsley and her courage is a role model for all facing and dealing with sexual assault!
TV3 got it wrong in their coverage. Didn’t put in the bit about where she revealled her identity to get the apology the PM had promised,
courage + courage
Christian with massive conflict of interest resigns, bad smell lingers.
Could there possibly be a cultural link between the Salem Witch trials, Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’, McCarthyism, and Islamic State ?
Link for Weka – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPH_mnWdmho @26 min –
“Yes, flocks of chickens, herds of cows, and thousands of swine contribute to more green house gas emissions than all the worlds cars, lorries, buses, trains, ships and planes combined.
We must stop using cars and we should stop eating meat.
…and then we can get down on all fours and eat the grass and veges and create our own personal green house emissions
population control is a better solution…there are far too many humans on this planet
Do you have a list, chooky?
i could work on it…but it might bring unfavourable comparisons…better for humans not to be born at all at this stage
….and for us to all hunker down and live frugally…this means overturning laissaz faire corporate controlled capitalism…and the Labour Party
Yep http://www.vhemt.org
But even if the population went to 10 billion tomorrow, it wouldn’t change what is already locked in for the next 10 – 15 years.
And if we all became walking vegans, the locked in shit will still get us, that is what 700ppm CO2/CO2e looks like 🙂 (happy face for Rosie)
not sure what your point is Robert. I agree that agribusiness is a huge contributor to GHG emissions. I just don’t think that making the world vegan will solve that. The solution to those GHG emissions is to eat local. That will do multiple things. It will reduce meat consumption. It will create better local economies and real CC age jobs for people. It will undercut agribusiness. It will support organics, regenag etc and shift us to sustainable land use. Win, win, win, win.
What going vegan will do is shift the profits from dairy and feedlot cow growers to corn and soy growers. It won’t undermine agribusiness at all, they will just carry on regardless. It will also create a bunch of malnourished humans (there’s very good reasons why we don’t have vegan cultures on planet earth, it’s not sustainable).
My point is, you were giving me shit over http://www.cowspiracy.com/ , as if they were lying or something ?????, so just pointing out RT are saying the fing same thing.
They’re not saying the same thing, and Cowspiracy does appear to be lying.
All I saw in the vid were some random figures about agribusines out of context that appeared to be saying that agribusiness is a huge contributor to GHG emissions levels.
Cowspiracy is vegan propaganda, it has manipulated statistics to suit its proselytising agenda to turn the world vegan, it misleads the public because of that, and it has attempted to ruin people’s reputations in the process (see the shit it tried to pull on Greenpeace).
So, yeah, I will continue to give you shit about using Cowspiracy as a source of valid data or commentary on climate change and what we should be doing. Especially when you ignore the counter arguments.
Cowspiracy is lying.
No it won’t. All it would do is make it so that all the animals are grown locally. The problem is raising animals to eat – both as dairy and as meat. We need to decrease the number of cows in the world and we’d do that by eating less meat/dairy. In a market environment that means increasing the price of meat which would boost profits and so increase the amount of meat being produced.
Basically, the market can’t do it. In fact, the market simply can’t do anything that we need to do to save ourselves. It is, in fact, what’s killing us.
Most meat and dairy farms in NZ exist because of exports. That’s a completely different issue than NZers eating locally, and NZers eating less meat and dairy won’t primarily affect the export markets. I agree there are huge issues with organising ourselves around the corporate market structure. Eating local undermines that because it connects people who eat directly with people who grow food. The ability to influence how food is grown increases exponentially. It also gives farmers a way out of the global economy export structure that most are caught in. Those are the farmers that are and will lead the way on sustainable agriculture.
I think what you are describing is that the markets adapt to selling locally, which isn’t what I was meaning at all. Eating local is a highly political act because of the ways that it undermines the global economy. It has a culture of its own that precludes what you describe, although I do think it is open to corporate capture in similar ways to how organics has been.
I agree that NZers could do with eating less dairy and meat, but it has to be done in a thoughtful and evidence based way, not in a ‘we should all be vegan because the global economy says eating industrial meat is worse for GHG emissions than eating industrial soy’. Swapping out soy for meat is daft, esp in NZ where most of our soy is imported from monocropped, Monsantoed farms in the US and China. Better to eat a range of locally produced protein and that includes meat/dairy for those that want to eat meat/dairy.
This might help the debate ?
https://www.farmmachinerylocator.co.uk/impact-of-our-consumption/
The link wasn’t working this morning? but is up again now.
yeah, we know, agribusiness is a problem. I think that’s already been established.
What do dysfunctional and troubled societies do?
They self-medicate.
Just another consequence of 30 years of neo-liberalism.
I don’t expect the msm to join the dots as it’s job is to prevent people seeing the big picture.
However when will NZers make the connection.
Neo-liberalism kills societies.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11553764
What’s new?
Nothing. This is the line up when Shearer announced his “team”.
Robertson is pulling the strings today, just like he was when he put Shearer into the saddle three years ago.
Dalziel dropped from Labour’s top 20
ANDREA VANCE
25/02/2013. From STUFF
“Annette King, Phil Twyford and David Clark have been promoted to Labour’s front bench in a party reshuffle unveiled today.
Shane Jones will remain on the front bench pending the Auditor-General’s report into the Bill Liu case. Among the big losers were Trevor Mallard who was bumped off the front bench.
Labour leader David Shearer unveiled his new line-up this morning. He said it was a mix of “new talent and experienced hands”.
King returns to the front bench after some time in the middle benches following her demotion as deputy leader. She will take up the health protfolio. Dunedin North MP David Clark has flown up the ranks and will take on the economic development portfolio. Chris Hipkins will take on education, Andrew Little justice and Phil Twyford housing.
Leadership contender David Cunliffe and Christchurch East MP Lianne Dalziel have been bumped from the top 20-ranked Labour MPs.
Shearer said Clark was a “rising star” with the economic grunt needed for his new portfolio. He will work alongside David Parker who retains the finance portfolio. King was passionate and formidable, Shearer said.
Twyford was “one of our top performers”.
Wigram MP Megan Woods will pick up tertiary education and Sue Moroney has returned to the top 20.
Those outside the top 20 MPs are not ranked.
Iain Lees-Galloway and Kris Faafoi have also picked up new portfolios although they remain on the backbenches.
………
Deputy leader Grant Robertson remains in the number two spot and picks up responsibility for jobs.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8348590/Dalziel-dropped-from-Labours-top-20
Thanks for that reminder Northsider. I am not close enough to the centre of the action to know exactly who is calling the shots, but I do see the continuous rearrangement of the same dwindling group of people. Sigh.
makes you wonder if there is a fifth column which has kidnapped the Labour Party
same old cabal at work….and NOT the Labour Party memberships’ choice
…and as CV pointed out yesterday “shitloads of electorate MPs got pushed out into unranked spots.”
This is not grassroots democracy operating in the NZLP…it is a cabal…cabalism…cannibalism…Eat your own Best…baked Cunliffe for dinner
Nope. The simple fact is that the Labour party caucus did not get serious refreshment at the last election, so the talent pool remains pretty much the same. Little has played the cards he has been dealt and done a pretty positive job of it by promoting where he could.
That does not explain electorate-winning MP’s being pushed out into unranked spots. On morning report, people were expressing anger at the demotion of Mahuta, given her contribution to bringing the Maori seats back to Labour.
Yeah, Tuku Morgan was expressing outrage. You know, National supporting Tuku Morgan of underpants fame. Yawn.
What difference does it make if MP’s hold electorates? They’re all part of the same caucus and it’s their work between elections that gets them higher rankings.
Winning a seat does evidence the ability to garner active support within the broader community, which is where elections are won and lost. It is not everything, but it does give concrete proof that at least some people see you as up to representing them.
yes Mahuta helped Labour win back the Maori seats…this ingratitude and insult wont be forgotten by Maori
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/temanukorihi/audio/201780892/labour-reshuffle-ruffles-feathers-amongst-maori
…another reason for the Cunliffites and Labour membership ( which has been ignored and spurned ) to be jumping ship and help in the forming of a new and dynamic activist grassroots New Zealand Labour Party incorporating Mana and the Internet Party
I do not think that we need a new party, but we desperately need an economically left wing activist movement, along the lines of the People’s Assembly in Britain. It is not hard to see why purportedly left wing MP’s end up representing the political establishment itself rather than a left wing constituency – the power of our historic institutional bases is too eroded to put anyone under real pressure, while the threat of being persona non grata in political/media/donor circles still has force. One by one the bases have been lost – job/income security, state benefits, housing – once a line of defense has fallen, the next is easier to take. We need to make up for our lack of institutional power with people power. Until we are able to muster such power, those meant to represent us will continue to largely dismiss us.
There is definitely a need to replace Labour, but where would a new left wing party find the fiscal support required to win an election?
If Mahuta wants a high rank in the party, she needs to actually do something.
As I have said, she played a large part in winning back the Maori seats. She does do stuff, although she does not have a high profile. The ability to win people’s trust, however, in a party with Labour’s recent history, is not something to be sneezed at, whether or not one’s accomplishments are heralded with trumpets and drums.
+100
+100 Olwyn …Mahuta, friend of David Cunliffe, works quietly and effectively behind the scene and brings in the Labour Party the Maori seats
…what is her reward?…demotion by the WASPs…Little’s neo Liberal Party does not deserve Mahuta or Cunliffe
…. if I were her I would be jumping ship and taking the Maori seats to a new Labour Mana/Internet Party
Hear hear Olwyn !
And Charles Chauvel got it too.
His plea for right wing to fly with left wing in his valedictory speech has been ignored.
I note that tanning beds need to be regulated. For the health and saefty of the pubic… but no sign of regulating junk food and beverages which also impact (in much higher numbers) on the health and saftey of NZers. Strange huh?
… For the health and saefty of the pubic…
Actually, probably for the whole body 🙂
That was incredibly funny.
As predicted in The Standard last week:
“Jeremy Corbyn is to offer a free vote to MPs on David Cameron’s proposals for UK to bomb Isis in Syria but will make it clear that Labour party policy is to oppose airstrikes.
The Labour leader will also press Cameron to delay the vote until Labour’s concerns about the justification for the bombing are addressed, as part of a deal he has thrashed out with the deputy leader, Tom Watson, and other senior members of the shadow cabinet over the weekend.
His decision averts the threat of a mass shadow cabinet walkout, while making it clear that his own firmly held opposition to airstrikes is official Labour party policy, backed by the membership.”
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/30/syria-airstrikes-jeremy-corbyn-gives-labour-mps-free-vote
A post from The Daily Blog
MIKE IN AUCKLAND says:
DECEMBER 1, 2015 AT 1:26 AM
Hey, Mr Little, was David Cunliffe not once voted for by the majority of the Labour Party membership? It was only too many in caucus that opposed him as leader before the last election. And as I hear it, there is still a fair level of support and sympathy that goes out to David Cunliffe.
Maybe he disappointed some that once supported him, with his talk about being “ashamed to be a man”, and not answering one or another question well during a pre-election debate on TV.
Cunliffe was already stabbed in the back, or at least undermined, while the election campaign was still in preparation last year, then when some polls did not seem to deliver, and when the MSM turned nasty at him and Labour, the rest of the stab in the back was dealt out by those in caucus that disliked him. Some in caucus got nervous or even panicked, and then turned at Cunliffe, I remember it well, it was revealed in comments after the election loss was announced.
David hesitated accepting defeat on election night, but had to see the sombre reality afterwards. So after some reflecting he stepped down.
Many still respect him for his skills and experience, and for his passion, expressed well and in oratory skill in his speeches. So some of us had hoped he may be back in a better role, ranked higher as he had been until yesterday.
But why the hell did you rank him down to number 28 out 0f 32 (or is it 34?). That is an insult, a slap in the face of the man. Did he signal not standing again in 2017, or did some breathe down heavily on your neck, Mr Little?
Have the ABC “gangsters” been putting on the pressure, or been pulling some strings behind the scenes? Did some of your caucus dare bully you? I cannot believe you, but your decision yesterday raises many, many questions.
It does not make sense what I see, some like Stuart Nash now moving up, and Jacinda Ardern ranked higher than many can see as being justified. Annette King must be transitioning into retirement over the coming years, so why is she still right next to you, in the front line and co driver’s seat?
Andrew Little, you have certainly disappointed me, if you would have appreciated and had been able to recognise talent and also fairness, you would have treated David Cunliffe differently, and given him a spokesperson role and ranking further up. That would have mended some divisions that still may well exist within the party.
It appears that caucus considers itself as the dominant professional elite within your party, ignoring the input someone like David Cunliffe can still offer, by marginalising him.
You only became leader with a rather marginal majority, so how does that feel? Are you having second thoughts now to hold the balance in the party, and have you given in to some others, who seem to be setting the agenda now?
For me Labour has now become unvotable, I will not even vote for the electorate seat candidate anymore. My trust is gone, after seen what has been dealt out to the MP for New Lynn, David Cunliffe, that is NOT an olive branch for someone who could perhaps contribute so much for Labour in future.
Good luck with your future as leader, and your campaign in 2017, you will certainly need it.
– See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/11/30/puppet-on-a-string-has-andrew-little-become-the-plaything-of-labours-dominant-factions/#.dpuf
+100…very well said!
I imagine many are thinking the same way right now.
Not Guilty, but the crap hasn’t ended. Chris Cairns will be
thinking: God save me from my ex-friends and coaches.
RNZ National, Tuesday 1 December 2015, 8:11 a.m.
Chris Cairns may have got off free in his London court case, but nothing will save him from people like his former coach Glenn Turner.
This morning on RNZ National, Glenn Turner told Susie Ferguson: “Sadly, there’s a lot goes on in the background today that the spin-doctors seem to be employed to conceal or fudge.”
Not every listener will have got Turner’s witty allusion. In 1998, Chris Cairns and his father Lance started Cairns Fudge. Unwisely, he came onto TV3 to be interviewed by Pam Corkery about it. After he had spent a few minutes discoursing on the subtleties involved in producing Russian and chocolate fudge, Corkery delivered her coup de grâce: “Chris Cairns,” she cackled, “fudge-packer! Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh!”
Chris Cairns did not laugh, much to her annoyance.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10418848
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/4071850/From-cricket-star-to-Dubai-diamond-dealer
‘
LEAKED!!
The New Zealand Police new contract for academic researchers seeking access to data.
🙂
How ISIS squeezes every last dollar, dinar and pound out of the people it rules.
.
Across wide expanses of Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State, with the goal of building a credible government, has set up a predatory and violent bureaucracy that wrings every last American dollar, Iraqi dinar and Syrian pound it can from those who live under its control or pass through its territory.
Interviews with more than a dozen people living inside or recently escaped from the Islamic State-controlled territory, and Western and Middle Eastern officials who track the militants’ finances, describe the group as exacting tolls and traffic tickets; rent for government buildings; utility bills for water and electricity; taxes on income, crops and cattle; and fines for smoking or wearing the wrong clothes.
[…]
In the short term, American and European officials are struggling to cut the group’s revenues. But the old strategy for stopping the flow of money to terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, which was largely based on cutting them off from donors in the Persian Gulf upon which they depend, does not apply to the Islamic State.
“They derive so much of their resources internally, that more traditional counterterror finance tools we would apply, say in the case of Al Qaeda, to cut off a terror organization from its income sources are not applicable in this case,” said Daniel L. Glaser, the assistant Treasury secretary for terrorist financing. “They don’t rely on donors.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/world/middleeast/predatory-islamic-state-wrings-money-from-those-it-rules.html?
They are selling oil. There must be a way of stopping that?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/19/-sp-islamic-state-oil-empire-iraq-isis
It’s not as simple as you’d think.
The smuggling networks are old, and tribal. It’s not just a metter of ISIS having taken the fields and selling the oil on a black market. They repaired the firleds, if you like, and allow the local smuggelrs to operate in return for a massive cut. It’s more like a mafia economy, or warlordism. They set up favorites with power, and then take their cut. Same as it ever was.
So when you hit those networks, you are not just hitting ISIS, you are hitting the local tribes and economy.
The Kurds in that peice, talking to wetsern journos, talk about ‘oh we do what we can about kurdish smugglers, but the big fish always escape,’ and frame it as ‘corruption’ but in reality it’s just how an economy works in a civil war.
And the other hard questions need to be faced, you can’t have a market without willing buyers
View at Medium.com
Sure, it is no secret that there is a strong demand for oil, and people will do all sorts of awful shit to get their hands on some.
Bilal Erdogan (son of the Turkish PM) – a key middle man in the sale of ISIS oil:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-25/meet-man-who-funds-isis-bilal-erdogan-son-turkeys-president
ISIS uses thousands of oil tanker trucks to move their product. These trucks form queues at the Turkish border many kilometres long – easily observable from the air or space. The Russians and now the US have started destroying hundreds of these vehicles.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-19/caught-tape-russian-air-force-destroys-dozens-isis-oil-trucks
“Raqqa’s Rockefellers”
How Turkey and others handle “illegal” Kurdish (and ISIS) oil for profit.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-28/isis-oil-trade-full-frontal-raqqas-rockefellers-bilal-erdogan-krg-crude-and-israel-c
Bear in mind that lab tests will easily show which specific oil field a particular lot of crude has come from.
Yeah. That’s known, it’s all the old smuggling routes, not really new. Everyone is involved.
While you’re here though, why do you think Assad released all those hard core Islamist terrorists from prison when the rebellion was kicking off?
Why do you think he put them in with captured university students and Marxists first CV? What do you think he was up to there?
Was that all part of the CIA plot too was it?
And why doesn’t Putin do more to stop the flow of militants from Russia, where he has his state security people coming down on Muslims, to Syria? Why are these things happening CV? Mystery eh, probably the Saudis making them do it I guess.
Not sure why Assad emptied out the prisons. I suspect many reasons behind such a general amnesty.
Yes, several thousand militants have come from Russia to help ISIS. But have you seen how large Russia’s borders are? And Putin is currently incinerating said militants from Chechnya and the Caucuses.
Per capita however, France, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden contribute notably more fighters to ISIS than Russia does.
http://www.rferl.org/contentinfographics/foreign-fighters-syria-iraq-is-isis-isil-infographic/26584940.html
It wasn’t really a general amnestry though. many were not released. many bloggers, poets, civil servants, artists who opposed the regime were not released.
He released the hardest jihadis though, veterans of the Iraq insurgency with links to Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Come on CV, what is the obvious reason for doing that.
And given I know your deep concern about war crimes, what are your thoughts on the torture he is using? And how do you feel about cluster munitions?
Are they ok when Assad or Russia does it?
And the point about Russia is that they are doing very little to stop militants from travelling, (it’s not the length of the borders, they aren’t even trying) while they are doing things that radicalise them to go. Do you think Putin is unaware of this dynamic, given his history?
Why can’t you offer the slightest criticisms toward Russia or Assad for doing things you would condemn the West for?
I know you have seen me condemn the west for doing the things I criticise them for, so what is your problem?
it’s the elites turning a convenient blind eye to the corruption and malfeasance of other elites.
what of your blind eye CV? Is Putin not an elite?
Take a long read, with the type of mind you would use to read if it was about US or Saudi or Turkish* detainees:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/20/evidence-industrial-scale-killing-syria-war-crimes?view=desktop
and just think about what you are supporting.
*I’d add Egyptian here too, obviously, but god knows what you think of them at the moment
Frankly, if he released highly trained militant jihadis back into the general populace, he harmed his own government stability and military control to a great extent.
Yes, the US did use Syria as one of their CIA torture black sites after 9/11. That’s kind of place Syria is. Like Egypt is. Like US supervised Iraq was.
And cluster munitions, like AP mines, are commonly used in war nowadays.
Assad has by now lost 100,000 or more men from his army to overseas funded foreign fighters. He’s not going to be holding back.
“Syrian government officials could face war crimes charges in the light of a huge cache of evidence smuggled out of the country showing the “systematic killing” of about 11,000 detainees, according to three eminent international lawyers.
The three, former prosecutors at the criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Sierra Leone, examined thousands of Syrian government photographs and files recording deaths in the custody of regime security forces from March 2011 to last August.”
That’s the first 6 months of the uprising, he took the gloves off early.
I strongly recommend people read that link to see what CV is minimising, and refusing to condemn.
The rest of his comment where he justifies the use of cluster munitions, and I assume everything else Assad has been using (white phosphorous etc) speaks for itself.
For the record, the obvious reason to release the jihadis was sp that they would join the rebellion, and use their skills to take it over, justifying the claims that he is fighting terrorists.
This is what CV supports, and has been given ample and repeated oppurtunity to condemn. Not a peep. You can imagine what he would be saying if it was the US being accused of these things with the exact same evidence.
Like I said, it speaks for itself what he has become.
I’m done here.
PB you are a blind man. Assad, Hussein, Gaddafi, were all bad men. They all killed their own people. Yet the Western Cure to the Arab Strong Man disease has always proven one hundred times more deadly and tragic than the original ailment itself.
Look at Afghanistan. Look at Iraq. Look at Libya. Look at Syria. Look at Yemen. Now all failed states or states on the verge of failure.
PB, the West has caused the death of 2M-3M or more Arabs and Muslims since Gulf War 1. And the western Empire of Chaos is still rampaging through the Middle East. But all in a good (anglo-american) cause, right?
And the US were more than happy to use Saddam Hussein and Assad to get the dirty work done when it suited them.
Don’t get all moralistic and uppity about it now.
you want Assad gone PB? Fine, say that Assad’s government collapsed tomorrow and Assad and his family are hunted down and killed in the street by western supported Islamists like Gaddafi was.
And just like in Libya, Syria will have a dozen or two dozen heavily armed Jihadist militias left fighting it out to fill the power vacuum as Syrian civil society and social services collapse, just like Libya. The death toll, bad as it has been will climb exponentially as the likes of ISIS and Al Nusra finish off the minority Christians, Druze, Alawites and Shia in the country, and enslave the women.
Wake up and realise what you are advocating for. The west and NATO countries have allowed many tens of thousands of Islamist fighters to enter Syria to take out Assad. US intelligence reports give this strategy the thumbs up as a good way to finish off Assad. This is utterly illegal regime change by Western nations who still see themselves as the rightful colonial masters of the Levant.
PB you are nothing but an advocate for the western Chaos strategy that has plunged country after country in the Middle East into jihadist militant hell.
And then have the nerve to pretend to be morally superior. God the western colonial mindset are such pitiful slow learners. You keep making failed states as easily as bad batches of scones.
As for Putin. Not only has he had enough of the West using Islamic jihadists to institute regime change – a CIA strategy from the days of Soviet Afghanistan and before – but he has actually been legally invited by the sovereign Damascus government to put an end to it.
No wonder the western colonialists are bitching and moaning. Imagine a sovereign state having the nerve to declare independence from western interference. How unacceptable.
And there we have it, instead of codemning torture and war crimes, the targeting of civilians, and hospitals and bread factories etc, CV choosese to make up shit about what I support. Classic mixes of There Is No Alternative and You Did It Too.
In support of torture. 50 People a day tortured to death. The Regime deliberately releasing jihadists and CV is fine with it because it’s not western. In fact he just ignores it and claims all the jihadists are actually there because of the CIA because of one briefing paper that mentioned they exist.
I’m on the record all over this blog opposing western policies in the ME, opposing torture and all CV can do is lie about me and claim that all of a sudden he is some sort of hard man realist and make arguments that are the perfect mirror image of those used by neocons.
So much for all the arguments CV has made about western torture, turns out it isn’t the torture part he actually opposes.
Good luck with your new left venture CV, you stalinist fuck.
PB, for starters fuck off with your “unless you condemn this to my satisfaction, you’re an evil prick” bullshit. Newsflash – you’re not a moral authority.
That’s a convenient round figure. Works out to just over 18,000 per year under Assad’s rule. Which is BS considering (as you said) he kept people alive in prisons overflowing with military, religious and political enemies. So he was hardly mowing them all down.
Make up your mind eh.
Yet with the West’s facilitated colour revolution and sponsored Jihadi campaign against Assad, we are getting 70,000 deaths a year and maybe 4M people displaced or homeless.
Guess what, I think the West’s Empire of Chaos strategy is far far worse than Assad ever was. Mind you, the West didn’t mind using Assad to get their dirty work done when it suited them, eh?
So PB, you want to see Assad and his government gone?
And which of the Jihadist groups (or “moderate terrorists”) would you prefer to make that happen, and to take Damascus? Do you really think they will improve governance in comparison to Assad?
Will your moderate Jihadis have women and minorities in universities and as government ministers, like Assad does, for instance?
Of course, like the current crop of western leaders you can’t think more than one step ahead of your own self proclaimed moral righteousness.
You clearly have no idea. European and American leadership were more than happy to facilitate the illegal and permanent disappearing of people picked arbitrarily into torture black sites like Syria and Egypt whenever it suited them. As well as innocent taxi drivers and shop keepers caged up and tortured in Guantanamo Bay. Thousands of innocent bystanders droned and bodies left where they fall.
These same leaders have waged a campaign which since Gulf War 1 has killed 2M-3M Muslims and Arabs, perhaps more.
That’s “Stalinism” mate. A body count so high it makes Assad’s bad deeds look like a rounding error.
These same “leaders” want to turn Syria into yet another failed state, and have already halfway succeeded. Israel and Saudi Arabia and Qatar would love to see Syria fall into chaos to fuck both Hezbollah and Iran in one foul swoop.
And idiots like you are willing to ignore how disastrously the same playbook has worked out in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, while giving them morality cover to justify their plan.
No wonder Putin decided to throw a spanner into this western scheme by intervening directly.
I think Assad needs to transition out of power. Even Putin thinks so. That’s what Vienna was about. But no way should the sovereign government of Syria be permitted to collapse and be taken over by the Islamists supported by the west and western Gulf allies.
Why do you keep saying I support things I have repeatedly said I do not support?
And the point isn’t that you haven’t condemned things to my satisfaction, it’s that you refuse to condemn them at all, you justify them.
You suggest I’m riding a moral high horse, but I’m not. I’m just condemning torture and other massive war crimes. You don’t need a high horse for that.
You were condemning the shooting of a pilot, yet you ignore worse crimes. That’s all I’m saying.
And your ranting about western this and that is shown to be hollow becaus eyou are supporting more of the same behaviour from Assad and Putin. That’s all I’m saying, that it is legitimate to say:
“fuck this noise, and fuck that noise too”
You don’t have to support Putin and Assad in order to oppose current or historic western policy. That is a choice you are making. And you are allowed to, but stop acting like I’m being mean for calling it what it is.
And stop lying about what I support.
the 50 a day stat comes from here:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2014/jan/20/torture-of-persons-under-current-syrian-regime-report
and it isn’t for the whole of Assad’s reign, but from a Syrian whistleblower type who smuggled docs from the first 6 months of the rebellion.
If you listen to John in http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/close-up-big-dealers-john-key-1987 the way he talks is so different to now makes me think that his swallowed vowels and mooshing of the language is a deliberate ploy to appeal to middle New Zeland
I figure he rushes his words to obscure their meaning – Key, or his advisers, is/are very good at constructing ambiguous statements.
At first I thought he needed a speech therapist. When it didn’t improve over time, I figured he must be a drunk. Now I think it’s deliberate.
From a 2008 article ‘Who is John Key’:
‘The only tangible sense in which Key asserted a persona of his own was in his accent. “We sometimes felt he would lay on his Kiwi accent so thick in meetings that none of us could understand what he was saying, it was kind of deliberate,” says Kelly.’
http://i.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/249633/Who-is-John-Key
Paul Henry is running a poll on whether or not David Cunliffe should resign.
Go ahead and have your say!
http://www.3news.co.nz/TVShows/PaulHenry/Poll
I’ve voted for him to stay. Don’t let the Right’s agenda win. Don’t let Paul Henry win.
henry was at his worst this morning ,doing a complete hatchet job on Cunnliffe.
It’s a useless poll. There’s no Up Yours Paul Henry option.
lolz, I was looking for that too. I couldn’t find the results of any of their polls, so presumably you have to actually watch the dipstick to find out. Ain’t gonna happen, so I didn’t vote.
Besides, whether DC wants to resign or not is his business. I’m willing to be there are aspects to consider that aren’t in the public domain.
An impossible question to answer as I’m not DC. Considering his principles that he has shown he probably should resign from the Labour Party and join either the Alliance, The Greens or Internet Party.
“Paul Henry is running a poll on whether or not David Cunliffe should resign.”
Who gives a shit what that prat does
Lol. Well, Paul Henry for one doesn’t give a shit, that much is clear.
Cunliffe’s NO vote seems to be winning at nearly 2:1
Would you resign if you were David Cunliffe?
64% are saying Cunliffe should stay and fight on.
36% are saying they would leave a party that behaved in such a bastardly manner.
100% are saying See You Next Tuesday Grant Robertson.
Has tv3 lost the plot completely?
In an ad break during their 6pm news the other night, it cut first to an ad about tv3 programmes (as they do), namely Paul Henry’s awful breakfast show…..
….. the ad involved Paul Henry talking about how if some person bent over naked the asshole would change from the appearance of a bud to a flower.
I kid you not
child toilet humour
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry
I don’t know if it reflects on society or on tv3 (it most definitely reflects on Henry tho)
unbelievable
TV lowers your IQ. Avoid
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11553915
Du Plessis -Allan home raided by cops.
New standard of journalistic cred?
What is it that police have against journos in NZ?
Ummm, because there’s a War on Truth?
Or perhaps she broke the law.
Manuka AOR @20.1
I think you will find the raid on Du Plessus-Allan was carried out as a warning to all journalists and reporters – DON’T MESS WITH US OR ELSE.
In other words authoritarian intimidation.
Something very strange about the timing of the raid – So soon after we’ve been told to (in effect) “be afraid, be very afraid” of radical extremist thuggos planning an attack, possibly a gun-fuelled Paris-style attack .
… They want the guns to be easily accessible by these attack plotters?
How the hell is this a raid?
They called and made an appointment. They went at a time suitable with the occupants.
Kim Dotcom – that was a raid. This was just a search warrant. Good try using the language trying to make it worse than it is.
“Asked how du Plessis-Allan had reacted to the police search, he said: “It’s always worrying, these things. But the fact is that the story was done in the full knowledge that there could have been repercussions.”
And repercussions she deserves.
My turn to feed the troll!
James…have you ever been subject to a Search Warrant?
Given one has no choice in the matter…and the definition of “raid”
surprise attack, hit-and-run raid, tip-and-run raid, assault, descent, blitz, incursion, foray, sortie
this was a raid.
It is an invasion of your home, your safe place, by those who you were idling under the illusion were charged with protecting.
And no, there can be smoke without fire….just to save you having to make another comment.
Enjoy your snack.
“The police have been caught napping and publicity was given to it, they don’t like the fact that they’ve been seen as perhaps not doing their job as well as they could have, so this is a way…because its a high public profile case now and its a way that the police can get back at those who made them I guess look a bit foolish and it would seem that there’s nothing more to it than this.” – Barry Soper.
The whole thing is pointless, though. If it ever gets in front of a judge, it’ll be pleading guilty and discharge without conviction.
1. She’s a journalist, it’s her job
2. They didn’t make any sort of secret of it
3. There was legitimate public interest, and the police closed the loophole after it was reported (having previously done nothing about it)
4. If she gets a conviction from this, it would harm her ability to enter foreign countries to do her job
With any luck, she’ll plead Not Guilty and there will be a hearing and she will have the charge dismissed.
Methinks this is a bit of staged willy waving from the plod.
That gun peddler sounds like a right charmer.
There’s a lot about this that bothers me…not the least of which is that they raided their Welly home and they kinda phoned to make an appointment to do so.
Weird…were the cameras there by any chance?
All very confusing. I’m off to polish my hat….
So, just finished my study year living on the Student loan. Applied for Hardship over summer and found out that that has a one week stand down on it as well.
This government is cutting everything it can to save money but, of course, they only apply it to the people who need it most. Rio Tinto and SkyCity still get the millions of dollars subsidy. Meanwhile, people are going hungry because of Nationals ongoing attack on the poor.
Nats protect their hopeless Speaker: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/291024/senior-labour-mp-challenged-over-tweet
You’d think, perhaps, that under the circumstances they’d simply let the matter drop….?
Reckon. He will be out of there soon anyway.
lol
I love how it’s ok for the Speaker to be “incompetent, bias, doesn’t like the job, lazy, sexist and doesn’t give a toss”, but pointing this out is a serious undermining of the integrity of the House.
Fuck, the only thing Carter has contributed to the integrity of the House is its structural integrity – propping up the back of the Speaker’s chair as he slouches his way through another abuse of power.
I attended a question time a fortnight ago, and then the Speaker said that the public could judge whether members were right or wrong………………… you should have seen the rolling of eyes around the public gallery at the Speaker’s ruling that day! This member of the public adjudged the Speaker to be incompetent and ineffectual.
And good on you , Ruth!
The contempt must be even more obvious to behold in person.
The King of Contra claims that Hans Kriek is “bordering on espionage.”
Even for Mike Hosking, this was a particularly braindead performance.
Seven Sharp, Television One, Tuesday 1 December 2015, 7:17 p.m.
I’ve just watched what was possibly the most ridiculous television interview of the year. In his typically bumptious manner, Mike “King of Contra” Hosking accused SAFE’s Hans Kriek of endangering our international reputation by releasing secretly filmed video of bobby calves being tortured and killed on Waikato dairy farms. They should have “had a quiet word” with Fonterra instead of “going international” like they have.
“It’s bordering on espionage,” he fumed.
In response, Hans Kriek simply laughed.
What other reaction is possible in the face of such militant ignorance?
Hosking, like Key, and Joyce would rather bury all our dirty business.
They do it all the time in the massaging of stats to show “improved outcomes”.
Green Party to vote against National’s RMA changes.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1512/S00028/green-party-to-vote-against-nationals-rma-changes.htm
Labour says it will back National’s proposed changes to the Resource Management Act.
http://www.3news.co.nz/politics/rma-reform-no-magic-solution-but-labour-will-back-it-2015120114#axzz3t3747odE
Thoughts?
Anybody know which way NZ First will vote on the RMA?
Thoughts? Pretty obvious choice for left voters. And probably won’t make the slightest difference.
Labour says it will back the legislation through it’s first reading. I presume it then goes to a select committee and they will wait and see what comes out of that committee before making a final decision whether to vote for or against the ‘amended’ RMA.
Parker says it’s a step in the right direction, seeing it as a surrender by National because they know “gutting the Act is not the solution”.
Yet, Eugenie Sage said National has wasted its opportunity to strengthen the RMA, stating many of the changes proposed to the Act weaken rather than improve the protection of the environment and reduce the opportunities for public participation.
A rather stark contrast in their positions.
It seems the RMA will be another example of Labour aligning with National while further distancing themselves from their potential coalition partner.
Reinforcing the annihilating perception of the opposition rowing in different directions.
For those that are interested
Bumps post for commentators that may be interested (doco above) but missed it.
Of no significance to anybody but I will not be renewing LP membership due to the relegation of David Cunliffe. Nothing ideological or personal but he is simply one of the most obviously competent.
Andrew – what were you thinking?
the dominant factions in caucus are doing the thinking for him.