One of the modern mysteries of the current government is how Kelvin Davis went from being one of the most effective Members of the NZ Labour party while in opposition to one of its biggest liabilities when in government. His handling of the Corrections portfolio is risible. His answers to Guyon Espiner on Morning Report today were simply pathetic.
I don’t know how you can claim that when he did not even read a report on his area of responsibility (that has apparently been available since November) till last week.
I can claim it with the content of his response….the decision was based on the evidence of best practice.
Whether the projection of the number of incarcerations had deteriorated further had no bearing on that.
Would it be better for him to be able to say he had read that particular report before the decision?…of course, even if only for optics…would the content of that report have impacted the decision?….it would have only reinforced the need for the the decision taken.
Not particularly…I have no idea what reports/studies he HAS read (or any other politician for that matter) and as stated the latest report only reinforces the need to work on reducing prison musters.
I actually agree with the policy of smaller prisons rather than large ones however that doesn’t mean he is excused from reading reports about predicted increases in prison populations before he makes important decisions on what to do. I would at least expect him to read the report and re-evaluate his position based on the information.
It would make very little difference whether he had read the report or not. The government had a significant body of material that warned them of the negative consequences of their oil and gas decision, but they made it anyway. Arrogance is becoming a key characteristic of this government.
For once I agree with Baba Yaga, it was a stupid decision that won’t cut our CO2 emissions by one µg, but it will limit NZ’s future energy options with needless and possibly avoidable costs of importing fuel. We will run out of natural gas soon, it’s 50% cleaner burning than other fossil fuels. What a waste.
We will probably end up burning more coal and wood.
And your evidence for changing track towards renewables meaning we have to buy more fossil fuel offshore is? And burning more wood and coal?
Half of this argument is changing how people think about consumption, not stupid arguments over keeping consumption at the same level. Feeding into idiots like baba yaga and his fake attempt to be blissfully ignorant of the the impact of that mentality is producing. Is a bloody painful and tired debate – one which I might add we have had on this site for a very long time.
Time to accept we have to change, or take responsibility for being the person who supports the destruction of human habitation. Those are the choices at this stage. Between a wrecker or not.
Don’t worry yourself on behalf of the oil companies,
Aparently, they are getting everything they wanted
The Austrian player also reiterated that the New Zealand government’s decision to not issue any new offshore exploration permits would have no impact on existing permits and rights, meaning that if OMV drills a discovery well it can be converted into a production licence.
Chief financial officer Reinhard Florey said recently: “We are in a very good position in New Zealand. We’re having around 50% of all available exploration licences in New Zealand.
“So even if there would be a tender of licences right now, we would not go for it because we have sufficient licences for the next 10 years, 15 years to explore. So we don’t see any impact on our business, not on the production as well as on the exploration activities.”
Meanwhile government regulators have tied up the Greenpeace protest vessel Taitu to the wharf on pain of massive fines if they put to sea.
And Greenpeace Aotearoa Director Russel Norman and climate activist Sara Howel have been convicted in the courts of breaching the Anadarko Amendment against protesting offshore oil exploration.
I’m finding it interesting seeing which ministers are doing well and which are being quite arrogant.
I thought Grant Robertson which have got a bit drunk with power but no he’s making a good fist of finance and Kris Faafoi is doing well in consumer affairs and then compare them to the arrogance shown by Twyford or the incompetence by Curran as examples
In Twyfords defence, he does best work when he puffed up like a chicken, or he has himself under the pump.
As for Curran, I think myself and others questioned her ability, long before labour came to power. So that should not be a surprise to no one.
Look on the bright side, if you can only think of two it’s way better than the last government who had arrogance and incompetence across it’s whole cabinet.
Well David Clarks not living up to the pre election hype either (Jami-Lee Ross seems to be setting something up) , Littles apparent problem of not being able to talk to Winston before announcing policy, Nash is making some missteps (especially over briefing papers) and that’s not even counting what NZFirst have been up to
I also want to point out I don’t think any of the Labour MPs are stupid (well maybe Curran), they just seem to be not sure of what they’re doing
I refer back to my previous (vague) idea of a quick-fire training course for MPs before they’re allowed to do things in that being a minister is damn important yet its all about the on the job training which, to me anyway, seems horribly inefficient
We are better served with talented amateurs, rather than trained idiots who think they know what is best. I’m all for them making some mistakes, and we should let new governments and ministers make mistakes, and only punish them if they do not learn. We have a good mechanism for that – elections.
You should go to Wellington Puckish Rogue, and get why we don’t want the ministers trained by people in and outside that environment. And putting aside ideological capture – be it left or right I’m sure we agree we don’t want that.
“And putting aside ideological capture – be it left or right I’m sure we agree we don’t want that.”
Well no we don’t want that but its like the mistakes a minister makes can have extremely negative repercussions so maybe theres a middle ground that could be found
A small training session set up by senior National and Labour MPs thats not about policies but how to ask questions etc
Maybe even instead a rule book for incoming speakers written by Lockwood Smith and vetted by Labour and the Greens so as not to get another dud speaker…
I dunno it just doesn’t seem right that you have the most important jobs in the country and you learn it by on the job training only
Fair enough. I’ll watch some more. I still find it odd that he’s deputy PM given he presents poorly.
But you may be right and he’s the solid performer behind the leader.
I also thought about Bennett and wondering how come she’s where she is given her incompetence. But I’m happy for her to stay there and for Bridges to stay front and centre as well.
Don’ t doubt that he is…(after all hes been an MP for some time) but as Anne noted (and I agreed) he dosn’t appear confident in interview situations, particularly ones expected hostile…(and for PRs observation, that was something unmet as an opposition MP)…..and none of this is necessarily indicative of his competence in his portfolio(s), though it certainly will be painted thus by the opposition.
I agree Pat.Kelvin Davis is passionate and dedicated to what he truly believes in. I was thinking this morning that seeing as Guyon is so proud oh his mastery of Te Reo that Kelvin should just answer him in Te Reo. I believe that he would be very articulate using it.
The Government is setting out to reduce the prison population so the reported predicted increase will be a way to measure their success. What if the prisoner population stays around 10,000? Will this mark a huge success? And how come the Report predict that the 3,000 now on remand will become 6,000? Remember those on remand have not yet been convicted and for some who are convicted, they have already served the prison sentence on remand.
You may well be correct however it is the fact that Kelvin Davis is not all over this subject which is of concern. He’s doing an appalling job and this is from someone who thought he was great at holding the last government to account and scored numerous hits against them. It’s like he’s been replaced with some incompetent boob.
Perhaps Kelvin Davis ought to do what National did for nine years and refuse to appear on Morning Report, and only be interviewed by pro-government sycophants and then only when he feels like it?
The problem with Kelvin Davis is not his lack of competence (his past history is testament to that) it is his lack of confidence when facing hostile opponents either of the journo or politico variety. He needs some expert training how to cope with them.
Anyone who has listened to him at private functions where no media are present would know he is a actually a very capable speaker and on top of his portfolios, but it does not come across in the public arena.
“The problem with Kelvin Davis is not his lack of competence (his past history is testament to that) it is his lack of confidence when facing hostile opponents either of the journo or politico variety. He needs some expert training how to cope with them”
Thats the impression I get too….is a lack of self confidence in an interview situation ….and we have more than enough overconfident/arrogant politicians so it is not unwelcome.
Didn’t seem to be a problem when he was opposition, I thought he came across quite well (I mean I disagreed with what he was saying but he spoke well and was quite effective)
maybe there are other things going on for him. Of course you’d want him to crack preferably on the news. Real people do these jobs mate and they live real lives – stop being a creep.
Yep I’m sure you’d prefer that however your rightwing agenda is not the subject.
Why do rightwingers try to hunt out weakness, and even create perceived weakness, to drop someone and make them suffer? Politics? Masculinity? No, sport is the answer imo – the hunt – stupid pack behaviour and bully antics hiding deep insecurities.
I still think that Labour didn’t expect to get into power and so had the luxury of saying damn near anything they liked while in opposition but are now finding out its a different kettle of fish having to implement their pre-election promises
The dirty gnats are still finding their feet so it’s no wonder they are floundering so badly – for instance I doubt the public know ANY opposition member portfolios – I don’t know any, even Steven bridges – that’s for sure lol
But they are making the changes I wanted, unlike the Nats who mostly seem to sweep things under the carpet…….
I guess like anyone in anew job there is a bit of a learning curb. I was aware of this when labour was in opposition and the lost experienced people like king and cunliffe. There is very little previous ministerial experience in labour currently. But they will get that on the job.
I can’t really understand why so much criticism of Twyford. I think he’s working his butt off on two very difficult port folios with crusher braying at him (ridiculous the idea that he could have solved the housing crisis in 5 minutes)
Honestly thanks for outlining the concerns about Twyford.
It is a huge project they are undertaking ie building more affordable homes +++++it’s like any big project until you start it, you can’t really know what you are facing. Know this from my own home renovation projects. Even if you really shot up before hand things somehow unfold in unforeseen ways (I won’t bore you with the details here)……
The kiwi build apprenticeship thing is going ahead, heard some announcement about it very recently, but new apprentices will not yet have the experience to do the work. Yes the thing about fast tracking migrants for the job doesn’t fit with what they said about cutting back on migration (although they still may achieve that reduction). But needs must.
Twyford has signed off some great transport gains for Auckland (rail links), set up kiwi build, he I think is responsible for getting unoccupied houses eg owned by Auckland transport available for those needing emergency accommodation (better than motels) and he also got off his arse and phoned gluckman about the science behind meths testing.
So it might look a bit messy, but he’s working hard towards his targets, getting some smalls gains and setting it up so it’s good to go. After all it’s a massive task he has got
The big problem facing Twyford is, as you say, Kiwibuild is a huge undertaking with a lot riding on it, like a big gamble kind of thing, in that if he succeeds he (and Labour) will gain the kind of kudos Michael Joseph Savage received and can then look at three terms in office, at least (yeah its that big)
But if Kiwibuild fails he (and again Labour) will likely get the opposite reaction and all that entails
And at this stage it’s too early to tell. It might not be quite as black and white either, eg in areas outside Auckland kiwi build probably has more chance of success as the housing situation is quite as bad and the scale is less…….
I am reminded of what jacinda ardearn said (and I was sitting in the gallery when she said it) “I rather be the govt that tried and didn’t quite get their, than the govt that didn’t try at all” or words to that effect
It can’t succeed unless they use Savage’s funding model.
He’s just burnt a truckload of credibility trying to accommodate foreign investors – who will then limit his success just when he needs to push on through to a higher order of magnitude.
@exactly Stuart Munro and the foreign workers also undermining Labour’s so called Kiwi jobs and foreign buyers now even be bought in the mix to buy up the land and profit from it, or quasi private COO type companies be virtually given away public land in secret deals that are not providing much affordable housing aka HCL and if the buyers end up being foreigners or new residents who then rent them out after the withholding period, and the renters need more accomodation supplement to pay for the rising rents in the aforementioned Kiwibuild houses, it is gonna be a joke.
The NZ way seems to be market forces needing government money propping it up in a Kind of quasi public money for private profits. Not a nice story.
If they want to get Kiwibuild to succeed they need to use local and resident builders even if they have to train them on mass themselves, use local land and probably not sell them at all, as the city needs cheap rentals the most. Then use the rents to make more, exactly how private developers do it, only the profit goes back to the state to make more rentals!
I’m saying that Kiwibuild was/is being touted as a new rendition of the quarter acre dream, a continuation of Michael Joseph Savages ideas for state housing, a home and back yard for the kids to play in
All the marketing shows pictures of detached houses or town houses. Even the Kiwibuild logo is a house. Apartments are nowhere to be seen in the feel good PR images
It is interesting to see which Labour MPs are showing themselves in power, I mean Grant Robertson is doing quite well in that I thought he might have been one of the ones to get a bit arrogant but no hes doing well and Kris Faafoi is making a good fist on consumer affairs, again without the arrogance
Now compare those two that’re getting on with the job with someone like Twyford or Curran for example
“On 12 March, an explosion in Unit 1 was caused by the ignition of the hydrogen, destroying the upper part of the building. On 14 March, a similar explosion occurred in the Reactor 3 building,.”
actually I did edit the wikipage (simply pointing out the main differences between the two explosions, volume of material ejected and height of ejection) , it (the edit) lasted about five minutes.
Well the Lie must have begun with Tepco who controlled the initial analysis, Why this lie continues, lazyness?, ignorance? I really dont know ,
Huh – well Andre followed up with the tech analysis. You seem to be basing your opinion on your eyesight and limited knowledge of what you think a hydrogen explosion should look like. That is not evidence of a big lie.
Personally I think fukishima is such a massive disaster and cover up for real and the effects of that CONTINUING leakage of radiation into the ground and thus the sea are only now becoming known. That is where evidence of a big lie will be found imo.
Oh? Why is a hydrogen explosion not a satisfactory explanation?
Considering the enormous range of concentrations that hydrogen is explosive at, I don’t find it even slightly surprising that there could be a huge difference in the energy released by explosions in identical chambers. One could have exploded while there was still very little hydrogen while the other may have developed a much higher concentration before the explosion.
Even the assumption the explosions were in identical chambers is unwarranted, it seems the explosions were because the hydrogen was vented into the maintenance halls.
“Even the assumption the explosions were in identical chambers is unwarranted,”
Exactly! The video evidence clearly shows they were not.
think for a moment about the mechanics of how you might produce a vertical column of approx 1 kilometer (by comparison to the vent towers) of a great volume of material (observed falling) and then consider the dynamics of a hydrogen explosion (very fast!) in a light containment (the upper floor of the building)
reactor three was not “similar” to reactor one, certainly hydrogen explosion can be observed in both cases ( detonation, shock wave, bright flash) but what occurred after that was fundamentally different.
There’s plenty of reasons why there might be a much larger plume from one explosion than the other.
For instance, depending on maintenance operations, one of the halls may have had a large quantity of some sort of maintenance supplies that ignited, that either wasn’t present or wasn’t ignited in the other (because of a lower energy initial explosion).
Or there may be simple differences in the geometry and construction of the maintenance halls that accounts for the differences seen.
If both explosions were initiated by hydrogen that escaped from the containment vessel, which was generated in both cases by superheated steam reacting with zirconium inside the vessel, why is calling them “similar” a lie?
“For instance, depending on maintenance operations, one of the halls may have had a large quantity of some sort of maintenance supplies that ignited, that either wasn’t present or wasn’t ignited in the other (because of a lower energy initial explosion).”
Well if that was the case the wikipedia would say something like “the observed differences was due to the large amount of explosive material stored in the upper level of reactor three”
But that scenario does not address the major difference which is the vertical velocity and volume of the ejecta.
And I have some experience of physical objects being moved around by rapidly expanding gases, in experiments where everything we could think of was tightly controlled. And there were some pretty wild variations in outcomes even with initial conditions set to be as identical as possible.
So I don’t see a problem with describing those two explosions as “similar”, given the root causes of the two are the same. Given that there were likely to be substantial differences in initial conditions at the time of initiation, substantial differences in the appearance of the aftermath seems more likely than not.
Well thats the assumption you are steered towards by the description as “similar”
Best not question that assumption eh
easier to postulate “likely to be substantial differences in initial conditions” without any evidence and no such “differences” ever having been outlined.
I suggest you familiarize yourself with the differences between Detonation and Deflagration.
Ok, let’s take your new bit of theorising at face value (at a grand total of two comments it doesn’t seem to have attracted much attention). And no, I can’t be bothered trying to dig up a rebuttal of it.
So then the explosion at reactor 1 was the result of a known hazrd of pressuried water reactors (superheated steam reacting with zirconium cladding to produce hydrogen). Then reactor 3 explosion was due to a different but also well known hazard of pressurised water reactors. But somehow, probably due to technical differences of opinion among experts, the reactor 3 explosion is being misattributed to the same known hazard of pressurised water reactors as the explosion at 1.
How does this difference of opinion turn into a lie, let alone the foundations of some kind of conspiracy theory? Whether it was in fact a steam explosion or a hydrogen explosion doesn’t change the arguments against using that pressurised water reactor design.
How many times did Bridges say ‘spray and walk away’ this morning on Espiners show. I counted three but could have missed a few. AND he didn’t answer Guyons question as to whether he would forgo the Winter Allowance. I heard this morning that 140 people had opted out of it. Did you hear that Si. As for his amazement at Kelvin not having read report on figures on inmates rising the should just look to his right and ask the ever incompetent Paula Bennett to comment on this. When did she ever read ANYTHING? Going out on a limb here. NEVER?
Kelvin Davis performed well with the struggling Guyon this morning. Davis kept saying to the non responsive RNZ dummie, that Labour are not going to build mega prisons, but will develop ways to release prisoners on remand, and those suffering with Mental health problems. Thereby reducing the number of persons in prison.
Do not be misled by devotee TROLLS who suck on the incoherence of Simon Bridges.
Whatever, do not go with the trapsetting nonsense of people like Guyon and other low IQ RNZ so called journos.
While we are concentrating on banning plastic bags that are polluting our oceans and environment, can we also ban using components of plastic in our vehicle tyres please?
As “synthetic tyres” today now have the very same chemicals inert in them also as all plastics have.
Many benzene components are included in our commonly used tyres and these tyres have black carbon dust
Worse is that the carbon tyre dust that is emitted from one truck with 32 tyres will shed 100 times the plastic dust (cancer causing) more than just one car.
This toxic carbon tyre dust have been found its way to our artic ice caps.
Tyre black carbon dust has now been found to have been carried from our road pollution ‘runoff’ and transported in heavy rain into our roadside water ducts and water ‘sheds’ and then sent out to the rivers and coast to be transferred to the Antarctic ice caps by the prevailing ocean currents.
Scientists have found that the black carbon dust that may include tyre dust settles on the ice caps and accelerates the melting of our ice caps now.
Tyre particles are now known to travel far greater distances than previously known now.
Paper bags are the go. Ban the plastic bag! Too late to tax it as the oceans are dying! Oh that will upset investors so probably the government would prefer to kill the ocean rather than tackle taxing a company for polluting or even worse a foreign company, (but fine for ordinary commuters with petrol tax.).
@Fireblade – the Stuff tracker is a good idea but should show how many homes have been demolished to make way for the Kiwibuild aka the truth, they start with a negative as the National government booted out loads of vulnerable people to make these stylish new houses which if you look at Hobsenville and Tamaki are being marketed around $800k – well beyond what any renter or working or even middle class family can afford! Then put the houses into price banks… what they used to be $350k, now the 3 bed houses are $650k and going up… The other issue is that banks don’t like to lend on unstable jobs and so many jobs now are unstable…everything is harder because banks can afford to be choosy.
The WOF looks like a joke when they are now housing emergency families in demolition houses when the whole idea was to promise affordable safe houses! Before they fell into the Natz lies they should have looked a bit closer at the demographics of Auckland and what was driving up the prices! I know Labour and Greens trying to do the right thing, but +practicality+ needs to be looked at not just the latest +flash reports+ that clearly are a little amiss aka the staggering price increases of new builds…. lack of affordable houses… lack of rentals in any form… jobs still paying the same as a decade ago… It’s what they said about the wage trickle down in the 1980’s, never happened now we have the housing trickle down – is labour being fooled by their own liars again?
Thanks Andre a pleasure, view this scientific literature for clarity as the NZ document focuses on the amount of road tyre dust particles which is now very alarming to us all.
Then I Quote; from scientical reseach here at Alfred Weagner Institute.
This is just one sample of research that is recently discovered and as we agee particulates are from various sources we know clearly in NZ studies road dust from tyres is a hazard to be now taken seriously now.We now have to call these particles from tyres as “Microplastics ” as the scientists are.
Read the recent NZ publication also to see the NZ ageement that tyre wear now causes mass amounts of road dust pollution.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Identifying different types of microplastic and the movement of the ice could help us work out the source of these pollutants, say researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Microplastics are particles, fibres or fragments which range in size from just a few thousandths of a millimetre to under five millimetres.
They come from multiple sources including from the breakdown of bigger plastic items.
For example, they could come from putting synthetic clothes through the laundry which are then washed to the sea, or from car tyre friction on roads, creating a dust of the particles.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
The tiny fragments of plastic ranged from types widely used in packaging such as polyethylene, to paints, nylon, polyester and cellulose acetate which is commonly used in making cigarette filters
Identifying different types of microplastic and the movement of the ice could help us work out the source of these pollutants, say researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Microplastics are particles, fibres or fragments which range in size from just a few thousandths of a millimetre to under five millimetres.
They come from multiple sources including from the breakdown of bigger plastic items.
For example, they could come from putting synthetic clothes through the laundry which are then washed to the sea, or from car tyre friction on roads, creating a dust of the particles.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light. Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples
The process, reported in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed there were far more microplastics than previous assessments
They study revealed that, with its process of freezing and melting sea ice, the Arctic is important in storing and transporting the plastic particles. Scientists said they could not yet say whether the particles released from melting sea ice stayed in the Arctic
The process, reported in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed there were far more microplastics than previous assessments.
Gunnar Gerdts, whose laboratory made the measurements, said: ‘Using this approach, we also discovered plastic particles that were only 11 micrometres across.
‘That’s roughly one-sixth the diameter of a human hair, and also explains why we found concentrations of more than 12,000 particles per litre of sea ice – which is two to three times higher than what we’d found in past measurements’, he said.
They study revealed that, with its process of freezing and melting sea ice, the Arctic is important in storing and transporting the plastic particles.
WHAT ARE MICROPLASTICS AND HOW DO THEY GET INTO OUR WATERWAYS?
Microplastics are plastic particles measuring less than five millimetres (0.2 inches).
They have hit the headlines over recent years, as improper disposal has resulted in tonnes of waste making its way into the ocean.
Each year, tonnes of plastic waste fails to get recycled and dealt with correctly, which can mean they end up in marine ecosystems.
Although it’s unclear exactly how they end up in the water, microplastics may enter through simple everyday wear and tear of clothing and carpets.
Tumble dryers may also be a source, particularly if they have a vent to the open air.
Plastics don’t break down for thousands of years and it is estimated that there are already millions of items of plastic waste in the oceans. This number is expected to rise.
Studies have also revealed 700,000 plastic fibres could be released into the atmosphere with every washing machine cycle.
Current water systems are unable to effectively filter out all microplastic contamination, due to the varying size of particles.
The amount of plastic rubbish in the world’s oceans will outweigh fish by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to further recycle, a report released in 2016 revealed.
More than 80 per cent of the world’s tap water is contaminated with plastic, research published in September 2017 revealed.
The US has the highest contamination rate at 93 per cent, followed by Lebanon and India, experts from the University of Minnesota found.
France, Germany and the UK have the lowest levels, however, they still come in at 72 per cent.
Overall, 83 per cent of water samples from dozens of nations around the world contain microplastics.
Scientists warn microplastics are so small they could penetrate organs.
Bottled water may not be a safer alternative, as scientists have found contaminated samples.
Creatures of all shapes and sizes have been found to have consumed the plastics, whether directly or indirectly.
Previous research has also revealed microplastics absorb toxic chemicals, which are then released in the gut of animals.
That’s an impressive firehosing of irrelevant information.
I found precisely one mention of tyre dust in your DailyMail link, in the context of a phrase saying ‘hmm, we don’t really know where this stuff is coming from, maybe tyre dust, dunno?’
That rcaforum pdf was an impressive compilation of the composition of roadside dust contaminants and microdetail about their composition. But it was remarkably devoid about the hazards presented by the different contaminants. For instance, the section dealing with tyre dust failed to show any details around particulate size distribution, which is a critical bit of information in assessing the hazard. Although it did mention about less than 5% was small enough that it might become mobile again once it had settled on the ground. Nor did it contain any mention of uptake of these particles by marine life.
Meanwhile, scaremongering by joining together irrelevant factoids is how we end up with debacles like the meth-house testing scam.
mad heka duplicity alien was crowing in the Wairarapa Times Age yesterday morning that Winston Peters had been “FIRED” [sic] from the am show and was on two week suspension. Now he wont go back and merkin and dunnycan are really spitting the dummy. and besides what sort of juvenile language is that from a supposed adult.
why has politics in New Zealand descended into this sort of cocakamamie cross between reality teevee and womens weakly with the provincial rags as a support cast?
and for good measure Question time in the house has become a farce. if you dont believe me then watch and see for yourself. the nationals are like this pack of nitwitted drongos. One Brett Hudson asked a question to which he had just been given the answer.
The courts have finally got that case of including money loaned as some ones income in there assesment of money received fraudulently from winz they have ruled to clear the dept Ka pai.
There you go same day one week apart the only difference is the new Auckland fuel tax and no traffic jam today who said a fuel tax won’t decrease traffic.
Business conferenced allways go’s down in winter and what’s happening around Papatuanukue with trade won’t help plus most businesses are right-wing voters smitten that they lost the election.
Wow they found the Mokopunas lost in the Thailand caveing network that’s awesome I had my doubts but they are saved. Many thanks to the all the tangata who are part of the search team that found the Mokopunas.
There you go men behaveing badly at the basketball game between the Australian and the Philippins come on guys the whole Papatuanukue is watching you.
. Ka kite ano
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He shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.Age shall not weary him, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningI will remember him.My mate Keith died yesterday, peacefully in the early hours. My dear friend in Rotorua, whom I’ve been ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on news New Zealand abstained from a vote on a global shipping levy on climate emissions and downgraded the importance ...
Hi,In case you missed it, New Zealand icon Lorde has a new single out. It’s called “What Was That”, and has a very low key music video that was filmed around her impromptu performance in New York’s Washington Square Park. When police shut down the initial popup, one of my ...
A strategy of denial is now the cornerstone concept for Australia’s National Defence Strategy. The term’s use as an overarching guide to defence policy, however, has led to some confusion on what it actually means ...
The IMF’s twice-yearly World Economic Outlook and Fiscal Monitor publications have come out in the last couple of days. If there is gloom in the GDP numbers (eg this chart for the advanced countries, and we don’t score a lot better on the comparable one for the 2019 to ...
For a while, it looked like the government had unfucked the ETS, at least insofar as unit settings were concerned. They had to be forced into it by a court case, but at least it got done, and when National came to power, it learned the lesson (and then fucked ...
The argument over US officials’ misuse of secure but non-governmental messaging platform Signal falls into two camps. Either it is a gross error that undermines national security, or it is a bit of a blunder ...
Cost of living ~1/3 of Kiwis needed help with food as cost of living pressures continue to increase - turning to friends, family, food banks or Work and Income in the past year, to find food. 40% of Kiwis also said they felt schemes offered little or no benefit, according ...
Hi,Perhaps in 2025 it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the CEO and owner of Voyager Internet — the major sponsor of the New Zealand Media Awards — has taken to sharing a variety of Anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to his 1.2 million followers.This included sharing a post from ...
In the sprint to deepen Australia-India defence cooperation, navy links have shot ahead of ties between the two countries’ air forces and armies. That’s largely a good thing: maritime security is at the heart of ...
'Cause you and me, were meant to be,Walking free, in harmony,One fine day, we'll fly away,Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day?Songwriters: Paul David Godfrey / Ross Godfrey / Skye Edwards.I was half expecting to see photos this morning of National Party supporters with wads of cotton ...
The PSA says a settlement with Health New Zealand over the agency’s proposed restructure of its Data and Digital and Pacific Health teams has saved around 200 roles from being cut. A third of New Zealanders have needed help accessing food in the past year, according to Consumer NZ, and ...
John Campbell’s Under His Command, a five-part TVNZ+ investigation series starting today, rips the veil off Destiny Church, exposing the rot festering under Brian Tamaki’s self-proclaimed apostolic throne. This isn’t just a church; it’s a fiefdom, built on fear, manipulation, and a trail of scandals that make your stomach churn. ...
Some argue we still have time, since quantum computing capable of breaking today’s encryption is a decade or more away. But breakthrough capabilities, especially in domains tied to strategic advantage, rarely follow predictable timelines. Just ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Pearl Marvell(Photo credit: Pearl Marvell. Image credit: Samantha Harrington. Dollar bill vector image: by pch.vector on Freepik) Igrew up knowing that when you had extra money, you put it under a bed, stashed it in a book or a clock, or, ...
The political petrified piece of wood, Winston Peters, who refuses to retire gracefully, has had an eventful couple of weeks peddling transphobia, pushing bigoted policies, undertaking his unrelenting war on wokeness and slinging vile accusations like calling Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick a “groomer”.At 80, the hypocritical NZ First leader’s latest ...
It's raining in Cockermouth and we're following our host up the stairs. We’re telling her it’s a lovely building and she’s explaining that it used to be a pub and a nightclub and a backpackers, but no more.There were floods in 2009 and 2015 along the main street, huge floods, ...
A recurring aspect of the Trump tariff coverage is that it normalises – or even sanctifies – a status quo that in many respects has been a disaster for working class families. No doubt, Donald Trump is an uncertainty machine that is tanking the stock market and the growth prospects ...
The National Party’s Minister of Police, Corrections, and Ethnic Communities (irony alert) has stumbled into yet another racist quagmire, proving that when it comes to bigotry, the right wing’s playbook is as predictable as it is vile. This time, Mitchell’s office reposted an Instagram reel falsely claiming that Te Pāti ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
In a world crying out for empathy, J.K. Rowling has once again proven she’s more interested in stoking division than building bridges. The once-beloved author of Harry Potter has cemented her place as this week’s Arsehole of the Week, a title earned through her relentless, tone-deaf crusade against transgender rights. ...
Health security is often seen as a peripheral security domain, and as a problem that is difficult to address. These perceptions weaken our capacity to respond to borderless threats. With the wind back of Covid-19 ...
Would our political parties pass muster under the Fair Trading Act?WHAT IF OUR POLITICAL PARTIES were subject to the Fair Trading Act? What if they, like the nation’s businesses, were prohibited from misleading their consumers – i.e. the voters – about the nature, characteristics, suitability, or quantity of the products ...
Rod EmmersonThank you to my subscribers and readers - you make it all possible. Tui.Subscribe nowSix updates today from around the world and locally here in Aoteaora New Zealand -1. RFK Jnr’s Autism CrusadeAmerica plans to create a registry of people with autism in the United States. RFK Jr’s department ...
We see it often enough. A democracy deals with an authoritarian state, and those who oppose concessions cite the lesson of Munich 1938: make none to dictators; take a firm stand. And so we hear ...
370 perioperative nurses working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre will strike for two hours on 1 May – the same day senior doctors are striking. This is part of nationwide events to mark May Day on 1 May, including rallies outside public hospitals, organised by ...
Character protections for Auckland’s villas have stymied past development. Now moves afoot to strip character protection from a bunch of inner-city villas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest from our political economy on Wednesday, April 23:Special Character Areas designed to protect villas are stopping 20,000 sites near Auckland’s ...
Artificial intelligence is poised to significantly transform the Indo-Pacific maritime security landscape. It offers unprecedented situational awareness, decision-making speed and operational flexibility. But without clear rules, shared norms and mechanisms for risk reduction, AI could ...
For what is a man, what has he got?If not himself, then he has naughtTo say the things he truly feelsAnd not the words of one who kneelsThe record showsI took the blowsAnd did it my wayLyrics: Paul Anka.Morena folks, before we discuss Winston’s latest salvo in NZ First’s War ...
Britain once risked a reputation as the weak link in the trilateral AUKUS partnership. But now the appointment of an empowered senior official to drive the project forward and a new burst of British parliamentary ...
Australia’s ability to produce basic metals, including copper, lead, zinc, nickel and construction steel, is in jeopardy, with ageing plants struggling against Chinese competition. The multinational commodities company Trafigura has put its Australian operations under ...
There have been recent PPP debacles, both in New Zealand (think Transmission Gully) and globally, with numerous examples across both Australia and Britain of failed projects and extensive litigation by government agencies seeking redress for the failures.Rob Campbell is one of New Zealand’s sharpest critics of PPPs noting that; "There ...
On Twitter on Saturday I indicated that there had been a mistake in my post from last Thursday in which I attempted to step through the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement issues. Making mistakes (there are two) is annoying and I don’t fully understand how I did it (probably too much ...
Indonesia’s armed forces still have a lot of work to do in making proper use of drones. Two major challenges are pilot training and achieving interoperability between the services. Another is overcoming a predilection for ...
The StrategistBy Sandy Juda Pratama, Curie Maharani and Gautama Adi Kusuma
As a living breathing human being, you’ve likely seen the heart-wrenching images from Gaza...homes reduced to rubble, children burnt to cinders, families displaced, and a death toll that’s beyond comprehension. What is going on in Gaza is most definitely a genocide, the suffering is real, and it’s easy to feel ...
Donald Trump, who has called the Chair of the Federal Reserve “a major loser”. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories shortest from our political economy on Tuesday, April 22:US markets slump after Donald Trump threatens the Fed’s independence. China warns its trading partners not to side with the US. Trump says some ...
Last night, the news came through that Pope Francis had passed away at 7:35 am in Rome on Monday, the 21st of April, following a reported stroke and heart failure. Pope Francis. Photo: AP.Despite his obvious ill health, it still came as a shock, following so soon after the Easter ...
The 2024 Independent Intelligence Review found the NIC to be highly capable and performing well. So, it is not a surprise that most of the 67 recommendations are incremental adjustments and small but nevertheless important ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkThe world has made real progress toward tacking climate change in recent years, with spending on clean energy technologies skyrocketing from hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars globally over the past decade, and global CO2 emissions plateauing.This has contributed to a reassessment of ...
Hi,I’ve been having a peaceful month of what I’d call “existential dread”, even more aware than usual that — at some point — this all ends.It was very specifically triggered by watching Pantheon, an animated sci-fi show that I’m filing away with all-time greats like Six Feet Under, Watchmen and ...
Once the formalities of honouring the late Pope wrap up in two to three weeks time, the conclave of Cardinals will go into seclusion. Some 253 of the current College of Cardinals can take part in the debate over choosing the next Pope, but only 138 of them are below ...
The National Party government is doubling down on a grim, regressive vision for the future: more prisons, more prisoners, and a society fractured by policies that punish rather than heal. This isn’t just a misstep; it’s a deliberate lurch toward a dystopian future where incarceration is the answer to every ...
The audacity of Don Brash never ceases to amaze. The former National Party and Hobson’s Pledge mouthpiece has now sunk his claws into NZME, the media giant behind the New Zealand Herald and half of our commercial radio stations. Don Brash has snapped up shares in NZME, aligning himself with ...
A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 13, 2025 thru Sat, April 19, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
“What I’d say to you is…” our Prime Minister might typically begin a sentence, when he’s about to obfuscate and attempt to derail the question you really, really want him to answer properly (even once would be okay, Christopher). Questions such as “Why is a literal election promise over ...
Ruth IrwinExponential Economic growth is the driver of Ecological degradation. It is driven by CO2 greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel extraction and burning for the plethora of polluting industries. Extreme weather disasters and Climate change will continue to get worse because governments subscribe to the current global economic system, ...
A man on telly tries to tell me what is realBut it's alright, I like the way that feelsAnd everybody singsWe are evolving from night to morningAnd I wanna believe in somethingWriter: Adam Duritz.The world is changing rapidly, over the last year or so, it has been out with the ...
MFB Co-Founder Cecilia Robinson runs Tend HealthcareSummary:Kieran McAnulty calls out National on healthcare lies and says Health Minister Simeon Brown is “dishonest and disingenuous”(video below)McAnulty says negotiation with doctors is standard practice, but this level of disrespect is not, especially when we need and want our valued doctors.National’s $20bn ...
Chris Luxon’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister has been a masterclass in incompetence, marked by coalition chaos, economic lethargy, verbal gaffes, and a moral compass that seems to point wherever political expediency lies. The former Air New Zealand CEO (how could we forget?) was sold as a steady hand, ...
Has anybody else noticed Cameron Slater still obsessing over Jacinda Ardern? The disgraced Whale Oil blogger seems to have made it his life’s mission to shadow the former Prime Minister of New Zealand like some unhinged stalker lurking in the digital bushes.The man’s obsession with Ardern isn't just unhealthy...it’s downright ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is climate change a net benefit for society? Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of ...
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...
Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...
It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Four eighty-year-old books which are still vitally relevant today. Between 1942 and 1945, four refugees from Vienna each published a ground-breaking – seminal – book.* They left their country after Austria was taken over by fascists in 1934 and by Nazi Germany in 1938. Previously they had lived in ‘Red ...
Good Friday, 18th April, 2025: I can at last unveil the Secret Non-Fiction Project. The first complete Latin-to-English translation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s twelve-book Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem (Disputations Against Divinatory Astrology). Amounting to some 174,000 words, total. Some context is probably in order. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) ...
National MP Hamish Campbell's pathetic attempt to downplay his deep ties to and involvement in the Two by Twos...a secretive religious sect under FBI and NZ Police investigation for child sexual abuse...isn’t just a misstep; it’s a calculated lie that insults the intelligence of every Kiwi voter.Campbell’s claim of being ...
New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has long styled himself as the “Prince of the Provinces,” a champion of regional development and economic growth. But beneath the bluster lies a troubling pattern of behaviour that reeks of cronyism and corruption, undermining the very democracy he claims to serve. Recent revelations and ...
Give me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundGive me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundSaid I don't want to leave you lonelyYou got to make me change my mindSongwriters: Tracy Chapman.Morena, and Happy Easter, whether that means to you. Hot cross buns, ...
Te Pāti Māori are appalled by Cabinet's decision to agree to 15 recommendations to the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector following the regulatory review by the Ministry of Regulation. We emphasise the need to prioritise tamariki Māori in Early Childhood Education, conducted by education experts- not economists. “Our mokopuna deserve ...
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will launch another push on health on Sunday, announcing a re-elected Labor government would set up a free around-the-clock 1800MEDICARE advice line and afterhours GP telehealth service. The service would ...
Asia Pacific Report Activists for Palestine paid homage to Pope Francis in Aotearoa New Zealand today for his humility, care for marginalised in the world, and his courageous solidarity with the besieged people of Gaza at a street theatre rally just hours before his funeral in Rome. He was remembered ...
By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific presenter The doors of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican have now been closed and the coffin sealed, ahead of preparations for tonight’s funeral of Pope Francis. The Vatican says a quarter of a million people have paid respects to Pope Francis in the last ...
By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific presenter The doors of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican have now been closed and the coffin sealed, ahead of preparations for tonight’s funeral of Pope Francis. The Vatican says a quarter of a million people have paid respects to Pope Francis in the last ...
Once or twice a week, Dr Margaret Henley rolls up the door on a windowless storage locker in central Auckland, pulls her plastic chair up to a picnic table and sifts through the history of netball in New Zealand.She works alongside netball archivist and statistician Todd Miller, together trawling through ...
Corin DannThe time is 7:36am on Wednesday, April 23, and you’re listening to Morning Report, New Zealand’s voice of the educated left on good incomes. I’m joined now by acting Prime Minister Winston Peters. Good morning Mr Peters.Winston PetersIt was, until I saw you. I much prefer your brother.Corin DannLiam ...
When Professor David Krofcheck got an email congratulating him on winning the Oscar of the science world, he dismissed it as a hoax.“I thought it was a scam, I thought it was a phishing email,” recalls Krofcheck, nuclear physicist at Auckland University.“Yeah right, I’ve won the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was.I’ve been re-watching Girls lately, the HBO classic that perfectly captures millennial women in the most painful way. I highly recommend it especially if you haven’t watched it before. Every character on the show is deeply flawed and frustrating in their own ...
With the double-header long weekend comes a welcome chance to escape streaming slop, writes Alex Casey. Over Easter I texted my husband Joe a sentence that perhaps nobody in human history has ever texted: “hurry up geostorm is starting”. No punctuation, no capitalisation, not because I was trying to ...
April 27 is Moehanga Day, the anniversary of the day in 1806 when Ngāpuhi warrior Moehanga became the first Māori to visit England. This is his story. The wooden ship sailed down the River Thames, past smoke stacks and brick factories, until it reached a wharf in industrial south London. ...
Heidi Thomson on how her husband’s illness and Daniel Kalderimis’s book Zest have enhanced her understanding of George Eliot’s great novel.Sometimes a book finds you at just the right time. In early December my husband John had a stroke. At the time we were both reading George Eliot’s Middlemarch, ...
The musician, actor and star of upcoming documentary Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds takes us through his life in television. Musician Marlon Williams has been on our My Life in TV wish list ever since he revealed during his My Boy tour that he wrote ‘Thinking ...
When she walked dripping into the lounge, hair wet from the shower, she took one look at Hamish and dropped her towel.He was holding her phone.—How long has it been going on for?His blue eyes blazed. She wanted to pluck them out and blow on them gently, cool them off. ...
A citizens’ assembly of 100 Porirua locals has provided the city council with more than a dozen recommendations about how to tackle climate change and make sure the region is resilient to worsening extreme weather events.Ranging from expanding access to renewable energy and incentivising the planting of native trees through ...
Comment: Democracy globally is in crisis. Around the world we are seeing the rise of nationalism and declining trust in democratic institutions. Politicians, even in Aotearoa, undermine the authority of core institutions like the media and the courts, which are critical for a functioning democracy. To live well together, in ...
Journalist Rod Oram, who died last year, would have been delighted to see the commitment to addressing climate change shown by the 23-year-old winner of a prize established in his memory.Mika Hervel, a student at Victoria University of Wellington, is today named winner of the Rod Oram Memorial Essay Prize, ...
COMMENTARY:By Nour Odeh There was faint hope that efforts to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza would succeed. That hope is now all but gone, offering 2.1 million tormented and starved Palestinians dismal prospects for the days and weeks ahead. Last Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister once again affirmed ...
An ocean conservation non-profit has condemned the United States President’s latest executive order aimed at boosting the deep sea mining industry. President Donald Trump issued the “Unleashing America’s offshore critical minerals and resources” order on Thursday, directing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to allow deep sea mining. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In this election, voters are more distrustful than ever of politicians, and the political heroes of 2022 have fallen from grace, swept from favour by independent players. A Roy Morgan survey has found, for ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The former head of BenarNews’ Pacific bureau says a United States court ruling this week ordering the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to release congressionally approved funding to Radio Free Asia and its subsidiaries “makes us very happy”. However, Stefan Armbruster, who has ...
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 25, 2025. Labor takes large leads in YouGov and Morgan polls as surge continuesSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne With just eight days until the May 3 federal election, and with in-person early voting well under way, Labor has taken a ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate, $35) Fictionalised true crime for foodies. 2 Sunrise on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Taneshka Kruger, UP ISMC: Project Manager and Coordinator, University of Pretoria Healthcare in Africa faces a perfect storm: high rates of infectious diseases like malaria and HIV, a rise in non-communicable diseases, and dwindling foreign aid. In 2021, nearly half of ...
Australia and New Zealand join forces once more to bring you the best films and TV shows to watch this weekend. This Anzac Day, our free-to-air TV channels will screen a variety of commemorative coverage. At 11am, TVNZ1 has live coverage of the Anzac Day National Commemorative Service in Wellington. ...
Our laws are leaving many veterans who served after 1974 out in the cold. I know, because I’m one of them.This Sunday Essay was made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.First published in 2024.As I write this story, I am in constant pain. My hands ...
An MP fighting for anti-trafficking legislation says it is hard for prosecutors to take cases to court - but he is hopeful his bill will turn the tide. ...
NONFICTION1 No Words for This by Ali Mau (HarperCollins, $39.99)2 Everyday Comfort Food by Vanya Insull (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)3 Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)
This Anzac Day marks 110 years since the Gallipoli landings by soldiers in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - the ANZACS. It signalled the beginning of a campaign that was to take the lives of so many of our young men - and would devastate the ...
The violent deportation of migrants is not new, and New Zealand forces had a hand in such a regime after World War II, writes historian Scott Hamilton. The world is watching the new Trump government wage a war against migrants it deems illegal. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.This Sunday Essay was made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
A new poem by Aperahama Hurihanganui, about the name of Aperahama and Abby Hauraki’s three-year-old son, Te Hono ki Īhipa (which translates to ‘The Connection to Egypt’). Te Hono ki Īhipa what’s in a name? te hono – the connection to your tīpuna, valiant soldiers of the 28th Māori Battalion ...
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Pacific Media Watch The Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network today condemned the Fiji government’s failure to stand up for international law and justice over the Israeli war on Gaza in their weekly Black Thursday protest. “For the past 18 months, we have made repeated requests to our government to do ...
‘Targeting.” Crawl on broken glass for your entitlement.
Speak of the Devil….
What’s happening?
One of the modern mysteries of the current government is how Kelvin Davis went from being one of the most effective Members of the NZ Labour party while in opposition to one of its biggest liabilities when in government. His handling of the Corrections portfolio is risible. His answers to Guyon Espiner on Morning Report today were simply pathetic.
While his presentation was poor his reasoning was sound enough
I don’t know how you can claim that when he did not even read a report on his area of responsibility (that has apparently been available since November) till last week.
I can claim it with the content of his response….the decision was based on the evidence of best practice.
Whether the projection of the number of incarcerations had deteriorated further had no bearing on that.
Would it be better for him to be able to say he had read that particular report before the decision?…of course, even if only for optics…would the content of that report have impacted the decision?….it would have only reinforced the need for the the decision taken.
Guyon is over excited by a misperceived ‘gotcha’
Aren’t you the slightest bit concerned that he hadn’t seen the report until last week?
Not particularly…I have no idea what reports/studies he HAS read (or any other politician for that matter) and as stated the latest report only reinforces the need to work on reducing prison musters.
I actually agree with the policy of smaller prisons rather than large ones however that doesn’t mean he is excused from reading reports about predicted increases in prison populations before he makes important decisions on what to do. I would at least expect him to read the report and re-evaluate his position based on the information.
It would make very little difference whether he had read the report or not. The government had a significant body of material that warned them of the negative consequences of their oil and gas decision, but they made it anyway. Arrogance is becoming a key characteristic of this government.
Projecting much baba yaga.
All opinion, no substance.
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/94123/document-reveals-mbie-advised-energy-and-resources-minister-megan-woods-limit-oil-and-gas
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/104465563/government-warned-oil-decision-could-have-chilling-effect-in-investment-in-taranaki
I’ll post more if you want.
For once I agree with Baba Yaga, it was a stupid decision that won’t cut our CO2 emissions by one µg, but it will limit NZ’s future energy options with needless and possibly avoidable costs of importing fuel. We will run out of natural gas soon, it’s 50% cleaner burning than other fossil fuels. What a waste.
We will probably end up burning more coal and wood.
*Sigh* really.
And your evidence for changing track towards renewables meaning we have to buy more fossil fuel offshore is? And burning more wood and coal?
Half of this argument is changing how people think about consumption, not stupid arguments over keeping consumption at the same level. Feeding into idiots like baba yaga and his fake attempt to be blissfully ignorant of the the impact of that mentality is producing. Is a bloody painful and tired debate – one which I might add we have had on this site for a very long time.
Time to accept we have to change, or take responsibility for being the person who supports the destruction of human habitation. Those are the choices at this stage. Between a wrecker or not.
Global warming is a concern but not urgent to people facing wars, famines, ecological collapses, overfishing, depletion of soil and bees.
@Baba Yaga
Don’t worry yourself on behalf of the oil companies,
Aparently, they are getting everything they wanted
Meanwhile government regulators have tied up the Greenpeace protest vessel Taitu to the wharf on pain of massive fines if they put to sea.
And Greenpeace Aotearoa Director Russel Norman and climate activist Sara Howel have been convicted in the courts of breaching the Anadarko Amendment against protesting offshore oil exploration.
Guyon always plays the ‘gotcha game. He is predictable pain.
He enters interviews with a predetermined stance.
Sniggering Gyno would have a more difficult job springing his little traps if pollies made at least some effort not to make liars of themselves.
Listen to his responses and tell me that is what you should expect from a Minister of the Crown
https://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018651731
I’m finding it interesting seeing which ministers are doing well and which are being quite arrogant.
I thought Grant Robertson which have got a bit drunk with power but no he’s making a good fist of finance and Kris Faafoi is doing well in consumer affairs and then compare them to the arrogance shown by Twyford or the incompetence by Curran as examples
In Twyfords defence, he does best work when he puffed up like a chicken, or he has himself under the pump.
As for Curran, I think myself and others questioned her ability, long before labour came to power. So that should not be a surprise to no one.
Look on the bright side, if you can only think of two it’s way better than the last government who had arrogance and incompetence across it’s whole cabinet.
Should we mention the spy?
Too soon?
Well David Clarks not living up to the pre election hype either (Jami-Lee Ross seems to be setting something up) , Littles apparent problem of not being able to talk to Winston before announcing policy, Nash is making some missteps (especially over briefing papers) and that’s not even counting what NZFirst have been up to
I also want to point out I don’t think any of the Labour MPs are stupid (well maybe Curran), they just seem to be not sure of what they’re doing
I refer back to my previous (vague) idea of a quick-fire training course for MPs before they’re allowed to do things in that being a minister is damn important yet its all about the on the job training which, to me anyway, seems horribly inefficient
I thought Nash was one of yours 😉
We are better served with talented amateurs, rather than trained idiots who think they know what is best. I’m all for them making some mistakes, and we should let new governments and ministers make mistakes, and only punish them if they do not learn. We have a good mechanism for that – elections.
You should go to Wellington Puckish Rogue, and get why we don’t want the ministers trained by people in and outside that environment. And putting aside ideological capture – be it left or right I’m sure we agree we don’t want that.
“I thought Nash was one of yours”
No we’re good thanks 🙂
“And putting aside ideological capture – be it left or right I’m sure we agree we don’t want that.”
Well no we don’t want that but its like the mistakes a minister makes can have extremely negative repercussions so maybe theres a middle ground that could be found
A small training session set up by senior National and Labour MPs thats not about policies but how to ask questions etc
Maybe even instead a rule book for incoming speakers written by Lockwood Smith and vetted by Labour and the Greens so as not to get another dud speaker…
I dunno it just doesn’t seem right that you have the most important jobs in the country and you learn it by on the job training only
“Jami-Lee Ross seems to be setting something up”
Nah. Has already blown his load in the waiting room.
In the Jaws of the Dragon ?
He needs to lift his game but I’m not sure he can.
I agree he dosnt interview well…that dosnt necessarily mean he cant do his job competently….unlike say Paula Bennet who did neither
Fair enough. I’ll watch some more. I still find it odd that he’s deputy PM given he presents poorly.
But you may be right and he’s the solid performer behind the leader.
I also thought about Bennett and wondering how come she’s where she is given her incompetence. But I’m happy for her to stay there and for Bridges to stay front and centre as well.
Time will tell how competent he is behind the scenes…having said that, hes not the personality type youd want as party leader imo.
In person Davis is very well spoken and fluent in Te Reo. Probably just an off day
Don’ t doubt that he is…(after all hes been an MP for some time) but as Anne noted (and I agreed) he dosn’t appear confident in interview situations, particularly ones expected hostile…(and for PRs observation, that was something unmet as an opposition MP)…..and none of this is necessarily indicative of his competence in his portfolio(s), though it certainly will be painted thus by the opposition.
I agree Pat.Kelvin Davis is passionate and dedicated to what he truly believes in. I was thinking this morning that seeing as Guyon is so proud oh his mastery of Te Reo that Kelvin should just answer him in Te Reo. I believe that he would be very articulate using it.
Actually Davis hides behind TeReo to disguise his abject ignorance.
The Government is setting out to reduce the prison population so the reported predicted increase will be a way to measure their success. What if the prisoner population stays around 10,000? Will this mark a huge success? And how come the Report predict that the 3,000 now on remand will become 6,000? Remember those on remand have not yet been convicted and for some who are convicted, they have already served the prison sentence on remand.
You may well be correct however it is the fact that Kelvin Davis is not all over this subject which is of concern. He’s doing an appalling job and this is from someone who thought he was great at holding the last government to account and scored numerous hits against them. It’s like he’s been replaced with some incompetent boob.
Perhaps Kelvin Davis ought to do what National did for nine years and refuse to appear on Morning Report, and only be interviewed by pro-government sycophants and then only when he feels like it?
The problem with Kelvin Davis is not his lack of competence (his past history is testament to that) it is his lack of confidence when facing hostile opponents either of the journo or politico variety. He needs some expert training how to cope with them.
Anyone who has listened to him at private functions where no media are present would know he is a actually a very capable speaker and on top of his portfolios, but it does not come across in the public arena.
“The problem with Kelvin Davis is not his lack of competence (his past history is testament to that) it is his lack of confidence when facing hostile opponents either of the journo or politico variety. He needs some expert training how to cope with them”
Thats the impression I get too….is a lack of self confidence in an interview situation ….and we have more than enough overconfident/arrogant politicians so it is not unwelcome.
“lack of self confidence”
Didn’t seem to be a problem when he was opposition, I thought he came across quite well (I mean I disagreed with what he was saying but he spoke well and was quite effective)
maybe there are other things going on for him. Of course you’d want him to crack preferably on the news. Real people do these jobs mate and they live real lives – stop being a creep.
I’d prefer him to do the honourable thing and resign before he cracks up
Yep I’m sure you’d prefer that however your rightwing agenda is not the subject.
Why do rightwingers try to hunt out weakness, and even create perceived weakness, to drop someone and make them suffer? Politics? Masculinity? No, sport is the answer imo – the hunt – stupid pack behaviour and bully antics hiding deep insecurities.
“Why do rightwingers try to hunt out weakness, and even create perceived weakness, to drop someone and make them suffer?”
Like left wingers and their partners never do it themselves
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10411294
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11235412
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12066885
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11161586
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/05/settle-petal-ron-mark-told-off-for-sexist-remark.html
I still think that Labour didn’t expect to get into power and so had the luxury of saying damn near anything they liked while in opposition but are now finding out its a different kettle of fish having to implement their pre-election promises
Lol yes you mean opposition 101.
The dirty gnats are still finding their feet so it’s no wonder they are floundering so badly – for instance I doubt the public know ANY opposition member portfolios – I don’t know any, even Steven bridges – that’s for sure lol
Huh, Marty, you mean Simon Joyce don’t you?
At least bill Collins has gone lol
But Judith Bennett and Paula English are still there.
You are probably right about that pr.
But they are making the changes I wanted, unlike the Nats who mostly seem to sweep things under the carpet…….
I guess like anyone in anew job there is a bit of a learning curb. I was aware of this when labour was in opposition and the lost experienced people like king and cunliffe. There is very little previous ministerial experience in labour currently. But they will get that on the job.
I can’t really understand why so much criticism of Twyford. I think he’s working his butt off on two very difficult port folios with crusher braying at him (ridiculous the idea that he could have solved the housing crisis in 5 minutes)
“I can’t really understand why so much criticism of Twyford.”
Well off the top of my head (without googling) Labour made promises about housing including but not limited to:
Kiwibuild using apprenticeships which look to being dropped for foreign workers
Cutting back immigration but now allowing more foreign workers (see above)
Kiwis building the houses now looks to be either pre-fabs (not that i’m opposed to them) or simply buying the houses off developers
The houses being touted now looking like including apartments when it was described as homes for families (and all that entails)
The time frames for said houses being pushed back
The costs for the home raising
The easiest way for Twyford to shut National up is to start producing houses and at the moment i think 18 have been announced to be built
Kiwibuild was a major pre-election promise so of course National was going to attack it, especially given all of the above
Honestly thanks for outlining the concerns about Twyford.
It is a huge project they are undertaking ie building more affordable homes +++++it’s like any big project until you start it, you can’t really know what you are facing. Know this from my own home renovation projects. Even if you really shot up before hand things somehow unfold in unforeseen ways (I won’t bore you with the details here)……
The kiwi build apprenticeship thing is going ahead, heard some announcement about it very recently, but new apprentices will not yet have the experience to do the work. Yes the thing about fast tracking migrants for the job doesn’t fit with what they said about cutting back on migration (although they still may achieve that reduction). But needs must.
Twyford has signed off some great transport gains for Auckland (rail links), set up kiwi build, he I think is responsible for getting unoccupied houses eg owned by Auckland transport available for those needing emergency accommodation (better than motels) and he also got off his arse and phoned gluckman about the science behind meths testing.
So it might look a bit messy, but he’s working hard towards his targets, getting some smalls gains and setting it up so it’s good to go. After all it’s a massive task he has got
The big problem facing Twyford is, as you say, Kiwibuild is a huge undertaking with a lot riding on it, like a big gamble kind of thing, in that if he succeeds he (and Labour) will gain the kind of kudos Michael Joseph Savage received and can then look at three terms in office, at least (yeah its that big)
But if Kiwibuild fails he (and again Labour) will likely get the opposite reaction and all that entails
Agree or.
And at this stage it’s too early to tell. It might not be quite as black and white either, eg in areas outside Auckland kiwi build probably has more chance of success as the housing situation is quite as bad and the scale is less…….
I am reminded of what jacinda ardearn said (and I was sitting in the gallery when she said it) “I rather be the govt that tried and didn’t quite get their, than the govt that didn’t try at all” or words to that effect
It can’t succeed unless they use Savage’s funding model.
He’s just burnt a truckload of credibility trying to accommodate foreign investors – who will then limit his success just when he needs to push on through to a higher order of magnitude.
@exactly Stuart Munro and the foreign workers also undermining Labour’s so called Kiwi jobs and foreign buyers now even be bought in the mix to buy up the land and profit from it, or quasi private COO type companies be virtually given away public land in secret deals that are not providing much affordable housing aka HCL and if the buyers end up being foreigners or new residents who then rent them out after the withholding period, and the renters need more accomodation supplement to pay for the rising rents in the aforementioned Kiwibuild houses, it is gonna be a joke.
The NZ way seems to be market forces needing government money propping it up in a Kind of quasi public money for private profits. Not a nice story.
If they want to get Kiwibuild to succeed they need to use local and resident builders even if they have to train them on mass themselves, use local land and probably not sell them at all, as the city needs cheap rentals the most. Then use the rents to make more, exactly how private developers do it, only the profit goes back to the state to make more rentals!
“The houses being touted now looking like including apartments when it was described as homes for families (and all that entails)”
Are you saying families in many cities around the world do not live in apartments?
I’m saying that Kiwibuild was/is being touted as a new rendition of the quarter acre dream, a continuation of Michael Joseph Savages ideas for state housing, a home and back yard for the kids to play in
Not apartment blocks
Was/is it?
Don’t recall anyone touting that all homes would be detached houses on quarter acre blocks.
The policy in 2012 included apartment blocks.
Before the election the policy included apartments and terraced houses.
Where was the kiwibuild policy touted as a rendition of the quarter acre dream?
I’m not talking policy, I’m talking the “feelz”
Got any examples?
All the marketing shows pictures of detached houses or town houses. Even the Kiwibuild logo is a house. Apartments are nowhere to be seen in the feel good PR images
(google image search “kiwibuild”)
Certainly not just quarter acres though
As for the logo… a bit of projection there I think.
Simple solution Gos, stop listening to Guyon! he is a dork.
Guyon’s a dork because Kelvin Davis came across as a right plonker???
Guyon’s never been anything else.
actually i agree gos about kelvin being a plonker, but that doesn’t excuse Guyon or his presence on morning report.
Look on the bright side we could have had Greg Oc’onnor for minister of corrections! eeeek
Maybe someone’s vetting his reading list too closely gozzer.
It is interesting to see which Labour MPs are showing themselves in power, I mean Grant Robertson is doing quite well in that I thought he might have been one of the ones to get a bit arrogant but no hes doing well and Kris Faafoi is making a good fist on consumer affairs, again without the arrogance
Now compare those two that’re getting on with the job with someone like Twyford or Curran for example
Yeah ( breathless) so true wow good spotting onto it yeah nah maybe not really no rubbish boo.
A sympathetic interview.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2018/07/one-addict-s-story-of-being-evicted-by-housing-nz.amp.html
Poto Kingi has been told by HNZ she cannot apply for a home for three years after being evicted for meth (not cooking).
They tell her to go to a boarding house where the temptation of meth will be all around her. Choosing not to use she couch surfs instead.
here is an example of a mass lie
from wikipwdia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster#Units_1,_2,_and_3
“On 12 March, an explosion in Unit 1 was caused by the ignition of the hydrogen, destroying the upper part of the building. On 14 March, a similar explosion occurred in the Reactor 3 building,.”
I invite you to consider the evidence
here is footage from reactor one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJZo_8_LI90
and reactor three
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVp2NnY16g0
These explosions are NOT “similar” there clearly is a fundamentally different process at reactor 3 explosion.
why the lie? and how has this lie continued in the face of video evidence?
Why don’t you edit the Wiki page and correct the “lie”? Anyway, who’s doing the lying, according to you?
actually I did edit the wikipage (simply pointing out the main differences between the two explosions, volume of material ejected and height of ejection) , it (the edit) lasted about five minutes.
Well the Lie must have begun with Tepco who controlled the initial analysis, Why this lie continues, lazyness?, ignorance? I really dont know ,
What I do know is that hydrogen explosion alone does not explain what is observed in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVp2NnY16g0
You seem to be speaking with definitives – how do you know so much about hydrogen explosions?
ignorant comment marty. what do you know?
Huh – well Andre followed up with the tech analysis. You seem to be basing your opinion on your eyesight and limited knowledge of what you think a hydrogen explosion should look like. That is not evidence of a big lie.
Personally I think fukishima is such a massive disaster and cover up for real and the effects of that CONTINUING leakage of radiation into the ground and thus the sea are only now becoming known. That is where evidence of a big lie will be found imo.
Oh? Why is a hydrogen explosion not a satisfactory explanation?
Considering the enormous range of concentrations that hydrogen is explosive at, I don’t find it even slightly surprising that there could be a huge difference in the energy released by explosions in identical chambers. One could have exploded while there was still very little hydrogen while the other may have developed a much higher concentration before the explosion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_safety
Even the assumption the explosions were in identical chambers is unwarranted, it seems the explosions were because the hydrogen was vented into the maintenance halls.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirconium_alloy#Oxidation_of_zirconium_by_steam
“Even the assumption the explosions were in identical chambers is unwarranted,”
Exactly! The video evidence clearly shows they were not.
think for a moment about the mechanics of how you might produce a vertical column of approx 1 kilometer (by comparison to the vent towers) of a great volume of material (observed falling) and then consider the dynamics of a hydrogen explosion (very fast!) in a light containment (the upper floor of the building)
reactor three was not “similar” to reactor one, certainly hydrogen explosion can be observed in both cases ( detonation, shock wave, bright flash) but what occurred after that was fundamentally different.
There’s plenty of reasons why there might be a much larger plume from one explosion than the other.
For instance, depending on maintenance operations, one of the halls may have had a large quantity of some sort of maintenance supplies that ignited, that either wasn’t present or wasn’t ignited in the other (because of a lower energy initial explosion).
Or there may be simple differences in the geometry and construction of the maintenance halls that accounts for the differences seen.
If both explosions were initiated by hydrogen that escaped from the containment vessel, which was generated in both cases by superheated steam reacting with zirconium inside the vessel, why is calling them “similar” a lie?
“For instance, depending on maintenance operations, one of the halls may have had a large quantity of some sort of maintenance supplies that ignited, that either wasn’t present or wasn’t ignited in the other (because of a lower energy initial explosion).”
Well if that was the case the wikipedia would say something like “the observed differences was due to the large amount of explosive material stored in the upper level of reactor three”
But that scenario does not address the major difference which is the vertical velocity and volume of the ejecta.
Have you actually viewed the video’s of the two events?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJZo_8_LI90
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVp2NnY16g0
simply dismissing the second event as “similar” to the first just does not work. .. look for yourself!
Yes, I did view the two videos.
And I have some experience of physical objects being moved around by rapidly expanding gases, in experiments where everything we could think of was tightly controlled. And there were some pretty wild variations in outcomes even with initial conditions set to be as identical as possible.
So I don’t see a problem with describing those two explosions as “similar”, given the root causes of the two are the same. Given that there were likely to be substantial differences in initial conditions at the time of initiation, substantial differences in the appearance of the aftermath seems more likely than not.
“given the root causes of the two are the same.”
Well thats the assumption you are steered towards by the description as “similar”
Best not question that assumption eh
easier to postulate “likely to be substantial differences in initial conditions” without any evidence and no such “differences” ever having been outlined.
I suggest you familiarize yourself with the differences between Detonation and Deflagration.
as well here is rather more plausible and well explained mechanism that could produce the observed events
http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=3018
Ok, let’s take your new bit of theorising at face value (at a grand total of two comments it doesn’t seem to have attracted much attention). And no, I can’t be bothered trying to dig up a rebuttal of it.
So then the explosion at reactor 1 was the result of a known hazrd of pressuried water reactors (superheated steam reacting with zirconium cladding to produce hydrogen). Then reactor 3 explosion was due to a different but also well known hazard of pressurised water reactors. But somehow, probably due to technical differences of opinion among experts, the reactor 3 explosion is being misattributed to the same known hazard of pressurised water reactors as the explosion at 1.
How does this difference of opinion turn into a lie, let alone the foundations of some kind of conspiracy theory? Whether it was in fact a steam explosion or a hydrogen explosion doesn’t change the arguments against using that pressurised water reactor design.
Similar isn’t identical xanthy.
And you can link to the research proving this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJZo_8_LI90
Ah, so you confirm that you’re talking out your arse.
Gotcha.
How many times did Bridges say ‘spray and walk away’ this morning on Espiners show. I counted three but could have missed a few. AND he didn’t answer Guyons question as to whether he would forgo the Winter Allowance. I heard this morning that 140 people had opted out of it. Did you hear that Si. As for his amazement at Kelvin not having read report on figures on inmates rising the should just look to his right and ask the ever incompetent Paula Bennett to comment on this. When did she ever read ANYTHING? Going out on a limb here. NEVER?
Deaf RNZ
Kelvin Davis performed well with the struggling Guyon this morning. Davis kept saying to the non responsive RNZ dummie, that Labour are not going to build mega prisons, but will develop ways to release prisoners on remand, and those suffering with Mental health problems. Thereby reducing the number of persons in prison.
Do not be misled by devotee TROLLS who suck on the incoherence of Simon Bridges.
Whatever, do not go with the trapsetting nonsense of people like Guyon and other low IQ RNZ so called journos.
“Whatever, do not go with the trapsetting nonsense of people like Guyon and other low IQ RNZ so called journos.”
agree wholeheartedly.
some time ago I decided to avoid the herald and one result was more exposure to RNZ… very disappointing.
where can I find real journalism of day to day events in NZ?
Most television and radio hosts/journalists suffer from very low IQ levels and sadly lack intelligence and have little common sense ?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201107/common-sense-is-neither-common-nor-sense
If you have 26 minutes in your day, well worth watching this interview with Seymour M. Hersh. You may remember him from such reporting as the:
My Lai Massacre
Korean Air Flight 007
Attack on pharmaceutical factory in Sudan
Dick Cheney
and the questioning of the killing of Osama bin Laden
Just to name a few. With Chris Hedges.
Brilliant interview, how ironic that RT is usually more accurate than American corporate media
That isn’t hard. After all comparing Fox News and RT is like comparing identical twins with a brain deficit causing a childish lack of judgement.
Perhaps you shouldn’t be so hard on both of these deluded siblings, each so deranged by the objects of their pathetic adulation.
I’d be very careful with RT news though ropata. That said, I like this show, and redacted tonight.
‘Rid the use of plastic bags.’
While we are concentrating on banning plastic bags that are polluting our oceans and environment, can we also ban using components of plastic in our vehicle tyres please?
As “synthetic tyres” today now have the very same chemicals inert in them also as all plastics have.
Many benzene components are included in our commonly used tyres and these tyres have black carbon dust
Worse is that the carbon tyre dust that is emitted from one truck with 32 tyres will shed 100 times the plastic dust (cancer causing) more than just one car.
This toxic carbon tyre dust have been found its way to our artic ice caps.
Tyre black carbon dust has now been found to have been carried from our road pollution ‘runoff’ and transported in heavy rain into our roadside water ducts and water ‘sheds’ and then sent out to the rivers and coast to be transferred to the Antarctic ice caps by the prevailing ocean currents.
Scientists have found that the black carbon dust that may include tyre dust settles on the ice caps and accelerates the melting of our ice caps now.
Tyre particles are now known to travel far greater distances than previously known now.
https://e360.yale.edu/features/climate-connection-unraveling-the-surprising-ecology-of-dust
http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2016/03/22/the-damaging-effects-of-black-carbon/
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140610-connecting-dots-dust-soot-snow-ice-climate-change-dimick/
http://washingtonsblog.com/2014/03/realistic-ways-stop-melting-arctic-ice.html
Do any of your links mention tyre dust anywhere in them? Mind pointing out where? I had a skim through and didn’t see any.
While there’s plenty to be critical of with current tyre manufacturing and how they are used, dust is a long long way down the list of problems.
Paper bags are the go. Ban the plastic bag! Too late to tax it as the oceans are dying! Oh that will upset investors so probably the government would prefer to kill the ocean rather than tackle taxing a company for polluting or even worse a foreign company, (but fine for ordinary commuters with petrol tax.).
Kiwibuild Tracker.
Designed and built by Stuff staff. Methodology vetted by NZ Initiative economist Sam Warburton.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/105105107/how-our-kiwibuild-tracker-works
@Fireblade – the Stuff tracker is a good idea but should show how many homes have been demolished to make way for the Kiwibuild aka the truth, they start with a negative as the National government booted out loads of vulnerable people to make these stylish new houses which if you look at Hobsenville and Tamaki are being marketed around $800k – well beyond what any renter or working or even middle class family can afford! Then put the houses into price banks… what they used to be $350k, now the 3 bed houses are $650k and going up… The other issue is that banks don’t like to lend on unstable jobs and so many jobs now are unstable…everything is harder because banks can afford to be choosy.
The WOF looks like a joke when they are now housing emergency families in demolition houses when the whole idea was to promise affordable safe houses! Before they fell into the Natz lies they should have looked a bit closer at the demographics of Auckland and what was driving up the prices! I know Labour and Greens trying to do the right thing, but +practicality+ needs to be looked at not just the latest +flash reports+ that clearly are a little amiss aka the staggering price increases of new builds…. lack of affordable houses… lack of rentals in any form… jobs still paying the same as a decade ago… It’s what they said about the wage trickle down in the 1980’s, never happened now we have the housing trickle down – is labour being fooled by their own liars again?
Just to prove how out of touch the act party are.
https://horizonpoll.co.nz/page/513/72-support-banning-letting-fees?gtid=7729406816510KOJ
Thanks Andre a pleasure, view this scientific literature for clarity as the NZ document focuses on the amount of road tyre dust particles which is now very alarming to us all.
http://rcaforum.org.nz/sites/public_files/documents/stormwateremissionfactors.pdf
Microplastics
Then I Quote; from scientical reseach here at Alfred Weagner Institute.
This is just one sample of research that is recently discovered and as we agee particulates are from various sources we know clearly in NZ studies road dust from tyres is a hazard to be now taken seriously now.We now have to call these particles from tyres as “Microplastics ” as the scientists are.
Read the recent NZ publication also to see the NZ ageement that tyre wear now causes mass amounts of road dust pollution.
http://rcaforum.org.nz/sites/public_files/documents/stormwateremissionfactors.pdf
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5651783/Record-concentration-microplastics-Arctic-sea-ice-five-separate-locations.html
Identifying different types of microplastic and the movement of the ice could help us work out the source of these pollutants, say researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Microplastics are particles, fibres or fragments which range in size from just a few thousandths of a millimetre to under five millimetres.
They come from multiple sources including from the breakdown of bigger plastic items.
For example, they could come from putting synthetic clothes through the laundry which are then washed to the sea, or from car tyre friction on roads, creating a dust of the particles.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
The tiny fragments of plastic ranged from types widely used in packaging such as polyethylene, to paints, nylon, polyester and cellulose acetate which is commonly used in making cigarette filters
Identifying different types of microplastic and the movement of the ice could help us work out the source of these pollutants, say researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Microplastics are particles, fibres or fragments which range in size from just a few thousandths of a millimetre to under five millimetres.
They come from multiple sources including from the breakdown of bigger plastic items.
For example, they could come from putting synthetic clothes through the laundry which are then washed to the sea, or from car tyre friction on roads, creating a dust of the particles.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light. Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples
The process, reported in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed there were far more microplastics than previous assessments
They study revealed that, with its process of freezing and melting sea ice, the Arctic is important in storing and transporting the plastic particles. Scientists said they could not yet say whether the particles released from melting sea ice stayed in the Arctic
The process, reported in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed there were far more microplastics than previous assessments.
Gunnar Gerdts, whose laboratory made the measurements, said: ‘Using this approach, we also discovered plastic particles that were only 11 micrometres across.
‘That’s roughly one-sixth the diameter of a human hair, and also explains why we found concentrations of more than 12,000 particles per litre of sea ice – which is two to three times higher than what we’d found in past measurements’, he said.
They study revealed that, with its process of freezing and melting sea ice, the Arctic is important in storing and transporting the plastic particles.
WHAT ARE MICROPLASTICS AND HOW DO THEY GET INTO OUR WATERWAYS?
Microplastics are plastic particles measuring less than five millimetres (0.2 inches).
They have hit the headlines over recent years, as improper disposal has resulted in tonnes of waste making its way into the ocean.
Each year, tonnes of plastic waste fails to get recycled and dealt with correctly, which can mean they end up in marine ecosystems.
Although it’s unclear exactly how they end up in the water, microplastics may enter through simple everyday wear and tear of clothing and carpets.
Tumble dryers may also be a source, particularly if they have a vent to the open air.
Plastics don’t break down for thousands of years and it is estimated that there are already millions of items of plastic waste in the oceans. This number is expected to rise.
Studies have also revealed 700,000 plastic fibres could be released into the atmosphere with every washing machine cycle.
Current water systems are unable to effectively filter out all microplastic contamination, due to the varying size of particles.
The amount of plastic rubbish in the world’s oceans will outweigh fish by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to further recycle, a report released in 2016 revealed.
More than 80 per cent of the world’s tap water is contaminated with plastic, research published in September 2017 revealed.
The US has the highest contamination rate at 93 per cent, followed by Lebanon and India, experts from the University of Minnesota found.
France, Germany and the UK have the lowest levels, however, they still come in at 72 per cent.
Overall, 83 per cent of water samples from dozens of nations around the world contain microplastics.
Scientists warn microplastics are so small they could penetrate organs.
Bottled water may not be a safer alternative, as scientists have found contaminated samples.
Creatures of all shapes and sizes have been found to have consumed the plastics, whether directly or indirectly.
Previous research has also revealed microplastics absorb toxic chemicals, which are then released in the gut of animals.
That’s an impressive firehosing of irrelevant information.
I found precisely one mention of tyre dust in your DailyMail link, in the context of a phrase saying ‘hmm, we don’t really know where this stuff is coming from, maybe tyre dust, dunno?’
That rcaforum pdf was an impressive compilation of the composition of roadside dust contaminants and microdetail about their composition. But it was remarkably devoid about the hazards presented by the different contaminants. For instance, the section dealing with tyre dust failed to show any details around particulate size distribution, which is a critical bit of information in assessing the hazard. Although it did mention about less than 5% was small enough that it might become mobile again once it had settled on the ground. Nor did it contain any mention of uptake of these particles by marine life.
Meanwhile, scaremongering by joining together irrelevant factoids is how we end up with debacles like the meth-house testing scam.
Donald Trump and his regime of grotesques are a horror show.
Unfortunately, the Democrats are led by people like Charles Schumer….
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2018/07/01/senator-charles-schumer-architect-abettor-accomplice-of-and-accessory-to-gazas-martyrdom/
Using natural fibers will lower the plastic particles from the clothes in the washing. Less nanoparticles to be absorbed also.
Whats with this Eco Maori see that all the left political party’s need to keep up with there strong causes links below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOsM-DYAEhY&index=2&list=RDfKopy74weus
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/02/trump-fart-act-report-blows-through-washington#img-1 Ka kite ano
My latest blog post, defending the universality of the welfare state:
https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2018/07/02/of-useful-idiots-ii-the-universality-of-social-welfare-new-zealand-politics/
mad heka duplicity alien was crowing in the Wairarapa Times Age yesterday morning that Winston Peters had been “FIRED” [sic] from the am show and was on two week suspension. Now he wont go back and merkin and dunnycan are really spitting the dummy. and besides what sort of juvenile language is that from a supposed adult.
why has politics in New Zealand descended into this sort of cocakamamie cross between reality teevee and womens weakly with the provincial rags as a support cast?
and for good measure Question time in the house has become a farce. if you dont believe me then watch and see for yourself. the nationals are like this pack of nitwitted drongos. One Brett Hudson asked a question to which he had just been given the answer.
The courts have finally got that case of including money loaned as some ones income in there assesment of money received fraudulently from winz they have ruled to clear the dept Ka pai.
There you go same day one week apart the only difference is the new Auckland fuel tax and no traffic jam today who said a fuel tax won’t decrease traffic.
Business conferenced allways go’s down in winter and what’s happening around Papatuanukue with trade won’t help plus most businesses are right-wing voters smitten that they lost the election.
Wow they found the Mokopunas lost in the Thailand caveing network that’s awesome I had my doubts but they are saved. Many thanks to the all the tangata who are part of the search team that found the Mokopunas.
There you go men behaveing badly at the basketball game between the Australian and the Philippins come on guys the whole Papatuanukue is watching you.
. Ka kite ano