recently I read how air NZ was hoping to be carbon neutral, I was thinking why should they?
As air NZ flys in tourists that many other industries profit by catering for. So why should air NZ carry the full carbon debt on bring these people here, other than good PR Eg motels/hotels benefit once these tourists are here yet would not share the carbon burden. Perhaps we need to think in a more broad vision on who pays what regarding carbon
It's not a competition for heaven's sake! Good on Air NZ if it can do this and the idea that we should all be peering over the fence to make sure we're not doing more than our neighbours is not exactly a mature response is it!
The carbon neutral would cover the airline only ( mainly the planes) not what the passengers do when they get here.
However you have to think of it as a form of public transport – a bus in the sky, with far higher fossil fuel efficency than cars used for personal transport.
when the passengers get here those within the tourist industry don’t have any liability on the cost to deliver them, only their direct carbon cost. So for me with tourism as an example the tourist trade in total should be a net carbon absorber. And by “taxing” only the direct carbon costs to each player then leads to distortions. Eg the surf board hire has no carbon costs yet to deliver the surfer has a large carbon cost. That direct costs would not take into account .
The 7 TV1 Show gave her a supportive hearing. So did Lisa Owens with no alternative view. Wonder why? Is it because it might provoke interest in their programs? The Gun Lobby must have been delighted in an apparent publicity coup. Lisa's guest, a Gun Shop manageress did say that of course there are other options for the poor little mite. Must have hurt to say that!
How lazy was RNZ on that Checkpoint story last night? I couldn't believe my ears! Was everyone off with the flu and the rest of the office scratching around for some content before the gun lobby rode to the rescue with a pre-packaged offering that just required Lisa Owen to stick to the script?
I Listened to that whole piece on Checkpoint last night and it was frankly bloody bizarre. Carefully curated with the exact opposite of your typical gun nut (young girl, Maori women, white female Olympian) The whole thing sounded like a 20 minute advertorial scripted by the gun lobby and delivered verbatim by a credulous RNZ.
A 13 year old girl (hit Jacinda's image where it hurts, let's front with a kid!) with a wah wah wwah followed by the carefully choreographed interview from gun lobby group where the front person is the secretary Nicole McKee (cos she is brown and a woman – the chairman and vice-chairman both being white men wouldn't be as good a look) with Lisa Owen serving up soft serves for swatting then an "independent" view from someone who was introduced as an Olympic shooter (but let's not mention she is a gun shop manager and daughter of the owner of gun city).
This story, IMHO, is part of looks like a worrying emerging trend of RNZ allowing itself and it’s authority to be used as a credulous shill for lobbyists – Guyon Espiner's "investigation" of Pharmac seemed to rely almost entirely on human interest content funneled to him from big pharma companies who hate Pharmac – in return for easy content.
I'm sure any minute now Duncan Garner will come out and attack her by accusing her of being melodramatic like he did to Greta Thunberg. Waiting .. Tick Tock
I hope you get this and have a long hard think about what you have done to poor little girls and boys with hopes and dreams that have been crushed by you.
Oh, the horror! Our children's hopes and dreams of fun with military-style semi-automatics have been crushed by Jacinda Ardern! Won't somebody please, please think of the children!?
Some children dream of curing cancer, flying to the moon, fighting fires, winning races, being dancers, or rock/sport stars, or artists, even (God help them) teachers – dare to dream.
And some (apparently) dream of firing an AR-15 rifle! Where does that dream come from?
Yeah, that sounded utterly contrived and fake to me – I'd like to know more about this lass and her dad. Any actual journalists out there who might, you know, ask a few more questions?
According to his very public Facebook page, the father (Matt Turner as named by several of the media reports eg The Herald article) appears to be very active in opposing gun restrictions and related policies both of the current govt as a whole and the individual parties (Greens/Labour/NZF) plus NZ Police – and supportive of ACT policies. Obviously very involved in the gun scene in NZ and the gun lobby, and has apparently filed various OIAs on these subjects including to Minister Nash. Haven't yet checked FYI.org.nz. Some FB entries also seem to indicate a possible/probable intolerance towards Muslims – including JA's wearing scarfs etc. Dad seems to be from the UK originally, now resident in Te Aroha with family etc.
I won't provide a link to his FB page, but easily found as are other links via Google using his name plus other definers such as 'nz' and 'guns' etc.
Now realise that the FB link is not as straightforward as his name and I found it via another Google link. So the FB key is mattanddelicia. damn it here is the link https://www.facebook.com/mattanddelicia
If your hopes and dreams involve owning an AR-15, then yeah, sorry love, your hopes and dreams deserve to be tossed into history's dustbin for the greater good. Ask Dad for a pony instead?
"So the men in white coats will have to take him away. And as they come for him Trump will try to destroy everything around him, because a world that rejects his self, that throws him from office, literally cannot exist. All this, according to the psychiatry textbooks, is inevitable. What a joy it will be to watch. And it's starting now."
That Trump is a delusional narcissist has been evident since day one, what is really confounds is the near total support by those within the Republican Party ….or are they themselves similarly afflicted but more capable of masking it?
The problem then is to turn attention to the people who vote for Trump and his ilk and try and save ourselves from their skewed minds. Are people fit enough mentally and analytically to take part in a democracy? Certainly sitting around on bums and whining about what pollies do is not sufficient for a modern democracy of educated people. Either educate people to the teenage years when they can read, write and do sums and then subsidise businesses to take them on and give them work skills so they can get started in life; or teach them how politics and civil society work and how to manage themselves, and give them a 'list' place in their community forums so they are involved right from the start in making the good society.
Getting rid of Trump is only cutting out a malignancy. It will have metastasised throughout the body of the polity. Healthier thinking and happier, simpler, thoughtful living may tame the dastardly disease. We can't cure it but if we can work together, collaborate and be sincere with each other, as much as is politic, then we will be able to keep the 7 deadly sins to a manageable level.
The GOP are self-serving opportunists to their core. They'll support a rabid dog just so long as it's toilet-trained and promises not to bite them. They woefully misjudged just how out-of-control Mad King Donald would prove to be, and they're at a bit of a loss in figuring out how to handle him. I mean, there comes a point when even your most feeble excuses are howled down in a torrent of open contempt. People are waking up to what a venal, morally-bankrupt pack of brigands they are, and they know it. It's why they're so desperate to cheat. It's the only way they'll win.
Agree theres the typical self serving forces at play but even so I would expect that to cover a spectrum and that even the most self serving must question the risk he poses to their gravy train even if they can ignore the risk to their country….in other words isnt there a point at which it becomes too dangerously bizarre and Trump had crossed that point even before he was sworn in.
“I’m definitely not surprised on a day-to-day basis to see bullying’s become a major headline New Zealand,” says Caroline Krieger, an employment law partner with Morrison Kent.
She believes bullying accusations have become somewhat of a “trend” in employment law….
..The introduction of new legislation, and the #MeToo movement, are also contributing to a growing number of bullying claims, she says.
Have wondered about that even in the Labour Party bullying claims.
Talking of bullying… this quote from the BBC news:
'It is bullying'…
… He accused the paper of misleading readers when it published the private letter, by strategically omitting paragraphs, sentences and specific words "to mask the lies they had perpetrated for over a year".
"Put simply, it is bullying, which scares and silences people. We all know this isn't acceptable, at any level," he said.
"We won't and can't believe in a world where there is no accountability for this.
It is Prince Harry talking about the bullying and harassment of his wife, They are suing the Mail on Sunday.
Sounds familiar? It is. This is exactly what National are doing to government MPs. Selecting words, paragraphs of speeches in the House and stringing them together to form a misleading impression. The outcome – if it is allowed to continue in the form adopted by National – is these MPs will be bullied into virtual silence and will be afraid to speak up when it is desirable.
I was watching the video interview with CIA whistle blower John Kiriakou where he gave a personal anecdote of when he was working in Saudi Arabia and every morning he would give a friendly greeting to a Saudi military person of some kind and the Saudi would completely ignore him. Eventually John asked him why he was so unfriendly and the Saudi replied words to the effect that he and all Americans were nothing more than hired military help. John explained that the Saudis use foreign troops for nearly all their fighting and that the Saudis themselves are militarily inept which losing three brigades (10,000-12,000 soldiers) inside Saudi Arabia might suggest
Excellent military analysis of the recent events here, suggesting that Saudi and the US have more or less already lost the war against Yemen:
"The third-biggest arms spender in the world is incapable of defeating the poorest Arab country in the world. It is, moreover, incapable of protecting its national interest and borders from this impoverished Arab country. The Houthis are showing to the world what a poor but organized and motivated armed force can do using asymmetrical methods to bring one of the best-equipped militaries in the world to its knees. This conflict will be studied all over the world as an example of how a new means of warfare is possible when technological and cyber capabilities are democratized and available to those who know how to use them appropriately, as the Houthis have shown with their use of drones and electronic warfare."
It is interesting – and Al Jazeera essentially confirms it. The effect of serial defeats on Saudi could create a major shift in the local balance of power; part of their status descends from possession of the two holy mosques and the presumption of the mandate of heaven that goes with them. Conspicuous defeat is really not good for such presumptions, and may see a realignment of traditional supporters.
There is a question to be answered over the sponsorship of recent drone strikes – if it were not Iran, who was it? One need not look particularly far to find a state that would cheerfully destabilize any US ally, and may have some historical grievance with the house of Saud.
"Saudi Arabia and its oil policy are thought to have contributed to the downfall of Soviet Communism in the late 1980s and early 1990. Saudi helped to finance not just the Afghan Mujahideen but non-Muslims anti-communists. It also seriously harmed the Soviet Communist cause by stabilizing oil prices "throughout the 1980s, just when the Russians were desperate to sell energy in order to keep up with huge hikes in American military spending."
I would have thought either the utter failure of air defence/radar expensively bought from the US or the notorious laziness of the Sauds (taking a break in the weekend by turning off the radar) might have something to do with it
The old Russians did it trope is losing its pulling power
I've never been reliant on an army of mercenaries but I've seen the malaise of being rich enough to have someone else do everything in other ways. 30 year old individuals from wealthy families that don't know how to cook an egg, vacuum a floor or catch a bus.
My friend, you've been suckered by a fake news pro-Kremlin propaganda site. The website you quote – Strategic Culture Foundation – is a Russian black propaganda site of a kind that litters the internet.
The clue is it's rather odd enthusiams for Russian weapons and the acceptance of the DPR and LNR as legitimate – only Russia recognises them, the rest of the world having designated them terrorists.
Nowhere can one learn that the site is registered and managed in Russia. This is only disclosed by checking the site data.
If there actually exists a Strategic Culture Foundation it is impossible to discover. The site gives no information on owners, editors, visiting address. There isn’t even an e-mail address for contacting the site or the foundation. At least we now know the Russians make excellent weapons that are far better than the useless stuff the Americans and Europeans make!
None of which mitigates that the Saudis appear to have suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Houthis. But that is about as much credence I'd give anything that site says.
The purpose behind the Saudi's purchase of vast quantities military hardware from the US has nothing to do with defense (or attack). It will most likely never be used. The purpose is to recycle the Saudi's oil revenue surpluses through the US economy. That is the quid pro quo for having the US's support in the region. And from the Saudis' perspective it's a vastly preferable arrangement to having the US engineer regime change and control the oil revenues directly. The US doesn't need the physical oil – it is now the world's largest producer – but it wants to tap into revenue streams everywhere.
I not convinced by the video of the 'captured soldiers'. The SA military is very well equipped and am surprised that very few were wearing fatigues and the weaponry does not appear to be US in origin. I would be very surprised if the US was supplying AK47's to SA, they usually save that for their proxies like ISIS, Al Queda and the Taliban.
I think there is an element of propaganda about this but in saying that, I wish the Houthi all the best.
Just weeks after Simon Bridges faced backlash over a trip to China and a meeting with the country’s spy boss, National MP Jian Yang has returned to Beijing for a major military parade. Laura Walters reports.
Controversial National Party MP Jian Yang is in Beijing for the People's Republic of China's 70th anniversary celebrations.
More specifically, he’s part of a group of distinguished guests attending the parade of the People’s Liberation Army from a special vantage point, at the invitation of the Chinese Government."
Re Jian Yang's citizenship, of which I find confusing, along with his place as a National list MP.
I know to hold a place in the NZ Parliament, an MP must be a NZ citizen, including holding dual citizenship.
However, as far as China is concerned, dual citizenship is forbidden. In other words, Chinese citizenship must be forfeited, should a Chinese national gain citizenship of another state. Google dual NZ/Chinese citizenship.
Yet Yang as "a distinguished (NZ or Chinese?) guest" is invited to attend a military parade celebrating 70 years of CCP rule! Considered a distinguished guest for what …? A loyal member of the CCP reporting back to Beijing perhaps, while his party National turns a blind eye to his activities, so as to drum up support and massive (split) donations from Chinese nationals living in NZ?
Having admitted his NZ citizenship application was misrepresented at the request of Beijing at the time Yang applied, where does that leave him as an MP? Isn't falsifying a NZ Citizenship application considered illegal?
Is Jian Yang a NZ citizen or not? Or is he a citizen of China? He cannot be both!
Wales? What is the thinking there? https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-49893521 Brexit will make the UK stronger as a union of nations, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns will tell the Conservative Party conference later.
They are being offered 55 million pounds 'over 15 years for the Mid Wales Growth Deal,' for development in Powys and Ceredigon. (Powys in some Welsh historical stories is portrayed as the area that England was able to win over, leading to the downfall of the Principality.) There are claims that this will attract 200 mill. pds and generate jobs of course, the figure being 4,000. Pie-in-the-sky political promises, it sounds, (in short PSPP).
'But the Welsh Government said the money was "derisory".'…
A spokesperson for Economy Minister Ken Skates said: "Whilst we welcome any new investment, this funding in no way offsets the disastrous Tory cuts mid Wales has had to endure during this last decade of austerity.
"The figure of £55m will likely be viewed as derisory by the people of mid Wales when set against recent Welsh Government investment in mid Wales, such as the £95m Newtown bypass, which attracted no UK government funding whatsoever."
The WTO said on Tuesday that it now expects global merchandise trade to increase by 1.2 percent this year, compared with its April estimate of 2.6 percent. The growth rate stood at 3 percent in 2018. For 2020, it has been forecast to grow at 2.7 percent, down from a previous estimate of 3 percent.
As to Munros predictable Russia blaming in the Saud debacle
I would have thought either the utter failure of air defence/radar expensively bought from the US or the notorious laziness of the Sauds (taking a break in the weekend by turning off the radar) might have something to do with it
The old Russians did it trope is losing its pulling power
Dying to know who is in the ME for humanitarian reasons .
Russia’s presence in the ME goes way back.Their input to the JCPOA deal was invaluable
Their support of Iran against US sanctions is perfectly valid, and their influence will only increase as the US continues to show its ineffectiveness and unreliability https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/25/moscow-and-beijing-have-tehrans-back/
It used to be the Poms – enduring influence on public health stats like infant mortality. Since neoliberalism what little value existed in US interventions has essentially evaporated, so they're pretty rubbish. But zatchistkais not contemporary US occupation policy in the way it is for Russia, they're still really old school.
I have just hit on a word that we could put at the centre of our lives and our feelings towards other NZ citizens which would revolutionise the way that we regard our country, and relate to those fellow citizens, and all have a better life. Gratitude.
That would stop us being so greedy that we go OTT. And stop us wanting to hold all our advantages to ourselves because we don't want to share, we feel too deserving to share, we haven't got all we want yet so none to share. We would pay our reasonable taxes and moan about the excessive ones that unfairly cut into our lives. It would stop us in our tracks as we became obsessive about having and holding. It would enable us to study what we have, and decide what we could give away, contribute to others.
As Fred sang 'You don't know how lucky you are mate'. That had a satirical ring and probably it was aimed at some political propaganda. But taking a step back and surveying the situation, it is true. When so much has been taken away from so many, and somehow we still have our lives, homes, something worthwhile to do that isn't bad four health, health care etc., we should remember to feel gratitude. How do you know something is good if you don't recognise it; it is necessary to learn to discriminate, to decide what is good, not so good, bad. We will find a lot of good that we had overlooked.
And I found a good Tedx talk from Christchurch – Dr Lucy Hone, The three secrets of resilient people. I have put it on How to Get There as I like to group future thinking things that would improve our situation. https://thestandard.org.nz/how-to-get-there-29-9-19/#comment-1658637
I feel gratitude at Robert G for setting up the post and to the mods and backup? folks for backing this project. I feel gratitude to Lynn for setting up the blog and to Blip for setting an example of putting a set of points together (about John Key) which I thought was brilliant (and a lot of work). So I support How to Get There which will be handy for people to use this tool that others have set up.
Our motto for the present in NZ is to Use It, or Lose It. Don't ignore what is good around you, feel gratitude that people have set their minds to provide helpful things which enable us to have resilience and kindness in our lives. Accept the gift that they have given, feel gratitude that it is there, and make their toil worthwhile by taking advantage of their enterprise.
Father of 13 year old who wants to shoot things with a semi-automatic rifle. There is an event that involves being proficient with three diffferent types of guns used in quick succession. It sounds like a defence forces exercise, and they may be more proficient than some of our soldiers!
""For a week now she's been like 'I can't do anything, I can't do anything, no one really listens anyway', and I said 'well, write a letter and I'll make sure it gets to the right place."
How true about the not listening. People like this don't pay any attention to the rest of the world, they don't listen, they are too focussed on their own interests. They sound like UK residents who can afford to come here to live and have access to expensive weapons and are used to having everything they want. Boo hoo
Crunch time for Netanyahu as talks with rival politicians break down
29 Sept 2019 [The] Prime minister had potentially up to six weeks to form coalition but negotiations with the opposition stalled just days in
Benjamin Netanyahu could inform Israel’s president that he is unable to form a government as early as this week after unity talks with rival politicians broke down at the weekend, his Likud party said.
Israel has entered a period of political paralysis after an inconclusive election on 17 September. Neither Likud nor the opposition Blue and White party, led by ex-military general Benny Gantz, won a clear lead.
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
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recently I read how air NZ was hoping to be carbon neutral, I was thinking why should they?
As air NZ flys in tourists that many other industries profit by catering for. So why should air NZ carry the full carbon debt on bring these people here, other than good PR Eg motels/hotels benefit once these tourists are here yet would not share the carbon burden. Perhaps we need to think in a more broad vision on who pays what regarding carbon
It's not a competition for heaven's sake! Good on Air NZ if it can do this and the idea that we should all be peering over the fence to make sure we're not doing more than our neighbours is not exactly a mature response is it!
The carbon neutral would cover the airline only ( mainly the planes) not what the passengers do when they get here.
However you have to think of it as a form of public transport – a bus in the sky, with far higher fossil fuel efficency than cars used for personal transport.
when the passengers get here those within the tourist industry don’t have any liability on the cost to deliver them, only their direct carbon cost. So for me with tourism as an example the tourist trade in total should be a net carbon absorber. And by “taxing” only the direct carbon costs to each player then leads to distortions. Eg the surf board hire has no carbon costs yet to deliver the surfer has a large carbon cost. That direct costs would not take into account .
I'd imagine it'll be their passengers carrying the cost hotroddy.
Oh the absurdity… the government ripping machine guns away from kids. Ewwww… who knew NZ had child soldiers.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/10/gun-loving-13yo-girl-writes-angry-letter-to-jacinda-ardern-about-semi-automatic-ban.html
The 7 TV1 Show gave her a supportive hearing. So did Lisa Owens with no alternative view. Wonder why? Is it because it might provoke interest in their programs? The Gun Lobby must have been delighted in an apparent publicity coup. Lisa's guest, a Gun Shop manageress did say that of course there are other options for the poor little mite. Must have hurt to say that!
How lazy was RNZ on that Checkpoint story last night? I couldn't believe my ears! Was everyone off with the flu and the rest of the office scratching around for some content before the gun lobby rode to the rescue with a pre-packaged offering that just required Lisa Owen to stick to the script?
I Listened to that whole piece on Checkpoint last night and it was frankly bloody bizarre. Carefully curated with the exact opposite of your typical gun nut (young girl, Maori women, white female Olympian) The whole thing sounded like a 20 minute advertorial scripted by the gun lobby and delivered verbatim by a credulous RNZ.
A 13 year old girl (hit Jacinda's image where it hurts, let's front with a kid!) with a wah wah wwah followed by the carefully choreographed interview from gun lobby group where the front person is the secretary Nicole McKee (cos she is brown and a woman – the chairman and vice-chairman both being white men wouldn't be as good a look) with Lisa Owen serving up soft serves for swatting then an "independent" view from someone who was introduced as an Olympic shooter (but let's not mention she is a gun shop manager and daughter of the owner of gun city).
This story, IMHO, is part of looks like a worrying emerging trend of RNZ allowing itself and it’s authority to be used as a credulous shill for lobbyists – Guyon Espiner's "investigation" of Pharmac seemed to rely almost entirely on human interest content funneled to him from big pharma companies who hate Pharmac – in return for easy content.
I'm sure any minute now Duncan Garner will come out and attack her by accusing her of being melodramatic like he did to Greta Thunberg. Waiting .. Tick Tock
lol inorite.
A rightwing FB friend of mine got completely apeshit about a 16yo "being used" for political gain. Nothing so far about this 13yo though lol.
In the linked article, the kid's dad says:
I hope you get this and have a long hard think about what you have done to poor little girls and boys with hopes and dreams that have been crushed by you.
Oh, the horror! Our children's hopes and dreams of fun with military-style semi-automatics have been crushed by Jacinda Ardern! Won't somebody please, please think of the children!?
Some one should tell the stupid cunt to buy her a bolt action or a fucking shot gun if it's that fucking important to him . Fuck people are stupid .
+++ bwag
Plenty of .22 rifles can be still used for their "sport"- a pretence as its a glorified hobby.
And the larger calibre, modified to take only a small magazine can still be privately owned.
Some even can convert AR15 to .22
http://nzgunsandhunting.co.nz/Rimfire
Some hopes and dreams need to be crushed.
Some children dream of curing cancer, flying to the moon, fighting fires, winning races, being dancers, or rock/sport stars, or artists, even (God help them) teachers – dare to dream.
And some (apparently) dream of firing an AR-15 rifle! Where does that dream come from?
Yeah, that sounded utterly contrived and fake to me – I'd like to know more about this lass and her dad. Any actual journalists out there who might, you know, ask a few more questions?
According to his very public Facebook page, the father (Matt Turner as named by several of the media reports eg The Herald article) appears to be very active in opposing gun restrictions and related policies both of the current govt as a whole and the individual parties (Greens/Labour/NZF) plus NZ Police – and supportive of ACT policies. Obviously very involved in the gun scene in NZ and the gun lobby, and has apparently filed various OIAs on these subjects including to Minister Nash. Haven't yet checked FYI.org.nz. Some FB entries also seem to indicate a possible/probable intolerance towards Muslims – including JA's wearing scarfs etc. Dad seems to be from the UK originally, now resident in Te Aroha with family etc.
I won't provide a link to his FB page, but easily found as are other links via Google using his name plus other definers such as 'nz' and 'guns' etc.
Now realise that the FB link is not as straightforward as his name and I found it via another Google link. So the FB key is mattanddelicia. damn it here is the link https://www.facebook.com/mattanddelicia
If your hopes and dreams involve owning an AR-15, then yeah, sorry love, your hopes and dreams deserve to be tossed into history's dustbin for the greater good. Ask Dad for a pony instead?
Our own Joe Bennett is revelling in it:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/opinion/116224978/the-wave-is-rolling-and-it-wont-be-stopped
"So the men in white coats will have to take him away. And as they come for him Trump will try to destroy everything around him, because a world that rejects his self, that throws him from office, literally cannot exist. All this, according to the psychiatry textbooks, is inevitable. What a joy it will be to watch. And it's starting now."
That Trump is a delusional narcissist has been evident since day one, what is really confounds is the near total support by those within the Republican Party ….or are they themselves similarly afflicted but more capable of masking it?
The problem then is to turn attention to the people who vote for Trump and his ilk and try and save ourselves from their skewed minds. Are people fit enough mentally and analytically to take part in a democracy? Certainly sitting around on bums and whining about what pollies do is not sufficient for a modern democracy of educated people. Either educate people to the teenage years when they can read, write and do sums and then subsidise businesses to take them on and give them work skills so they can get started in life; or teach them how politics and civil society work and how to manage themselves, and give them a 'list' place in their community forums so they are involved right from the start in making the good society.
Getting rid of Trump is only cutting out a malignancy. It will have metastasised throughout the body of the polity. Healthier thinking and happier, simpler, thoughtful living may tame the dastardly disease. We can't cure it but if we can work together, collaborate and be sincere with each other, as much as is politic, then we will be able to keep the 7 deadly sins to a manageable level.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins
The GOP are self-serving opportunists to their core. They'll support a rabid dog just so long as it's toilet-trained and promises not to bite them. They woefully misjudged just how out-of-control Mad King Donald would prove to be, and they're at a bit of a loss in figuring out how to handle him. I mean, there comes a point when even your most feeble excuses are howled down in a torrent of open contempt. People are waking up to what a venal, morally-bankrupt pack of brigands they are, and they know it. It's why they're so desperate to cheat. It's the only way they'll win.
Agree theres the typical self serving forces at play but even so I would expect that to cover a spectrum and that even the most self serving must question the risk he poses to their gravy train even if they can ignore the risk to their country….in other words isnt there a point at which it becomes too dangerously bizarre and Trump had crossed that point even before he was sworn in.
We should have more of Joe Bennetts columns, does he still write regularly?
Have wondered about that even in the Labour Party bullying claims.
Alex Ashton:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@podcast-card/2019/10/02/838028/outside-the-boys-club-bullying-in-the-force
Talking of bullying… this quote from the BBC news:
It is Prince Harry talking about the bullying and harassment of his wife, They are suing the Mail on Sunday.
Sounds familiar? It is. This is exactly what National are doing to government MPs. Selecting words, paragraphs of speeches in the House and stringing them together to form a misleading impression. The outcome – if it is allowed to continue in the form adopted by National – is these MPs will be bullied into virtual silence and will be afraid to speak up when it is desirable.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49901047
Worthy of a read because it shows just how damaging bullying and harassment can be and the lasting effect on the victims whoever they may be.
cd someone plse stitch together a vid-clip of bridges saying:
'i will terminate trump'…and other similar delights..?
(maybe he will get it – then..)
that these clowns are dying in a ditch over their ‘right’ to edit/make up false news-clips – as an attack tool..
only shows that they have totally lost the plot..
they got nuthin..!
I was watching the video interview with CIA whistle blower John Kiriakou where he gave a personal anecdote of when he was working in Saudi Arabia and every morning he would give a friendly greeting to a Saudi military person of some kind and the Saudi would completely ignore him. Eventually John asked him why he was so unfriendly and the Saudi replied words to the effect that he and all Americans were nothing more than hired military help. John explained that the Saudis use foreign troops for nearly all their fighting and that the Saudis themselves are militarily inept which losing three brigades (10,000-12,000 soldiers) inside Saudi Arabia might suggest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL6VQgIW9DY
Excellent military analysis of the recent events here, suggesting that Saudi and the US have more or less already lost the war against Yemen:
"The third-biggest arms spender in the world is incapable of defeating the poorest Arab country in the world. It is, moreover, incapable of protecting its national interest and borders from this impoverished Arab country. The Houthis are showing to the world what a poor but organized and motivated armed force can do using asymmetrical methods to bring one of the best-equipped militaries in the world to its knees. This conflict will be studied all over the world as an example of how a new means of warfare is possible when technological and cyber capabilities are democratized and available to those who know how to use them appropriately, as the Houthis have shown with their use of drones and electronic warfare."
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/09/30/three-saudi-brigades-annihilated-in-devastating-houthi-offensive-in-saudi-arabia/
Raytheon's doing just fine thankyouverymuch.
It is interesting – and Al Jazeera essentially confirms it. The effect of serial defeats on Saudi could create a major shift in the local balance of power; part of their status descends from possession of the two holy mosques and the presumption of the mandate of heaven that goes with them. Conspicuous defeat is really not good for such presumptions, and may see a realignment of traditional supporters.
There is a question to be answered over the sponsorship of recent drone strikes – if it were not Iran, who was it? One need not look particularly far to find a state that would cheerfully destabilize any US ally, and may have some historical grievance with the house of Saud.
"Saudi Arabia and its oil policy are thought to have contributed to the downfall of Soviet Communism in the late 1980s and early 1990. Saudi helped to finance not just the Afghan Mujahideen but non-Muslims anti-communists. It also seriously harmed the Soviet Communist cause by stabilizing oil prices "throughout the 1980s, just when the Russians were desperate to sell energy in order to keep up with huge hikes in American military spending."
I would have thought either the utter failure of air defence/radar expensively bought from the US or the notorious laziness of the Sauds (taking a break in the weekend by turning off the radar) might have something to do with it
The old Russians did it trope is losing its pulling power
You really don't get it, as usual.
If the drones weren't Iraqi supplied, who do you suppose supplied them to the Houthi? I really don't think you can blame this one on Hillary.
Iraq??
That's a new twist
The drones aren't expensive ,the Houthis have been using them for a long while
They fly beneath the radar
The Sauds may have the fire power but they don't have the fighting smarts a smaller force has to learn
I've never been reliant on an army of mercenaries but I've seen the malaise of being rich enough to have someone else do everything in other ways. 30 year old individuals from wealthy families that don't know how to cook an egg, vacuum a floor or catch a bus.
My friend, you've been suckered by a fake news pro-Kremlin propaganda site. The website you quote – Strategic Culture Foundation – is a Russian black propaganda site of a kind that litters the internet.
The clue is it's rather odd enthusiams for Russian weapons and the acceptance of the DPR and LNR as legitimate – only Russia recognises them, the rest of the world having designated them terrorists.
Nowhere can one learn that the site is registered and managed in Russia. This is only disclosed by checking the site data.
If there actually exists a Strategic Culture Foundation it is impossible to discover. The site gives no information on owners, editors, visiting address. There isn’t even an e-mail address for contacting the site or the foundation. At least we now know the Russians make excellent weapons that are far better than the useless stuff the Americans and Europeans make!
None of which mitigates that the Saudis appear to have suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Houthis. But that is about as much credence I'd give anything that site says.
The purpose behind the Saudi's purchase of vast quantities military hardware from the US has nothing to do with defense (or attack). It will most likely never be used. The purpose is to recycle the Saudi's oil revenue surpluses through the US economy. That is the quid pro quo for having the US's support in the region. And from the Saudis' perspective it's a vastly preferable arrangement to having the US engineer regime change and control the oil revenues directly. The US doesn't need the physical oil – it is now the world's largest producer – but it wants to tap into revenue streams everywhere.
An interesting version of 'follow the money' – thanks AB a different perspective.
And goed with another interesting thought from Bill McKebben? from Joe90s comment in How to Get There
https://thestandard.org.nz/how-to-get-there-29-9-19/#comment-1658159, which posits a thoughtful question about money flows.
I not convinced by the video of the 'captured soldiers'. The SA military is very well equipped and am surprised that very few were wearing fatigues and the weaponry does not appear to be US in origin. I would be very surprised if the US was supplying AK47's to SA, they usually save that for their proxies like ISIS, Al Queda and the Taliban.
I think there is an element of propaganda about this but in saying that, I wish the Houthi all the best.
As much as i despised Helen Clark lest she would of delt to this idiot ruthlessly. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116215895/shane-jones-issues-warning-to-forestry-companies–political-utu-is-a-dish-best-served-cold
As much as I despise those who despised Helen Clark – I would never stoop to correcting their spelling or grammar.
"Jian Yang in China for CCP military parade
Just weeks after Simon Bridges faced backlash over a trip to China and a meeting with the country’s spy boss, National MP Jian Yang has returned to Beijing for a major military parade. Laura Walters reports.
Controversial National Party MP Jian Yang is in Beijing for the People's Republic of China's 70th anniversary celebrations.
More specifically, he’s part of a group of distinguished guests attending the parade of the People’s Liberation Army from a special vantage point, at the invitation of the Chinese Government."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/10/02/838837/jian-yang-in-china-for-chinese-communist-party-celebrations?fbclid=IwAR0oDkiiiqRrdUIuXTj-T5F_JInm5r-NgwFjjtNymUIa-BGrCui4LI5jf3s
Thanks Robert @ (7) for this information.
Re Jian Yang's citizenship, of which I find confusing, along with his place as a National list MP.
I know to hold a place in the NZ Parliament, an MP must be a NZ citizen, including holding dual citizenship.
However, as far as China is concerned, dual citizenship is forbidden. In other words, Chinese citizenship must be forfeited, should a Chinese national gain citizenship of another state. Google dual NZ/Chinese citizenship.
Yet Yang as "a distinguished (NZ or Chinese?) guest" is invited to attend a military parade celebrating 70 years of CCP rule! Considered a distinguished guest for what …? A loyal member of the CCP reporting back to Beijing perhaps, while his party National turns a blind eye to his activities, so as to drum up support and massive (split) donations from Chinese nationals living in NZ?
Having admitted his NZ citizenship application was misrepresented at the request of Beijing at the time Yang applied, where does that leave him as an MP? Isn't falsifying a NZ Citizenship application considered illegal?
Is Jian Yang a NZ citizen or not? Or is he a citizen of China? He cannot be both!
Edit:
Brexit news :
Wales? What is the thinking there?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-49893521
Brexit will make the UK stronger as a union of nations, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns will tell the Conservative Party conference later.
They are being offered 55 million pounds 'over 15 years for the Mid Wales Growth Deal,' for development in Powys and Ceredigon. (Powys in some Welsh historical stories is portrayed as the area that England was able to win over, leading to the downfall of the Principality.) There are claims that this will attract 200 mill. pds and generate jobs of course, the figure being 4,000. Pie-in-the-sky political promises, it sounds, (in short PSPP).
'But the Welsh Government said the money was "derisory".'…
A spokesperson for Economy Minister Ken Skates said: "Whilst we welcome any new investment, this funding in no way offsets the disastrous Tory cuts mid Wales has had to endure during this last decade of austerity.
"The figure of £55m will likely be viewed as derisory by the people of mid Wales when set against recent Welsh Government investment in mid Wales, such as the £95m Newtown bypass, which attracted no UK government funding whatsoever."
.
Ireland:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/01/johnsons-final-warning-to-the-eu-accept-my-brexit-deal-or-its-no-deal
PM strikes secret deal with DUP as he draws up ‘final Brexit offer’
Boris Johnson agrees pact with Northern Irish party as details emerge of ‘two borders’ plan
Leaking like sieve.
https://twitter.com/VeraMBergen/status/1179160506243977216
Basically, no-one's going to be able to write a political comedy for a generation – reality's already swiped all the material.
This is informative – 27/9/19 but some may not have read it.
Can a no-deal Brexit still happen?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49612757
Aljazeera view on Ireland border:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/boris-johnson-bring-customs-checkpoints-ireland-191001185608415.html
Will Boris Johnson bring customs checkpoints in Ireland?
UK PM’s comments have been met with concern in the EU and anger in Ireland, which is against a return to a hard border.
https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/wto-slashes-forecast-growth-trade-conflicts-mount-191001103628510.html
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has cut its forecast for growth in global trade this year by more than half, saying further rounds of tariffs and retaliation, a slowing economy and a disorderly Brexit could squeeze it even more.
The WTO said on Tuesday that it now expects global merchandise trade to increase by 1.2 percent this year, compared with its April estimate of 2.6 percent. The growth rate stood at 3 percent in 2018. For 2020, it has been forecast to grow at 2.7 percent, down from a previous estimate of 3 percent.
As to Munros predictable Russia blaming in the Saud debacle
I would have thought either the utter failure of air defence/radar expensively bought from the US or the notorious laziness of the Sauds (taking a break in the weekend by turning off the radar) might have something to do with it
The old Russians did it trope is losing its pulling power
If you spent a little less time on RT you might realize that the Russians are quite active in the middle east, and not for humanitarian reasons.
Dying to know who is in the ME for humanitarian reasons .
Russia’s presence in the ME goes way back.Their input to the JCPOA deal was invaluable
Their support of Iran against US sanctions is perfectly valid, and their influence will only increase as the US continues to show its ineffectiveness and unreliability
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/25/moscow-and-beijing-have-tehrans-back/
MSF?
"their influence will only increase"
Yup – and a profoundly malign influence it is.
Who is good out of all the players then? Or should I say who is the least worst?
It used to be the Poms – enduring influence on public health stats like infant mortality. Since neoliberalism what little value existed in US interventions has essentially evaporated, so they're pretty rubbish. But zatchistka is not contemporary US occupation policy in the way it is for Russia, they're still really old school.
Bierce’s description is apposite as usual. http://dd.pangyre.org/r/russian.html
Well the yanks have set a pretty high bar for barbarism in the region
Where did Assad get all his gas, Francesca? That's right, from the Russians.
Who told you that, Stuart?
The chlorine? https://www.opcw.org/media-centre/news/2019/03/opcw-issues-fact-finding-mission-report-chemical-weapons-use-allegation
Surely if was Ruskie supplied it would have been Novi-chook lol
You can get chlorine anywhere – sarin not so much.
Oh Stuart
You've really hit the depths now. Insane.You haven't even got the right certificted neocon talking points
If you're going to talk insanity, hero-worshipping a genocidal asshole like Putin eclipses anything I have to offer.
I have just hit on a word that we could put at the centre of our lives and our feelings towards other NZ citizens which would revolutionise the way that we regard our country, and relate to those fellow citizens, and all have a better life. Gratitude.
That would stop us being so greedy that we go OTT. And stop us wanting to hold all our advantages to ourselves because we don't want to share, we feel too deserving to share, we haven't got all we want yet so none to share. We would pay our reasonable taxes and moan about the excessive ones that unfairly cut into our lives. It would stop us in our tracks as we became obsessive about having and holding. It would enable us to study what we have, and decide what we could give away, contribute to others.
As Fred sang 'You don't know how lucky you are mate'. That had a satirical ring and probably it was aimed at some political propaganda. But taking a step back and surveying the situation, it is true. When so much has been taken away from so many, and somehow we still have our lives, homes, something worthwhile to do that isn't bad four health, health care etc., we should remember to feel gratitude. How do you know something is good if you don't recognise it; it is necessary to learn to discriminate, to decide what is good, not so good, bad. We will find a lot of good that we had overlooked.
And I found a good Tedx talk from Christchurch – Dr Lucy Hone, The three secrets of resilient people. I have put it on How to Get There as I like to group future thinking things that would improve our situation. https://thestandard.org.nz/how-to-get-there-29-9-19/#comment-1658637
I feel gratitude at Robert G for setting up the post and to the mods and backup? folks for backing this project. I feel gratitude to Lynn for setting up the blog and to Blip for setting an example of putting a set of points together (about John Key) which I thought was brilliant (and a lot of work). So I support How to Get There which will be handy for people to use this tool that others have set up.
Our motto for the present in NZ is to Use It, or Lose It. Don't ignore what is good around you, feel gratitude that people have set their minds to provide helpful things which enable us to have resilience and kindness in our lives. Accept the gift that they have given, feel gratitude that it is there, and make their toil worthwhile by taking advantage of their enterprise.
Father of 13 year old who wants to shoot things with a semi-automatic rifle. There is an event that involves being proficient with three diffferent types of guns used in quick succession. It sounds like a defence forces exercise, and they may be more proficient than some of our soldiers!
""For a week now she's been like 'I can't do anything, I can't do anything, no one really listens anyway', and I said 'well, write a letter and I'll make sure it gets to the right place."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/400015/pm-jacinda-ardern-responds-to-13-year-old-girl-s-plea-over-ar-15-rifle-ban
How true about the not listening. People like this don't pay any attention to the rest of the world, they don't listen, they are too focussed on their own interests. They sound like UK residents who can afford to come here to live and have access to expensive weapons and are used to having everything they want. Boo hoo
Israel might see a big change if they could get their army out of politics.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/29/crunch-time-for-netanyahu-as-talks-with-rival-politicians-break-down
Crunch time for Netanyahu as talks with rival politicians break down
29 Sept 2019 [The] Prime minister had potentially up to six weeks to form coalition but negotiations with the opposition stalled just days in
Benjamin Netanyahu could inform Israel’s president that he is unable to form a government as early as this week after unity talks with rival politicians broke down at the weekend, his Likud party said.
Israel has entered a period of political paralysis after an inconclusive election on 17 September. Neither Likud nor the opposition Blue and White party, led by ex-military general Benny Gantz, won a clear lead.