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.
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Priestley Habru, PhD candidate, public diplomacy, University of Adelaide Former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele has been elected the next prime minister of Solomon Islands, defeating the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in a vote in parliament. The result is a mixed bag for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shaun Eaves, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Jamey Stutz, CC BY-SA How often do mountains collapse, volcanoes erupt or ice sheets melt? For Earth scientists, these are important questions as we try ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Flood, Professor of Sociology, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Most young adult men in Australia reject traditional ideas of masculinity that endorse aggression, stoicism and homophobia. Nonetheless, the ongoing influence of those ideas continues to harm men and the people ...
The NZQA proposal released to staff today would involve a net loss of 35 roles. There are 66 roles being disestablished with 13 of those currently vacant, and 31 new roles proposed, said Fleur Fitzsimons Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga ...
Alex Casey talks to Loren Taylor, the writer, director and star of new film The Moon is Upside Down, about assembling her dream ensemble cast, toilet paper pads and turning literal dreams into reality. There’s a moment in The Moon is Upside Down where frazzled anaesthetist Briar (Loren Taylor) gets ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassy Dittman, Senior Lecturer/Head of Course (Undergraduate Psychology), Research Fellow, Manna Institute, CQUniversity Australia With winter sports swinging into action, adults around the country have volunteered or been volunteered by others (humorously known as being “volun-told”) to coach junior sports teams. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University richardernestyap/Shutterstock Parents are often advised to burp their babies after feeding them. Some people think burping after feeding is important to reduce or prevent discomfort crying, or to ...
Workers at a major ASB contact centre in Auckland have voted to take strike action and withdraw their labour following disappointing pay negotiations with the employer and an "offer" to workers that would leave them worse off than the previous year. ...
As the government tries to get the country back on track with a school phone ban, Tara Ward has an idea for where they should turn their attention to next.New Zealand students returned to school on Monday morning, but their cellphones did not. The government’s new phone ban began ...
The Labour Party is demanding Peters be stood down, saying "he's embarrassed the country" with a "totally unacceptable" attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. ...
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance, whose members were victims of a China-backed cyber attack, is discussing forming a standing committee to deal with foreign influence. ...
The PSA is concerned that the voluntary redundancies being offered to staff by Stats NZ will impact on the agency’s ability to deliver on its core functions. ...
Results ranged from surprisingly yum to soul-destroying. I love cooking. The kitchen is a hearth of culinary creation, of sensory delights, of gastronomic poetry. I also can’t afford anything nice. Why does a pack of instant noodles and some milk cost ten bucks? I love you, Aotearoa, but I miss ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Police in Solomon Islands are on high alert ahead of the election of the prime minister today. The two candidates for the top job are former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele at the head of the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation, which is ...
He’s fine but it feels like I’m losing a friend and it’s making me bitter. How do I say ‘enough is enough’? Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzHey Hera,I’ve recently moved in with a girlfriend, her partner Steve, and his friend. We all live in a lovely little house. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Chartres, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of Sydney shutterstockAhmet Misirligul/Shutterstock You go to the gym, eat healthy and walk as much as possible. You wash your hands and get vaccinated. You control your health. This is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacqueline Hendriks, Research Fellow and Lecturer, Curtin University Children and young people may be seeing news headlines about men murdering women or footage of people rallying to call for action. Perhaps they or their friends have even gone to the protests. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Balanzategui, Senior Lecturer in Media, RMIT University ABC “Bluey mania” shows no sign of abating. Bluey’s season finale, The Sign, was the most viewed ABC program of all time on iView. A “hidden” follow-up episode, aptly named The Surprise, created ...
Labour market figures came in softer than the Reserve Bank had forecast, but they won’t be enough to move the needle on interest rates, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Unemployment ...
The campaign will engage the community and encourage submissions on the bill to the New Zealand government by the closing submission deadline of Friday 31st of May 2024 4pm. ...
The paper raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand's political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency plays in that. ...
The Urban Habitat Collective was an attempt to built an innovative new form of apartment building in Wellington. Here’s why it failed, and why the idea could still work, writes co-founder Bronwen Newton. When we started the Urban Habitat Collective in November 2018, we thought we were starting a revolution, ...
Two decades ago this week, a controversial law that attempted to define ownership of the foreshore and seabed prompted a formidable display of outrage and kōtahitanga as 15,000 marched to parliament. Jamie Tahana looks back.‘Hīkoi, hīkoi,” they chanted by the thousands as the biggest Māori march in a generation ...
While women’s sport is exploding in Aotearoa and around the world, you still don’t hear a lot of talk about athletes and their periods, RED-S, breastfeeding and visible panty-lines. SASS (Suze and Sez Sports)Talk isn’t afraid to have that kōrero.LockerRoom founder Suzanne McFadden and Olympian broadcaster Sarah ...
On an unusually hot night in January 2019, a little boy’s lifeless body was found face up in a small town’s sewage oxidation pond. To the police, it was an open and shut case: three-year-old Lachlan Jones had run away from his home in the Southland town of Gore, climbed ...
A Labour Party Member’s Bill aims to plug a culpability gap between manslaughter and health and safety breaches The post New push for corporate killing laws appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Terence O’Brien had the rare and no doubt undesired distinction of rising to one of the most exalted positions in New Zealand diplomacy, then being unceremoniously recalled to Wellington without explanation just when his career was at its zenith. What is perhaps more surprising is that he appears to have ...
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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.