The MSM have been trying to combat the effect the internet has on their new papers for years. They are up against it with decent sites such as this one. I don’t buy their papers and certainly won’t be paying to read their propaganda. Stuff online is crap and they can get stuffed trying to pay wall their dross.
If it isn’t a paywall then the premium service is probably offering targeted news. Either that or a pathetic gateway that forces non subscribers to look at an ad that will be tolerated only by those who reside in hospital and have run out of Women’s Weekly.
Basically with targeted news the viewer is profiled based on what they have read in the past, ordered online etc.
Unfortunately it isn’t the news you are most familiar with that you need to be aware of (meaning that if I’m right and this is the type of service they are going to offer those who are foolish enough to subscribe will end up even less informed than they already are….).
What if someone set up a registered charity? The charitable purpose would be to disseminate information free of charge or political bias that is so prevalent in our news media. The site would be supported by charitable donations and therefore fully tax deductable. Hog damn.
Yeah – but most of your links are to stories from the main stream media anyway. Where you going to run to then?
You guys who hate on the media but spend your whole time linking to it and commenting on it make me laugh.
So much judgement from someone who has not created any original content in his life.
How hard is it to sit at the kitchen table and cut and paste links all day?
Give me a break. Every one of those I looked at on your page was a couple of short sentences linking to an MSM story. Even a letter-to-the-editor writer could do better.
I see leader of the God Botherers Collin Craig has announced they will not contest the Northland By-Election. Craig has said he does not want to split the Centre-Right vote and give arch rival Winston Peters a helping hand.
I am of the opinion that the con jobs would more likely take more votes off Peters than the National party’s patsy candidate. Things are falling nicely into place for the old shark Winnie.
Because according to a very good source within the region, HQ (Goodfellow, Joyce) steamrollered the local democratic process. They figure they already have the farmers vote more so than the small business sector. So apparently many of the rural voting delegates were spewing National office kept pushing forward their man and taking no notice the wishes of them to install their favourite farming son.
Such was the angry mood, the snub to Peters could be on the cards. Even unsuccessful candidate Ken R who setup and stood for his own indie party Focus NZ last election, he achieved the quite remarkable result of 1,600 candidate votes to stand in protest. He hammered Nationals abandonment of Northland during the campaign and picked up alot of their votes. Focus NZ Whangarei candidate was most impressive at our forum, with a hold no bars let down by National speech.
“I am of the opinion that the con jobs would more likely take more votes off Peters than the National Party’s patsy candidate. Things are falling nicely into place for the old shark Winnie.”
It’d certainly be nice to think the absence of a Conservative candidate will hurt National more than NZF or Labour. And I know more than a few commentators see the Conservatives and NZF appealing to essentially the same constituency. But I have strong doubts on that score.
For one thing, people who Party-Voted Conservative in 2011 and 2014 were pretty evenly split in their Candidate-Vote between the National and Cons candidates. Vey few went Labour and even fewer NZF.
The Candidate-Vote split for people who had Party-Voted Conservative in 2014 (for General Electorates as a whole), for instance, was 42% Nat, 41% Cons, 10% Lab, 2% NZF
In Northland at the last Election, Cons split 40% Con / 44% Nat in their Candidate-Vote. So a fairly typical seat. Admittedly, that means, of course, that quite a few erstwhile Cons would be voting National in this By-election anyway, regardless of whether or not a Con candidate stood. But it does still suggest (albeit not proving beyond doubt) that, with no candidate of their own, those Cons that do turn out to vote (and who gave two ticks to the Conservatives at the last General Election) will more likely go National’s way.
The other comparative measure to look at is: the relative proportion of National and NZF voters who cast their Candidate-Vote for the Cons. It’s true that in most seats in 2014, a slightly larger proportion of NZF Party-Voters gave their Candidate-vote to the Cons. But the fact that (relative to NZF) National received more than 5X the Party-Vote in most seats meant that, in sheer raw numbers, more Nats than NZFers voted for the Cons candidate. In General Electorates as a whole, 25,000 Nats Candidate-Voted Conservative in 2014 compared to 8,000 NZF supporters. In Northland, 312 Nats / 242 NZFers cast their Candidate-Vote</I for the Cons.
Obviously, there are a few caveats involved. Chief among them, the fact that Winnie himself is standing rather than just any old nondescript NZF candidate. And we, of course, can't be entirely sure that those Cons who gave two ticks to their party/candidate in 2014 are precisely the same manner of beast as those who split their Candidate-vote in favour of the Nats. There’s also the question of turnout among previous Con voters.
But, overall, (in the absence of definitive proof) I’d say this move by Colin Craig will put a wider smile on John Key’s face than on Winston Peters’, Willow Prime’s or Andrew Little’s.
Yeah that’s a fair cop and a very good breakdown, and thanks for the crunching ( makes me wonder if your an accountant) however depending on what’s squeaked or possibly roared out during the campaign, as to how the holier than thou religious vote. The tarred by association factor, just thinking back to the Christian heritage party’s dramatic voter fall away. Got any numbers on that one?
Politicians really really make me angry quite often…. most always for their blatant lies
Now we have Tony Abbot speaking as if the fucking Aussies have been bombing the middle east to death alongside the warmongering US for 14 years in order to defend attacks on their home turf.
So lets get this straight – the Aussies have been attacked in response to their own unilateral bombings in the middle east, and not vice versa.
Thanks to those of you who’ve posted Tourette’s song/freestyle “John Key’s son’s a DJ” from the Splore festival.
It’s getting airplay on Radio Active this morning, not surprising as they’ve played every anti Key song there is except @peace’s “kill the PM”. They got banned from playing Darren Watson’s “Planet Key” but that doesn’t stop them from talking about the state of our country under Key and playing political songs.
Onya Active.
Here’s the studio version of John Key’s son’s a DJ
Eh? You mean the cynicism in the lyrics? I didn’t hear cynicism, maybe I’m just too hardened, or too familiar with this style. Good that different folks take different things from music. Always good to have a fresh pair of ears for analysis.
And in regard to wingnuts, are you referring them always banging on about the Left not having a sense of humour, or as I would see it a different sense of humour (eg not reliant upon misogyny or racism)?
A Zambian magistrate will decide the future of a case in which the country’s top prosecutor said he would not be pursuing a case against himself and declared himself a free man.
“I am the director of public prosecution of the republic of Zambia and I have decided to enter a nolle prosequi against all the charges,” Mutembo Nchito told the magistrate from the dock last week, using the Latin term for refusing to pursue a case…
Nchito was briefly arrested last week on nine charges, including abusing his authority, contempt of court and fraudulent contracting of debt. The offences were allegedly committed between 2008 and 2013.
that seems to be a bit of a structural oversight, although I suspect that as a former british-occupied territory someone might be bringing up the magna carta.
Which may then lead to this from Monty Python “Look I’ve found some lovely filth here” and lots of circular arguments about process. An oldie but still got lots of wear left in it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOOTKA0aGI0
Just substitute King Key for King Arthur and make appropriate changes including in the cast, Winston, Little, Joyce, English, etc..to see what is really happening in various overt and covert ways, to the common people, the workers and what Key terms the “underclass” from the rich “upper class” corporate lackeys.
Government is again killing off NZ small business instead of encouraging it. Minimum Social Development is going to a single provider of whiteware in Northland. this cuts out business from small retailers who provide a small core of commerce there and provide jobs, distribution of some money in the area, and keep some investment money bubbling there. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northland-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503402&objectid=11406892
[The Kaikohe Business Association:] The association says it is inconceivable that a government department should be allowed to operate in direct competition with retail businesses that not only pay tax but were effectively paying the wages of their opposition.
Beneficiaries who applied to the MSD for loans to purchase whiteware were forced to purchase their appliance through the ministry, which passed the goods on to the buyer at cost.
And I hate to think what sort of shoddy crap the Govt supplied whiteware is. My friend in a HNZ place was supplied with a heater/fan arrangement when HNZ responded to her request to fix the drafty chimney. They blocked the chimney and installed an electric combined heater/fan/cooler appliance which costs an absolute fortune to run. After the first bill, it has never been turned on since and my friend is back to the old gas bottle heater.
@
The problem for bennies is not solved by not matching any household appliance to the beneficiaries needs. It makes no difference how good it is, how well made, how energy saving. If it can’t be afforded, then it can’t be used.
In this case it is the business people griping. It may seem that they are well off but they are actually very small businesses, often one man, partnership, or family and haven’t got much slack these days in depressed economic areas.
There is not much help for people suffering from electricity heating costs it seems. The metered properties with these Smart meters don’t sound as if they are getting much benefit! I think the meter automatically charges them at the highest electricity price so they are being punished for having them.
For heating I’ve got a clean pellet burner. It is a well devised machine that needs to be carefully cleaned to operate well, and the pellets burn in a controlled system, but still far too fast. So sometimes I use my fan operated elderly large electric bar heater. It is straightforward and doesn’t need its vent holes cleaned and it keeps going, while the pellets can lock and the burner turns off. Also it doesn’t go in high winds and if the electricity goes off, it does to because it runs off mains power. So good idea but lacking. One day I’ll enquire and see if they have invented a battery clip-on, as there are some that are battery operated. Now that would be a forward looking development.
Enough of my experiences with energy saving, smokeless heaters adopted under the stringent rules set by Labour. I can’t even burn string or paper rubbish so it goes to the dump if I can’t reuse it or give it away.
According to the very helpful person at the local WINZ office, the reason for the change of policy is to ensure (a) quality appliances are bought (b) beneficiaries don’t contract to pay private suppliers more than they can really afford with some of the shonky merchants who exploit those with poor credit history. Repayment spread over 100 weeks (I believe) deducted before benefit is paid out.
The reality is that appliances do wear out, no matter your financial status and those elderly, ill, care giving or jobseeking are in no position to incur high levels of indebtedness to payday lenders and pay as you use agencies.
Those local businesses probably got very little business from MSD clients as the Red Shed is far more likely to have given the more competitive quote.
By the way, I believe that F & P are the preferred whiteware brand.
(I stand to be corrected but this information was from the source)
F&P is my unpreferred whiteware brand. Along with all their other brands they either import or seem to co-produce.
There is no reason that a bennie who isn’t too ill or old to walk and talk can’t get quotes for models from two or three different stores one of which then gets the Minse okay if it can be supplied and installed and old one taken away within one week or so. That could be ascertained over the phone from their office, and the deal set up.
Then other retailers get a chance, the money gets spread better and the bennie can’t be taken to the cleaners for their new washing machine or such.
Not difficult. It just takes an effort of will that Minse will be a good social actor in the community.
Sixty British women and girls have left the UK to join ISIS
Seems like our much vaunted FVEY mass surveillance system isn’t any good at stopping school children looking to become terrorist supporters. It’s only good at targetting people AFTER authorities have discovered that they are a problem.
Must be time to give the security intelligence industrial complex more millions and more unregulated powers so they can successfully stop school kids.
It’s often pointed out that Islamic State is a barbaric organisation trying to establish medieval-type social control. It is also, however, a repository of the dispossessed, the marginalised, the fanatical, the extreme, and, yes, the evil. ISIS is not the main source of barbarism, brutality and evil in the region, however.
Beside the barbarism, brutality and evil of US imperialism ISIS are rank amateurs. And while we recoil in horror at their public beheadings this is a common form of execution by the state in Saudi Arabia, one of Washington’s chief allies in the world. John Key may mouth outrage at ISIS beheadings, but a mere few weeks ago he asked for NZ flags to be lowered as a mark of respect following the death of the Saudi dictator, “King” Abdullah, the man who presided over public beheadings and floggings by the state throughout his reign (as does his successor now).
ISIS can control a territory of 8M people (some of whom are veterans of the war with Iraq and also with the USA) with a bare 20,000 to 30,000 men because those people consider ISIS a reasonable bet compared to the corrupt, incompetent authorities in Baghdad.
In other words, this has all the makings of an Iraqi civil war.
Cheers, Joe90. That gives a decent perspective. I tried looking myself, but couldn’t find anything definitive. Really hard to know what population remains in the affected areas and what percentage are under direct control.
Got a cite for that population figure, CV? And how do you know what they “consider”?
Gee I hope you didn’t just support a troop deployment whilst having no idea of the enemy numbers, disposition and territory held. I did, and that’s why I declined to support the troop deployment.
You posted a figure about the Iraqi population under ISIS control and I was just trying to verify whether it was accurate or not. Not, as it turns out. But, of course, you can also link to where you got the figure from and we can compare and contrast.
I know because it’s bloody obvious. It’s degenerating into a civil war, and you can’t hold hundreds of thousands of square kilometres with that large a population, with so few troops, without most of that population either actively or tacitly supporting you.
Remember that territory is full of ex-Iraqi army soldiers and officers, veterans of campaigns against Iran and the USA. If they wanted to take partisan action against the rag tag lightly armed rabble that is ISIS and throw them out, that could very easily be done.
Sweet, it’s bloody obvious to you. Well, that’s all the facts I need, folks, lets call the whole thing off. I’m surprised anybody is fighting ISIS with overwhelming empirical evidence like that to call on. 🙄
Or put it another way: best estimates is that ISIS has 20,000 to 30,000 fighters.
The Iraqi army is 300,000 men plus Sh’ite militia (50,000 or more). Jordan has an army of 90,000. Turkey, a NATO member has an army of 315,000. Iran’s army is so large, it could deploy 10 divisions into Iraq and not blink.
That plus US airstrikes, intel, satellite recon, and still they need little ol’ NZ and its 143 or so soldiers over there?
Of course, the most likely reason that ISIS is not being beaten is that it’s not just a ragtag militia of up to 30,000 lightly armed troops, but a de facto rebellion, highly funded and organised, in the north of Iraq against Baghdad.
>If they wanted to take partisan action against the rag tag lightly armed rabble that is ISIS and throw them out, that could very easily be done.
Nah, the veterans of campaigns against Iran and the USA are remnants of the culture bound top to bottom losing armies of the past while the rag tag bunch are a new breed – devolved decision-making by western trained commanders and veteran insurgents with a western approach to problem solving making for a fleet footed nimble force who by the day are becoming more effective while heavier and heavier weapons arrive as we speak.
I understand what you mean but those same ex-Iraqi soldiers/Sunni militia you speak of also managed to kill approx 4000 US servicemen over 10 years, from memory. So not entirely ineffective, are they.
Basically I think you understand my point. That ISIS have plenty of grassroots on the ground sympathy in the Sunni areas of Iraq that they hold.
This is wikipedia on executions and beheadings and they are usually reliable.
Beheading
A public beheading will typically take place around 9am. The convicted person is walked into the square and kneels in front of the executioner. The executioner uses a sword known as a sulthan to remove the condemned person’s head from his or her body at the neck. Sometimes it may take several strikes before victim is decapitated.[7] After the criminal is pronounced dead, a loudspeaker announces the crimes committed by the beheaded alleged criminal and the process is complete. This is the most common method of execution in Saudi Arabia because it is specifically called for by Sharia Law.[8] Professional executioners behead as many as ten people in a single day.[8] The severed head is usually sewn back on,[9] and sometimes put on crucifixes for public display. In 2011, an Indonesian maid’s dead body was hung from a helicopter for display.[8]…
Of the 6,221 executions known to have taken place around the world from 2007-2012 (excluding China), 423 (6.8%) were carried out in Saudi Arabia.[1]
The government does not release figures on executions in the Kingdom[2] but human rights organisations keep tab.
Another heading – this time referring to USA executions.
America – the land of the not so free? | Interesting Facts! http://www.interestingfactss.com › All Facts › Interesting Facts
Since 1976, 1,348 individuals have been executed for their crimes in the USA with 220 of this figure being between the years of 2007 – 20012. The most …
Credit Union NZCU Baywide had a disagreement with an ex-employee who put f.ck you with the company’s initials iced on a cake. And they went ballistic. Just as well I can manage to cope with the word fuck as young schoolboys passing by my place may use it at every third word, and if I objected would probably say it to me too.
It would be rather annoying to hear about for the credit union. But they pressured a young employee to show them the image of the cake which was only sent to particular Facebook Friends under privacy. Unbelievable behaviour which got worse as they continued in a very unprofessional and unprincipled way. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/267496/record-damages-in-facebook-cake-ruling
If you want to be HEARD in person by the Local Government Commissioners in support of your submission:
Your PHONE NUMBER: (So you can be contacted to arrange a time to speak to the Local Government Commissioners, if you want to be heard.
Your SUBMISSION:
It can be as simple as:
I do NOT support the Draft Wellington Reorganisation Proposal.
Add whatever reasons you want…..
eg: There has never been a full, proper, independent audit of the Auckland ‘Supercity’ (forced) amalgamation, for ‘cost-effectiveness’ for the majority of citizen and ratepayers.
YOU CAN MAKE A SUBMISSION FROM OUTSIDE THE GREATER WELLINGTON REGION!
Aucklanders – SEIZE THE MOMENT!
I have seen and heard for myself – the blatant LIES that are being told about the Auckland ‘Supercity’.
eg: That the reason for large rate increases in Auckland are the shift from ‘land value’ to ‘capital value’.
eg: That Auckland Council ‘Local Boards’ have brought ‘local democracy’ to citizens and ratepayers.
Here is YOUR chance to TELL THE TRUTH about YOUR experience of this Auckland ‘Supercity’!
I find the thinking behind this article both fascinating and truly disturbing. In particular the solutions offered to the problem caused by the government of Venezuela massively subsidising the price of petrol.
“In order to eliminate the enormous state expense of the subsidy on gasoline, without affecting the popular classes, it is necessary for the state to control all heavy freight and long-haul transport, making them the distributors of goods and services across the country.
However, this would not be enough, because even if the state were able to offer distributing and transport services to the bourgeoisie at much lower prices than third-party companies do at present, the bourgeoisie would undoubtedly use the change as an excuse to artificially raise prices across the board. This makes it necessary to complete the socialist revolution, taking radical measures such as:
The nationalization of the levers that control the economy, which at this time is in the hands of the parasitic bourgeoisie, made up of: big industry and national monopolies, latifundios and private banks. It must be placed under the democratic control of the working people, the Socialist Workers’ and Farmworkers’ Councils, in combination with the other organs of peoples’ power, including Communal Councils, and communes, etc
The nationalization of all centers of distribution and the supply chain of food items and other basic items, including supermarket and pharmacy chains, to be under the democratic control of workers, also under the Socialist Workers’ Council. In this way, the state would be in charge of selling primary food and medicine, ridding the country of hoarding, forced scarcity, and speculation induced by the bourgeoisie.”
I’m curious how many leftists here actually support this view. I suspect someone like Draco T Bastard probably would but how about more moderate leftists?
Not entirely sure that venezuala’s my cup of tea, but I have no problem with infrastructure being nationalised on a case-by-case basis. Although even in Venezuela I’d probably go rail to undercut long-haul truckers rather than nationalising trucking companies as such.
Except it isn’t just one small aspect of the economy that would come under the control of the State but the vast majority of it including ALL heavy freight and long haul distribution businesses plus all big businesses. If you are comfortable with that then you should not have any problem with understanding why people on the right are so opposed to left wing economics.
The right are opposed to left wing economics because the right are happy to leave companies to self-regulate and thereby kill workers.
Personally, I reckon NZ should bring back the hundred mile limit for heavy goods vehicles. And cabotage. And sort out the slavery on NZ chartered fishing vessels. And make company directors personally liable for workplace deaths via corporate manslaughter charges. And eliminate zero-hour contracts. And increase the burden on directors to ensure the truth of reports they sign off on. And have a memorial at every workplace for every worker who died on site, including during construction. And make companies more liable for subcontractors’ safety, including fatigue and avenues to/from the workplace. And ban freeloading non-members from collective contracts. And get rid of fire at will legislation. And have a living minimum wage.
That lot gets opposition from tories, but most of them simply support a worker’s right to life.
The question is why you wouldn’t support policies as proposed in that article on Venezuela. The article makes clear that the sort of policies you mention are just making accomodation with the property owning classes which does not work. Do you disagree with this and if so why?
The answer is that I don’t have a particular ideological problem with the proposed policies, but given that I look at these things on a case by case basis I do not have enough information about the Venezualan economy to firmly commit either way.
But my second response was more to the fact that the specific policies in Venezuala are irrelevant, because the right are vehemently opposed to any policy that puts worker or public welfare ahead of their ability to extract the maximum possible buck from the country.
So bringing up relatively extreme left wing policies and then touting that as to “why people on the right are so opposed to left wing economics” is a camouflage of tory greed, because tories are equally opposed to much more moderate policies, too.
hi mcflock,
“Personally, I reckon NZ should bring back the hundred mile limit for heavy goods vehicles.”
couldnt agree more.
this is one of my hobby horses.
we have a big electric railway running up most of the centre (sorry northland) of this skinny land. ideal for moving loads.
i can handle waiting an extra day for something to travel the country.
Especially since the roads up north are getting washed out by torrential rain and floods a few times a year! It would be awesome to catch a fast train straight through to Whangarei and Kerikeri without the risk of death one currently faces going through the Dome Valley and the Brynderwyns (boy racers & middle aged maniacs are common)
It seems right whingers like socialist policies even more with the European Central Bank printing $1.8 trillion in a new quantative easing program.
Gosman taking one economy and taring all socialist economies with the same brush makes you out to be foolish.
And completely destroys you argument.
You are talking about Venezuela it has a very long history of despotic leader’s
Mainly right wing murderous fascists.
Putin is a freemarketeer.
But he is a despot fascist.
For every left wing despot leader their are 10 right wing fascists.
Neither are good for their country.
So the likes of Singapore.
Is an example.
That works but its not perfect.
Venezuelanalysis – the website Gosman likes to selectively quote from, has this poll out yesterday:
“According to a new poll released by International Consulting Services (ICS), approximately 57% of Venezuelans have confidence that the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro will improve the economy.
The poll also featured several results which suggest that Chavismo continues to be the preferred political option for the country’s citizens.
In the midst of an economic crisis triggered by crashing oil prices and economic war in which basic goods remain scarce, only one fourth of Venezuelans regard scarcities as the country’s biggest problem. This finding contradicts the image of widespread hunger and desperation among Venezuelans projected by the international media.
Moreover, in the face of an inflation rate fast approaching 70%, only 1 in 10 Venezuelans consider inflation as the nation’s principal issue. Rather, insecurity, a perennial problem in Venezuela, remains the top concern for half of the country’s citizens.
The study also contained some unexpected findings regarding upcoming parliamentary elections. Contrary to international predictions of a landslide victory for the opposition, 43.6% of Venezuelans said they would vote for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and its allied parties if elections were held today.
This figure means that even in the midst of acute economic difficulties, the PSUV retains a strong lead over the opposition, which was the preference of less than 32% of poll respondents.
Additionally, the poll found that on the eve of the second anniversary of the death of Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, around 62% of Venezuelans consider themselves chavistas, or “partisans… of the ideals” of the late Venezuelan leader. This result attests to the ongoing majoritarian popularity of the Bolivarian project initiated by Chávez, even despite his physical absence.
Furthermore, in the area of human rights, the survey discovered that 80% of Venezuelans believe that respect for human rights is guaranteed in the Bolivarian republic. This figure stands at odds with statements by the U.S. government and international media, regarding alleged “human rights violations” committed by the government of Nicolas Maduro. “
Despite all the concern some of the RWNJs have shown over toilet paper and condoms, it seems the Venezuelans themselves are still Chavistas.
Venezuelaanalysis.com has previously received funding from the Venezuelan Government through the Ministry of Culture. It also has had a linkage to the Tele Sur media outlet, funded by the Venezuelan Government.
By the standards you have set in previous posts Molly, this would disqualify it as a credible source of information?
So who are ‘International Consulting Services’. A well known, credible and independent source of polling information?
Well, I can’t verify that unfortunately, because there doesn’t seem to be very much information out there about them at all outside of their own website. Started late 2013. No offices it seems. No specific personal listed. Only work they seem to have done is 6 polls on Venezuelan voters preferences. No methodology or references listed for those polls.
By now I’m not surprised to find the polls all paint a rosy picture of support for the Government.
Other purpose of site seems to be to provide news about Venezuela that has a striking similarity to the ‘official’ news off the Govt. Tele Sur media.
Yeah right. That’s all credible then!
Here’s some info. I found from a media outlet calling themselves “The Independent’. Haven’t got time to research them Molly, but they say bad things about the Venezuelan situation and Government, so no doubt they are a RW propaganda site funded by the U.S. government.sarc.
Personally, I only mentioned Venezuela because Morrisey kept posting articles about it.
Governments suppressing human rights and freedoms and committing violence against citizens concerns me where ever it occurs.
If the Scandinavian countries start acting that way I’ll be the first here to start pointing the finger.
But in the meantime it is the Venezuelan Government that is following the route towards removal of freedoms and human rights, and ultimately the violent suppression of opposition from Venezuelan citizens.
I would love to have events prove me wrong on that, but I predict that when if and that end game comes, some posters here will be acting as apologists for that suppression.
Lost sheep, I mixed you up with Gosman. You both put forward similar arguments, and don’t listen very often to considered responses. I apologise for that.
(BTW: I searched a few of the authors on Venezuela analysis and found out quite a lot. Are you sure you know how to use Google effectively?)
And I thought you were interested in debating content. Not playing he said, she said. That said 😉 , are you going to discuss any of the points in the article or are we just going to play commenter tag?
It seems right whingers like socialist policies even more with the European Central Bank printing $1.8 trillion in a new quantative easing program.
Gosman taking one economy and taring all socialist economies with the same brush makes you out to be foolish.
And completely destroys you argument.
You are talking about Venezuela it has a very long history of despotic leader’s
Mainly right wing murderous fascists.
Putin is a freemarketeer.
But he is a despot fascist.
For every left wing despot leader their are 10 right wing fascists.
Neither are good for their country.
So the likes of Singapore.
Is an example.
That works but its not perfect.
At the moment Brazilian owners of transport companies are busy with the first stages of a coup. Their inspiration seems to be Pinochet. I think all businesses taking part should be nationalised without compensation. The other things you mention will be necessary shortly as well.
Thanks for being so open in your support to policies that I find so abhorent. You are at least not trying to hide your true motivation behind the cloak of moderation.
I do find it funny in a tragic kind of way that left wing ‘solutions’ to problems caused by other leftist policies are so brutal and damaging to individual rights.
Thanks for supporting a nascent military coup which would take rights away from almost everyone, up to and including the right to life. My true motivation in the case I mentioned is to support democracy. If that can’t be done moderately, so be it.
“The nationalization of all centers of distribution and the supply chain of food items and other basic items, including supermarket and pharmacy chains, to be under the democratic control of workers, also under the Socialist Workers’ Council.”
Why yes I would be all for this Gosman, we would be able to pay a living wage and give our state workers and politicians a higher annual payrise, certainly above the 1.6 % mark our dictator Comandante Key has/is imposing.
Again thanks for the honest answer. It confirms in my mind why it is vital to oppose left wing politics. Not to do so risks great harm being done to society.
Can someone point me or give me a link to where somewhere in past comments Gosman espoused his version of what being left is for him? I am sure that someone bookmarked such a delightfully ironic piece of resistance.
You need a holiday Gosman as your sounding like your suffering from that toxic illness ‘over exposure to Pete G syndrome’ a particularly nasty condition we all get exposed too. I suggest you come up North and I will take you fishing.
And while your here you can do some rural door knocking, god knows the National candidate needs all the support he can get, after Joyce slapped the local farmers on the back of their red necks and rejected their local farm boy hero.
Just bring a straw hat some chewing tobacco, and for Christ sake leave that ACT baby poo’s jacket of yours at home.
A related question to the point I raised about Venezuela.
Are leftists generally happy demonising a large section of society as being essentially traitors for simply doing what basic economic philosophy predicts they will do given the sort of conditions imposed upon them?
If I run a business and the government imposes rules that reduce my profits significantly why am I at fault if i decide no longer supply at the level I was doing so previously? Surely I am just reacting to what the State has done in a manner that i am entitled to do just as workers should be entitled to strike if their wages or conditions are reduced.
answer to the first question: yes, because people are moral agents, not slaves to economic philosophy
as to the second question, you make the assumption that you’re at fault, when actually tobacco and alcohol regulation have those outcomes in mind. Do you have a more specific hypothetical?
The specific scenario (not hypothetical) in question relates to Venezuela blaming suppliers for causing shortages when they impose price controls on items that make it difficult to get returns from selling those items. If I forced you to sell an item at a price that you deemed to be insufficient for your requirements why would you be at fault if you stopped selling the item?
Well, it is hypothetical because I’m not a supplier of whatever it is in venezuela you’re bitching about.
But even so it doesn’t match the scenario you intially outlined. Say a supplier is paying 50 for transport and getting a profit of 30. Your initial comment seemed to indicate that you are already cool supplying x at a profit of 30. If your transport costs go down from 50 to 40, the problem is that you (being a tory) would pocket the extra 10 in addition to your 30 profit.
In that case, in the simplistic environment a price control of -10 would still give you a profit of 30 (which you’re happy to supply at, remember?) and pass the savings on to consumers.
If you as a producer was all “damn government forcing me to give up my extra 10, I’m outta here”, I’d say “don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out, I’ll do the job and keep the 30 that you were previously happy with”.
So to boil it down – should we blame people from acting in a toxic way when they have been immersed in a toxic environment for a long time.
Of course not. You blame the people (sociopaths) with the power and wealth who deliberately created the toxic environment: neolibs, banksters and right wingers.
and who paid stuart nash [deleted] per month ‘support’ he received in the year before being elected to parliament..?
..exactly who ‘owns’ him…?
[lprent: Cite a source if you want to claim a ‘fact’ that is as potentially defamatory as that one.
I am unaware of anything reasonably reputable that said he was paid anything on a monthly basis. A two week ban for putting this site into jeopardy for not citing a source.
A further two weeks for making up a ‘fact’ that you can get off by pointing to a source for a monthly payment that would have been sufficient for us to allow.
BTW: Calculations of averages won’t count by the way because you didn’t state that as a basis of calculation in your comment. FFS: that was a bloody stupid comment of the exact type that could cause US to get into legal danger. What in the hell were you thinking! ]
[lprent: Not blocked. It goes into the spam queue. I read the spam queue last in the moderation cycle. That is because I check for comments that should not have gone into it (ie false positives).
However I notice that
a. You didn’t post the link in any comment that you put there.
b. Ignored why I said I banned you which was because you didn’t provide the link to substantiate a potentially defamatory fact (CV and adam did it for you).
c. Ignored any effect it could potentially have on our site.
So I’ll remove the 2 weeks. You now just have a two weeks ban. I will refrain from following my natural inclination to just ban you permanently as being a danger to the site and to me.
However in view of your attitude which appear to be all about your wounded pride and not about what you actually got banned for… If I see you ever make a comment stating a potentially defamatory fact without a link again I will ban you permanently.
If you want to state something as a fact that involves a person or company and may be viewed defamatory on the face of it, then it is your responsibility to provide the required support for what you claim is true in the comment. You will note that virtually everyone else links or sources where they heard something. There is a reason for that. They are aware that it is something that may affect the site and we intensely dislike people putting us at risk
Moderators simply don’t have time to read everything in the newspaper or listen to the radio. We expect the person making an assertion of fact to provide enough information for us to check it out.
So if you are going to be so irresponsible to assert a fact and not back it WHEN you make the comment, I will treat you just as I would for any arsehole trying to make me waste time and resources in court. I will do so preemptively as an example to others. If you don’t like it, then I really don’t care. I care about my time more than I care about your pride… ]
New Labour MP Stuart Nash was bankrolled to the tune of $4000 a month by political backers for more than a year leading up to last year’s general election…The returns showed Mr Nash received $36,000 from Caniwi Capital Partners and $31,000 from Andrew Kelly, mostly paid in monthly instalments dating from June 2013.
[lprent: Agreed, that lets him off two weeks. However he still didn’t provide the link that is required if you want to claim a potentially defamatory fact on the site. ]
[lprent: Read my note more carefully this time. The specific fact that philu said was that Nash was receiving a stipend per month.
He then didn’t provide a source so I can’t verify it.
What part of definition of “defamation” do you not understand? Claiming some false fact as being true is at the heart of it, especially if it involves a clearly malicious intent. I have to pass all these types of comments through as a risk to me of legal action. I can’t do that without facts and as far as I am concerned it is up to commenters to provide the links to facts.
If he’d used the word ‘average’ in there somewhere, it wouldn’t have been a problem. However he didn’t, no doubt for malicious reasons to make the ‘story’ seem better – which is what defamation is intended to limit.
Now I’m sure that we will have some conspiracy nuts going on about Labour or the Greens or something (and I suspect that I can just vaguely sense Bomber preparing to be a complete pillock somewhere), however part of my task in this site is to prevent people dragging me and this site into court because they want to make a fool of themselves.
If you want to claim a possibly defamatory fact on this site then them to the bloody source or get banned.
I’m afraid that I really don’t like people trying to drag me into court. ]
Iprent – my point was simply to point out, whilst phil, may write odd, and it can be hard to read – I do not believe he would deliberately make your life hell – via a court case. Sloppy is my take – but in a 24 hour news cycle – with a government hell bent on dirty politics – non reflective, reactions are a reality of this process.
It is also, and I’ll paraphrase Chris Trotter – “there is a hell of a story there!”
And yes, I’ve very well aware of how defamation works in this country. I’m very careful how I write here, indeed my style of writing does provoke some to attack me. Because I allude, rather than name names
To late on the conspiracy nut angle – blubber boy beat everyone. I will not link to that idiot sorry – I don’t want hits for him – but Google it. It is a sad sad piece of propaganda.
Look – sometimes I think you need help doing this – you work long hours and have a family – and what you write sounds like a tired person. This not an attack – just, you seem stretched to the limit. I thought there was a collective running this? Should not others be standing up, and helping you out!?
We all have full lives and demands on our time. Basically comments that assert facts without links or source are a waste of time for any on be reading the site. But with our very limited moderation time, ones that attack people with anything that might be viewed as a malicious intent are just a danger to us and they waste our time a lot. We have to spend time verifying them.
If people want to comment here then they had better keep those facts in mind because my general preference would be to start booting them off site four longer periods of time.
We get 30k-50k unique people reading the site every month. We have hundreds and sometimes a thousand commenting each month, with more bthan 10k comments. Commenters need to take responsibility for their comments if the site is to keep going.
On a personal note anyone have a disastrous year last year especially if you’r poor ?
I put it down to the fact that Keys father was born 100 yrs ago and to celebrate Key decided to make as many people who hate his guts pay the best part of their year in misery a little known but probably personal truth
Plus the usual bullying expenses of an election as well as a fully integrated police state and a boat loads of lies ,deceit, coercion, club membership to the CIA old boys FBI pension club The Federal reserve community of tight wads ,The NY Stock exchange ,Mossad ,THe Five Eyes wave your democracy byebyes club, Tppa club not fully defined yet but after we get this Iraqi thing sorted its should be relatively easy to break it to the country by that stage they should be pretty fucked in the head and now with the ability to act as president Key will be able to take a holiday what a relief for us all. can I sabotage his plane to Hawaii no just leave it up to those hes probably pissed off more that a 100 Kiwi soldiers have become targets of.
Why cant we have the cunt for TREASON is that reserved for Britain to make the decision
Because fundamentally the problem is the Managers here.
Constructive dismissal of more than one staff = venting in private which has then not only been pried into by these Managers but they maliciously spread the illegally accessed info to other employees in the industry specifically to ruin her career.
Hopefully the massive payout Cake Lady got will put off idiot managers from nosing about in staff FB pages and launching totally inappropriate vendettas. Well done Cake Lady!
Its further evidence of NZs major problem with utterly shockingly bad Managers as reported in various surveys which show our Managers are overpaid & incompetent.
And further evidence that our Media likes to pander to Management side of things.
Peter Sinclair reviews Merchants of Doubt, a documentary how the climate denial industry and their shills have adopted tobacco company tactics to market doubt.
Ideologically, the Reform Party has consistently advocated market liberalism.[11] The Reform Party is the most economically liberal in the political landscape of Estonia.
The party supports Estonian 0% corporate tax on re-invested income and wants to eliminate the dividend tax.
The party wanted to cut flat income tax rate from 22% (in 2007) to 18% by 2011. Due to economic crisis the campaign for cutting income tax rate was put on hold with the tax rate at 21% in 2008 and 2009.
The party used to oppose VAT general rate increase until late spring 2009 when it changed its position in the light of dire economic crisis and the need to find more money for budget. VAT was increased from 18% to 20% on 1 July 2009.
The party wants eventually to end conscription and introduce a voluntary army.[13]
The neoliberal/financial/bankster outfit have a very effective playbook that they roll out via media outlets, paid “experts”, tame academics and well funded think tanks.
If a nation has armed forces, I personally prefer there is compulsory CONSCRIPTION for all youth to train and serve for a couple of years at least, rather than the voluntary system, because in the latter case it is the poor, the less privileged and the “underclass” that will “volunteer” while the rich and their well-to-do privileged kids go scot-free from serving, and the rich privileged “leaders” will have the audacity to tell every one else, except themselves and their own progeny to show “some guts”!
So – how committed are Labour to electorally ‘clipping the wings’ of this John Key led National Government?
How many folks here agree that the ‘commonsense’ / electorally ‘savvy’ thing for Labour to do in the Northland by-election, is to campaign hard on the issues, but for Labour Party supporters to VOTE for Winston Peters, in order to stop National winning back this pivotal seat, and being left with 59 out of 121 MPs?
Who is electorally the ‘main’ political ‘enemy’ here?
‘Unite the many to defeat the few’?
If I was a Northland voter – I’d be voting Winston Peters.
Yes and you distracted from the topic of the By-Election on Jackos show today, thought I got some traction going especially when that dude called after me trying to blurt out the Sabin issue. Anyway Jenny good effort on the proposed Wellington super city scam.
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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 Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],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 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
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Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
(first laff of the week..)
“..Stuff looks at premium membership..” (ed:..now that is funny..!..)
“..Fairfax Media’s news website stuff.co.nz may not be considering a paywall –
– but options to offer a premium membership service to New Zealand online readers are ‘really quite exciting’-
– says Fairfax Media chief executive Greg Hywood..”
(cont..)
(ed:..this one has me both puzzled and laughing..
..what wd this ‘premium-service’ be..?
..are they suddenly going to get ‘better’..?.”
(cont..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2015/stuff-looks-at-premium-membership-ed-now-that-is-funny/
Hope they use a paywall.
Then even less people will read their propaganda.
it really cracks me up – the pretensions/self-regard they have for what – quality-wise
– is the equivalent of a supermarket tabloid giveaway..
..as in – a really crap rag..
..and the herald is little better..
..the dead-tree media does not serve us well..
..and the funny thing is..stuff and whoar are looking out at the same media-world..
..how is it i can find so much good shit each and every day..(about 50 stories/links usually..)
..and these people just seek out/publish the mindless fucken dross..?
..and how some stories stay on their site for what seems eons..?
and the huge amount of people/activity to produce something so lite-weight..
..(vs..one person @ whoar..)
..is a modern-mystery..
.as in..w.t.f do they all do all day..?
At least Rhinehart is selling up her stake in fearfacts, so it’ll be less of a mouthpiece for mining interests with any luck.
The MSM have been trying to combat the effect the internet has on their new papers for years. They are up against it with decent sites such as this one. I don’t buy their papers and certainly won’t be paying to read their propaganda. Stuff online is crap and they can get stuffed trying to pay wall their dross.
If it isn’t a paywall then the premium service is probably offering targeted news. Either that or a pathetic gateway that forces non subscribers to look at an ad that will be tolerated only by those who reside in hospital and have run out of Women’s Weekly.
Basically with targeted news the viewer is profiled based on what they have read in the past, ordered online etc.
Unfortunately it isn’t the news you are most familiar with that you need to be aware of (meaning that if I’m right and this is the type of service they are going to offer those who are foolish enough to subscribe will end up even less informed than they already are….).
Wait.a.minute…
What if someone set up a registered charity? The charitable purpose would be to disseminate information free of charge or political bias that is so prevalent in our news media. The site would be supported by charitable donations and therefore fully tax deductable. Hog damn.
https://charities.govt.nz/apply-for-registration/charitable-purpose/
maybe i should do that with whoar…
Yeah – but most of your links are to stories from the main stream media anyway. Where you going to run to then?
You guys who hate on the media but spend your whole time linking to it and commenting on it make me laugh.
not so..not all msm is shit..
..the guardian/independent r two of merit..
..it is just that our m.s.m is shit…
So much judgement from someone who has not created any original content in his life.
How hard is it to sit at the kitchen table and cut and paste links all day?
all original material is in the op-ed section @ whoar..
here’s ten yrs worth..
http://whoar.co.nz/category/op-ed/
your turn…
..how hard is it to bitch bullshit..?..eh..?
Give me a break. Every one of those I looked at on your page was a couple of short sentences linking to an MSM story. Even a letter-to-the-editor writer could do better.
Premium service. Advertorials written by such stalwarts as Mike Hoskings in support of something or other. Sky or the Nats he don’t care.
(this reasoned demolition of austerity-politics is worth the read..)
“..Mr Osborne’s Economic Experiment: Austerity 1945-51 and 2010- review – an elegant demolition of the chancellor’s policies..
..By comparing Britain in 2010 with the postwar years of his childhood –
– William Keegan demolishes the coalition’s arguments for austerity economics..”
(cont..)
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/01/osborne-economic-experiment-austerity-1945-51-2010-elegant-demolition-chancellor-policies
“..Drugs Live: why I wanted to get stoned on TV..
..Channel 4’s experiment into the effects of cannabis –
– aims to research the differences between ingesting hashish and skunk –
– in a controlled environment..”
(cont..)
(um..!..why either/or..?..why not both together..?
..(mm!!!..skunk leavened with hash..!..tasty..!..)
http://www.theguardian.com/society/shortcuts/2015/mar/01/drugs-live-why-wanted-to-get-stoned-live-tv-channel-four
I see leader of the God Botherers Collin Craig has announced they will not contest the Northland By-Election. Craig has said he does not want to split the Centre-Right vote and give arch rival Winston Peters a helping hand.
I am of the opinion that the con jobs would more likely take more votes off Peters than the National party’s patsy candidate. Things are falling nicely into place for the old shark Winnie.
Why do you describe the National party’s candidate a patsy?
because he is being set up for a fall..?
..’beauty-parlour’ owner from taipa..as he is..
.(i guess he puts the ‘small’ in ‘small-business..)
Because according to a very good source within the region, HQ (Goodfellow, Joyce) steamrollered the local democratic process. They figure they already have the farmers vote more so than the small business sector. So apparently many of the rural voting delegates were spewing National office kept pushing forward their man and taking no notice the wishes of them to install their favourite farming son.
Such was the angry mood, the snub to Peters could be on the cards. Even unsuccessful candidate Ken R who setup and stood for his own indie party Focus NZ last election, he achieved the quite remarkable result of 1,600 candidate votes to stand in protest. He hammered Nationals abandonment of Northland during the campaign and picked up alot of their votes. Focus NZ Whangarei candidate was most impressive at our forum, with a hold no bars let down by National speech.
“I am of the opinion that the con jobs would more likely take more votes off Peters than the National Party’s patsy candidate. Things are falling nicely into place for the old shark Winnie.”
It’d certainly be nice to think the absence of a Conservative candidate will hurt National more than NZF or Labour. And I know more than a few commentators see the Conservatives and NZF appealing to essentially the same constituency. But I have strong doubts on that score.
For one thing, people who Party-Voted Conservative in 2011 and 2014 were pretty evenly split in their Candidate-Vote between the National and Cons candidates. Vey few went Labour and even fewer NZF.
The Candidate-Vote split for people who had Party-Voted Conservative in 2014 (for General Electorates as a whole), for instance, was 42% Nat, 41% Cons, 10% Lab, 2% NZF
In Northland at the last Election, Cons split 40% Con / 44% Nat in their Candidate-Vote. So a fairly typical seat. Admittedly, that means, of course, that quite a few erstwhile Cons would be voting National in this By-election anyway, regardless of whether or not a Con candidate stood. But it does still suggest (albeit not proving beyond doubt) that, with no candidate of their own, those Cons that do turn out to vote (and who gave two ticks to the Conservatives at the last General Election) will more likely go National’s way.
The other comparative measure to look at is: the relative proportion of National and NZF voters who cast their Candidate-Vote for the Cons. It’s true that in most seats in 2014, a slightly larger proportion of NZF Party-Voters gave their Candidate-vote to the Cons. But the fact that (relative to NZF) National received more than 5X the Party-Vote in most seats meant that, in sheer raw numbers, more Nats than NZFers voted for the Cons candidate. In General Electorates as a whole, 25,000 Nats Candidate-Voted Conservative in 2014 compared to 8,000 NZF supporters. In Northland, 312 Nats / 242 NZFers cast their Candidate-Vote</I for the Cons.
Obviously, there are a few caveats involved. Chief among them, the fact that Winnie himself is standing rather than just any old nondescript NZF candidate. And we, of course, can't be entirely sure that those Cons who gave two ticks to their party/candidate in 2014 are precisely the same manner of beast as those who split their Candidate-vote in favour of the Nats. There’s also the question of turnout among previous Con voters.
But, overall, (in the absence of definitive proof) I’d say this move by Colin Craig will put a wider smile on John Key’s face than on Winston Peters’, Willow Prime’s or Andrew Little’s.
Yeah.
Yeah that’s a fair cop and a very good breakdown, and thanks for the crunching ( makes me wonder if your an accountant) however depending on what’s squeaked or possibly roared out during the campaign, as to how the holier than thou religious vote. The tarred by association factor, just thinking back to the Christian heritage party’s dramatic voter fall away. Got any numbers on that one?
Politicians really really make me angry quite often…. most always for their blatant lies
Now we have Tony Abbot speaking as if the fucking Aussies have been bombing the middle east to death alongside the warmongering US for 14 years in order to defend attacks on their home turf.
So lets get this straight – the Aussies have been attacked in response to their own unilateral bombings in the middle east, and not vice versa.
Fuck the lying politicians.
+1 veets
Thanks to those of you who’ve posted Tourette’s song/freestyle “John Key’s son’s a DJ” from the Splore festival.
It’s getting airplay on Radio Active this morning, not surprising as they’ve played every anti Key song there is except @peace’s “kill the PM”. They got banned from playing Darren Watson’s “Planet Key” but that doesn’t stop them from talking about the state of our country under Key and playing political songs.
Onya Active.
Here’s the studio version of John Key’s son’s a DJ
http://tourettesone.bandcamp.com/track/john-keys-sons-a-dj
Oh and a word of warning. Don’t do what I did out of curiosity and go and listen to Troskey. You’ll burn your ears. It’s formulaic BS.
The cynicism reminds me of old ‘communist’ ‘jokes’ – the sort of humour that develops when people don’t have a stake in their own country.
You’d’ve thought wingnuts would have cottoned on to that, considering they spent most of last century whining about it.
Eh? You mean the cynicism in the lyrics? I didn’t hear cynicism, maybe I’m just too hardened, or too familiar with this style. Good that different folks take different things from music. Always good to have a fresh pair of ears for analysis.
And in regard to wingnuts, are you referring them always banging on about the Left not having a sense of humour, or as I would see it a different sense of humour (eg not reliant upon misogyny or racism)?
“John Key’s son’s a DJ.”
“The rise of the short poppy.”
“Let them eat instant noodles”.
“Cameron Slater’s a journalist”.
etc. etc.
The wingnuts have failed to learn the lessons they were so busy pointing out for the last hundred years,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/01/zambian-court-decide-prosecutor-drop-case-against-himself
?!
that seems to be a bit of a structural oversight, although I suspect that as a former british-occupied territory someone might be bringing up the magna carta.
This cartoon symbolises the attitudes of the rich bastards against the “Under Class”.
http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/20159/cartoo1.jpg
Which may then lead to this from Monty Python “Look I’ve found some lovely filth here” and lots of circular arguments about process. An oldie but still got lots of wear left in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOOTKA0aGI0
Thanks1 I enjoyed that and found its transcript.
Just substitute King Key for King Arthur and make appropriate changes including in the cast, Winston, Little, Joyce, English, etc..to see what is really happening in various overt and covert ways, to the common people, the workers and what Key terms the “underclass” from the rich “upper class” corporate lackeys.
http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_scripts/peasant.php
So, Stuart Nash raised $99,000 in political donations last year. Well done, that shows true prowess.
36K of it from the guys that commissioned a Lusk report on the viability of Nash setting up a spolier party, so yeah. Golf clap.
no..it shows he is supported by rightwing-trouts.
(one of them even bought his fucken fire-engine for him..!..f.f.s..!)
..and williams was all praising of him for ‘winning’..
..failing to note the key fact that nash only won that seat because that idiot/clown from sensible-sentencing split the rightwing vote for him..
..had that not happened..
..nash wd still be forlornly tootling around napier in that fire-engine..
..don’t give him credit – where none is fucken due..
..nash is a tool of the rightwing..
..supported by the likes of slater..
..he is their stalking horse/best hope for labour to stay neo-liberal…
..and a major supporter of those labour ’14 election-policies –
– of drill/mine/fuck-the-poor!…
..he is a very large part of labours neo-liberal ‘problem’..
+1 Phillip
and let’s not forget this piece of hate-preaching/madness from that fucken clown mcvicar..
“..He stated that crime would increase if gays were allowed to marry..”
..(how did that work out..?..vile hate-merchant that he is..)
(oh..!..and mcvicar resigned from the conservative party after his successful vote-split in napier..
..leaving the strong suspicion the whole thing was a set-up by the right..
..to help nash win the seat..
..nash is a fucken tory stalking/trojan-horse..!
..get that into yr heads..!
Thought you guys might have missed this piece of news, that’s all 🙂
yes..but the devil is in the detail..isn’t it..?
..and pushing a bullshit idea that nash is a hardworking/gun fundraiser..
..when in fact that money came from his rich rightwing-backers..
..just advances the cause of the neo-liberal/rightwing who have so successfully colonised labour..
..i thought you were anti-them..?
Just making sure the right people had seen this piece of news 😈
Yes CR, it does. I thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Government is again killing off NZ small business instead of encouraging it. Minimum Social Development is going to a single provider of whiteware in Northland. this cuts out business from small retailers who provide a small core of commerce there and provide jobs, distribution of some money in the area, and keep some investment money bubbling there.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northland-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503402&objectid=11406892
[The Kaikohe Business Association:] The association says it is inconceivable that a government department should be allowed to operate in direct competition with retail businesses that not only pay tax but were effectively paying the wages of their opposition.
Beneficiaries who applied to the MSD for loans to purchase whiteware were forced to purchase their appliance through the ministry, which passed the goods on to the buyer at cost.
And I hate to think what sort of shoddy crap the Govt supplied whiteware is. My friend in a HNZ place was supplied with a heater/fan arrangement when HNZ responded to her request to fix the drafty chimney. They blocked the chimney and installed an electric combined heater/fan/cooler appliance which costs an absolute fortune to run. After the first bill, it has never been turned on since and my friend is back to the old gas bottle heater.
@
The problem for bennies is not solved by not matching any household appliance to the beneficiaries needs. It makes no difference how good it is, how well made, how energy saving. If it can’t be afforded, then it can’t be used.
In this case it is the business people griping. It may seem that they are well off but they are actually very small businesses, often one man, partnership, or family and haven’t got much slack these days in depressed economic areas.
There is not much help for people suffering from electricity heating costs it seems. The metered properties with these Smart meters don’t sound as if they are getting much benefit! I think the meter automatically charges them at the highest electricity price so they are being punished for having them.
For heating I’ve got a clean pellet burner. It is a well devised machine that needs to be carefully cleaned to operate well, and the pellets burn in a controlled system, but still far too fast. So sometimes I use my fan operated elderly large electric bar heater. It is straightforward and doesn’t need its vent holes cleaned and it keeps going, while the pellets can lock and the burner turns off. Also it doesn’t go in high winds and if the electricity goes off, it does to because it runs off mains power. So good idea but lacking. One day I’ll enquire and see if they have invented a battery clip-on, as there are some that are battery operated. Now that would be a forward looking development.
Enough of my experiences with energy saving, smokeless heaters adopted under the stringent rules set by Labour. I can’t even burn string or paper rubbish so it goes to the dump if I can’t reuse it or give it away.
According to the very helpful person at the local WINZ office, the reason for the change of policy is to ensure (a) quality appliances are bought (b) beneficiaries don’t contract to pay private suppliers more than they can really afford with some of the shonky merchants who exploit those with poor credit history. Repayment spread over 100 weeks (I believe) deducted before benefit is paid out.
The reality is that appliances do wear out, no matter your financial status and those elderly, ill, care giving or jobseeking are in no position to incur high levels of indebtedness to payday lenders and pay as you use agencies.
Those local businesses probably got very little business from MSD clients as the Red Shed is far more likely to have given the more competitive quote.
By the way, I believe that F & P are the preferred whiteware brand.
(I stand to be corrected but this information was from the source)
F&P is my unpreferred whiteware brand. Along with all their other brands they either import or seem to co-produce.
There is no reason that a bennie who isn’t too ill or old to walk and talk can’t get quotes for models from two or three different stores one of which then gets the Minse okay if it can be supplied and installed and old one taken away within one week or so. That could be ascertained over the phone from their office, and the deal set up.
Then other retailers get a chance, the money gets spread better and the bennie can’t be taken to the cleaners for their new washing machine or such.
Not difficult. It just takes an effort of will that Minse will be a good social actor in the community.
Sixty British women and girls have left the UK to join ISIS
Seems like our much vaunted FVEY mass surveillance system isn’t any good at stopping school children looking to become terrorist supporters. It’s only good at targetting people AFTER authorities have discovered that they are a problem.
Must be time to give the security intelligence industrial complex more millions and more unregulated powers so they can successfully stop school kids.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/01/london-schoolgirls-60-female-britons-joined-isis
Aw, c’mon CV, give the poor guys a break! How many school girls you seen sporting terrorist beards?
It’s often pointed out that Islamic State is a barbaric organisation trying to establish medieval-type social control. It is also, however, a repository of the dispossessed, the marginalised, the fanatical, the extreme, and, yes, the evil. ISIS is not the main source of barbarism, brutality and evil in the region, however.
Beside the barbarism, brutality and evil of US imperialism ISIS are rank amateurs. And while we recoil in horror at their public beheadings this is a common form of execution by the state in Saudi Arabia, one of Washington’s chief allies in the world. John Key may mouth outrage at ISIS beheadings, but a mere few weeks ago he asked for NZ flags to be lowered as a mark of respect following the death of the Saudi dictator, “King” Abdullah, the man who presided over public beheadings and floggings by the state throughout his reign (as does his successor now).
The Washington-led intervention is about. . .
full article at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/no-to-all-western-military-intervention-in-the-middle-east/
ISIS can control a territory of 8M people (some of whom are veterans of the war with Iraq and also with the USA) with a bare 20,000 to 30,000 men because those people consider ISIS a reasonable bet compared to the corrupt, incompetent authorities in Baghdad.
In other words, this has all the makings of an Iraqi civil war.
Got a cite for that population figure, CV? And how do you know what they “consider”?
Estimated number of fighters/population.
http://warontherocks.com/2015/02/how-many-fighters-does-the-islamic-state-really-have/?singlepage=1
Cheers, Joe90. That gives a decent perspective. I tried looking myself, but couldn’t find anything definitive. Really hard to know what population remains in the affected areas and what percentage are under direct control.
Following these blokes too in an effort to sort the wheat from the chaff.
http://grahamefuller.com/blog/
http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/author/7e9d647f-91f8-4574-844b-e75354d59915
Gee I hope you didn’t just support a troop deployment whilst having no idea of the enemy numbers, disposition and territory held. I did, and that’s why I declined to support the troop deployment.
Thanks for the links joe90.
Ha! Who says I didn’t know?
You posted a figure about the Iraqi population under ISIS control and I was just trying to verify whether it was accurate or not. Not, as it turns out. But, of course, you can also link to where you got the figure from and we can compare and contrast.
I know because it’s bloody obvious. It’s degenerating into a civil war, and you can’t hold hundreds of thousands of square kilometres with that large a population, with so few troops, without most of that population either actively or tacitly supporting you.
Remember that territory is full of ex-Iraqi army soldiers and officers, veterans of campaigns against Iran and the USA. If they wanted to take partisan action against the rag tag lightly armed rabble that is ISIS and throw them out, that could very easily be done.
Sweet, it’s bloody obvious to you. Well, that’s all the facts I need, folks, lets call the whole thing off. I’m surprised anybody is fighting ISIS with overwhelming empirical evidence like that to call on. 🙄
Or put it another way: best estimates is that ISIS has 20,000 to 30,000 fighters.
The Iraqi army is 300,000 men plus Sh’ite militia (50,000 or more). Jordan has an army of 90,000. Turkey, a NATO member has an army of 315,000. Iran’s army is so large, it could deploy 10 divisions into Iraq and not blink.
That plus US airstrikes, intel, satellite recon, and still they need little ol’ NZ and its 143 or so soldiers over there?
Of course, the most likely reason that ISIS is not being beaten is that it’s not just a ragtag militia of up to 30,000 lightly armed troops, but a de facto rebellion, highly funded and organised, in the north of Iraq against Baghdad.
Nah, the veterans of campaigns against Iran and the USA are remnants of the culture bound top to bottom losing armies of the past while the rag tag bunch are a new breed – devolved decision-making by western trained commanders and veteran insurgents with a western approach to problem solving making for a fleet footed nimble force who by the day are becoming more effective while heavier and heavier weapons arrive as we speak.
I understand what you mean but those same ex-Iraqi soldiers/Sunni militia you speak of also managed to kill approx 4000 US servicemen over 10 years, from memory. So not entirely ineffective, are they.
Basically I think you understand my point. That ISIS have plenty of grassroots on the ground sympathy in the Sunni areas of Iraq that they hold.
This is wikipedia on executions and beheadings and they are usually reliable.
Beheading
A public beheading will typically take place around 9am. The convicted person is walked into the square and kneels in front of the executioner. The executioner uses a sword known as a sulthan to remove the condemned person’s head from his or her body at the neck. Sometimes it may take several strikes before victim is decapitated.[7] After the criminal is pronounced dead, a loudspeaker announces the crimes committed by the beheaded alleged criminal and the process is complete.
This is the most common method of execution in Saudi Arabia because it is specifically called for by Sharia Law.[8] Professional executioners behead as many as ten people in a single day.[8] The severed head is usually sewn back on,[9] and sometimes put on crucifixes for public display. In 2011, an Indonesian maid’s dead body was hung from a helicopter for display.[8]…
Of the 6,221 executions known to have taken place around the world from 2007-2012 (excluding China), 423 (6.8%) were carried out in Saudi Arabia.[1]
The government does not release figures on executions in the Kingdom[2] but human rights organisations keep tab.
Another heading – this time referring to USA executions.
America – the land of the not so free? | Interesting Facts!
http://www.interestingfactss.com › All Facts › Interesting Facts
Since 1976, 1,348 individuals have been executed for their crimes in the USA with 220 of this figure being between the years of 2007 – 20012. The most …
Further
http://www.interestingfactss.com/america-land-free/
This site says that there are more people in jail in the USA than in Russia – using the same measurement method.
Credit Union NZCU Baywide had a disagreement with an ex-employee who put f.ck you with the company’s initials iced on a cake. And they went ballistic. Just as well I can manage to cope with the word fuck as young schoolboys passing by my place may use it at every third word, and if I objected would probably say it to me too.
It would be rather annoying to hear about for the credit union. But they pressured a young employee to show them the image of the cake which was only sent to particular Facebook Friends under privacy. Unbelievable behaviour which got worse as they continued in a very unprofessional and unprincipled way.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/267496/record-damages-in-facebook-cake-ruling
These outfits think that they own their employees. Push back is a bitch, eh corporates.
Ok folks!
Horrified at the thought of a Wellington ‘Supercity’?
You still have time to have your say on the Draft Wellington Reorganisation (Supercity) Proposal!
Your submission needs to be in by 4pm TODAY, 2 March 2015!
Email your submission to:
submissions@lgc.govt.nz
Include:
Your NAME:
Your ADDRESS:
If you want to be HEARD in person by the Local Government Commissioners in support of your submission:
Your PHONE NUMBER: (So you can be contacted to arrange a time to speak to the Local Government Commissioners, if you want to be heard.
Your SUBMISSION:
It can be as simple as:
I do NOT support the Draft Wellington Reorganisation Proposal.
Add whatever reasons you want…..
eg: There has never been a full, proper, independent audit of the Auckland ‘Supercity’ (forced) amalgamation, for ‘cost-effectiveness’ for the majority of citizen and ratepayers.
YOU CAN MAKE A SUBMISSION FROM OUTSIDE THE GREATER WELLINGTON REGION!
Aucklanders – SEIZE THE MOMENT!
I have seen and heard for myself – the blatant LIES that are being told about the Auckland ‘Supercity’.
eg: That the reason for large rate increases in Auckland are the shift from ‘land value’ to ‘capital value’.
eg: That Auckland Council ‘Local Boards’ have brought ‘local democracy’ to citizens and ratepayers.
Here is YOUR chance to TELL THE TRUTH about YOUR experience of this Auckland ‘Supercity’!
Use it – or lose it.
Kind regards
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
I find the thinking behind this article both fascinating and truly disturbing. In particular the solutions offered to the problem caused by the government of Venezuela massively subsidising the price of petrol.
“In order to eliminate the enormous state expense of the subsidy on gasoline, without affecting the popular classes, it is necessary for the state to control all heavy freight and long-haul transport, making them the distributors of goods and services across the country.
However, this would not be enough, because even if the state were able to offer distributing and transport services to the bourgeoisie at much lower prices than third-party companies do at present, the bourgeoisie would undoubtedly use the change as an excuse to artificially raise prices across the board. This makes it necessary to complete the socialist revolution, taking radical measures such as:
The nationalization of the levers that control the economy, which at this time is in the hands of the parasitic bourgeoisie, made up of: big industry and national monopolies, latifundios and private banks. It must be placed under the democratic control of the working people, the Socialist Workers’ and Farmworkers’ Councils, in combination with the other organs of peoples’ power, including Communal Councils, and communes, etc
The nationalization of all centers of distribution and the supply chain of food items and other basic items, including supermarket and pharmacy chains, to be under the democratic control of workers, also under the Socialist Workers’ Council. In this way, the state would be in charge of selling primary food and medicine, ridding the country of hoarding, forced scarcity, and speculation induced by the bourgeoisie.”
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/11220
I’m curious how many leftists here actually support this view. I suspect someone like Draco T Bastard probably would but how about more moderate leftists?
Not entirely sure that venezuala’s my cup of tea, but I have no problem with infrastructure being nationalised on a case-by-case basis. Although even in Venezuela I’d probably go rail to undercut long-haul truckers rather than nationalising trucking companies as such.
Except it isn’t just one small aspect of the economy that would come under the control of the State but the vast majority of it including ALL heavy freight and long haul distribution businesses plus all big businesses. If you are comfortable with that then you should not have any problem with understanding why people on the right are so opposed to left wing economics.
The right are opposed to left wing economics because the right are happy to leave companies to self-regulate and thereby kill workers.
Personally, I reckon NZ should bring back the hundred mile limit for heavy goods vehicles. And cabotage. And sort out the slavery on NZ chartered fishing vessels. And make company directors personally liable for workplace deaths via corporate manslaughter charges. And eliminate zero-hour contracts. And increase the burden on directors to ensure the truth of reports they sign off on. And have a memorial at every workplace for every worker who died on site, including during construction. And make companies more liable for subcontractors’ safety, including fatigue and avenues to/from the workplace. And ban freeloading non-members from collective contracts. And get rid of fire at will legislation. And have a living minimum wage.
That lot gets opposition from tories, but most of them simply support a worker’s right to life.
The question is why you wouldn’t support policies as proposed in that article on Venezuela. The article makes clear that the sort of policies you mention are just making accomodation with the property owning classes which does not work. Do you disagree with this and if so why?
The answer is that I don’t have a particular ideological problem with the proposed policies, but given that I look at these things on a case by case basis I do not have enough information about the Venezualan economy to firmly commit either way.
But my second response was more to the fact that the specific policies in Venezuala are irrelevant, because the right are vehemently opposed to any policy that puts worker or public welfare ahead of their ability to extract the maximum possible buck from the country.
So bringing up relatively extreme left wing policies and then touting that as to “why people on the right are so opposed to left wing economics” is a camouflage of tory greed, because tories are equally opposed to much more moderate policies, too.
hi mcflock,
“Personally, I reckon NZ should bring back the hundred mile limit for heavy goods vehicles.”
couldnt agree more.
this is one of my hobby horses.
we have a big electric railway running up most of the centre (sorry northland) of this skinny land. ideal for moving loads.
i can handle waiting an extra day for something to travel the country.
get these trucks off my roads.
it’s more efficient, safer for other road users, and adds diversity to the transport infrastructure. Can’t be a bad thing.
Also, reduces the maintenance costs to the road. Those super trucks greatly increase the wear and tear.
There was some rail up in Northland but most of it’s not used any more 🙁
Yeah. When it was privatised many of the branch lines were ripped up or abandoned. Central Otago is another.
Fucking stupid.
Especially since the roads up north are getting washed out by torrential rain and floods a few times a year! It would be awesome to catch a fast train straight through to Whangarei and Kerikeri without the risk of death one currently faces going through the Dome Valley and the Brynderwyns (boy racers & middle aged maniacs are common)
It seems right whingers like socialist policies even more with the European Central Bank printing $1.8 trillion in a new quantative easing program.
Gosman taking one economy and taring all socialist economies with the same brush makes you out to be foolish.
And completely destroys you argument.
You are talking about Venezuela it has a very long history of despotic leader’s
Mainly right wing murderous fascists.
Putin is a freemarketeer.
But he is a despot fascist.
For every left wing despot leader their are 10 right wing fascists.
Neither are good for their country.
So the likes of Singapore.
Is an example.
That works but its not perfect.
Venezuelanalysis – the website Gosman likes to selectively quote from, has this poll out yesterday:
Despite all the concern some of the RWNJs have shown over toilet paper and condoms, it seems the Venezuelans themselves are still Chavistas.
Venezuelaanalysis.com has previously received funding from the Venezuelan Government through the Ministry of Culture. It also has had a linkage to the Tele Sur media outlet, funded by the Venezuelan Government.
By the standards you have set in previous posts Molly, this would disqualify it as a credible source of information?
So who are ‘International Consulting Services’. A well known, credible and independent source of polling information?
Well, I can’t verify that unfortunately, because there doesn’t seem to be very much information out there about them at all outside of their own website. Started late 2013. No offices it seems. No specific personal listed. Only work they seem to have done is 6 polls on Venezuelan voters preferences. No methodology or references listed for those polls.
By now I’m not surprised to find the polls all paint a rosy picture of support for the Government.
Other purpose of site seems to be to provide news about Venezuela that has a striking similarity to the ‘official’ news off the Govt. Tele Sur media.
Yeah right. That’s all credible then!
Here’s some info. I found from a media outlet calling themselves “The Independent’. Haven’t got time to research them Molly, but they say bad things about the Venezuelan situation and Government, so no doubt they are a RW propaganda site funded by the U.S. government.sarc.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/corruption-falling-oil-prices-and-talk-of-a-coup-the-end-of-chavezs-socialist-dream-in-venezuela-10060576.html
Why are right wingers obsessed by Venezuela? Is it because they can’t manage substantive criticism of Scandinavia?
Or just that they’re keeping very, very quiet about Honduras?
Personally, I only mentioned Venezuela because Morrisey kept posting articles about it.
Governments suppressing human rights and freedoms and committing violence against citizens concerns me where ever it occurs.
If the Scandinavian countries start acting that way I’ll be the first here to start pointing the finger.
But in the meantime it is the Venezuelan Government that is following the route towards removal of freedoms and human rights, and ultimately the violent suppression of opposition from Venezuelan citizens.
I would love to have events prove me wrong on that, but I predict that when if and that end game comes, some posters here will be acting as apologists for that suppression.
You mean like the way you act as an apologist for the Party that destroyed collective bargaining and enabled Mike Sabin?
PS: Honduras.
No. Don’t mean that at all OAB, and I’m not biting on any of your red herrings.
Lost sheep, I mixed you up with Gosman. You both put forward similar arguments, and don’t listen very often to considered responses. I apologise for that.
I don’t apologise for using your own link on a previous comment to point out a contradiction in your assertions.
(BTW: I searched a few of the authors on Venezuela analysis and found out quite a lot. Are you sure you know how to use Google effectively?)
And I thought you were interested in debating content. Not playing he said, she said. That said 😉 , are you going to discuss any of the points in the article or are we just going to play commenter tag?
Do you think the article’s (asserted) fact that most Venezuelans are still Chavistas, has something to do with the fact that there was a concerted effort to ensure that all Venezuelans had access to – and are aware of – their rights under the constitution?
Or do you think it is the intent and implementation of the Bolivarian missions that keeps the poor optimistic that they can ride out the difficulties?
(PS. Do you read the links to the governments response to your noble concerns regarding toilet paper and condoms?)
It seems right whingers like socialist policies even more with the European Central Bank printing $1.8 trillion in a new quantative easing program.
Gosman taking one economy and taring all socialist economies with the same brush makes you out to be foolish.
And completely destroys you argument.
You are talking about Venezuela it has a very long history of despotic leader’s
Mainly right wing murderous fascists.
Putin is a freemarketeer.
But he is a despot fascist.
For every left wing despot leader their are 10 right wing fascists.
Neither are good for their country.
So the likes of Singapore.
Is an example.
That works but its not perfect.
At the moment Brazilian owners of transport companies are busy with the first stages of a coup. Their inspiration seems to be Pinochet. I think all businesses taking part should be nationalised without compensation. The other things you mention will be necessary shortly as well.
Thanks for being so open in your support to policies that I find so abhorent. You are at least not trying to hide your true motivation behind the cloak of moderation.
I do find it funny in a tragic kind of way that left wing ‘solutions’ to problems caused by other leftist policies are so brutal and damaging to individual rights.
Thanks for supporting a nascent military coup which would take rights away from almost everyone, up to and including the right to life. My true motivation in the case I mentioned is to support democracy. If that can’t be done moderately, so be it.
“The nationalization of all centers of distribution and the supply chain of food items and other basic items, including supermarket and pharmacy chains, to be under the democratic control of workers, also under the Socialist Workers’ Council.”
Why yes I would be all for this Gosman, we would be able to pay a living wage and give our state workers and politicians a higher annual payrise, certainly above the 1.6 % mark our dictator Comandante Key has/is imposing.
many times plus one…
Again thanks for the honest answer. It confirms in my mind why it is vital to oppose left wing politics. Not to do so risks great harm being done to society.
Maggie told you there was no such thing as society. Bad disciple!
heh..!
Unlike many leftists I don’t blindly follow what adherents of my political philosophy come out with.
Can someone point me or give me a link to where somewhere in past comments Gosman espoused his version of what being left is for him? I am sure that someone bookmarked such a delightfully ironic piece of resistance.
I don’t think he means he is a lefty. He just has a problem constructing non-ambiguous sentences.
You need a holiday Gosman as your sounding like your suffering from that toxic illness ‘over exposure to Pete G syndrome’ a particularly nasty condition we all get exposed too. I suggest you come up North and I will take you fishing.
And while your here you can do some rural door knocking, god knows the National candidate needs all the support he can get, after Joyce slapped the local farmers on the back of their red necks and rejected their local farm boy hero.
Just bring a straw hat some chewing tobacco, and for Christ sake leave that ACT baby poo’s jacket of yours at home.
A related question to the point I raised about Venezuela.
Are leftists generally happy demonising a large section of society as being essentially traitors for simply doing what basic economic philosophy predicts they will do given the sort of conditions imposed upon them?
If I run a business and the government imposes rules that reduce my profits significantly why am I at fault if i decide no longer supply at the level I was doing so previously? Surely I am just reacting to what the State has done in a manner that i am entitled to do just as workers should be entitled to strike if their wages or conditions are reduced.
answer to the first question: yes, because people are moral agents, not slaves to economic philosophy
as to the second question, you make the assumption that you’re at fault, when actually tobacco and alcohol regulation have those outcomes in mind. Do you have a more specific hypothetical?
The specific scenario (not hypothetical) in question relates to Venezuela blaming suppliers for causing shortages when they impose price controls on items that make it difficult to get returns from selling those items. If I forced you to sell an item at a price that you deemed to be insufficient for your requirements why would you be at fault if you stopped selling the item?
Well, it is hypothetical because I’m not a supplier of whatever it is in venezuela you’re bitching about.
But even so it doesn’t match the scenario you intially outlined. Say a supplier is paying 50 for transport and getting a profit of 30. Your initial comment seemed to indicate that you are already cool supplying x at a profit of 30. If your transport costs go down from 50 to 40, the problem is that you (being a tory) would pocket the extra 10 in addition to your 30 profit.
In that case, in the simplistic environment a price control of -10 would still give you a profit of 30 (which you’re happy to supply at, remember?) and pass the savings on to consumers.
If you as a producer was all “damn government forcing me to give up my extra 10, I’m outta here”, I’d say “don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out, I’ll do the job and keep the 30 that you were previously happy with”.
So to boil it down – should we blame people from acting in a toxic way when they have been immersed in a toxic environment for a long time.
Of course not. You blame the people (sociopaths) with the power and wealth who deliberately created the toxic environment: neolibs, banksters and right wingers.
after three months fucken xmas-hols..
..and being back for about two weeks..
..parliament takes/needs another break this week…(!)
..w.t.f..!
and who paid stuart nash [deleted] per month ‘support’ he received in the year before being elected to parliament..?
..exactly who ‘owns’ him…?
[lprent: Cite a source if you want to claim a ‘fact’ that is as potentially defamatory as that one.
I am unaware of anything reasonably reputable that said he was paid anything on a monthly basis. A two week ban for putting this site into jeopardy for not citing a source.
A further two weeks for making up a ‘fact’ that you can get off by pointing to a source for a monthly payment that would have been sufficient for us to allow.
BTW: Calculations of averages won’t count by the way because you didn’t state that as a basis of calculation in your comment. FFS: that was a bloody stupid comment of the exact type that could cause US to get into legal danger. What in the hell were you thinking! ]
and what do they expect from him..for that ‘support’..?
u ask me to cite a fucken source..
.and then u block me from posting it..?
[lprent: Not blocked. It goes into the spam queue. I read the spam queue last in the moderation cycle. That is because I check for comments that should not have gone into it (ie false positives).
However I notice that
a. You didn’t post the link in any comment that you put there.
b. Ignored why I said I banned you which was because you didn’t provide the link to substantiate a potentially defamatory fact (CV and adam did it for you).
c. Ignored any effect it could potentially have on our site.
So I’ll remove the 2 weeks. You now just have a two weeks ban. I will refrain from following my natural inclination to just ban you permanently as being a danger to the site and to me.
However in view of your attitude which appear to be all about your wounded pride and not about what you actually got banned for… If I see you ever make a comment stating a potentially defamatory fact without a link again I will ban you permanently.
If you want to state something as a fact that involves a person or company and may be viewed defamatory on the face of it, then it is your responsibility to provide the required support for what you claim is true in the comment. You will note that virtually everyone else links or sources where they heard something. There is a reason for that. They are aware that it is something that may affect the site and we intensely dislike people putting us at risk
Moderators simply don’t have time to read everything in the newspaper or listen to the radio. We expect the person making an assertion of fact to provide enough information for us to check it out.
So if you are going to be so irresponsible to assert a fact and not back it WHEN you make the comment, I will treat you just as I would for any arsehole trying to make me waste time and resources in court. I will do so preemptively as an example to others. If you don’t like it, then I really don’t care. I care about my time more than I care about your pride… ]
Ahhh. lovely…… a month!! of no more RSI from rapid scrolling fingers Thanks
thought I should do this on behalf of PU
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11410292
[lprent: Agreed, that lets him off two weeks. However he still didn’t provide the link that is required if you want to claim a potentially defamatory fact on the site. ]
onya cv
Iprent – Didn’t Chris Trotter mention this on National radio this afternoon?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/20169254/the-panel-with-amanda-millar-and-chris-trotter-part-2
The last minute
And was it not in the Herald?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11410292
Oh and for/from Phil
http://whoar.co.nz/2015/comment-whoar-was-stuart-nash-paid-4000-per-month-support-in-the-yr-before-the-election/
[lprent: Read my note more carefully this time. The specific fact that philu said was that Nash was receiving a stipend per month.
He then didn’t provide a source so I can’t verify it.
What part of definition of “defamation” do you not understand? Claiming some false fact as being true is at the heart of it, especially if it involves a clearly malicious intent. I have to pass all these types of comments through as a risk to me of legal action. I can’t do that without facts and as far as I am concerned it is up to commenters to provide the links to facts.
If he’d used the word ‘average’ in there somewhere, it wouldn’t have been a problem. However he didn’t, no doubt for malicious reasons to make the ‘story’ seem better – which is what defamation is intended to limit.
Now I’m sure that we will have some conspiracy nuts going on about Labour or the Greens or something (and I suspect that I can just vaguely sense Bomber preparing to be a complete pillock somewhere), however part of my task in this site is to prevent people dragging me and this site into court because they want to make a fool of themselves.
If you want to claim a possibly defamatory fact on this site then them to the bloody source or get banned.
I’m afraid that I really don’t like people trying to drag me into court. ]
Iprent – my point was simply to point out, whilst phil, may write odd, and it can be hard to read – I do not believe he would deliberately make your life hell – via a court case. Sloppy is my take – but in a 24 hour news cycle – with a government hell bent on dirty politics – non reflective, reactions are a reality of this process.
It is also, and I’ll paraphrase Chris Trotter – “there is a hell of a story there!”
And yes, I’ve very well aware of how defamation works in this country. I’m very careful how I write here, indeed my style of writing does provoke some to attack me. Because I allude, rather than name names
To late on the conspiracy nut angle – blubber boy beat everyone. I will not link to that idiot sorry – I don’t want hits for him – but Google it. It is a sad sad piece of propaganda.
Look – sometimes I think you need help doing this – you work long hours and have a family – and what you write sounds like a tired person. This not an attack – just, you seem stretched to the limit. I thought there was a collective running this? Should not others be standing up, and helping you out!?
We all have full lives and demands on our time. Basically comments that assert facts without links or source are a waste of time for any on be reading the site. But with our very limited moderation time, ones that attack people with anything that might be viewed as a malicious intent are just a danger to us and they waste our time a lot. We have to spend time verifying them.
If people want to comment here then they had better keep those facts in mind because my general preference would be to start booting them off site four longer periods of time.
We get 30k-50k unique people reading the site every month. We have hundreds and sometimes a thousand commenting each month, with more bthan 10k comments. Commenters need to take responsibility for their comments if the site is to keep going.
On a personal note anyone have a disastrous year last year especially if you’r poor ?
I put it down to the fact that Keys father was born 100 yrs ago and to celebrate Key decided to make as many people who hate his guts pay the best part of their year in misery a little known but probably personal truth
Plus the usual bullying expenses of an election as well as a fully integrated police state and a boat loads of lies ,deceit, coercion, club membership to the CIA old boys FBI pension club The Federal reserve community of tight wads ,The NY Stock exchange ,Mossad ,THe Five Eyes wave your democracy byebyes club, Tppa club not fully defined yet but after we get this Iraqi thing sorted its should be relatively easy to break it to the country by that stage they should be pretty fucked in the head and now with the ability to act as president Key will be able to take a holiday what a relief for us all. can I sabotage his plane to Hawaii no just leave it up to those hes probably pissed off more that a 100 Kiwi soldiers have become targets of.
Why cant we have the cunt for TREASON is that reserved for Britain to make the decision
i have just noticed that maori tv is screening what looks like an excellent doco-series on world war one..
..episode two screens @ 9.30 2nite..
..and episode one is available on maori tv website..
http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/first-world-war
Why are both these articles headlined ‘rude cake woman’ rather than ‘shockingly inappropriate Managers’?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/66827105/rude-cake-baker-gets-record-168k-in-damages
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11410412
Because fundamentally the problem is the Managers here.
Constructive dismissal of more than one staff = venting in private which has then not only been pried into by these Managers but they maliciously spread the illegally accessed info to other employees in the industry specifically to ruin her career.
Hopefully the massive payout Cake Lady got will put off idiot managers from nosing about in staff FB pages and launching totally inappropriate vendettas. Well done Cake Lady!
Indeed.
Its further evidence of NZs major problem with utterly shockingly bad Managers as reported in various surveys which show our Managers are overpaid & incompetent.
And further evidence that our Media likes to pander to Management side of things.
Hmmm surely the answer must be to pay these people at the top even more
I wonder why the NZCU board hasn’t fired all the fuckers responsible for this utter disgrace. Their members should be insisting on it.
The problem is that they want to be paid as if they’re world class superstars when they’re hardly even garage band quality.
Big props to RNZ reporters who did a solid job focusing on the shittyness of the Managers this morning 🙂
Peter Sinclair reviews Merchants of Doubt, a documentary how the climate denial industry and their shills have adopted tobacco company tactics to market doubt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJIW5yVk__w
edit: trailer and review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jrF0aGqhyo
http://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/telluride-film-review-merchants-of-doubt-1201297810/
Rupert’s short on liars.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/01/rebekah-brooks-rehired-rupert-murdoch-work-us-news-corp
Just what a struggling economy needs.
/
http://www.euractiv.com/sections/elections/estonia-swears-youngest-eu-prime-minister-301189
Ideologically, the Reform Party has consistently advocated market liberalism.[11] The Reform Party is the most economically liberal in the political landscape of Estonia.
The party supports Estonian 0% corporate tax on re-invested income and wants to eliminate the dividend tax.
The party wanted to cut flat income tax rate from 22% (in 2007) to 18% by 2011. Due to economic crisis the campaign for cutting income tax rate was put on hold with the tax rate at 21% in 2008 and 2009.
The party used to oppose VAT general rate increase until late spring 2009 when it changed its position in the light of dire economic crisis and the need to find more money for budget. VAT was increased from 18% to 20% on 1 July 2009.
The party wants eventually to end conscription and introduce a voluntary army.[13]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_Reform_Party#Ideology
The neoliberal/financial/bankster outfit have a very effective playbook that they roll out via media outlets, paid “experts”, tame academics and well funded think tanks.
And the Left still has nothing to push back with.
If a nation has armed forces, I personally prefer there is compulsory CONSCRIPTION for all youth to train and serve for a couple of years at least, rather than the voluntary system, because in the latter case it is the poor, the less privileged and the “underclass” that will “volunteer” while the rich and their well-to-do privileged kids go scot-free from serving, and the rich privileged “leaders” will have the audacity to tell every one else, except themselves and their own progeny to show “some guts”!
How nasty, unfair and shitty is that!
So – how committed are Labour to electorally ‘clipping the wings’ of this John Key led National Government?
How many folks here agree that the ‘commonsense’ / electorally ‘savvy’ thing for Labour to do in the Northland by-election, is to campaign hard on the issues, but for Labour Party supporters to VOTE for Winston Peters, in order to stop National winning back this pivotal seat, and being left with 59 out of 121 MPs?
Who is electorally the ‘main’ political ‘enemy’ here?
‘Unite the many to defeat the few’?
If I was a Northland voter – I’d be voting Winston Peters.
End of story.
Penny Bright
Yes and you distracted from the topic of the By-Election on Jackos show today, thought I got some traction going especially when that dude called after me trying to blurt out the Sabin issue. Anyway Jenny good effort on the proposed Wellington super city scam.
” Jackos show’
What and where and when was it?