Jacinda needs to wake up as this climate change report in September says it all.
How come freight road transport is still rising at an alarming rate of 6% annually while rail freight is still retreating?
Trucks are now coming from al over the central North Island with logs and are still “double handling” before dropping logs to Napier port?
Road transport claimed rail was “not viable because of double handling but trucks are now double handling too?
So our road transport (GHG) ‘Greenhouse gas emissions’ are now rising, while if government switched to using rail freight they would would reduce road freight (GHG) emissions. Jacinda; “Lets do this”
“Climate and Environment
New U.N. climate report: Monumental change already here for world’s oceans and frozen regions
Growing coastal flooding is inevitable, and damage to corals and other marine life has already been unleashed”
Water has been used to transport logs since we've chopped them down. I wonder if a tug with a purpose built net could deliver 100 truckloads to Marsden Point from the Far North in a few days.
Hook the net onto a Chinese ship and they wouldn't need loading. The Chinese ship could be filled with something else, tow the logs home. Float them down a slipway in China, straight into drying racks then saws.
Starting to hurt – I'm sure his pants would spontaneously combust in his wee fireside chat – what a turkey
Donald Trump has insisted he has “done nothing wrong” and does not deserve to be impeached, and made the extraordinary suggestion that he appear on live TV to read the full transcript of his controversial phone call with the Ukrainian president in a “fireside chat”.
How Don the Con locks in his support – he manipulates the situation so those that do get suckered into supporting him don't dare withdraw that support for fear of looking really stupid for ever having supported him in the first place.
As we should have heard from Hillary Clinton also in this way; – as she destroyed quote;"the sensitive government cellphone records" – FBI had ordered Hillary to supply them with before Hilary stopped wiping those records from her phone and covered it up by destroying the 30 000 files.
So why did she do this after being requested by FBI to surrender the files to them?
We know that the FBI/CIA are both historically corrupt.
But is is puzzling why Hillary was so keen on destroying the files instead of being "transparent.
So Donald trump is now challenging all by opening up the debate in public.
This is refreshing as the Democratic party won't do this,
As the impeachment inquiry was done under a "closed door policy" and Trump is opening it up for all to see and this is a positive move by trump..
I apologise if I have missed an earlier thread on this topic but surely this is an issue that is timely and shows again, quite clearly, how we shouldn't trust our economy to a party that still believes in the efficacy of the free market and self regulation. The Nat's will be using every tool at their disposal to discredit the Government over the next ten months and Dirty Politics will raise its head again. The leaky homes scandal goes on and on and it needs to be held up as a placard for all to see.
Dyer arrives at a fix price of 47 billion. It could only ever be a rough estimate. Leaky homes are NZ's housing herpes. I think we're stuck with it for 100 years. Even those builds deemed to be sound, in 50 years when another bedroom is being added on, there will be walls opened up lined in black fur.
As time passes, it looks more and more like the home owner will be responsible for setting it right.
The fiasco deserves to be a segment on 'Great technological disasters of the 20th Century.' at least Twyford just hasn't built many, we whacked up 1000's of these kid's garden forts.
Add to the leaky homes fungus-filled, there will be infrastructure failures because of low quality or too lean reinforcement or poorly fixed structures. That will result in spectacular failures similar to the 2011 CTV (Canterbury Television) building.
We have a history of mismanagement and disasters in NZ, which were entirely preventable by following good and precautionary practices. This morning the Erebus disaster was discussed by Kim in an interesting and poignant recall of that history and the thoughts of a grand-daughter to remember the tragedy of the plane crash and deaths, and the caring of the people doing the recovery and identification work.
"I've got an easy and cheap way to build one of those houses from an exotic location. (where it never rains or quakes)."
I think Erebus is like most of the incidents explored on that 'Mayday' TV show. Aircraft catastrophes so often seem to be 2 or more circumstances lining up in a row that leads to calamity.
Faulty navigational data loaded before take-off, a Captain thinking he was 10 miles to starboard and a white-out blizzard blows in.
With leaky homes, we organised the blizzard.
Now we have a standards regime frightened of getting anything that resembles egg on it's face. Friend of mine had a final inspection done recently. He failed on many points, most of them 'Tough but fair enough, it's in the code'. But an imperfection in the paintwork??
The LBP scheme fails in that it allows the regulatory authority to absolve itself of responsibility. As the only authority for building it should take full responsibility for the standard and compliance of the build. That is why we pay the fees and costs associated with consents. However, the LBP reduces local authority exposure to financial liability for future failures.
Many LBP roles are supervisory or managerial, and I suspect there are multiple signoffs by the registered LBP when they have had very little or nothing to do onsite. There is a whole industry around the consenting process that has work outsourced by local authorities, that contributes very little to design and build quality and nothing in the way of considered planning.
(A friend of mine also failed to get her compliance certificate until the second coat of paint was completed. Her basement toilet – however – was LBP certified, and never worked without backing up and spraying the small room with the result.)
The Wellingtonian met dozens of leaky home owners while researching Rottenomics. Their tales were harrowing.
"If you don't have anywhere else to go, you are trapped inside a house that is making you sick. These homes have made a lot of people sick. You are not just sick, you are demoralised. It's a downward cycle," he said.
Many lacked the money to fix their homes, and were trapped in decaying buildings.
Mental health problems and suicide would result one would think, and their numbers are rising. And it is so dispiriting to live in such a lying society, one that used to say it was classless, and praise itself to the skies, and the 1984 events show that was just propaganda, with no commitment to keep it good for all.
I know of a couple who purchased one of the Orewa leaking apartments while they were living and working overseas. Because the purchase was a rental investment, the IRD effectively reimbursed them a significant part of the remediation build as it acted as a major loss for that particular property, which reduced their overall income on their property portfolio.
It always struck me as a major failure that those who invested in these properties – and had alternative living arrangements – were able to access those financial levers that owner occupiers could not.
It seems to show an inherent bias in the system that looks after people in business making money from something, and those who are just providing for their essential living needs get the run-around. The citizen is not in the picture, and the very small businessman too has to manage without much concern about their welfare.
An interesting interview on Radionz with a deep-sea-cave diver. Clever stuff, and using tech innovations that could be crucial in understanding our seas.
Hopefully you stuck with RNZ @greywarshark for that wot followed (William Dalrymple). We might just be in time to prevent a repeat of it all. It doesn't have to be inevitable
10:05 William Dalrymple – the anarchic rise of the East India Company
Across a 30 year writing career, Scottish historian, broadcaster and critic William Dalrymple has been preoccupied with the history and culture of India.
It's the country he now calls home for half the year, spending summers in his native Scotland. With family connections to India dating back for generations, his latest book The Anarchy traces the 'relentless rise', dazzling heyday, and the sometimes shameful past of the East India Company.
At the peak of its powers, this prototype for the vast multinationals of today exerted as much power and influence as any nation state.
I remember Dalrymple saying that the East India Company had control over much of India and its wealth and industry, from a building in UK of 35? people. It was a fiefdom run for the benefit of scheming, wealthy people, and willing to squeeze the great continent of India dry. It had been going since Shakespeare's time until finally in thmid 1800's the Brits took control after it enabled the Great Bengal Famine, which is a similar stain to the Irish Potato Famine than the Lords and Ladies of Britain found acceptable to bring about.
Dalrymple mentioned Brexit and I think Boorish and to me it is a case of deja vu. The Cons are going all out for wallet weighting. They have managed to screw the people, tighten welfare and bring people to a state of degeneration in England, and I don't know if in the Wales and Scotland kingdoms they have been able to limit the downfall.
He points out that Brit made their loot (a Moghul word?) from stealing from India and from trading in the Carribean with slaves and sugar. So the might of Britain is tainted, and the people running the country are also, and no doubt have gifted their art of cunning thievery with low ethics through their family lines to the present Cons as exemplified in the swingeing swindlers in the UK Government.
I think it might be a good idea to then listen to the interview with Lady Anne Glenconner and her remniscences? of her life and relationship with Princess Margaret. She was married to Lord Colin Tennent who was very rich.
He would be similar to the top people in the East India Company and no doubt the present-day Cons. Lady Anne looks back wryly but fondly and draws a wise summary:
"[At one stage] he took off to Africa .. the whole point was you got in a canoe, went off to look animals. This lady had broken her leg and she couldn't get into the canoe. Colin was absolutely furious, came back and said 'Anne, I've had the most ghastly holiday. I think I've behaved very badly.' I said 'Colin, I really don't want to hear'. It was sort of fairly endearing."
Colin's temper was so bad he was banned for life from British Airways after an incident in California which involved him lying down on the plane kicking and screaming because there wasn't a first-class seat for him – then getting escorted off the flight by police.
Wealth is sometimes the only difference between eccentricity and madness, Anne says.
"If you're eccentric you have to have money, you can't be a poor eccentric. If you're poor then it's mad, if you're very rich then you're eccentric."
Yep, well you can see where the neo-liberal blind faith is taking us. It's now so ingrained into 'the powers that be' that they often don't even realise that it drives them in everything they do. There's a generation that's grown up knowing nothing else.
Dalrymple was a good way to end the week. Lest I offend some on TS, I opted for TDB with this:
You can't if you want certain products or services. But not everything has to be commodified and marketed. Education, knowledge, art, music for example doesn't have to be solely for the purpose of gaining a profit (above what it takes to support people actually providing it with a livable income) .
There's stuff and things that are part of the commons. Water, the air we breath, nature. Neo-libs would privatise and sell it all for a profit and as many ticket clippers as they can get away with if they thought they could keep the natives from getting restless. Especially failed pig farmers and perpetual growth merchants.
As a matter of interest OwT – have you ever written a comment under a post by MB that criticises the tone and content of it? And was yours conspicuous by its absence?
Not that I recall @greywarshark but it's possible. Do you mean – as in things going into a black hole? I've seen one or two people complain about their comments getting lost/censored but I don't think there's anything sinister in it.
IMHO, it's probably been a bit of a septem horribilis for some in Labour.
As Shane 'mis-spoke', Labour seems to have 'mis-calculated', and all of it not that necessary given a little more forethought.
While Ministers and senior public servants were 'inside the tent' pissing out and over each other, they mis-calculated the number 'outside the tent' now wanting to piss in.
In a bicultural/multicultural society where its Anglo-Saxon Toffs (and even some of those lesser Noble Savage types) let it be known to their offspring who is an acceptable partner, and who isn't – under threat of their inheretance; where transactional relationships such as 'fuckbuddies', 'friends with benefits', 'Facebooked hookups', 'open relationships', 'swinging' and Married At First Sight matchmakers are all a bit of humour and acceptable; or even where its just more convenient to just wank oneself silly over a bit of porn (at the taxpayers' expense if possible)…..
somehow the idea of parents and a few aunties and 'cousin sisters' getting together to suggest who might be suitable candidates for marriage is something we can't get our heads around.
Apparenty, the latter should jump on the next plane out of here because the next thing you know, they'll be wanting to bring the whole village with them.
The mis-calculation seems to have been the degree to which offense might be taken – not only from the loyal Labour supporters, but also from the sizable number who don't usually vote despite their eligability. They might even start to rival the Blue Dragons especially if eventually, they managed to get the whole bloody village here.
My suspicions are that there are concessions that could have been negotiated (acceptable to the 3 partners in this marriage), and with egos remaining intact. Things that relate to the growing realisation that the neo-liberal religion is a failure.
And if there weren't any concessions that could have been made, we ( either Labour, Labout/Green, Labour/Green/NZ1 supporters)are potentially in deeper shit than I imagined.
Why Cannabis & Euthanasia should be a referendum and why Abortion should not
I found fault with showing an image of Slavoj Zizek the 'peoples' philosopher but putting a saying attributed to MB beside it.
I found fault with lumping important ethical matters together for a convenient package. Each needs separate consideration as they are about our life, which is special to us, and how we live it and others allow us to live it.
And something else, can't remember. There is one comment shown, not mine which I would like to have seen even if there was no answering comment or a short disagreement.
And interestingly the comment was from a prosaic materialist who seemed more concerned about drugs, police controls, and whether insurance costs could be brought down by having less drug-fuelled accidents.
OK. Actually I vaguely remember reading that now at the time because of TrevS's comment that is still there.
I'm not sure whether the site is as resilient as TS though (having a guru maintaining it). TDB probably has one or two woopsies from time to time.
In both cases (TDB and TS), I just see myself as a guest when commenting with the sites' owners having the prerogative to run them as they see fit. I'm just glad they both exist
True about the sites, but when it comes to censoring, refusing opinions it is interesting how much self-criticism they will apply. It may of course be that they will take notice but not put or leave the comment up. I don't see it as a freedom of expression matter, more a willingness to see a wider spectrum as long as the commenter doesn't go on and too frequent.
Or we could spend our money in constant testing and workshops and committees working out what was needed last year, and five years later implementing part of that. That would be smart if you are one of those who want to provide less and less good service and help to citizens and turn the country eventually to private service, with basics for those who can't afford it. Then wait for those with a humane and ethical sense and some money, to start a charity hospital etc. as the hospital in Christchurch.
The Government’s plan to help older New Zealanders live well, Better Later Life – He Oranga Kaumātua 2019 to 2034, was launched by Seniors Minister Tracey Martin today.
“Better Later Life takes a fresh look at what is required to ensure everyone gets the chance to live well as they get older and help ensure we create opportunities for everyone to participate, contribute and be valued as they age,” Minister Martin says.
How good it would be if there was a Minister for Parents and Young Adults who was devoted to getting the resources they need to help them in their important tasks, so – 'we create opportunities for everyone to participate, contribute and be valued '. We have our ideas arse-about! We lay out deck chairs for the old age pensioners who are to be kept healthy so they can please themselves what they do for the community, of course remembering that taking interest in one’s own family is doing stuff for oneself. Some though may have to pick up their family from the total failure of the government's failure to have a well-run enterprising, sharing, distributive economy of a country that aims for vitality, creativity, well-being and opportunities for all its citizens.
The logic for the encouragement to vaping is to give nicotine addicts an alternative to tobacco (given the tar in tobacco is a carcinogen). Which sort of ignores the existence of nicotine patches and the fact that vaping is also a new means to addict young people to nicotine who have never smoked before.
Then there is the fact that vaping is itself not without risk – so encouraging it is encouraging a product that will harm its users.
For mine, vaping should only be allowed by prescription and only for tobacco addicts.
There is growing evidence that vaping THC is particularly dangerous. And as time goes by the so called extent or degree to which vaping is deemed safer than tobacco is narrowing – as more reports come in of lung damage (and vaping is still fairly recent so this is a salutatory warning).
Edit https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/402337/cockleshell-design-still-part-of-dunedin-council-s-plan
This Dunedin plan fits in with what I see as 20th century thinking. Nice design, grand in line with a Sydney Opera House special look. But those days are over, and more money than we know where to look, is going to be needed to resettle people and establish new transport routes with lots of planning and perhaps innovative engineering when the tide comes in and comes in and stays.. Where do these business people actually go to in their heads at night my lovely? A song coming on!
We have a possible fire starter in the back wings of Nelson city on the Council table, with some ratepayer money and some private, and they have encouraged Ngati Koata to invest also, and a keen lot of councillors all excited about its future for tourism. Where will tourism be in 10-15 years and will they have recovered the $50 mill envisaged when it is to be built over 10 years?
Do people remember the little harnesses that parents put on toddlers to ensure they didn't stray back in the 1960-70s? We need big ones for pollies local and central now.
What do you do when you live next door to people who do everything at the top of the decibel range? I can sympathise with this woman, having had such things happen, separately, and am lucky now that the man next door doesn't fly into many rages outside, telling his phone to fuck off. I can ignore it when it is just a few minutes of loud conversation.
A pet cockatoo at the centre of a bitter neighbourhood dispute because of its screeching has been cleared of wrongdoing, in a case described by an Adelaide judge as "completely unjustified"….
In the claim, she said the family's cockatoo screeches, their dogs bark "day and night", their young children play outside and "often scream as loud as they can" and the man whistles while he mows the lawn…
Investigations by the City of Prospect council disproved the allegations, including a report that found the noise generated by the cockatoo was not excessive and there was no cause for complaint.
The family, however, lodged a counter-claim, alleging the woman harassed them by needlessly calling the police to their property 15 times in five months, including six times because of "loud talking on Christmas Day".
Have guns, will shoot. Civilians or police, guns should be kept to the minimum, and knives etc are practically impossible to control.
A 7 year old girl is out of intensive care in Chicago after being shot in the neck in a gang confrontation.
The girl was one of several people shot in US cities during Halloween night activities. In the San Francisco Bay area community of Orinda, California, police said four people were killed in a shooting at a party. And in the eastern Utah community of Roosevelt, one man was fatally shot and a second man was stabbed to death at a party.
Are inmates still having to share cells. Changing back to single cells would be a significant and practical start. The guy up for violence has probably been threatened as a low-life in the system by the others for attacking a child. Get real government, pull your finger out and fix these blatant, obvious defects.
Building a big credit balance from taking down reasonable welfare measures is loopy and anyone impressed by these savings is a degenerate, even when they look okay on the outside.
Jail could be described as society admitting failure with socialisation. Some should be kept in for life, in some sort of isolation with safe communication with others, and some should be held for a month with the rest of the sentence suspended. There should be no double bunking.
There should be the question – What do you want to do that is positive for you, and will help you to not get back in prison? And for some it will involve going to a different location so they are away from the situation that brought them back to prison.
We could look at things, try things, differently – those things you mention are small-fry to desire compared to the very nasty crimes that have brought these people to be imprisoned, even taking drugs, (I'm not up with the street terms so imagine 'poontang' is some drug). If they can learn self-control, set themselves goals, acquire some idea of empathy for others including for their own inner consciousness, through holding those things in min
This approach would also push for other less materialistic, less immoral or debauched thinking and encouraging more spiritual, naturistic, self-respecting and reflecting thinking. That would possibly be found in the Maori programs, but would encourage both personal growth and then being involved in group experiences, both passive and active as in haka, sports of a non-contact nature where old ways of anger and bullying did not find direct expression in violent acts. Often getting an ex-con to talk to such prisoners and run discussion groups where mindsets shift could be a major step to finding a new way.
New ways have to be found in everything. The old ways have brought us to the brink of ruin.
Here is one from July but the rant is still very fresh and (lacking in) taste, ie tasteless. Spoiler – is not at all PC and contains various abusive language.
And I click da-boom what you refer to. Are you alleging that the sort of people who carry out spying details, are the type that end up in prison with egregious crime lists pinned to their orange jumpsuits?
I hope all countries can attend this vital meeting in Madrid as some with less putea will have bigger problems than wealthier countries hence their voices need to be heard.
Greta Thunberg asks for lift back across Atlantic as climate meeting shifts to Madrid
Swedish teenager needs help getting back to Europe following the COP25 meeting’s move from Chile to Spain.
As delegates to the COP25 climate summit scramble to adjust to a last-minute change of venue from Santiago to Madrid, one of the highest-profile attendees has stuck out a metaphorical thumb on social media to ask for a lift across the Atlantic.
Teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was speaking in California during a stop on her low-emissions journey from Sweden to Chile, tweeted that she was now in need of a ride to Spain.
Thunberg, who refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions involved, had been travelling by boat, train and electric car when the new venue was announced
“It turns out I’ve travelled half around the world, the wrong way:)…If anyone could help me find transport I would be so grateful,” she tweeted from Los Angeles.
Thunberg arrived in New York for the UN climate summit in August after a 14-day journey across the Atlantic in a sailing boat. Since then she has been travelling via train and an electric car borrowed from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Harjeet Singh, of environmental group ActionAid International, said moving the summit from Chile to Spain with only four weeks’ notice “presents real barriers to participation” for delegates from the southern hemisphere.
“Hotels in Madrid are already full. Last-minute flights are expensive. Visas can be difficult to obtain at short notice. This sudden decision is likely to shift the balance of power towards the wealthier countries of the global north,” he added in a statement.
It is the second time that UN authorities have had to scramble to find a new meeting place. Brazil originally welcomed the gathering then backed out after rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro took office.
Teresa Ribera, Spain’s ecological transition minister, said on Twitter on Saturday: “Dear Greta, it would be great to have you here in Madrid. You’ve made a long journey and help all of us to raise concern, open minds and enhance action. We would love to help you to cross the Atlantic back.”
We can see evedince of Ancient cultures collapseing I always thought that they collapsed because of their environment being compromised and not being able to sustain the population. Now here is the evidence of climate change collapseing society's
SCIENTISTS have stumbled across what could answer the mysterious and sudden collapse of the powerful Mesopotamian Empire some 4,000 years ago.
Mesopotamia was a huge empire that spanned much of the Middle East, including modern day Iraq, Kuwait, eastern Syria, south eastern Turkey and bordering regions. A kingdom settled on fertile lands within the Tigirs-Euphrates, Mesopotamia suddenly collapsed over a relatively short period time, eluding scientists and researchers through the age
Now, however, a study’s findings may point towards a potential answer: that Mesopotamia was caught up in a giant dust storm that the empire couldn’t cope with, resulting in inability to grow crops, famine and mass social upheaval.
Dr Tsuyoshi Watanabe of Hokkaido University, involved in the study, said in a statement: “Although the official mark of the collapse of the Akkadian Empire is the invasion of Mesopotamia by other populations, our fossil samples are windows in time showing that variations in climate significantly contributed to the empire’s decline.
You can not run a country like a business they are totally different business people run country for the wealthiest first and the rest get budget cuts.
That's good the insolvency laws change to protect the small businesses that are owed money for their services.
What amazes is why we are not taking about crime dropping in Aotearoa.
That's cool A containerised education unit to educate tamariki about wool great quality's as we change to a carbon neutral society wool will become very important in our society. A lot of Aotearoa natural export will be sort after as well.
I can remember when the 2 tennis Stars were new to the TV scene's.
Our birds are very important part of our wildlife I like all birds species they can do what humans dream.
Aotearoa has a mild stable environment we should be grateful for the great weather we have.
In Climate Lessons, a scientist explains what their research has taught them about climate change.
We live on a collection of islands that straddle the cool waters of the Southern Ocean and the warmth of the subtropical Pacific – stretching all the way from the warm beaches of Northland to the rugged and windswept beauty of Stewart Island, with large mountains ranges running down the spines of both Te Ika a Maui and Te Wai Pounamu. This stark combination of geography and topography has a significant influence on how we experience the present impacts of climate change, and what we can expect into the future.
It has been my life's work to use climate models to make predictions about New Zealand's future, but even more importantly to try and understand what they are telling us about how the world works. I believe that for us to make important decisions based on model predictions, we need to really understand them, and this matters even more as Artificial Intelligence becomes widespread in our lives.
You see all thing need to be respected and protected our Glacier provid water for billions the stability of local weather and trap carbon more than forest do.
Glacial rivers absorb carbon faster than rainforests, scientists find
‘Total surprise’ discovery overturns conventional understanding of rivers
Seascape: the state of our oceans is supported
In the turbid, frigid waters roaring from the glaciers of Canada’s high Arctic, researchers have made a surprising discovery: for decades, the northern rivers secretly pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a rate faster than the Amazon rainforest.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, flip the conventional understanding of rivers, which are largely viewed as sources of carbon emissions.
It was a total surprise,” said Dr Kyra St Pierre, a biologist at the University of British Columbia and lead researcher on the project. “Given what we know about the rivers though … the findings are intuitive when you think about it. But we were initially very surprised to see what we did.”
The discovery came from time spent collecting meltwater samples on Ellesmere Island, in Canada’s Nunavut territory, where several glaciers flow into Lake Hazen. The team of researchers also gathered samples in the Rocky Mountains and Greenland.
“We have a pretty good understanding of the state of glaciers globally,” said St Pierre. “One thing we don’t know much about is the meltwaters and what happens when it … flows into rivers and downstream lakes.”
In temperate rivers, a bounty of organic material – plant life and fish – results in higher levels of decomposition, meaning the bodies of water emit a far greater amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than they absorb.
But glacial rivers, with their milky appearance and silt-laden composition, are not very hospitable to aquatic life, leading to far less organic decay – and little carbon output
That's awesome that Aotearoa and Australia are going to work together on tangata whenua issues I think Australia has a lot to do to give equality for their Tangata Whenua Aotearoa still has a bit to do to as well .
Its great to see Maori standing for Council seats. But you see Wairoa And Te Tairawhiti had very strong economy's in the 1970s there economy have not been nurtured at all by previous Government hence high unemployment that is not good for tangata.
Cool Shotover adventures is introduceding Maori Culture into their operations.
Ka pai to the 2 Maori playwrights writers winning their prize it will be good to see there mahi.
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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 ...
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 Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 3 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Jacinda needs to wake up as this climate change report in September says it all.
How come freight road transport is still rising at an alarming rate of 6% annually while rail freight is still retreating?
Trucks are now coming from al over the central North Island with logs and are still “double handling” before dropping logs to Napier port?
Road transport claimed rail was “not viable because of double handling but trucks are now double handling too?
So our road transport (GHG) ‘Greenhouse gas emissions’ are now rising, while if government switched to using rail freight they would would reduce road freight (GHG) emissions. Jacinda; “Lets do this”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/09/25/new-un-climate-report-massive-change-already-here-worlds-oceans-frozen-regions/
“Climate and Environment
New U.N. climate report: Monumental change already here for world’s oceans and frozen regions
Growing coastal flooding is inevitable, and damage to corals and other marine life has already been unleashed”
There is the inconsistency of growing trees for GW mitigation when we transport the logs the way we do.
Water has been used to transport logs since we've chopped them down. I wonder if a tug with a purpose built net could deliver 100 truckloads to Marsden Point from the Far North in a few days.
Hook the net onto a Chinese ship and they wouldn't need loading. The Chinese ship could be filled with something else, tow the logs home. Float them down a slipway in China, straight into drying racks then saws.
Starting to hurt – I'm sure his pants would spontaneously combust in his wee fireside chat – what a turkey
How Don the Con locks in his support – he manipulates the situation so those that do get suckered into supporting him don't dare withdraw that support for fear of looking really stupid for ever having supported him in the first place.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/11/01/the-five-people-who-could-have-stopped-trump-229894
the
full
report
yeah, right. Tui.
Come on EW, rub their fucking noses in it. Katie Hill for VP!
https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1189988232626417664
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1189988079249035271
Sadly, she's not old enough to become veep. She was born in 1987.
The unemployed ex husband will be sued for damages and thus not receive one penny in the divorce settlement. Stupid as.
'November 2019' – Happy Blade Runner day.
🙂
I look forward to hearing from Don "the accused".
As we should have heard from Hillary Clinton also in this way; – as she destroyed quote;"the sensitive government cellphone records" – FBI had ordered Hillary to supply them with before Hilary stopped wiping those records from her phone and covered it up by destroying the 30 000 files.
So why did she do this after being requested by FBI to surrender the files to them?
We know that the FBI/CIA are both historically corrupt.
But is is puzzling why Hillary was so keen on destroying the files instead of being "transparent.
So Donald trump is now challenging all by opening up the debate in public.
This is refreshing as the Democratic party won't do this,
As the impeachment inquiry was done under a "closed door policy" and Trump is opening it up for all to see and this is a positive move by trump..
But her emails!
Pffft
My local paper recently published a review of Peter Dyer's book "The story of New Zealand's leaky home disaster". I then found this article on Stuff, reviewing the same book, https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/116236850/the-rottenomics-of-the-47-billion-leaky-homes-market-failure?fbclid=IwAR0UC0-Et8k8JJMqfy8dPNx7H2bK23sT84RbCYu94yfYtl5ru_bTd6AxeAY.
I apologise if I have missed an earlier thread on this topic but surely this is an issue that is timely and shows again, quite clearly, how we shouldn't trust our economy to a party that still believes in the efficacy of the free market and self regulation. The Nat's will be using every tool at their disposal to discredit the Government over the next ten months and Dirty Politics will raise its head again. The leaky homes scandal goes on and on and it needs to be held up as a placard for all to see.
Dyer arrives at a fix price of 47 billion. It could only ever be a rough estimate. Leaky homes are NZ's housing herpes. I think we're stuck with it for 100 years. Even those builds deemed to be sound, in 50 years when another bedroom is being added on, there will be walls opened up lined in black fur.
As time passes, it looks more and more like the home owner will be responsible for setting it right.
The fiasco deserves to be a segment on 'Great technological disasters of the 20th Century.' at least Twyford just hasn't built many, we whacked up 1000's of these kid's garden forts.
Add to the leaky homes fungus-filled, there will be infrastructure failures because of low quality or too lean reinforcement or poorly fixed structures. That will result in spectacular failures similar to the 2011 CTV (Canterbury Television) building.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/99420943/why-is-noone-being-prosecuted-for-the-ctv-building-collapse-tragedy (2017)
We have a history of mismanagement and disasters in NZ, which were entirely preventable by following good and precautionary practices. This morning the Erebus disaster was discussed by Kim in an interesting and poignant recall of that history and the thoughts of a grand-daughter to remember the tragedy of the plane crash and deaths, and the caring of the people doing the recovery and identification work.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018720412/granddaughter-of-erebus-victim-on-her-quest-for-the-truth
We fell prey to discount fashion.
"I've got an easy and cheap way to build one of those houses from an exotic location. (where it never rains or quakes)."
I think Erebus is like most of the incidents explored on that 'Mayday' TV show. Aircraft catastrophes so often seem to be 2 or more circumstances lining up in a row that leads to calamity.
Faulty navigational data loaded before take-off, a Captain thinking he was 10 miles to starboard and a white-out blizzard blows in.
With leaky homes, we organised the blizzard.
Now we have a standards regime frightened of getting anything that resembles egg on it's face. Friend of mine had a final inspection done recently. He failed on many points, most of them 'Tough but fair enough, it's in the code'. But an imperfection in the paintwork??
The LBP scheme fails in that it allows the regulatory authority to absolve itself of responsibility. As the only authority for building it should take full responsibility for the standard and compliance of the build. That is why we pay the fees and costs associated with consents. However, the LBP reduces local authority exposure to financial liability for future failures.
Many LBP roles are supervisory or managerial, and I suspect there are multiple signoffs by the registered LBP when they have had very little or nothing to do onsite. There is a whole industry around the consenting process that has work outsourced by local authorities, that contributes very little to design and build quality and nothing in the way of considered planning.
(A friend of mine also failed to get her compliance certificate until the second coat of paint was completed. Her basement toilet – however – was LBP certified, and never worked without backing up and spraying the small room with the result.)
"Builders who could not convince insurers their work was sound would not be able to operate"
Yeah that'll fix it. Let insurance companies be the watchdog.
God stiffen the bloody crows!
From the link in 6.1
The Wellingtonian met dozens of leaky home owners while researching Rottenomics. Their tales were harrowing.
"If you don't have anywhere else to go, you are trapped inside a house that is making you sick. These homes have made a lot of people sick. You are not just sick, you are demoralised. It's a downward cycle," he said.
Many lacked the money to fix their homes, and were trapped in decaying buildings.
Mental health problems and suicide would result one would think, and their numbers are rising. And it is so dispiriting to live in such a lying society, one that used to say it was classless, and praise itself to the skies, and the 1984 events show that was just propaganda, with no commitment to keep it good for all.
I know of a couple who purchased one of the Orewa leaking apartments while they were living and working overseas. Because the purchase was a rental investment, the IRD effectively reimbursed them a significant part of the remediation build as it acted as a major loss for that particular property, which reduced their overall income on their property portfolio.
It always struck me as a major failure that those who invested in these properties – and had alternative living arrangements – were able to access those financial levers that owner occupiers could not.
It seems to show an inherent bias in the system that looks after people in business making money from something, and those who are just providing for their essential living needs get the run-around. The citizen is not in the picture, and the very small businessman too has to manage without much concern about their welfare.
An interesting interview on Radionz with a deep-sea-cave diver. Clever stuff, and using tech innovations that could be crucial in understanding our seas.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018720417/cave-diver-jill-heinerth
Hopefully you stuck with RNZ @greywarshark for that wot followed (William Dalrymple). We might just be in time to prevent a repeat of it all. It doesn't have to be inevitable
OwT I thought that Dalrymple was riveting.
10:05 William Dalrymple – the anarchic rise of the East India Company
Across a 30 year writing career, Scottish historian, broadcaster and critic William Dalrymple has been preoccupied with the history and culture of India.
It's the country he now calls home for half the year, spending summers in his native Scotland. With family connections to India dating back for generations, his latest book The Anarchy traces the 'relentless rise', dazzling heyday, and the sometimes shameful past of the East India Company.
At the peak of its powers, this prototype for the vast multinationals of today exerted as much power and influence as any nation state.
I remember Dalrymple saying that the East India Company had control over much of India and its wealth and industry, from a building in UK of 35? people. It was a fiefdom run for the benefit of scheming, wealthy people, and willing to squeeze the great continent of India dry. It had been going since Shakespeare's time until finally in thmid 1800's the Brits took control after it enabled the Great Bengal Famine, which is a similar stain to the Irish Potato Famine than the Lords and Ladies of Britain found acceptable to bring about.
Dalrymple mentioned Brexit and I think Boorish and to me it is a case of deja vu. The Cons are going all out for wallet weighting. They have managed to screw the people, tighten welfare and bring people to a state of degeneration in England, and I don't know if in the Wales and Scotland kingdoms they have been able to limit the downfall.
He points out that Brit made their loot (a Moghul word?) from stealing from India and from trading in the Carribean with slaves and sugar. So the might of Britain is tainted, and the people running the country are also, and no doubt have gifted their art of cunning thievery with low ethics through their family lines to the present Cons as exemplified in the swingeing swindlers in the UK Government.
I think it might be a good idea to then listen to the interview with Lady Anne Glenconner and her remniscences? of her life and relationship with Princess Margaret. She was married to Lord Colin Tennent who was very rich.
He would be similar to the top people in the East India Company and no doubt the present-day Cons. Lady Anne looks back wryly but fondly and draws a wise summary:
"[At one stage] he took off to Africa .. the whole point was you got in a canoe, went off to look animals. This lady had broken her leg and she couldn't get into the canoe. Colin was absolutely furious, came back and said 'Anne, I've had the most ghastly holiday. I think I've behaved very badly.' I said 'Colin, I really don't want to hear'. It was sort of fairly endearing."
Colin's temper was so bad he was banned for life from British Airways after an incident in California which involved him lying down on the plane kicking and screaming because there wasn't a first-class seat for him – then getting escorted off the flight by police.
Wealth is sometimes the only difference between eccentricity and madness, Anne says.
"If you're eccentric you have to have money, you can't be a poor eccentric. If you're poor then it's mad, if you're very rich then you're eccentric."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018719473/lady-anne-glenconner-i-ve-got-a-hell-of-a-lot-of-very-good-stories
Yep, well you can see where the neo-liberal blind faith is taking us. It's now so ingrained into 'the powers that be' that they often don't even realise that it drives them in everything they do. There's a generation that's grown up knowing nothing else.
Dalrymple was a good way to end the week. Lest I offend some on TS, I opted for TDB with this:
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/11/02/the-daily-blog-open-mic-saturday-2nd-november-2019/
How do I avoid engaging with neo liberals if I want a phone, electricity and a car? It drives everything we all do.
If I want a fishing boat and enough savings to get my kid through Uni I can't see how I can do it without engaging with neo liberal gameplay.
I'm encouraging Xero, Contact energy, Spark, Nissan…aren't we all?
You can't if you want certain products or services. But not everything has to be commodified and marketed. Education, knowledge, art, music for example doesn't have to be solely for the purpose of gaining a profit (above what it takes to support people actually providing it with a livable income) .
There's stuff and things that are part of the commons. Water, the air we breath, nature. Neo-libs would privatise and sell it all for a profit and as many ticket clippers as they can get away with if they thought they could keep the natives from getting restless. Especially failed pig farmers and perpetual growth merchants.
As a matter of interest OwT – have you ever written a comment under a post by MB that criticises the tone and content of it? And was yours conspicuous by its absence?
Not that I recall @greywarshark but it's possible. Do you mean – as in things going into a black hole? I've seen one or two people complain about their comments getting lost/censored but I don't think there's anything sinister in it.
Come on – we are on the left and our job is to find sinister wherever it lurks!
Oh – Do you mean as in https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/11/01/the-daily-blog-open-mic-saturday-2nd-november-2019/ now seems to have disappeared up it's own derriere?
If so – here's the comment:
IMHO, it's probably been a bit of a septem horribilis for some in Labour.
As Shane 'mis-spoke', Labour seems to have 'mis-calculated', and all of it not that necessary given a little more forethought.
While Ministers and senior public servants were 'inside the tent' pissing out and over each other, they mis-calculated the number 'outside the tent' now wanting to piss in.
In a bicultural/multicultural society where its Anglo-Saxon Toffs (and even some of those lesser Noble Savage types) let it be known to their offspring who is an acceptable partner, and who isn't – under threat of their inheretance; where transactional relationships such as 'fuckbuddies', 'friends with benefits', 'Facebooked hookups', 'open relationships', 'swinging' and Married At First Sight matchmakers are all a bit of humour and acceptable; or even where its just more convenient to just wank oneself silly over a bit of porn (at the taxpayers' expense if possible)…..
somehow the idea of parents and a few aunties and 'cousin sisters' getting together to suggest who might be suitable candidates for marriage is something we can't get our heads around.
Apparenty, the latter should jump on the next plane out of here because the next thing you know, they'll be wanting to bring the whole village with them.
The mis-calculation seems to have been the degree to which offense might be taken – not only from the loyal Labour supporters, but also from the sizable number who don't usually vote despite their eligability. They might even start to rival the Blue Dragons especially if eventually, they managed to get the whole bloody village here.
My suspicions are that there are concessions that could have been negotiated (acceptable to the 3 partners in this marriage), and with egos remaining intact. Things that relate to the growing realisation that the neo-liberal religion is a failure.
And if there weren't any concessions that could have been made, we ( either Labour, Labout/Green, Labour/Green/NZ1 supporters)are potentially in deeper shit than I imagined.
Where I noticed that my comment vanished was on this from MB – TDB:
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/10/29/why-cannabis-euthanasia-should-be-a-referendum-and-why-abortion-should-not/
Why Cannabis & Euthanasia should be a referendum and why Abortion should not
I found fault with showing an image of Slavoj Zizek the 'peoples' philosopher but putting a saying attributed to MB beside it.
I found fault with lumping important ethical matters together for a convenient package. Each needs separate consideration as they are about our life, which is special to us, and how we live it and others allow us to live it.
And something else, can't remember. There is one comment shown, not mine which I would like to have seen even if there was no answering comment or a short disagreement.
And interestingly the comment was from a prosaic materialist who seemed more concerned about drugs, police controls, and whether insurance costs could be brought down by having less drug-fuelled accidents.
OK. Actually I vaguely remember reading that now at the time because of TrevS's comment that is still there.
I'm not sure whether the site is as resilient as TS though (having a guru maintaining it). TDB probably has one or two woopsies from time to time.
In both cases (TDB and TS), I just see myself as a guest when commenting with the sites' owners having the prerogative to run them as they see fit. I'm just glad they both exist
True about the sites, but when it comes to censoring, refusing opinions it is interesting how much self-criticism they will apply. It may of course be that they will take notice but not put or leave the comment up. I don't see it as a freedom of expression matter, more a willingness to see a wider spectrum as long as the commenter doesn't go on and too frequent.
Beto drops out.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beto-orourke-2020-election-drops-out_n_5d52c5fbe4b0cfeed1a39b41
Looking like Kamala Harris won't last much longer either …
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kamala-harris-new-hampshire_n_5dbc8703e4b0fffdb0f698e8
More weasel words from the state.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/117080021/were-committed-to-safe-staffing-levels–tdhb
The DHB has a green, yellow red system to know the levels of 'busyness' in its ED. A system DHBs wanted implemented for exactly this reason.
The notion that they need an enquiry is dishonest, stalling and borderline neglectful.
Mandatory nurse/patient ration of 1 to four. Simple, unambiguous and easy to implement. Just need to open the purse strings.
If we want the health system to never change how it does things, by all means set a fixed ratio across the board.
Or we could spend the same money doing things smarter and keep the staff increases for areas like ED where I agree it is the most sensible answer.
Or we could spend our money in constant testing and workshops and committees working out what was needed last year, and five years later implementing part of that. That would be smart if you are one of those who want to provide less and less good service and help to citizens and turn the country eventually to private service, with basics for those who can't afford it. Then wait for those with a humane and ethical sense and some money, to start a charity hospital etc. as the hospital in Christchurch.
https://charityhospital.org.nz/our-services/
https://charityhospital.org.nz/
I'd say we agree what smart is not.
I was talking in the context of ED when I mentioned the ratio. This is from a 30 year veteran of our local ED.
They have seen many 'smart' initiatives come and go, almost exclusively imposed from above. The beauty of the ratio is that it is simple.
That doesn't mean no other initiatives, but a ratio is an excellent measure of any initiative.
I agree, in ED.
The Government’s plan to help older New Zealanders live well, Better Later Life – He Oranga Kaumātua 2019 to 2034, was launched by Seniors Minister Tracey Martin today.
“Better Later Life takes a fresh look at what is required to ensure everyone gets the chance to live well as they get older and help ensure we create opportunities for everyone to participate, contribute and be valued as they age,” Minister Martin says.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1911/S00007/better-later-life-launched.htm
How good it would be if there was a Minister for Parents and Young Adults who was devoted to getting the resources they need to help them in their important tasks, so – 'we create opportunities for everyone to participate, contribute and be valued '. We have our ideas arse-about! We lay out deck chairs for the old age pensioners who are to be kept healthy so they can please themselves what they do for the community, of course remembering that taking interest in one’s own family is doing stuff for oneself. Some though may have to pick up their family from the total failure of the government's failure to have a well-run enterprising, sharing, distributive economy of a country that aims for vitality, creativity, well-being and opportunities for all its citizens.
The logic for the encouragement to vaping is to give nicotine addicts an alternative to tobacco (given the tar in tobacco is a carcinogen). Which sort of ignores the existence of nicotine patches and the fact that vaping is also a new means to addict young people to nicotine who have never smoked before.
Then there is the fact that vaping is itself not without risk – so encouraging it is encouraging a product that will harm its users.
For mine, vaping should only be allowed by prescription and only for tobacco addicts.
There is growing evidence that vaping THC is particularly dangerous. And as time goes by the so called extent or degree to which vaping is deemed safer than tobacco is narrowing – as more reports come in of lung damage (and vaping is still fairly recent so this is a salutatory warning).
Edit
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/402337/cockleshell-design-still-part-of-dunedin-council-s-plan
This Dunedin plan fits in with what I see as 20th century thinking. Nice design, grand in line with a Sydney Opera House special look. But those days are over, and more money than we know where to look, is going to be needed to resettle people and establish new transport routes with lots of planning and perhaps innovative engineering when the tide comes in and comes in and stays.. Where do these business people actually go to in their heads at night my lovely? A song coming on!
We have a possible fire starter in the back wings of Nelson city on the Council table, with some ratepayer money and some private, and they have encouraged Ngati Koata to invest also, and a keen lot of councillors all excited about its future for tourism. Where will tourism be in 10-15 years and will they have recovered the $50 mill envisaged when it is to be built over 10 years?
Do people remember the little harnesses that parents put on toddlers to ensure they didn't stray back in the 1960-70s? We need big ones for pollies local and central now.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8JOi1q5ugs
What do you do when you live next door to people who do everything at the top of the decibel range? I can sympathise with this woman, having had such things happen, separately, and am lucky now that the man next door doesn't fly into many rages outside, telling his phone to fuck off. I can ignore it when it is just a few minutes of loud conversation.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/pet-cockatoo-centre-adelaide-neighbourhood-dispute-cleared-wrongdoing
A pet cockatoo at the centre of a bitter neighbourhood dispute because of its screeching has been cleared of wrongdoing, in a case described by an Adelaide judge as "completely unjustified"….
In the claim, she said the family's cockatoo screeches, their dogs bark "day and night", their young children play outside and "often scream as loud as they can" and the man whistles while he mows the lawn…
Investigations by the City of Prospect council disproved the allegations, including a report that found the noise generated by the cockatoo was not excessive and there was no cause for complaint.
The family, however, lodged a counter-claim, alleging the woman harassed them by needlessly calling the police to their property 15 times in five months, including six times because of "loud talking on Christmas Day".
Have guns, will shoot. Civilians or police, guns should be kept to the minimum, and knives etc are practically impossible to control.
A 7 year old girl is out of intensive care in Chicago after being shot in the neck in a gang confrontation.
The girl was one of several people shot in US cities during Halloween night activities. In the San Francisco Bay area community of Orinda, California, police said four people were killed in a shooting at a party. And in the eastern Utah community of Roosevelt, one man was fatally shot and a second man was stabbed to death at a party.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/young-girl-shot-in-neck-trick-treating-us
Are inmates still having to share cells. Changing back to single cells would be a significant and practical start. The guy up for violence has probably been threatened as a low-life in the system by the others for attacking a child. Get real government, pull your finger out and fix these blatant, obvious defects.
Building a big credit balance from taking down reasonable welfare measures is loopy and anyone impressed by these savings is a degenerate, even when they look okay on the outside.
Look at this absolute horror story re sharing cells…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/spotlight/news/article.cfm?c_id=1504095&objectid=12109680
Jail could be described as society admitting failure with socialisation. Some should be kept in for life, in some sort of isolation with safe communication with others, and some should be held for a month with the rest of the sentence suspended. There should be no double bunking.
There should be the question – What do you want to do that is positive for you, and will help you to not get back in prison? And for some it will involve going to a different location so they are away from the situation that brought them back to prison.
What if they reply a Penthouse,a Porsche and some poontang?
We could look at things, try things, differently – those things you mention are small-fry to desire compared to the very nasty crimes that have brought these people to be imprisoned, even taking drugs, (I'm not up with the street terms so imagine 'poontang' is some drug). If they can learn self-control, set themselves goals, acquire some idea of empathy for others including for their own inner consciousness, through holding those things in min
This approach would also push for other less materialistic, less immoral or debauched thinking and encouraging more spiritual, naturistic, self-respecting and reflecting thinking. That would possibly be found in the Maori programs, but would encourage both personal growth and then being involved in group experiences, both passive and active as in haka, sports of a non-contact nature where old ways of anger and bullying did not find direct expression in violent acts. Often getting an ex-con to talk to such prisoners and run discussion groups where mindsets shift could be a major step to finding a new way.
New ways have to be found in everything. The old ways have brought us to the brink of ruin.
Given the other contents of the briefcase, poontang must be a type of pie.
Edit
Pie – good. Jonathan Pie – very good.
Here is one from July but the rant is still very fresh and (lacking in) taste, ie tasteless. Spoiler – is not at all PC and contains various abusive language.
(https://www.facebook.com/JonathanPieReporter/videos/478841486001399/?v=478841486001399
And I click da-boom what you refer to. Are you alleging that the sort of people who carry out spying details, are the type that end up in prison with egregious crime lists pinned to their orange jumpsuits?
'poontang' is 'pussy'….not the feline kind!
ruiner of innocence, you.
Kia Ora Breakfast.
Papatuanuku is a real miracle that humans are literally turning into a nightmare
There were heaps of fireworks getting lit were I was yesterday nite and the night before.
A digger stuck in the mud I can remember someone give a bull CV first day he got the digger stuck.
Early Child Education is a very important mahi.
Ka kite Ano
I hope all countries can attend this vital meeting in Madrid as some with less putea will have bigger problems than wealthier countries hence their voices need to be heard.
Greta Thunberg asks for lift back across Atlantic as climate meeting shifts to Madrid
Swedish teenager needs help getting back to Europe following the COP25 meeting’s move from Chile to Spain.
As delegates to the COP25 climate summit scramble to adjust to a last-minute change of venue from Santiago to Madrid, one of the highest-profile attendees has stuck out a metaphorical thumb on social media to ask for a lift across the Atlantic.
Teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was speaking in California during a stop on her low-emissions journey from Sweden to Chile, tweeted that she was now in need of a ride to Spain.
Thunberg, who refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions involved, had been travelling by boat, train and electric car when the new venue was announced
“It turns out I’ve travelled half around the world, the wrong way:)…If anyone could help me find transport I would be so grateful,” she tweeted from Los Angeles.
Thunberg arrived in New York for the UN climate summit in August after a 14-day journey across the Atlantic in a sailing boat. Since then she has been travelling via train and an electric car borrowed from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Harjeet Singh, of environmental group ActionAid International, said moving the summit from Chile to Spain with only four weeks’ notice “presents real barriers to participation” for delegates from the southern hemisphere.
“Hotels in Madrid are already full. Last-minute flights are expensive. Visas can be difficult to obtain at short notice. This sudden decision is likely to shift the balance of power towards the wealthier countries of the global north,” he added in a statement.
It is the second time that UN authorities have had to scramble to find a new meeting place. Brazil originally welcomed the gathering then backed out after rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro took office.
Teresa Ribera, Spain’s ecological transition minister, said on Twitter on Saturday: “Dear Greta, it would be great to have you here in Madrid. You’ve made a long journey and help all of us to raise concern, open minds and enhance action. We would love to help you to cross the Atlantic back.”
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/03/greta-thunberg-asks-for-lift-back-across-atlantic-as-climate-meeting-shifts-to-madrid
We can see evedince of Ancient cultures collapseing I always thought that they collapsed because of their environment being compromised and not being able to sustain the population. Now here is the evidence of climate change collapseing society's
SCIENTISTS have stumbled across what could answer the mysterious and sudden collapse of the powerful Mesopotamian Empire some 4,000 years ago.
Mesopotamia was a huge empire that spanned much of the Middle East, including modern day Iraq, Kuwait, eastern Syria, south eastern Turkey and bordering regions. A kingdom settled on fertile lands within the Tigirs-Euphrates, Mesopotamia suddenly collapsed over a relatively short period time, eluding scientists and researchers through the age
Now, however, a study’s findings may point towards a potential answer: that Mesopotamia was caught up in a giant dust storm that the empire couldn’t cope with, resulting in inability to grow crops, famine and mass social upheaval.
Dr Tsuyoshi Watanabe of Hokkaido University, involved in the study, said in a statement: “Although the official mark of the collapse of the Akkadian Empire is the invasion of Mesopotamia by other populations, our fossil samples are windows in time showing that variations in climate significantly contributed to the empire’s decline.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1198516/ancient-history-latest-news-mesopotamia-iraq-syria-middle-east-dust-storm-archaeology-scie/amp
Kia Ora 1 News.
Smog carbon Air pollution is a big problem in most cities.
We need to stop burning stuff to protect our futures environment.
A new River Queen for Kaiapoi the locals seen quite happy.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I think that Iwi should be included in the discussion on our Wai Awa and Tangaroa.
Catfish are in our Awa they are a fast breeders.
Good to see someone savings some of the native fresh Wai species of Aotearoa.
Ka pai to Waitaha for getting there Kapa Haka going.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Breakfast.
You can not run a country like a business they are totally different business people run country for the wealthiest first and the rest get budget cuts.
That's good the insolvency laws change to protect the small businesses that are owed money for their services.
What amazes is why we are not taking about crime dropping in Aotearoa.
That's cool A containerised education unit to educate tamariki about wool great quality's as we change to a carbon neutral society wool will become very important in our society. A lot of Aotearoa natural export will be sort after as well.
I can remember when the 2 tennis Stars were new to the TV scene's.
Our birds are very important part of our wildlife I like all birds species they can do what humans dream.
Ka kite Ano
Aotearoa has a mild stable environment we should be grateful for the great weather we have.
In Climate Lessons, a scientist explains what their research has taught them about climate change.
We live on a collection of islands that straddle the cool waters of the Southern Ocean and the warmth of the subtropical Pacific – stretching all the way from the warm beaches of Northland to the rugged and windswept beauty of Stewart Island, with large mountains ranges running down the spines of both Te Ika a Maui and Te Wai Pounamu. This stark combination of geography and topography has a significant influence on how we experience the present impacts of climate change, and what we can expect into the future.
It has been my life's work to use climate models to make predictions about New Zealand's future, but even more importantly to try and understand what they are telling us about how the world works. I believe that for us to make important decisions based on model predictions, we need to really understand them, and this matters even more as Artificial Intelligence becomes widespread in our lives.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/117080103/climate-lessons-how-global-warming-affects-new-zealands-wind-and-rain
You see all thing need to be respected and protected our Glacier provid water for billions the stability of local weather and trap carbon more than forest do.
Glacial rivers absorb carbon faster than rainforests, scientists find
‘Total surprise’ discovery overturns conventional understanding of rivers
Seascape: the state of our oceans is supported
In the turbid, frigid waters roaring from the glaciers of Canada’s high Arctic, researchers have made a surprising discovery: for decades, the northern rivers secretly pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a rate faster than the Amazon rainforest.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, flip the conventional understanding of rivers, which are largely viewed as sources of carbon emissions.
It was a total surprise,” said Dr Kyra St Pierre, a biologist at the University of British Columbia and lead researcher on the project. “Given what we know about the rivers though … the findings are intuitive when you think about it. But we were initially very surprised to see what we did.”
The discovery came from time spent collecting meltwater samples on Ellesmere Island, in Canada’s Nunavut territory, where several glaciers flow into Lake Hazen. The team of researchers also gathered samples in the Rocky Mountains and Greenland.
“We have a pretty good understanding of the state of glaciers globally,” said St Pierre. “One thing we don’t know much about is the meltwaters and what happens when it … flows into rivers and downstream lakes.”
In temperate rivers, a bounty of organic material – plant life and fish – results in higher levels of decomposition, meaning the bodies of water emit a far greater amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than they absorb.
But glacial rivers, with their milky appearance and silt-laden composition, are not very hospitable to aquatic life, leading to far less organic decay – and little carbon output
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/25/scientists-glacial-rivers-absorb-carbon-faster-rainforests
Kia 1 NEWS
That's awesome that Aotearoa and Australia are going to work together on tangata whenua issues I think Australia has a lot to do to give equality for their Tangata Whenua Aotearoa still has a bit to do to as well .
Droughts and Global warming are hand in hand.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Its great to see Maori standing for Council seats. But you see Wairoa And Te Tairawhiti had very strong economy's in the 1970s there economy have not been nurtured at all by previous Government hence high unemployment that is not good for tangata.
Cool Shotover adventures is introduceding Maori Culture into their operations.
Ka pai to the 2 Maori playwrights writers winning their prize it will be good to see there mahi.
Ka kite Ano.