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.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
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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
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.