And stories of celebrity and entertainment Hosking, Dawson) yet at the time of typing no mention of the Ukraine.
This is a gossip mag not a paper.
Biased to the extreme right and attempting to divert the populace with inconsequential celebrity stories.
You are right, Paul. But good editors know what sells newspapers (as the old saying goes) and a glance at that “Most Read” column over on the right hand side will show you the truth of that aphorism. It is comprised almost always of 1.Sport 2.Sex 3.Celebrity gossip.
Unless that column is fictitious and part of an evil plan to divert people from real news, then here is a graphic illustration of how little most people care about more serious issues.
You might want to consider these words of George Carlin
The real owners of this country “don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests.”
+100…critical thinkers…even although sometimes they may get the wrong end of the stick….are crucial to a democracy…and should never be silenced.
…the oligarchy want a compliant population, especially a compliant working class….who are easily duped….out of their rights as equal citizens…they come down particularly hard on the underclass and women who dare to speak out and question their power and control over their lives and that of their children….because they want to make money out of them and keep them as an underclass…their profits depend on this
( that is my political statement for the day …lol..now for some work for this peasant..)
George Carlin….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsL6mKxtOlQ (and, yes, he’s not only talking about the Tweedledum Republicans in his final comments but also the Tweedledee Democrat leadership).
Been directed by someone I’ve just got acquainted with to the story of Marinaleda, a “… social-democratic and cooperative municipality of 2,700 people…” that was established in 1981.
A fairly recent ( 20/10/2103) Guardian article states that ..“… In spring 2013 unemployment in Andalusia is a staggering 36%; for those aged 16 to 24, the figure is above 55% – figures worse even than the egregious national average…” yet the collective ensures that everyone is employed.
Not only that but “… The town co-operative does not distribute profits: any surplus is reinvested to create more jobs. Everyone in the co-op earns the same salary, €47 (£40) a day for six and a half hours of work: it may not sound like a lot, but it’s more than double the Spanish minimum wage.”.
In 1939 most people in Britain would have had trouble pointing to Poland on a map.
War was the last thing on their mind, recovery from the Great Depression the economy, and jobs, were the big issues, nobody wanted to hear about the threat of fascism and the events in Europe. With the Great war barely more than twenty years earlier the last thing Britians wanted was talk of war.
But one MP dared to go against the trend.
In New Zealand today in all commentators dismiss climate change as a non-issue. Despite being an existential issue like no other, in my opinion a greater threat to civilisation even than the threat of fascism, climate change appears in no polls as a major issue of concern or as an issue that this election will be fought over. Despite the government’s woeful response to climate change, a matter on which they could really take some big hits, climate change is resolutely ignored as an leading election issue by all the main parties.
It has been my contention that leadership on this issue is what is missing.
Witness how Shane Jones can turn Countdown’s buying arrangement’s into a major national issue.
We desperately need this sort of lead this sort of leadership over climate change. In the face of this crisis both major parties and even the Greens seem determined to continue political business as usual
But while the Churchillian type leadership that alerted Britain and the world to the danger of fascism is currently missing in New Zealand
It seems the Churchill spirit is alive and well in Montana
“Coal is Dead”
“Coal is no longer viable as a long term source of energy, or a reliable source of jobs in Montana … The 700 million tons of coal in Montana will be left in the ground … We must both mitigate climate disruption and build new infrastructure.”
Dirk Adams educator, banker, rancher, and Democratic Candidate for the Montana Senate
Even the unions, the state’s AFL-CIO leader said he appreciated what Adams says about coal “because the guys need to hear that.”.
(This is the sort of leadership on coal that we need to hear from union leader Helen Kelly)
Dirk Adams said he talks about climate change “in every conversation” with voters. “It’s one of my two campaign points. I talk about women’s issues and I talk about the environment and climate change.”
Dirk Adams honesty about climate change is a risky strategy:
Out of the 26 coal producing states in the U.S., Montana ranks 8th, with production last year totaling more than 36 million tons from six mines. While employment, around 1,200, is not that significant compared to other industries, a proposed new mine in southeast Montana would more than double total employment to about 2,900.
Since 2009, Montana coal exports abroad have grown six-fold to 13 million tons. The state receives about $48 million in coal royalties.
Whether Adam’s leadership on climate change will be appreciated by voters won’t be known until the election in June.
Without Dirk Adam raising it, like New Zealand climate change is pretty much a non-issue, and low ranked in Monatans list of concerns.
A 2012 poll showed that a majority of Montana voters favoured relaxing environmental laws to allow more coal and gas developments. And another poll showed that almost 50% felt that concerns about global warming had been exaggerated and more research was needed before they would support action to combat it.
But Adams claims this is a plus:
“People understand that politicians who speak the truth are a value, and by and large in the Democratic primary, voters understand,”…
“It will probably hurt with some of the union guys, but it’s important to tell people the truth …
“I will not be dishonest about this for political gain. Lying isn’t going to help those [coal industry] workers. Instead, I have a plan for retraining and job growth. I’m going to serve the impacted citizens by dealing with reality, rather than serving myself by hustling concerned workers for votes with promises no candidate will keep.”
Dirk Adams educator, banker, rancher, and Democratic Candidate for the Montana Senate
War was the last thing on their mind, recovery from the Great Depression the economy, and jobs, were the big issues, nobody wanted to hear about the threat of fascism and the events in Europe. With the Great war barely more than twenty years earlier the last thing Britians wanted was talk of war.
War may have been the last thing that they wanted but most of them knew it was coming.
Despite being an existential issue like no other, in my opinion a greater threat to civilisation even than the threat of fascism
I’m of the opinion that the two are intertwined. The more fascism that we get, the more climate change denial.
So the imported train set is now said to have Asbestos in the locomotives along with the alleged faulty copy/fraud wheel-bearings,
Wonder who pays to remedy all these faults as they become identified, the manufacturers or the taxpayer, along with the cost as up to half the fleet will have to be removed from service for what is going to be a hell of a job removing the Asbestos as it is said to be in the paint,
We could i suppose beef up employment in the railway workshop to get the job done a lot quicker, except for the fact that Slippery’s National Government have decided having workshops capable of carrying out major work on our trains is a luxury so closed them,
Imported train sets with major manufacturing faults occurring too frequently to enable the Railway to run a proper service would seem a luxury that we cannot afford…
We want low inflation and to allow our limited wages to ” go further”
The consequence is transferring poor wages, working conditions & poor environment outcomes off shore, conditions that would not be tolerated or allowed to operate within NZ.
but out of sight out of mind. Eg the ferries being built in Bangladesh , manning our fishing fleet with cheep labour. China trains, allowing people to work within NZ for low wages.
And great stuff giving it directly, honestly and fearlessly:
“I’m bemused that the Prime Minister calls my appointment in a non-policy-making role a lurch to the left. Some in the unthinking media joined in about my public positions. When did it become so outrageous to call for the hourly minimum wage to be raised to $15, or argue that the breadwinners of a family deserve a living wage for a decent day’s work? When does affordable housing for all, a decent job and support for families to support children get a good start in life become so unreasonable?”
Hmm. Interesting. I wondered if it was my screen, with new look browser, operating system installed, etc on my reformatted hard drive after a trojan attack.
Akshullee, I use Armstrong as an example in my writing classes of how not to write. His tendentious, simpering gibberish devoid of anything resembling structure is a perfect storm of bad writing.
No choccy fish for me. But I notice how many women are there dotted thickly through the taller men and their hats. A very well dressed serious group of people, and with watchers at the side who had climbed on verandah roofs.
Don’t think he’s called Seymour because Epsomites will want to “see more” of him – A very strange little fellow, surrounded by many more strange little fellows in Act – including Alan Gibbs who wants all roads, hospitals and schools privatised, he’ll want the air we breathe privatised next!. This incest stuff sure does seem to turn up some odd little spawn doesn’t it?
I think it is a very smart strategy. That way all the abusers not currently in prison will vote Act. This may take them over 1%, and if they’re lucky will build the party base.
Just remember not to let the kids out if the Act conference is in town.
There ya go @ PU:
Wayne Brittendon’s Counterpoint of Wealth Addiction – you and I could both reinvent ourselves as counsellors.
Whoar! – money to be made eh? AND a growth industry. I reckon it’d take off. It could become the new Betty Ford Clinic.
I’ll take care of the truly pathetic (the Rik Pebbles, the Lamb-burgers, the Whytes et al – I’ll just recycle them – as in Soylent Green – they’ll make OK fertiliser)). You can have the cushy numbers.
Jenny Apple CEO lambasts climate change deniers.
That sums up NZ National ACT UF govts 18th century approach to running our economy.
While Apple have just bought the tesla electric car company and gone into partnership with panasonic to make lithium batteries.
Meantime Key and cronies are stuck down a coal mine.
Another failed policy from short sighted greedy dumarses.
Ukraine. So let’s see, a bunch of ethnic Russians who are members of a provincial Ukrainian parliament decide it would be better to be yet another province of Russia.
Now I don’t get that. Why would anyone give up the power to Putin when they themselves have far more power holding Ukraine to ransom. Become just another province in Putins empire.
Is this why Putin is precipitously sending troops over, because every Russia is not necessarily a fan of Putin.
Remember the Russians there want autonomy, not to become part if greater Russia. And Putin wants at-least a navy base, but will take more if the local Russians give to him.
John Pilger has revisited the question of Australian aborigines position in that society,.
He made a doco some years ago and now another called Utopia. And is saddened at how little is changed. There are a few high profile successes but so many are unable to meet their own needs, and the government action often ends with negative consequences. There are millions of dollars allocated to helping aborigines. Which has been spent on bureaucracy and with some large amounts on computer technology that is useless. So the players have got most of the benefits, the supposed recipients just get pennies and prejudice. Pennies from heaven indeed.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday John Pilger on Utopia 21′ 36″
9:40 Journalist and documentary maker John Pilger on Utopia
Thirty years ago, investigative journalist John Pilger exposed the plight of
Indigenous Australians in his landmark documentary ‘The Secret Country.’
The documentary exposed the shameful treatment Aboriginals received at the hands of successive governments and exposed a darker side of the so-called lucky country. Now, John Pilger has returned to the subject in his new documentary ‘Utopia: an Epic Struggle of Resistance’ – but just what has changed in the intervening years?
And we should look at what Pilger says about the ingrained denial that Oz has about this and realise it can apply to anything else that is an annoying problem. Like us for instance and how we are treated. And the way that they are sucking us dry of money and then treating us as poor relations, which they have caused. It’s a good scam – they won’t change. And we have such credulous politicians n league with businesspeople so venal in their desire to feather their own nests, they will continue and pollies will not jerk on the leash.
We are being made into a state of Australia with the government matching everything even co-ordinating with Australian law and actions, but we aren’t able to be Australian citizens, not there or here. We should be able to have dual citizenship if we have long enough residence there, jobs, and a reasonable record.
What we need is people to do a wake up call here. Or we will give us the ‘abo’ treatment. Oa politicians might even give us the soft soap speech sometime, but that won’t bring real action, just wallpaper over any cracks, then on as before.
What’s with the super rich and their desire to stick it to everyone who is not well off? Is that some kind of mental illness? You’d think all that money would make them happy, but they keep bitching and moaning like they don’t have enough to live on.
From Alan Gibbs’ latest brainfart:
“I’d privatise all the schools, all the hospitals and all the roads,” he told the conference. “We’ve had a 20-year siesta so I think Act should get out there and shake the market.”
In todays era of the Five Eyes snooping on any old world leaders private conversations with impunity it is still of interest why Norm Kirk barely two years in office died a lonely death at a base hospital after receiving secretive medical treatment for some time. The suspicion lingers that there was medical misadventure intended or not at the time he and New Zealand were well and truly on the world stage.
Despite the fact that it is a local government legislation change, and drafted by bureaucrats … somehow it seems that the blame lies with the iwi in this Herald article Maori veto on water.
… late edit. Just thought to check the name on LinkedIn and Amy Maas is a graduate of Rhodes University. Apologies to all those SA born who don’t have this same bias, but have come across many in NZ that do. Including the SA doctor that asked me if I was their nanny when taking my blonde, blue eyed children to the clinic.
And to add to Molly’s post – there appears to be no thought as to the source of the bore water these homeowners are using, and whether it is big enough for all their needs into the future. So – of course – there needs to be a review of their use, and a sensible council would have the local hapu or iwi assisting in that review, not all of the supposedly 19 iwi of the whole Auckland City region.
What is more – Puhoi is rural – so why don’t these people also have rainwater tanks as a matter of course ? This story is more “blame the Maori” than a real look at household water use of an underground bore in a rural area.
And the story is just plain wrong. This statement is not the truth – “Under the draft Auckland Unitary Plan, all applicants for resource consent for new or existing developments must apply to iwi for them to assess whether it would have an adverse effect on mana whenua.”
Most applications do not have to consult with Iwi, only those which are in or within 50m of a site of significance or value, or which involve certain actvities such as taking of water or removal of trees in certain strategic areas.
It is as bad as the TV1 news on Thursday night saying that Iwi consultation would add $100,000 to the price of a new home. Totally untrue.
The most disgusting thing about that story is how Sealord Jones plays up to the bigots with his talk of taniwha down holes. He must be really proud of arriving near the top of the list for the racists’ favourite mowree. If McCarten can shut him up, or even get him to stick to supermarkets, he needs to do it soon.
Shocking lie in The Nation cunliffe interview. DC claimed Mighty River Power and Meridian “are the worst performing shares on the sharemarket”. Which is just a straight out lie. Not a man we want as PM.
Mighty River Power is down on the list price but there are worse performers on the NZX in the last 12 months (FSF, CNU, DIL etc). Cunliffe just made something up (lied). Its a matter of mathematics unfortunately for him and you.
All good, its right near the end last major topic they discuss? I know what he was trying to get at basically the MRP float has not being very good for investors, but Meridian and Air NZ have been satisfactory performers. But to just make up a stat is lazy at best. There is no need to mislead to make a point. Pols on both sides should do better. Cheers
Definitely a good idea to destroy the share price before the compulsory return of New Zealand’s stolen property.
Personally I think it’d be better to offer nothing in return when our property is taken back, but I can see the political advantage in pretending to compensate the shareholders rather than overtly punitive action.
An incentive for Tories to create something for a change, rather than just leeching off the hand that fed them.
Sorry TD you are wrong on this one. Meridian float made up of two payments $1 for an instalment reciepts, 50c later to complete to complete the deal. So the correct comparison is between $1.07 and $1. So it is up 7% or about 21% on an annualised basis (although on a 4 month timeframe anualised measure are a little meaningless). Cheers
Sounds like great Tory economics to me. Get the government to sell you something cheap, play games with the price, then sell it on for half as much again as the market says it’s worth.
Jesus H Christ, we shouldn’t even be thinking of taking these shares back for free. We should nationalise and charge the pricks $1 a share as rent for our property. After all, that’s pretty much what they do with rental housing.
She’s on The Nation yesterday discussing Matt McCarten’s appointment, and she reckons there are two valid strands of left policy, one of looking after working people and one of looking after business and development, and she reckons hiring McCarten shows that Cunliffe is putting all his eggs in the “looking after workers” basket, and that that’s a mistake because Labour’s opponents will call him a leftie.
And so Ralston says yeah nah actually, he’s employed in a strategic role not a policy role, and it’s actually a pretty smart move getting him in there cos, well, he’s good etc, and so Josie says yeah but PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING, and the risk now is that his opponents will MISREPRESENT SHIT and deliberately CREATE THE PERCEPTION that he’s leftie.
ffs Josie, that’s you. You’re you’re the one misrepresenting the situation, and you’re the one saying it’s no good having lefties in the frickin LABOUR party of all places. That makes you the very opponent you were describing.
Just join National and be done with it you spanner. You nonce. You whispering serpent.
You put clearly what I’ve often noticed but not articulated – commentators often talk about ‘how bad this will be perceived’ without noticing their role in forming perceptions.
Where do they think people get their perceptions from? Don’t they understand that most of these kinds of ‘perceptions’ are largely people trying to find out what everyone else thinks and then falling into line to avoid looking like an outlier?
Pascal’s bookie made similar observations a couple of months ago when she was last in the media attacking the left and doing her opponents’ work for them.
Thanks Morrissey. I also missed that pearl of felix’s…
Perfect description of Ms Pagani. She reelly, reelly, reeeeelly likes socialising with celebrity commentators and the ‘perceived’ toffs. Makes her feel like she’s one of them.
Although, if she checks, she will find that they have nothing but contempt for her. Cameron Slater calls her “my regular punching bag Josie Pagani.” I reminded him of this late last year when he was acting the part of the galante….
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
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TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
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About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
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Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
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Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
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As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
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NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
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The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
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Today, the Herald online continues its daily promotion of a party getting 0% in the opinion polls.
Does Alan Gibbs sponsor the Herald?
And stories of celebrity and entertainment Hosking, Dawson) yet at the time of typing no mention of the Ukraine.
This is a gossip mag not a paper.
Biased to the extreme right and attempting to divert the populace with inconsequential celebrity stories.
You are right, Paul. But good editors know what sells newspapers (as the old saying goes) and a glance at that “Most Read” column over on the right hand side will show you the truth of that aphorism. It is comprised almost always of 1.Sport 2.Sex 3.Celebrity gossip.
Unless that column is fictitious and part of an evil plan to divert people from real news, then here is a graphic illustration of how little most people care about more serious issues.
Stories given the greater prominence get read the most.
Feed people a diet of celebrity nonsense and that’s what is expected.
I agree – it’s a self-fulfilling promotion – Most Read.
It would be interesting to artificially post more weighty issues in that column, and see what happens.
of course, they might already be doing it the other way 🙂
You might want to consider these words of George Carlin
The real owners of this country “don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests.”
+100…critical thinkers…even although sometimes they may get the wrong end of the stick….are crucial to a democracy…and should never be silenced.
…the oligarchy want a compliant population, especially a compliant working class….who are easily duped….out of their rights as equal citizens…they come down particularly hard on the underclass and women who dare to speak out and question their power and control over their lives and that of their children….because they want to make money out of them and keep them as an underclass…their profits depend on this
( that is my political statement for the day …lol..now for some work for this peasant..)
Gibbs’ comment in that piece is classic ACT:
“We in our arrogance or stupidity have … obsessively ignored it – we say the state must run the schools.
“What is this crazy fixation, love affair, with the the state running things?”
Worshipping on the altar of the corporate god, that psychotic deity that only acts in its own interest.
+1111
George Carlin….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsL6mKxtOlQ (and, yes, he’s not only talking about the Tweedledum Republicans in his final comments but also the Tweedledee Democrat leadership).
Been directed by someone I’ve just got acquainted with to the story of Marinaleda, a “… social-democratic and cooperative municipality of 2,700 people…” that was established in 1981.
A fairly recent ( 20/10/2103) Guardian article states that ..“… In spring 2013 unemployment in Andalusia is a staggering 36%; for those aged 16 to 24, the figure is above 55% – figures worse even than the egregious national average…” yet the collective ensures that everyone is employed.
Not only that but “… The town co-operative does not distribute profits: any surplus is reinvested to create more jobs. Everyone in the co-op earns the same salary, €47 (£40) a day for six and a half hours of work: it may not sound like a lot, but it’s more than double the Spanish minimum wage.”.
I think I’m going to have to buy the book.
In 1939 most people in Britain would have had trouble pointing to Poland on a map.
War was the last thing on their mind, recovery from the Great Depression the economy, and jobs, were the big issues, nobody wanted to hear about the threat of fascism and the events in Europe. With the Great war barely more than twenty years earlier the last thing Britians wanted was talk of war.
But one MP dared to go against the trend.
In New Zealand today in all commentators dismiss climate change as a non-issue. Despite being an existential issue like no other, in my opinion a greater threat to civilisation even than the threat of fascism, climate change appears in no polls as a major issue of concern or as an issue that this election will be fought over. Despite the government’s woeful response to climate change, a matter on which they could really take some big hits, climate change is resolutely ignored as an leading election issue by all the main parties.
It has been my contention that leadership on this issue is what is missing.
Witness how Shane Jones can turn Countdown’s buying arrangement’s into a major national issue.
We desperately need this sort of lead this sort of leadership over climate change. In the face of this crisis both major parties and even the Greens seem determined to continue political business as usual
But while the Churchillian type leadership that alerted Britain and the world to the danger of fascism is currently missing in New Zealand
It seems the Churchill spirit is alive and well in Montana
“Coal is Dead”
Even the unions, the state’s AFL-CIO leader said he appreciated what Adams says about coal “because the guys need to hear that.”.
(This is the sort of leadership on coal that we need to hear from union leader Helen Kelly)
Dirk Adams said he talks about climate change “in every conversation” with voters. “It’s one of my two campaign points. I talk about women’s issues and I talk about the environment and climate change.”
Dirk Adams honesty about climate change is a risky strategy:
Whether Adam’s leadership on climate change will be appreciated by voters won’t be known until the election in June.
Without Dirk Adam raising it, like New Zealand climate change is pretty much a non-issue, and low ranked in Monatans list of concerns.
A 2012 poll showed that a majority of Montana voters favoured relaxing environmental laws to allow more coal and gas developments. And another poll showed that almost 50% felt that concerns about global warming had been exaggerated and more research was needed before they would support action to combat it.
But Adams claims this is a plus:
Source: Climate Progress
War may have been the last thing that they wanted but most of them knew it was coming.
I’m of the opinion that the two are intertwined. The more fascism that we get, the more climate change denial.
So the imported train set is now said to have Asbestos in the locomotives along with the alleged faulty copy/fraud wheel-bearings,
Wonder who pays to remedy all these faults as they become identified, the manufacturers or the taxpayer, along with the cost as up to half the fleet will have to be removed from service for what is going to be a hell of a job removing the Asbestos as it is said to be in the paint,
We could i suppose beef up employment in the railway workshop to get the job done a lot quicker, except for the fact that Slippery’s National Government have decided having workshops capable of carrying out major work on our trains is a luxury so closed them,
Imported train sets with major manufacturing faults occurring too frequently to enable the Railway to run a proper service would seem a luxury that we cannot afford…
We want low inflation and to allow our limited wages to ” go further”
The consequence is transferring poor wages, working conditions & poor environment outcomes off shore, conditions that would not be tolerated or allowed to operate within NZ.
but out of sight out of mind. Eg the ferries being built in Bangladesh , manning our fishing fleet with cheep labour. China trains, allowing people to work within NZ for low wages.
The Trains are under full Guarantee by the Chinese Manufacturer.
… the same chinese manufacturer who confirmed that there were no asbestos issues after Australians discovered the same issue last year?
Better watch out using words like that, Phillip Ure will be along at any moment to accuse you of racism and eugenics Lolz…
here ya go..!
..kick off yr day with some vid of springsteen doing royals..
..in that stadium..
..in the third best city in the world to live in..
..last nite..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/01/springsteen-royals-bruce-lorde-video-cover_n_4880871.html
phillip ure..
Fantastic piece by Matt McCarten!
And great stuff giving it directly, honestly and fearlessly:
“I’m bemused that the Prime Minister calls my appointment in a non-policy-making role a lurch to the left. Some in the unthinking media joined in about my public positions. When did it become so outrageous to call for the hourly minimum wage to be raised to $15, or argue that the breadwinners of a family deserve a living wage for a decent day’s work? When does affordable housing for all, a decent job and support for families to support children get a good start in life become so unreasonable?”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11212265
That makes me love da man. Will miss him on Herald on Sunday but darn keen to walk alongside him and Cunliffe to win the 2014 General Election.
Sadly, once Matt settles into his job behind the scenes, little will be heard from him. Will miss him. A great advocate.
Agree that “once Matt settles into his job behind the scenes, little will be heard directly via H.O.S. from him”.
And take heart that we will hear his voice and messages in many other ways. 🙂
Is it just me, or does Matt McCarten’s photo on the Herald look like it’s been lightened somewhat?
Hmm. Interesting. I wondered if it was my screen, with new look browser, operating system installed, etc on my reformatted hard drive after a trojan attack.
Mr Mccarten photograph should be given the darker hue of red treatment. In fact, Leninist red will suit him perfectly.
Have you checked for the reds under your bed? Idiot.
“Of course, it isn’t appropriate for me to write a column when I officially nail my colours to the fortunes of one political party. ”
Wonder if John Armstrong reads that bit
and feels just a little queasy when he next presses the publish button
Akshullee, I use Armstrong as an example in my writing classes of how not to write. His tendentious, simpering gibberish devoid of anything resembling structure is a perfect storm of bad writing.
😆 😈
http://rt.com/usa/low-corporate-tax-rates-275/
What is our PM calls it?
“legitimate Tax avoidance”
Why use so many syllables?
Theft rolls of the tongue a lot easier.
(a repeat posting from yesterday because I feel it is an image that should be shared and a message that should be heeded)
Of late, I have been mulling on what past generations, if they could, might want to say to us today.
I think this message would be a fair summation.
p.s.
for the train spotters of NZ politics, I took some artistic license within the image, four times actually 🙂
choccy fish for anyone who names all four pole bearers 🙂
No choccy fish for me. But I notice how many women are there dotted thickly through the taller men and their hats. A very well dressed serious group of people, and with watchers at the side who had climbed on verandah roofs.
Can I have a quarter of the choccy fish please ? I think I spotted Mickey Savage
a strong start out of the box for JK, well done
now for the more challenging faces
hint: all of the era
and in case you don’t recognise the original image,
it is not thousands celebrating a rugby match
it was Election night 1931
I’VE BEEN THINKING
by JAMIE WHYTE
Thought No. 1: INCEST. Good idea. Why not?
Coming up soon: My thoughts on identity theft.
END OF PRESS RELEASE
Jamie Whyte is ACT’s exciting new leader. If you are a National voter in Epsom, you are instructed to vote for him.
“When you have got a great product but a terrible image, you have to rebrand, refresh and start again.”—Richard Prebble
Why would a voter in Epsom vote for Jamie Whyte when he isn’t standing in Epsom? Their candidate will be that Seymour clown.
I imagine Morrisey meant when instructed to vote for ACT you are instructed to vote for its leader blah blah
National ran a whole campaign like that last time remember
“I am a Key person !”
Don’t think he’s called Seymour because Epsomites will want to “see more” of him – A very strange little fellow, surrounded by many more strange little fellows in Act – including Alan Gibbs who wants all roads, hospitals and schools privatised, he’ll want the air we breathe privatised next!. This incest stuff sure does seem to turn up some odd little spawn doesn’t it?
According to Jamie they expect to get numerous MPs in and isn’t he number 2 on the List?
I think it is a very smart strategy. That way all the abusers not currently in prison will vote Act. This may take them over 1%, and if they’re lucky will build the party base.
Just remember not to let the kids out if the Act conference is in town.
ACT’s in town. Lock up their daughters?
LOL Morrissey. Good summation.
Dr K is relaxed over TPP….
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2014/02/paul-krugman-no-big-deal.html
There ya go @ PU:
Wayne Brittendon’s Counterpoint of Wealth Addiction – you and I could both reinvent ourselves as counsellors.
Whoar! – money to be made eh? AND a growth industry. I reckon it’d take off. It could become the new Betty Ford Clinic.
I’ll take care of the truly pathetic (the Rik Pebbles, the Lamb-burgers, the Whytes et al – I’ll just recycle them – as in Soylent Green – they’ll make OK fertiliser)). You can have the cushy numbers.
Jamie Whyte is Ok with polygamy as well I suppose he is trying to get the exclusive bretheren ,Mormon and Muslim vote as well.
Jenny Apple CEO lambasts climate change deniers.
That sums up NZ National ACT UF govts 18th century approach to running our economy.
While Apple have just bought the tesla electric car company and gone into partnership with panasonic to make lithium batteries.
Meantime Key and cronies are stuck down a coal mine.
Another failed policy from short sighted greedy dumarses.
Ukraine. So let’s see, a bunch of ethnic Russians who are members of a provincial Ukrainian parliament decide it would be better to be yet another province of Russia.
Now I don’t get that. Why would anyone give up the power to Putin when they themselves have far more power holding Ukraine to ransom. Become just another province in Putins empire.
Is this why Putin is precipitously sending troops over, because every Russia is not necessarily a fan of Putin.
Remember the Russians there want autonomy, not to become part if greater Russia. And Putin wants at-least a navy base, but will take more if the local Russians give to him.
John Pilger has revisited the question of Australian aborigines position in that society,.
He made a doco some years ago and now another called Utopia. And is saddened at how little is changed. There are a few high profile successes but so many are unable to meet their own needs, and the government action often ends with negative consequences. There are millions of dollars allocated to helping aborigines. Which has been spent on bureaucracy and with some large amounts on computer technology that is useless. So the players have got most of the benefits, the supposed recipients just get pennies and prejudice. Pennies from heaven indeed.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
John Pilger on Utopia 21′ 36″
9:40 Journalist and documentary maker John Pilger on Utopia
Thirty years ago, investigative journalist John Pilger exposed the plight of
Indigenous Australians in his landmark documentary ‘The Secret Country.’
The documentary exposed the shameful treatment Aboriginals received at the hands of successive governments and exposed a darker side of the so-called lucky country. Now, John Pilger has returned to the subject in his new documentary ‘Utopia: an Epic Struggle of Resistance’ – but just what has changed in the intervening years?
And we should look at what Pilger says about the ingrained denial that Oz has about this and realise it can apply to anything else that is an annoying problem. Like us for instance and how we are treated. And the way that they are sucking us dry of money and then treating us as poor relations, which they have caused. It’s a good scam – they won’t change. And we have such credulous politicians n league with businesspeople so venal in their desire to feather their own nests, they will continue and pollies will not jerk on the leash.
We are being made into a state of Australia with the government matching everything even co-ordinating with Australian law and actions, but we aren’t able to be Australian citizens, not there or here. We should be able to have dual citizenship if we have long enough residence there, jobs, and a reasonable record.
What we need is people to do a wake up call here. Or we will give us the ‘abo’ treatment. Oa politicians might even give us the soft soap speech sometime, but that won’t bring real action, just wallpaper over any cracks, then on as before.
What’s with the super rich and their desire to stick it to everyone who is not well off? Is that some kind of mental illness? You’d think all that money would make them happy, but they keep bitching and moaning like they don’t have enough to live on.
From Alan Gibbs’ latest brainfart:
“I’d privatise all the schools, all the hospitals and all the roads,” he told the conference. “We’ve had a 20-year siesta so I think Act should get out there and shake the market.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11212270
And an announcement for another round of beneficiary bashing from Whyte. So predictable.
They’re not interested in having “enough to live on”.
They want to own everything.
Including us.
As serfs.
Having not yet read David Grant’s new “The Mighty Totara: The Life and Times of Norman Kirk” I am at a disadvantage;
– See more at: http://www.randomhouse.co.nz/books/david-grant/a-mighty-totara-a-life-of-norman-kirk-9781775535799.aspx#sthash.L8usr7yj.dpuf
And his interview on RNZ Sunday today… http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2587522/david-grant-on-norman-kirk; did not instill great hopes for further investigation into Big Norms final hours as alluded to in Margaret Haywood’s “Dairy of the Kirk Years”.
In todays era of the Five Eyes snooping on any old world leaders private conversations with impunity it is still of interest why Norm Kirk barely two years in office died a lonely death at a base hospital after receiving secretive medical treatment for some time. The suspicion lingers that there was medical misadventure intended or not at the time he and New Zealand were well and truly on the world stage.
Despite the fact that it is a local government legislation change, and drafted by bureaucrats … somehow it seems that the blame lies with the iwi in this Herald article Maori veto on water.
… late edit. Just thought to check the name on LinkedIn and Amy Maas is a graduate of Rhodes University. Apologies to all those SA born who don’t have this same bias, but have come across many in NZ that do. Including the SA doctor that asked me if I was their nanny when taking my blonde, blue eyed children to the clinic.
And to add to Molly’s post – there appears to be no thought as to the source of the bore water these homeowners are using, and whether it is big enough for all their needs into the future. So – of course – there needs to be a review of their use, and a sensible council would have the local hapu or iwi assisting in that review, not all of the supposedly 19 iwi of the whole Auckland City region.
What is more – Puhoi is rural – so why don’t these people also have rainwater tanks as a matter of course ? This story is more “blame the Maori” than a real look at household water use of an underground bore in a rural area.
And the story is just plain wrong. This statement is not the truth – “Under the draft Auckland Unitary Plan, all applicants for resource consent for new or existing developments must apply to iwi for them to assess whether it would have an adverse effect on mana whenua.”
Most applications do not have to consult with Iwi, only those which are in or within 50m of a site of significance or value, or which involve certain actvities such as taking of water or removal of trees in certain strategic areas.
It is as bad as the TV1 news on Thursday night saying that Iwi consultation would add $100,000 to the price of a new home. Totally untrue.
The most disgusting thing about that story is how Sealord Jones plays up to the bigots with his talk of taniwha down holes. He must be really proud of arriving near the top of the list for the racists’ favourite mowree. If McCarten can shut him up, or even get him to stick to supermarkets, he needs to do it soon.
i just had to point you all at this..so cool..!
“..Incredibly dirty R&B: gloriously filthy music from the 50s..”
“..Best of all – the filth didn’t come just from men.
There was wonderful Julia Lee –
‘I Didn’t Like It the First Time –
The inimitable Helen Humes has a live version of ‘I’m Gonna Let Him Ride’ –
as it is for the way the crowd roars her train on..”
(cont..)
..enjoy..!..
phillip ure..
http://boingboing.net/2014/03/01/incredibly-dirty-rb-glorious.html
Shocking lie in The Nation cunliffe interview. DC claimed Mighty River Power and Meridian “are the worst performing shares on the sharemarket”. Which is just a straight out lie. Not a man we want as PM.
The MRP and Meridian shareprices collapsed straight after listing.
Annualised, the loss to ma and pa investors is huge.
DC as usual is spot on. No idea what you are on about though.
Sorry CV with all due respect on this you are willfully ignorant. Meridian is at $1.07, it listed at $1.
https://www.nzx.com/markets/NZSX/securities/MELCA
Mighty River Power is down on the list price but there are worse performers on the NZX in the last 12 months (FSF, CNU, DIL etc). Cunliffe just made something up (lied). Its a matter of mathematics unfortunately for him and you.
How many minutes into the Nation interview is your claim that Cunliffe said what he did?
I’d like to check out what he actually said for myself, thanks.
All good, its right near the end last major topic they discuss? I know what he was trying to get at basically the MRP float has not being very good for investors, but Meridian and Air NZ have been satisfactory performers. But to just make up a stat is lazy at best. There is no need to mislead to make a point. Pols on both sides should do better. Cheers
Thanks I’ll try and track that section down.
Definitely a good idea to destroy the share price before the compulsory return of New Zealand’s stolen property.
Personally I think it’d be better to offer nothing in return when our property is taken back, but I can see the political advantage in pretending to compensate the shareholders rather than overtly punitive action.
An incentive for Tories to create something for a change, rather than just leeching off the hand that fed them.
Juped en esque
The list price of Merdian power.
$1.50
Now $1.07
Loss of 43cents
Nearly 30%
Sorry TD you are wrong on this one. Meridian float made up of two payments $1 for an instalment reciepts, 50c later to complete to complete the deal. So the correct comparison is between $1.07 and $1. So it is up 7% or about 21% on an annualised basis (although on a 4 month timeframe anualised measure are a little meaningless). Cheers
Um, but to sell the shares and make the 7c profit, you still need to complete the deal by paying the additional 50c? So the cost to you is $1.50?
Otherwise, I’m not sure how the law feels about folk who sell what they don’t actually own.
Hiya, no if you sell you don’t pay the 50c, the new owner does. Cheers
Ah.
weird.
Semantics really.
In order to sell now, you need to find a buyer willing to pay $1.57 in a market that says they’re only worth $1.07.
Good luck with that.
Sounds like great Tory economics to me. Get the government to sell you something cheap, play games with the price, then sell it on for half as much again as the market says it’s worth.
Jesus H Christ, we shouldn’t even be thinking of taking these shares back for free. We should nationalise and charge the pricks $1 a share as rent for our property. After all, that’s pretty much what they do with rental housing.
Josie Pagani. The fucking turnip.
She’s on The Nation yesterday discussing Matt McCarten’s appointment, and she reckons there are two valid strands of left policy, one of looking after working people and one of looking after business and development, and she reckons hiring McCarten shows that Cunliffe is putting all his eggs in the “looking after workers” basket, and that that’s a mistake because Labour’s opponents will call him a leftie.
And so Ralston says yeah nah actually, he’s employed in a strategic role not a policy role, and it’s actually a pretty smart move getting him in there cos, well, he’s good etc, and so Josie says yeah but PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING, and the risk now is that his opponents will MISREPRESENT SHIT and deliberately CREATE THE PERCEPTION that he’s leftie.
ffs Josie, that’s you. You’re you’re the one misrepresenting the situation, and you’re the one saying it’s no good having lefties in the frickin LABOUR party of all places. That makes you the very opponent you were describing.
Just join National and be done with it you spanner. You nonce. You whispering serpent.
Video, about 44 mins in: http://www.tv3.co.nz/tabid/3692/MCat/2910/Default.aspx
Actually, I think both Pagani’s would be better off in United Future as they’re both Sensible Centrists.
The bloke looks so gormless and uriah sheepish! Funny.
Well spotted felix.
You put clearly what I’ve often noticed but not articulated – commentators often talk about ‘how bad this will be perceived’ without noticing their role in forming perceptions.
Where do they think people get their perceptions from? Don’t they understand that most of these kinds of ‘perceptions’ are largely people trying to find out what everyone else thinks and then falling into line to avoid looking like an outlier?
Pascal’s bookie made similar observations a couple of months ago when she was last in the media attacking the left and doing her opponents’ work for them.
My attention has just been drawn, belatedly, to this outstanding post. Congratulations, felix—you’ve summed up the Pagani phenomenon perfectly.
Thanks Morrissey. I also missed that pearl of felix’s…
Perfect description of Ms Pagani. She reelly, reelly, reeeeelly likes socialising with celebrity commentators and the ‘perceived’ toffs. Makes her feel like she’s one of them.
Although, if she checks, she will find that they have nothing but contempt for her. Cameron Slater calls her “my regular punching bag Josie Pagani.” I reminded him of this late last year when he was acting the part of the galante….
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2013/12/misogyny-left/