If there is a vote to change the flag, we will be saddled with even more costs as the present flag will have to be replaced with the beach towel everywhere.
That won’t be cheap.
It’s a big IF Paul. We have a fairly solid chunk of society opposed to something that affects their sense of national identity. People from all political camps are opposed to change – I like it, it’s quite a good leveller. We are experiencing a moment of unity for once in our increasingly divided land.
Maybe have faith that we can pull this off?
Here’s a question for readers. As much as I dislike our current flag, mainly for reasons that Te Reo Putake pointed in his butchers apron post in regard to the Union Jack symbolism of colonial oppression (and descending from people who fought against that flag) I am still voting to retain it because a) the alternative is nothing but an ugly sport logo and b) I will not contribute to the Key Vanity Project.
Would I be a hypocrite to print out our flag and attach it to my front fence as fingers up to Key?
I don’t think putting up the current flag on your fence would be hypocritical at all, Rosie. For a lot of people its simply the dead rat option. Not ideal, but better than letting Key have his way.
A couple of good things have come out of this referendum. One of them has been the discussion about the current flag’s provenance and historical meaning. The other has been the tarnishing of John Key’s image. I’m looking forward to him waking up a loser on the day the result is announced.
No, I’m not voting. Though I was impressed by the arguments you and others put up on the Butcher’s Apron post. However, I’m confident the change will be rejected by those that do actually vote. I still think that the lower the turnout, the worse it makes National look.
I agree with Sabine. Not voting in the first referendum was a reasonable approach, not voting in this one could mean we end up with that hideous alternative. By keeping the flag we have we may get a chance to get a new one in a few years but if it is changed now we’re stuck with the tacky beach towel.
Key is not worried about the voter turnout, only that he wins. If only 60% of those eligible to vote do so but those who vote for change have a larger % of that 60% then they win.
I believe the polls indicating support for the status quo are being deliberately manipulated to lull opponents of the flag change into a false sense of confidence. I don’t trust the Government and their celebrity and media shills. TRP and others who don’t intend to vote need to rethink their strategy – a very high turnout and rejection of the proposed flag will send the most compelling message to John Key that cannot be spun.
Might just do that. I was inspired by the street in Invercargill where each resident is flying the NZ flag in their front garden.
And yes, it is the dead rat option. I have no affiliation or attachment to our current flag but am happy to see it be flown as a symbol of resistance against Key.
Yes when you get down to it
Its the top down not the bottom up wanting this therefore in principle its not democratic no matter what the machinery or chicanery
Its not going to happen, evidence being I saw someone driving a holden around yesterday with NZ flags flying above both windows and blasting KISS at full volume. The natives are restless.
But a new flag will offer commercial opportunities. The guy who designed one of the contenders has already made a decent sum in sales.
We probably should change our flag every three years after the election. The first year the public’s attention could be taken up with deciding on colours and shapes etc. and that will keep us busy and amused so we won’t even care if our house, or the neighbour’s falls down or costs more than their life savings to repair and they commit suicide, or whatever.
And the rights to the commercial opportunities using the flag should be held by government. Now we have a commercial government it can profit from our brands. The past governments could not get their heads around owning the Kiwi brand, or buying it off the shoe polish people and since then there has been a USA airline using it and no doubt others.
The new flag would go well on men’s and women’s underpants, shorts, and of course tea towels, beach towels, sun shades for cars etc. Just a few places it could be used, perhaps tattoos as well, look good on white patriot guys for instance.
The flag will be changed sometime in the future IMO, and hopefully under an improved process that will result in a flag design that many will accept and will be far superior than our current option. If we vote for this flag, the chance of another change when nz moves towards being a republic will be lost, at least by supporting the current flag there will be another opportunity for change.
Also many selected names that are used under the change the flag campaign comment on the need to change but none have come out that this is their 1st choice, and that this is the best design we can come up with, all we get is that the existing flag is confusing when we play against Australian teams.
This one’s for you Cowboy. You raised the issue of staff resignations at Todd Barclays office last week. Bill English is putting on the front that he aint bovvered about his former seat and it’s all ok:
Have you been speaking with people in your electorate and getting a feel for how they view this and is there any suspicion about Barclay being an unsuitable MP to represent his constituents?
There’s no way Boy Wonder’s appointment was a risk free strategy, that was obvious and pointed out at the time. The local Queenstown paper gave him a good smacking at the time.
The Nat electorate committee stood by the appointment at the time in the face of some pretty strong questioning. Now they are resigning. Generational change? Yeah, but the electorate isn’t getting younger. Biggest export here is our young, and especially in Queenstown. Most of Barclay’s generation here can’t, or don’t, vote in New Zealand.
There might be an opportunity for a non Nat candidate who can get the confidence of both Queenstown, and it’s environmental constraints, and the prudent conservative business practice of rural Southland. It would be a very special candidate, but it could easily go.
Would have to be someone with exceptional and broad name recognition in and well around Queenstown (eg extending out to Gore and beyond), to have any chance.
There might be an opportunity for a non Nat candidate who can get the confidence of both Queenstown, and it’s environmental constraints, and the prudent conservative business practice of rural Southland. It would be a very special candidate, but it could easily go.
Oh! That was meant to be quoting Graeme and the rest of my comment disappeared. I was wondering about a NZ First candidate for the electorate. They pulled it off in Northland. May be able to do in the South?
It’s not really a party thing, more the right person. A business orientated Green could easily pull Queenstown and Te Anau, but Gore and Lumsden could be a different story. But you never know, had a farmer mate complementing James Shaw for a comment about farmers focusing on profitability rather than production. Shaw’s comment related more to emissions than finances, but the sound bite went both ways.
The electorate is used to having a top notch MP. Queenstown has been represented by Warren Cooper, David Parker and Bill English. Jackie Dean never really got any respect here and there was relief when Bill ended up as MP through boundary change.
There’s huge growth here right now and another change must be coming soon. Could see a return to a Central Otago electorate. That would be an interesting demographic / political mix
Thanks Graeme. Thats interesting. Always good to get the local perspective. Interesting to hear feedback from locals too, like your farmer friend.
As an aside, I partially listened to a radio interview today about education and what changes have occurred in the last thirty years as education shifted towards a marketable commodity. Turns out the person they were interviewing was James Shaw. The language he used made him sound very accessible. I see what you are saying about a Green of a business orientated persuasion being a possibility for certain parts of your electorate.
Thanks for the shout out. Sorry been too busy today to follow events.
I am in the electorate and don’t know anyone who is particularly happy about having such an inexperienced individual as our MP but people down here have given him the benefit of the doubt to date.
What’s interesting is the Southland Times seem to be all over this like a dog with a bone so they obviously know there is plenty of discontent behind the scenes. I know some of the resignees who are all highly regarded so there is obviously something badly amiss. The feeling is he is putting building towards his personal cabinet ambitions ahead of being prepared to take a stand on local issues.
He has a 14k majority so it would take a massive swing to unseat him but he got those votes by default. Now there is an actual measure of his ability and character and his vote will be based on his merit, which appears to be negligible.
Labour ran a seemingly good candidate, Liz Craig, a health professional as I recall, I was surprised at the time she didn’t get closer. Someone like that could do well again given the shambles in the southern DHB.
NZ first are pushing the regional theme and should be a beneficiary of those true blue Nats that would never vote labour. If they get a strong rural focused candidate they should do well im picking but whether that transfers through to Queenstown appeal is the issue?
“The feeling is he is putting building towards his personal cabinet ambitions ahead of being prepared to take a stand on local issues.”
That wouldn’t surprise me, he is a kid after all, of a self interested persuasion. That kind of principle something salt of the earth types have no time for.
Hey I’m not saying that Littles in the pocket but its funny that Little says on one hand he can’t remember meeting with them but he later remembers that he didn’t discuss political donations or it didn’t influence their current position on Keytruda?
Its not like john Keys ever accused of forgetting things
What on earth has not being in someone’s pocket got to do with memory recall?
You’re continuing the sly allegations, just on a different issue.
“I’m not quite sure whether drug companies were represented there,” said Little. That really says a lot about the impact that the drug company lobbyists made upon Little.
A person who never takes bribes does not have to remember if he took a bribe on a particular occasion. A person who knows why he has a position on a particular issue also knows he wasn’t influenced by someone’s views.
And don’t compare Key’s long list of lies, obfuscation and loose use of language with Andrew Little. That’s truly desperate condemnation by association.
A person who never takes bribes does not have to remember if he took a bribe on a particular occasion. A person who knows why he has a position on a particular issue also knows he wasn’t influenced by someone’s views.
What innuendo? Little was at a meeting with Big Medicine (that market Keytruda) he can’t remember but does know they didn’t talk money and six months later Labour kicks up a stink about funding Keytruda
What happened at this meeting to distinguish it from any other dinner meeting?
was he helicoptered in?
were they global industry presidents rather than typical lobbyists?
did he request an extensive detour to the other end of town in order to attend the funtion?
Is his partner director of one of the companies, and therefore there’d be a conflict of interest for him to remember?
Was his meeting used in company advertising brochures contrary to party policy?
did he happen to replace a bottle of wine labelled “Labour Leader’s Lambrusco” that turned out to be part owned by his supposedly blind trust?
Were there 100,000-odd shares in pharmaceutical companies that he forgot to declare?
Note that I was asking if there was anything particularly memorable about the meeting.
see, tories, especially key, seem to forget things that should be very memorable. Key does it a lot.
Little seems to have a fairly good memory, but I’d expect he has a lot of similar meetings
I asked Little that. He put on his best imitation of a Sergeant Schultz face and told me “I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!” .
Seems about right. I doubt if he is ever going to answer your questions.
Wow, The Herald is going into overdrive for the change the flag lobby and of course thier boss, John Key, They have even got some lame Aussie outfit’s corny advert on board today. No doubt part of the Crosby Textors dirty politics brigade.
I read a sly twisted piece of RW maliciousness on some wrapping newspaper of recent vintage. Liam Hehir, solicitor, writes for Fairfax and gets into quite a few papers as a result. What a cheap way of getting political coverage for a party to reach people of their mindset and beliefs. It is interesting to note at the end of the Opinion piece that there is no description of the writer, his expertise or interests, that would underpin the value of his thoughts, and the right the newspaper has extended to use its publication to broadcast them to us all. http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/77118558/opinion-right-wing-resistance-agenda-reprehensible
This one is about some guys in black jackets calling themselves the ‘Right Wing Resistance’ handing out brochures about their favourite hates. There are two columns noting their targets and Hehir’s opinions and suppositions about their characters and mentality. And he takes the opportunity to comment on their prejudice against Jews, because that opens the way to an attack on the Labour Party. The ‘RW Resistance even took the time to make positive reference to infamous anti-Semitic slur used against Key by a Labour candidate in the last election.’
I looked this up on Google and note this is an example of how much can be made of something small so that it registers as large, and then can be alluded to in vague terms for the next decade if not longer. Note that ‘the Labour candidate’ is of Jewish descent himself.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/251915/candidate-warned-over-shylock-slur The candidate, [Steven Gibson] who is of Jewish descent himself, has apologised and said on Monday he didn’t actually understand what the term Shylock referred to, and was repeating what a constituent had said about Mr Key in the context of a bad deal.
“I was only repeating what a constituent had said to me. And it’s only now that I realise the connotations of it. To me it was like a Shakesperian reference. I’m sorry people have been offended and I’ll take the post down – that’s all I can do.”
Hehir in this Firing Line piece manages to fit in a snide comment about The Standard. The “RW Resistance is also dead set” against the PM changing the flag to a “brand label”, and their “overall themes and prose style” shared much more with the anonymous commenters on the Left-wing blog, The Standard than the centre-Right, Kiwiblog. Then followed some more musings of his tainted RW beliefs about attitudes of “your garden variety left-liberal”.
” I would go as far as saying that the politically correct mafia on the left perpetuates a form of bigotry on its own because it alienates and “otherises” those who do not share their ways of thinking and speaking about the world.”
“But without freedom of thought, speech, and expression, no other freedom can exist. Bigots and hateful people in general will make fools of themselves, and again, our freedom to speak means that we can and definitely should challenge and outsmart them. But the idea of being so self-righteous that we think we deserve to be authority figures in all of this is soul-crushing.”
You need to be a bit more realistic if you don’t want to be written off as a nut. Within the next few years our bankrupt ultra-right government will come for the health system. Most New Zealanders are opposed to that. But gulags are not part of our political tradition.
While you’re probably out to create mischief here, TLS, I will say that I agree with some core aspects of that activist’s critique. But it’s important to emphasise that we’re talking about a particular niche section of the Left – the Uber-Politically Correct faction: largely synonymous (I’ve increasingly come to realise) with the Authoritarian Left.
Probably associated most with certain (Rik from The Young Ones-style) middle class Uni students and that small faction of younger feminists (particularly in my own city of Wellington), newly-armed with First Class Gender Studies Degrees and seemingly more than keen to adopt the Trotskyite modus operandi of the 1970s Radical Lesbian Feminist Movement – an inherently aggressive approach, divisive/destructive Entryist tactics, the use of cult-like techniques for control and exclusion, with a healthy dose of self-martyrdom thrown in for good measure.
We’ve seen some pretty obvious examples on social media over the last few years, with various insane mob-job pile-ons, the angrily self-righteous working themselves up into a mouth-frothing fervour as they attack some unlucky woman journalist or erstwhile left-wing commentator for not strictly following their dogmatic sensibilities. By no means pleasant.
One of the more recent examples being the nasty and quite bizarre personal attack on Sacha Dylan on a Hard News thread. This most liberal and progressive of blokes was deemed Unsafe, Notorious, Misogynist and almost persona non grata (big black mark down on the old McCarthyite Blacklist run by these nutjobs) for committing the heinous crime of calling someone “a twat” a few times on Twitter.
Personally, I think these New McCarthyites with their teen-like pettiness and uber-precious self-martyrdom tendencies have been far too indulged by both the broader feminist movement and the broader Left in general.
So, there you go, TLS, you’ve got your bite. But I wouldn’t have bitten if I hadn’t thought it needed to be said. And it’s good to see sections of the Left drawing a line and moving into push-back territory.
The ‘mischief’ I am trying to cause is to trying to get the Left looking honestly into the reasons it has been out of Govt. for 3 terms heading for a 4th….
I agree with much of what you say, but I disagree that it is a niche issue. Having been a staunch and active Leftie since 1960, I can tell you there was a distinct trend from the early 1990’s on for the whole of LW culture to become more dogmatic and stridently intolerant of differing views.
It doesn’t need to be overt to be stifling. It only needs to be the subtle pressure of knowing that some ideas are not up for question, and anyone doing so will meet with an automatic condemnation.
For me, and many others I know, the Left simply became an unpleasant place to be.
I think that has a massive amount to do with the reason why the LW is failing to win back support, and why the Left cannot generate a new vision and the leaders to sell it…but obviously not many here want to hear that.
Yeah, hubristic stoats always claim they were pheasants……once. Rob Campbell…….Ports of Auckland and serial director. In my VUW days that guy frightened the shit out of me. Unease, maybe two decades prematurely. Only explanation – a vainglorious wanker – then or now. A la Trollwyn.
It doesn’t need to be overt to be stifling. It only needs to be the subtle pressure of knowing that some ideas are not up for question, and anyone doing so will meet with an automatic condemnation.
There is an element of truth in that and it started well before the early 1990s.
I dropped out of [old] Labour in the 1980s because of it. Some of those ardent feminists of the 70s and 80s were bullies who isolated anyone who wasn’t prepared to strictly conform to their narrow views. When I returned to Labour 15 years later, I found most of them had either moved on of their own volition or had been ‘encouraged’ to move on. The current L.P. is now a much more tolerant and broad-based party with a pleasingly large number of ethnic minorities actively involved. I’m proud to be a member of the [new] Labour Party.
A Sword’ masterfully wielded ! Provoking The Lost Sheep to prattle on about how she/he was a liar/wanker then/now……a la Mad Dog Prebble, The Norton-ish Bassett, the suffocating up his own arse Moore.
Listen up Lost Sheep……if you wanna come home ya better show some respect……mouthing your own dick ain’t respect !
“Quote: “Somehow young workers need to be both agile and traditional, team players and self-motivating, in search of a good job and willing to work a job that isn’t paid at all. To be grateful, and, most importantly, to wait their turn.”
“they are synergistic attacks on millennials, Gen Y and Gen X. They’re almost elegant in their efficiency: their motivator is youth’s use of public space, already diminished as the public square makes the declension to the shopping mall. They increase the price of already valuable properties further, and accelerate gentrification.
They also act as part of a wider attack on wages and conditions in hospitality, perhaps the single most critical source of well-paid employment for the young. They then deny those same workers the chance of a civic social life after they’ve finished their shifts, or even the chance to get something to eat.” Quote end.
Quote: “”The whole stretch from Darlinghurst to Surry Hills seemed to be empty, the greasy spoons shut, a couple of bars of last resort unpatronised apart from their gaming rooms. These are exempt from the lockout – they can remain open as long as patrons only gamble and don’t drink. I walked all the way to the casino, which is exempt from everything – early closing and plastic glasses and no entries and all the other shackles of the legislation – even though it’s one of the most violent venues in the state. If opponents want to have the lockout revoked, the surest method is not to campaign against the laws but to insist they cover the casino. But even The Star’s bars were almost deserted. The city couldn’t have been emptier if it were under curfew. Quote End.
They’re predicting seriously diminishing demand for both. In other words, people won’t be making shit (unless massive amounts are stockpiled somewhere, and I’m talking a significant percentage of world demand).
It may be partly to do with competitive edges – POSCO was widely expected to be closed about a decade ago as China outstripped their cost of production – but they upteched and reversed the decline and two Chaebol shipbuilders stepped in to consolidate Korea’s position as cost effective softa ship builder.
This is one of a cluster of large heavy industry start-ups in the Middle East and central Asia that, destabilising events permitting, may yet change the face of the region.
Send him to the Hague! Tony Benn on Blair’s ‘war crimes’
Long after his war-mongering, opportunist son has been consigned to a distasteful memory, Tony Benn will still be honoured for his courage and his integrity…
You apparently have a lot of expertise in technical stuff to do with the Internet.
Are you able to tell me how easy it would be to manipulate up votes and down votes in Georges Word Press YourNZ Blog?
Somebody did it a few weeks ago … and I would like to know if that sort of viral technology can continue to be utilized within the blog once it has been uploaded on there?
Donald Trump actually seems decent in comparison to Nevil “Breivik” Gibson, Jordan Williams, Barry Corbett, Michael Bassett, Neil Miller, John Bishop, David Farrar, Stephen Franks, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet, Jacqueline Rowarth, Tau Henare, ad nauseam….. The Panel, RNZ National, Wednesday 2 March 2016
Jim Mora, Jeremy Hansen, Ellen Reid, Zara Potts
About 4:25 p.m., following a discussion about the Super Tuesday voting with Professor Steve Hoadley from Auckland University, host Jim Mora read out a listener’s response….
JIM MORA: “Is it possible,” asks Neil, “to have someone on your program who SUPPORTS Donald Trump?”
JEREMY HANSEN: Ha ha ha ha!
ELLEN REID:[in a mock peremptory tone] No it’s not possible, Neil. Go away.
JIM MORA:[nervously] Ha ha ha. We do not instruct any of our guests what to say about Donald Trump, but I don’t think we have had anyone on who would admit to supporting him.
From that little exchange, one might infer that, morally, the guests on this program were of a higher than average calibre. Sadly, however, that doesn’t survive any serious scrutiny. Long-time sufferers of The Panel may not have actually heard any of the guests endorse Donald Trump, but plenty of them have made obnoxious and vicious statements live on air, without the giggling, sighing host uttering a word of demur….
Oh Audrey…….you crone and baggage. It was never a simple fucking vote. It was always the man-child pulling his pud’. And you and ilk waiting waiting waiting with gobs expectantly wide open.
You’re a disgraceful suck-arse. Can’t help it. So fuck off with your haughty shit. No one owes any explanations to you as an archetype of everything that’s pathetic about the New Zealand MSM.
You do realise that you and ilk are laughed at in places where quality is thick on the ground. Khandallah Man you ! Fuck you’re barely literate.
Yeah, but doesn’t Murdoch own a large piece of the Herald, any paper owned by him is not worth the paper it’s printed on, it costs News Corp (Sydney morning Telegraph)
$30M a year to spread his bull shit.
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by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...
Since 2013, the Australian government has detained refugees without trial in Pacific gulags, where they are abused, tortured, and driven to suicide. The policy is not just an abuse of human rights and possible crime against humanity; it has also had a corrosive effect on the states Australia uses as ...
It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...
Last month, Greenpeace head Russel Norman surrendered his speaking slot at an EPA conference to student climate activist Sorcha Carr, who told the EPA exactly what she thought of them. It was a bold move, which confronted both regulators and polluters (or, as the EPA calls them, "stakeholders") with the ...
The core principle supposedly underlying New Zealand's electoral finance regime is transparency: parties can accept large donations from rich people wanting to buy policy, but only if they tell the public they've been bought. Most parties abide by this, so we know that TOP was wholly-owned by Gareth Morgan, and ...
Today is a Member's Day, probably the second-to-last one of the year, and its a big one, with the Third Reading of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. last Member's Day it was reported back from committee, after MPs voted narrowly to make it subject to a (rules TBA) ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThe growth of the human population over the last 70 ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
The Referendums Framework Bill was due back from select committee today. But there's no report on it. Instead, the bill has been bounced back to the House under Standing order 29593) because the Committee didn't bother to produce one. They probably tried. But given the membership of the committee (which ...
Two years into New Zealand’s Labour-led government, the long-delayed Zero Carbon Bill became law on 7 November. Passed essentially unanimously, the lengthy public debates and political manoeuvring faded away until the final passage was even anticlimactic: Flipping through the @nzstuff@DomPost I was starting to wonder if I’d dreamt ...
Now the Zero Carbon Bill is law, what's next? Obviously, the ETS changes currently before select committee are going to be the next battleground. But we're also going to get a good idea of where we're going, and if the progress the Zero Carbon Act promises is good enough, during ...
Grant PearceThe effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only ...
A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
Distract And Divert: The rise of what we have come to call “Identity Politics” represents the ideological manifestation of the ruling class’s objective need to destroy class politics, and of the middle-class’s subjective need to justify their participation in the process.THE RELIEF of the ruling class can only be imagined. ...
"I saw a newspaper picture,From the political campaignA woman was kissing a child,Who was obviously in pain.She spills with compassion,As that young child'sFace in her hands she gripsCan you imagine all that greed and avariceComing down on that child's lips?" ...
Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick WilsonThe Global Health Security Index which considers pandemic threats has just been published. Unfortunately, NZ scores approximately half marks (54/100), coming in 35th in the world rankings – far behind Australia. This poor result suggests that the NZ Government needs to ...
The Zero Carbon Act is inadequate, with a weak methane target designed to give farmers a free ride. But it turns out it could have been worse: Climate Change Minister James Shaw was so desperate to get National on board, he wanted to gut that target, and leave it in ...
The Herald reprints an Australian story on a couple of tragic deaths in Bali from drinking cocktails that had methanol in them. The story argues that methanol is likely the result of home distillation. But what the young tourists were experiencing was far from a hangover. They’d consumed a toxic cocktail ...
Last month, the police announced a trial of specialist roaming armed units, which would drive round (poor, brown) areas in armoured SUVs, armed to the teeth. When they announced the trial, they told us it was about having armed police "ready to attend major incidents at any time if needed". ...
Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Last year, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security reported on significant problems with the intelligence warrant system. While they were unwilling to declare any warrant "irregular" (meaning unlawful) due to the recent law change, they were also not willing to give the system a clean bill of health. Now, they've ...
The National Party has come out in support of encouraging greater vaccination uptake. But it sure isn’t the way I’d do it. National’s suggested docking the benefits of those on benefit whose kids aren’t keeping up with their vaccinations. Some in National have suggested extending that to payments under Working ...
Clayton Mitchell, Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs The ‘wheel clamping’ Bill that will cap clamper fees to $100 passed its third readinginParliament today. New Zealand First welcomes The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill to combat predatory wheel clamping behaviour in what is currently a largely unregulated business. Cowboy clampers are: gouging ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its first reading in Parliament. “Today’s progress takes serious action on the mental health and addiction crisis the country is facing,” says New Zealand First Health Spokesperson Jenny Marcroft. “The re-establishment ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries Today the Government announced the delivery of the promise to protect New Zealand interests by applying a new National Interest Test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. This further strengthening of the Overseas Investment Act will ...
The Coalition Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high-risk assets to overseas buyers. Under current Overseas Investment Act (OIA) rules, assets such as ports and airports, telecommunications infrastructure, electricity and ...
Rt Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First Allegations raised this morning by Stuff Limited / Fairfax concern a party matter but I am confident that New Zealand First has operated within electoral laws, now and for the last 27 years. Declarable donations were declared to the Electoral Commission. Our ...
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 2021 (APEC 2021) Bill in Parliament today. The temporary bill supports New Zealand’s security preparations for hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in 2021. “APEC is the leading economic and trade forum ...
The Government is making progress on improving the wellbeing of the one million New Zealanders under the age of 18,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on World Children’s Day. The Government has today recommitted to the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history – the United Nation’s Convention on ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter has released a new report celebrating the contribution of Māori women in business across Aotearoa New Zealand. “Māori women are leaders in our communities, they employ many people and support our economy and our communities,” Julie Anne Genter said. The report, Ngā wāhine kaipakihi: ...
Four parcels of land have been bought in Omokoroa, in the Western Bay of Plenty District, for an education facility that will accommodate both a primary and secondary school on a campus-like facility, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. Two parcels were acquired from private land owners and two were ...
1 million New Zealanders warmed by the Winter Energy Payment 36,000 families bank the Best Start Payment in first year 6,000 more families received the Family Tax Credit, 220,600 in total They receive an increase too – from an average of $117 to $157 a week for Inland Revenue clients, ...
New rules to clamp down on overzealous wheel clamping and extortionate fees charged in order to release a vehicle have passed their final stage in Parliament today. The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill has now passed its third reading. “These changes mean $100 will be the maximum wheel clamping ...
An independent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission is a step closer after it unanimously passed its first vote in Parliament today. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill lays the groundwork for establishing the Commission as a fully independent crown entity – delivering on a key recommendation of He Ara ...
We’ve improved border security with the NZeTA, New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority, which helps us to screen travellers for border and immigration risks off-shore before they travel to New Zealand. It was launched in August and became mandatory on 1 October 2019. More than 500,000 NZeTAs have been issued since ...
A proposed national plan of action to reduce the number of seabirds caught in fisheries is being circulated for public feedback. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage say New Zealand is a global centre of seabird diversity with about 145 species in our waters. It has more ...
The Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. Associate Finance Minister David Parker said under current Overseas Investment Act rules, assets such as ports and ...
The Government is building special housing to accommodate one of Aotearoa’s greatest taonga- our kaumātua, says the Minister for Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. Speaking at a National Kaumātua Service Providers Conference in Rotorua today, the Minister reinforced the importance kaumātua play in maintaining and passing on mātauranga Māori, knowledge, ...
Eleven men from a pilot forestry training programme for prisoners in Northland now have full time jobs or job offers upon release, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis and Forestry Minister Shane Jones announced today. The ‘release to work’ programme was a collaboration between Te Uru Rākau and the Department of Corrections, ...
Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins today introduced into Parliament a Bill that will make it easier for the public service to tackle the biggest challenges facing Governments. The Bill represents the most significant change in the public service in 30 years. The State Sector Act 1988 will be repealed ...
The families of more than 416,000 students will be better off next year as their schools have signed up to the Government’s donations scheme, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. The scheme will see almost $62.5 million in additional Government funding go to schools nationwide next year. “I’m really pleased ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced further support as the Government of Samoa responds to a serious measles outbreak. “New Zealand will deploy a further 18 vaccination nurses, bringing the total to 30 working in Samoa over the next four weeks,” Mr Peters said. “A New Zealand Medical Assistance ...
Fa’atalofa atu, malo e lelei, Kia ora koutou katoa Thank you to the Child Poverty Action Group for asking me to be here today to provide an update on some of the things that have been happening across my the social development portfolio. Can I firstly acknowledge the vast ...
***Please check against delivery*** Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning to open this year’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Conference and AGM. Firstly, thank you Dr Alan Jackson, NZTR Chair for your introduction. And let us acknowledge also: The NZTR Board; Dean McKenzie, Chair ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
A marine conservation milestone - the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve - is being celebrated today at a community event in Tairāwhiti/East Coast attended by the Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “The creation of this marine reserve in November 1999 was a game ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
A flash new playground has been unveiled on Parliament's grounds today, amid growing calls for the government to take more action to help lift Kiwi kids out of poverty. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne Two and a half months before the February 3 Iowa Democratic caucus, the highly regarded Selzer poll for CNN and the Des Moines Register gave Pete Buttigieg 25% in Iowa ...
A bill allowing overseas security agents to carry illegal guns while in New Zealand for the APEC summit has passed its first reading, without support from the Greens. ...
The Labour led coalition government is continuing to create homelessness. The impact of immigration, failure of Kiwibuild, and attacks on the rental market, have resulted in the opposite outcomes that New Zealanders were promised. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Every, Senior Research Fellow in social vulnerability and disasters, CQUniversity Australia If you live in a bushfire-prone area, you’ll likely have considered what you will do in the event of a bushfire. The decision, which should be made well in advance ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni Di Virgilio, Research associate, UNSW Temperatures across many regions of Australia are set to exceed 40℃ this week, including heatwaves forecast throughout parts of eastern Australia, raising the spectre of more devastating bushfires. We have already heard warnings this fire season ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that the Government’s Families Package Monitoring Report shows strong commitment to the intentions outlined in the Child Poverty Reduction Act, specifically with regard to reporting on progressing towards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni Di Virgilio, Research associate, UNSW Temperatures across many regions of Australia are set to exceed 40℃ this week, including heatwaves forecast throughout parts of eastern Australia, raising the spectre of more devastating bushfires. We have already heard warnings this fire season ...
Today leading Māori health and public health organisations called on the Crown to meet its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi as it drafts legislation for the regulation of cannabis. More than 50 Māori leaders joined the call for Māori rights ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claudia Vickers, Director, Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform, CSIRO We need to revolutionise agriculture in the next 30 years. In 2050 we may have almost 10 billion people to feed. Farmland is already degraded by existing agriculture, and climate change is putting ...
Between now and March 2020 there is a small window where migrants who work in industries like aged care will have a realistic chance to get residency for the first time. This is due to ANZSCO skill levels being reclassified in Australia and some of those ...
Spinoff Art editor Mark Amery and photographer Ebony Lamb pay a visit to the internationally celebrated jewellery couple at their colonial cottage above Island Bay.The white horses are galloping in from the Cook Strait as photographer and singer-songwriter Ebony Lamb (Eb and Sparrow) and I roll in to Island Bay, ...
New powers to protect strategically-important assets from overseas investors are necessary due to the extremes of global capitalism, the government says. ...
Don’t get sucked in by the jovial banter and the sausage sizzle with Jacinda Ardern. Stephen Colbert is an international criminal mastermind who must be stopped. New Zealand is fizzing today with the exciting news that someone from another country has noticed that we exist. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ...
When the 59 new constables of Wing 332 graduate on Thursday, one of them will be the 1,800th new constable to head to the frontline since October 2017. ...
Extending the amnesty period for the return of banned firearms is utterly pointless unless the compensation period is extended as well, says the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO). ...
The Taxpayers Union denounced the role it seemed the government would require taxpayers to play in resolving the Ihumatao land dispute. But the union further claimed that taxpayers had contributed to the funding of an organisation which has been involved in the prolonged protest action at Ihumatao. This was a ...
Save the Children are extremely pleased by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s announcement today that the Government will recommit to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). ...
David Farrier has been writing about clamping enthusiast Michael Organ for nearly three years. In this latest installment, the totally logical thing happens and the New Zealand government rolls up its sleeves.Catch up with the extraordinary saga of the clamp-happy Bashford Antiques: Parts I to V are hereWhen Michael Organ ...
In October teams of second-year Unitec Architecture students designed, modelled, then constructed interactive light installations in Devonport’s Windsor Reserve for GLOW@Artweek. The brief is strict. Their budget is zero. And the installations must be zero waste too, both in the construction and in the afterlife of the projects. These strict conditions ...
A wave of reviews and inquiries into audit around the globe are raising questions about trust, independence, and freedom from conflicts of interest in the profession, says CAANZ President Stephen Walker. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen, who has previously been shadow treasurer and before that treasurer, wants the study of economics made “more sexy” to attract more students, especially women, to study it. And he thinks young ...
Jenée Tibshraeny of interest.co.nz surveys the issues that have farmers worried right now, and looks at the facts behind the fears.Rumblings from the dairy farming sector are becoming increasingly loud, as both the Government and Reserve Bank (RBNZ) make policy changes that affect the sector.New Zealand has for years milked ...
He Kākano Ahau is a podcast by writer and activist Kahu Kutia (Ngāi Tūhoe) that explores stories of Māori in the city, and weaves together strands of connection. In this episode: what happens when Māori are not ‘urban Māori’ as we know them, but mana whenua.For episode four of He ...
New powers to protect strategically-important assets from overseas investors are necessary due to the extremes of global capitalism, the government says. ...
The Children’s Commissioner is calling on the government to re-prioritise its commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Children’s Convention) on International Children’s Day. ...
National Party leaders Simon Bridges wants Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to take stronger action over allegations that New Zealand First has breached electoral law. ...
"Prince Charles’ visit to Waitangi today, the first by a Royal in a quarter-century, highlights Moana Jackson’s view that it is kāwanatanga that is the Treaty partner," said Lewis Holden, campaign chair of New Zealand Republic. ...
Seriously, if you haven’t seen The Mandalorian, look away now. This article also contains spoilers for Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, Return of the Sith, and The Last Jedi.In case you didn’t read the standfirst: this article contains spoilers about The Mandalorian, and also all of Star Wars.The ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First Matt Shand (Stuff): What NZ First slush fund was spent on: Campaign HQ, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Cook, Lecturer, Computer and Security Science,Edith Cowan University, Edith Cowan University Fake videos and doctored photographs, often based on events such as the Moon landing and supposed UFO appearances, have been the subject of fascination for decades. Such imagery is often ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Evelyn Parr, Research Fellow in Exercise Metabolism and Nutrition, Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University As an aesthetic society, we often demonise body fat and stigmatise people with lots of it. There’s often an assumption that people carrying excess ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (climate science), Victoria University of Wellington CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like ...
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If there is a vote to change the flag, we will be saddled with even more costs as the present flag will have to be replaced with the beach towel everywhere.
That won’t be cheap.
It’s a big IF Paul. We have a fairly solid chunk of society opposed to something that affects their sense of national identity. People from all political camps are opposed to change – I like it, it’s quite a good leveller. We are experiencing a moment of unity for once in our increasingly divided land.
Maybe have faith that we can pull this off?
Here’s a question for readers. As much as I dislike our current flag, mainly for reasons that Te Reo Putake pointed in his butchers apron post in regard to the Union Jack symbolism of colonial oppression (and descending from people who fought against that flag) I am still voting to retain it because a) the alternative is nothing but an ugly sport logo and b) I will not contribute to the Key Vanity Project.
Would I be a hypocrite to print out our flag and attach it to my front fence as fingers up to Key?
I don’t think putting up the current flag on your fence would be hypocritical at all, Rosie. For a lot of people its simply the dead rat option. Not ideal, but better than letting Key have his way.
A couple of good things have come out of this referendum. One of them has been the discussion about the current flag’s provenance and historical meaning. The other has been the tarnishing of John Key’s image. I’m looking forward to him waking up a loser on the day the result is announced.
Well i hope that you are going to vote.
No one is going to win by abstaining.
No, I’m not voting. Though I was impressed by the arguments you and others put up on the Butcher’s Apron post. However, I’m confident the change will be rejected by those that do actually vote. I still think that the lower the turnout, the worse it makes National look.
no you are effectively giving your vote to National.
but what evs, its your choice.
I agree with Sabine. Not voting in the first referendum was a reasonable approach, not voting in this one could mean we end up with that hideous alternative. By keeping the flag we have we may get a chance to get a new one in a few years but if it is changed now we’re stuck with the tacky beach towel.
yes. Agree totally Karen.
Ditto
For some reason I feel compelled to add my voice (again) to the chorus of people basically pleading with you at this stage to vote.
Key is not worried about the voter turnout, only that he wins. If only 60% of those eligible to vote do so but those who vote for change have a larger % of that 60% then they win.
I believe the polls indicating support for the status quo are being deliberately manipulated to lull opponents of the flag change into a false sense of confidence. I don’t trust the Government and their celebrity and media shills. TRP and others who don’t intend to vote need to rethink their strategy – a very high turnout and rejection of the proposed flag will send the most compelling message to John Key that cannot be spun.
Here here Southern man.
There are quite a few people that fly the NZ Flag at the moment, in front of their houses, on their cars.
Its your flag, fly it.
No one has an issue with the All Black Silver Fern when rugby is on.
John Key has no one but himself to blame for this charade.
Cheers trp and Sabine.
Might just do that. I was inspired by the street in Invercargill where each resident is flying the NZ flag in their front garden.
And yes, it is the dead rat option. I have no affiliation or attachment to our current flag but am happy to see it be flown as a symbol of resistance against Key.
Yes when you get down to it
Its the top down not the bottom up wanting this therefore in principle its not democratic no matter what the machinery or chicanery
Its not going to happen, evidence being I saw someone driving a holden around yesterday with NZ flags flying above both windows and blasting KISS at full volume. The natives are restless.
What an awesome spectacle.
“NZ flags flying above both windows and blasting KISS at full volume.” – Love it!
But a new flag will offer commercial opportunities. The guy who designed one of the contenders has already made a decent sum in sales.
We probably should change our flag every three years after the election. The first year the public’s attention could be taken up with deciding on colours and shapes etc. and that will keep us busy and amused so we won’t even care if our house, or the neighbour’s falls down or costs more than their life savings to repair and they commit suicide, or whatever.
And the rights to the commercial opportunities using the flag should be held by government. Now we have a commercial government it can profit from our brands. The past governments could not get their heads around owning the Kiwi brand, or buying it off the shoe polish people and since then there has been a USA airline using it and no doubt others.
The new flag would go well on men’s and women’s underpants, shorts, and of course tea towels, beach towels, sun shades for cars etc. Just a few places it could be used, perhaps tattoos as well, look good on white patriot guys for instance.
/satire
The flag will be changed sometime in the future IMO, and hopefully under an improved process that will result in a flag design that many will accept and will be far superior than our current option. If we vote for this flag, the chance of another change when nz moves towards being a republic will be lost, at least by supporting the current flag there will be another opportunity for change.
Also many selected names that are used under the change the flag campaign comment on the need to change but none have come out that this is their 1st choice, and that this is the best design we can come up with, all we get is that the existing flag is confusing when we play against Australian teams.
This one’s for you Cowboy. You raised the issue of staff resignations at Todd Barclays office last week. Bill English is putting on the front that he aint bovvered about his former seat and it’s all ok:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/297819/bill-english-unfazed-by-staff-resignations
Have you been speaking with people in your electorate and getting a feel for how they view this and is there any suspicion about Barclay being an unsuitable MP to represent his constituents?
There’s no way Boy Wonder’s appointment was a risk free strategy, that was obvious and pointed out at the time. The local Queenstown paper gave him a good smacking at the time.
http://www.scene.co.nz/queenstowns-clueless-shooin-mp-says-mayor-who/316733a1.page?print=yes
The Nat electorate committee stood by the appointment at the time in the face of some pretty strong questioning. Now they are resigning. Generational change? Yeah, but the electorate isn’t getting younger. Biggest export here is our young, and especially in Queenstown. Most of Barclay’s generation here can’t, or don’t, vote in New Zealand.
There might be an opportunity for a non Nat candidate who can get the confidence of both Queenstown, and it’s environmental constraints, and the prudent conservative business practice of rural Southland. It would be a very special candidate, but it could easily go.
Would have to be someone with exceptional and broad name recognition in and well around Queenstown (eg extending out to Gore and beyond), to have any chance.
Shadbolt managed it – might be worth picking his brains.
Invercargill and Southland are not the same constituencies. Although Shadbolt is pretty conservative these days so who knows.
There might be an opportunity for a non Nat candidate who can get the confidence of both Queenstown, and it’s environmental constraints, and the prudent conservative business practice of rural Southland. It would be a very special candidate, but it could easily go.
Oh! That was meant to be quoting Graeme and the rest of my comment disappeared. I was wondering about a NZ First candidate for the electorate. They pulled it off in Northland. May be able to do in the South?
It’s not really a party thing, more the right person. A business orientated Green could easily pull Queenstown and Te Anau, but Gore and Lumsden could be a different story. But you never know, had a farmer mate complementing James Shaw for a comment about farmers focusing on profitability rather than production. Shaw’s comment related more to emissions than finances, but the sound bite went both ways.
The electorate is used to having a top notch MP. Queenstown has been represented by Warren Cooper, David Parker and Bill English. Jackie Dean never really got any respect here and there was relief when Bill ended up as MP through boundary change.
There’s huge growth here right now and another change must be coming soon. Could see a return to a Central Otago electorate. That would be an interesting demographic / political mix
Thanks Graeme. Thats interesting. Always good to get the local perspective. Interesting to hear feedback from locals too, like your farmer friend.
As an aside, I partially listened to a radio interview today about education and what changes have occurred in the last thirty years as education shifted towards a marketable commodity. Turns out the person they were interviewing was James Shaw. The language he used made him sound very accessible. I see what you are saying about a Green of a business orientated persuasion being a possibility for certain parts of your electorate.
Wait and see I guess.
Southland Times did another piece today, Bill in damage control mode… transition… yada yada…
Comments are revealing.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/77431028/cluthasouthland-electorate-resignations-part-of-transition-to-new-mp-bill-english
Hi Rosie
Thanks for the shout out. Sorry been too busy today to follow events.
I am in the electorate and don’t know anyone who is particularly happy about having such an inexperienced individual as our MP but people down here have given him the benefit of the doubt to date.
What’s interesting is the Southland Times seem to be all over this like a dog with a bone so they obviously know there is plenty of discontent behind the scenes. I know some of the resignees who are all highly regarded so there is obviously something badly amiss. The feeling is he is putting building towards his personal cabinet ambitions ahead of being prepared to take a stand on local issues.
He has a 14k majority so it would take a massive swing to unseat him but he got those votes by default. Now there is an actual measure of his ability and character and his vote will be based on his merit, which appears to be negligible.
Labour ran a seemingly good candidate, Liz Craig, a health professional as I recall, I was surprised at the time she didn’t get closer. Someone like that could do well again given the shambles in the southern DHB.
NZ first are pushing the regional theme and should be a beneficiary of those true blue Nats that would never vote labour. If they get a strong rural focused candidate they should do well im picking but whether that transfers through to Queenstown appeal is the issue?
Cheers for the view cowboy.
“The feeling is he is putting building towards his personal cabinet ambitions ahead of being prepared to take a stand on local issues.”
That wouldn’t surprise me, he is a kid after all, of a self interested persuasion. That kind of principle something salt of the earth types have no time for.
Keep us up to date of any new developments.
I see Slater’s done his PR job for Judith today. Just the gang sticking together I guess.
@Repateet
There is a bit more to that arse licking post than meets the eye.
Today is going to be a great day … just wait and see.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/77406691/andrew-little-dines-with-drug-company-executives-months-before-adopting-keytruda-stance
Oh I’m sure Judith Collins will be very forgiving and understanding over this, she won’t hold any grudges or be looking for payback
I mean sure it look a little suspicious but I’m sure its nothing 🙂
So, PR, do your job properly, and instead of hinting at impropriety, in the words of Bob Dyan, “Why don’t you just come out once and scream it?”
Then, we can answer your sleazy half-masked allegations and condemn them to the dustbin of history.
BTW, this has been a thread in yesterday’s Daily Review 01/03/2016.
Hey I’m not saying that Littles in the pocket but its funny that Little says on one hand he can’t remember meeting with them but he later remembers that he didn’t discuss political donations or it didn’t influence their current position on Keytruda?
Its not like john Keys ever accused of forgetting things
I’m not sure John Key’s ever been accused of remembering a damned thing…
bwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
true that.
Bollocks, PR. You insinuate.
What on earth has not being in someone’s pocket got to do with memory recall?
You’re continuing the sly allegations, just on a different issue.
“I’m not quite sure whether drug companies were represented there,” said Little. That really says a lot about the impact that the drug company lobbyists made upon Little.
A person who never takes bribes does not have to remember if he took a bribe on a particular occasion. A person who knows why he has a position on a particular issue also knows he wasn’t influenced by someone’s views.
And don’t compare Key’s long list of lies, obfuscation and loose use of language with Andrew Little. That’s truly desperate condemnation by association.
Faboo.
Damned right.
I’m sure it’ll come to nothing 🙂
So does debating with you. 🙂
But others do read what is written.
And this moving hand, having writ, shall indeed move on……………..
Is Andrew Little married to someone who stands to benefit financially from a close relationship with foreign bsinesspeople?
Is Andrew Little the leader of a party that stands to benefit financially from a close relationship with Big Medicine?
When we see the audit of Cabinet Club we’ll humour your innuendo.
bets on whether that happens.
If only we could place that bet on one of Sky City’s new pokies…
Wouldn’t take the money tainted as it is, coming from addiction, money-laundering and desperation.
What innuendo? Little was at a meeting with Big Medicine (that market Keytruda) he can’t remember but does know they didn’t talk money and six months later Labour kicks up a stink about funding Keytruda
Theres absolutely nothing dodgy about that at all
What happened at this meeting to distinguish it from any other dinner meeting?
was he helicoptered in?
were they global industry presidents rather than typical lobbyists?
did he request an extensive detour to the other end of town in order to attend the funtion?
Is his partner director of one of the companies, and therefore there’d be a conflict of interest for him to remember?
Was his meeting used in company advertising brochures contrary to party policy?
did he happen to replace a bottle of wine labelled “Labour Leader’s Lambrusco” that turned out to be part owned by his supposedly blind trust?
Were there 100,000-odd shares in pharmaceutical companies that he forgot to declare?
Shame that politics doesn’t work that way eh 🙂
Actually, it does.
Note that I was asking if there was anything particularly memorable about the meeting.
see, tories, especially key, seem to forget things that should be very memorable. Key does it a lot.
Little seems to have a fairly good memory, but I’d expect he has a lot of similar meetings
I asked Little that. He put on his best imitation of a Sergeant Schultz face and told me “I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!” .
Seems about right. I doubt if he is ever going to answer your questions.
So, to recap, Little did not immediately remember a meeting that seems to have had pretty much nothing particularly memorable about it.
Key, on the other hand, can’t remember how a mate managed to walk randomly into being head of one of our intelligence services.
Good questions, McFlock, but beyond PR’s PR writ, and wit, to answer.
No.
Wow, The Herald is going into overdrive for the change the flag lobby and of course thier boss, John Key, They have even got some lame Aussie outfit’s corny advert on board today. No doubt part of the Crosby Textors dirty politics brigade.
Who’s next Granny?
RNZ flag poll running at 7-1 against change currently.
Still best not to take it for granted. I’ll be doing my bit & voting for the current flag.
agreed
I read a sly twisted piece of RW maliciousness on some wrapping newspaper of recent vintage. Liam Hehir, solicitor, writes for Fairfax and gets into quite a few papers as a result. What a cheap way of getting political coverage for a party to reach people of their mindset and beliefs. It is interesting to note at the end of the Opinion piece that there is no description of the writer, his expertise or interests, that would underpin the value of his thoughts, and the right the newspaper has extended to use its publication to broadcast them to us all.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/77118558/opinion-right-wing-resistance-agenda-reprehensible
This one is about some guys in black jackets calling themselves the ‘Right Wing Resistance’ handing out brochures about their favourite hates. There are two columns noting their targets and Hehir’s opinions and suppositions about their characters and mentality. And he takes the opportunity to comment on their prejudice against Jews, because that opens the way to an attack on the Labour Party. The ‘RW Resistance even took the time to make positive reference to infamous anti-Semitic slur used against Key by a Labour candidate in the last election.’
I looked this up on Google and note this is an example of how much can be made of something small so that it registers as large, and then can be alluded to in vague terms for the next decade if not longer. Note that ‘the Labour candidate’ is of Jewish descent himself.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/251915/candidate-warned-over-shylock-slur
The candidate, [Steven Gibson] who is of Jewish descent himself, has apologised and said on Monday he didn’t actually understand what the term Shylock referred to, and was repeating what a constituent had said about Mr Key in the context of a bad deal.
“I was only repeating what a constituent had said to me. And it’s only now that I realise the connotations of it. To me it was like a Shakesperian reference. I’m sorry people have been offended and I’ll take the post down – that’s all I can do.”
Hehir in this Firing Line piece manages to fit in a snide comment about The Standard. The “RW Resistance is also dead set” against the PM changing the flag to a “brand label”, and their “overall themes and prose style” shared much more with the anonymous commenters on the Left-wing blog, The Standard than the centre-Right, Kiwiblog. Then followed some more musings of his tainted RW beliefs about attitudes of “your garden variety left-liberal”.
How about having a go at Opinion writing yourself now you have got interested in The Standard. It’s a democracy, everyone has a chance to speak!
Here is some NCEA-guided advice.
http://www.studyit.org.nz/subjects/english/english3/4/subjectcontent/opinionwriting.html
Yes Greywarshark. Read that spiteful piece by Liam Hehir in our local paper. Not his first pro Key piece either.
Maybe even the Far Left is beginning to understand the crushing effect of the dogmatic and intolerant shift in LW culture over the last few years….
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/why-this-radical-activist-is-disillusioned-by-the-toxic-culture-of-the-left-a6895211.html
” I would go as far as saying that the politically correct mafia on the left perpetuates a form of bigotry on its own because it alienates and “otherises” those who do not share their ways of thinking and speaking about the world.”
“But without freedom of thought, speech, and expression, no other freedom can exist. Bigots and hateful people in general will make fools of themselves, and again, our freedom to speak means that we can and definitely should challenge and outsmart them. But the idea of being so self-righteous that we think we deserve to be authority figures in all of this is soul-crushing.”
I saw ‘far left’ then switched off. You sound like a conspiracy nut.
I saw “politically correct” and switched off. Dog whistle or really lazy thinking.
Sheep should be wary of blowing dog whistles…
You need to be a bit more realistic if you don’t want to be written off as a nut. Within the next few years our bankrupt ultra-right government will come for the health system. Most New Zealanders are opposed to that. But gulags are not part of our political tradition.
Keep stealing our stuff and they will be.
Whos going to the gulags? Torys or poor people?
It’ll start with a raid on the NWO offices to check the paperwork, then rounding up anyone who’s submitted invoices.
D’oh!
NZ’s poor are in Gulags already.
While you’re probably out to create mischief here, TLS, I will say that I agree with some core aspects of that activist’s critique. But it’s important to emphasise that we’re talking about a particular niche section of the Left – the Uber-Politically Correct faction: largely synonymous (I’ve increasingly come to realise) with the Authoritarian Left.
Probably associated most with certain (Rik from The Young Ones-style) middle class Uni students and that small faction of younger feminists (particularly in my own city of Wellington), newly-armed with First Class Gender Studies Degrees and seemingly more than keen to adopt the Trotskyite modus operandi of the 1970s Radical Lesbian Feminist Movement – an inherently aggressive approach, divisive/destructive Entryist tactics, the use of cult-like techniques for control and exclusion, with a healthy dose of self-martyrdom thrown in for good measure.
We’ve seen some pretty obvious examples on social media over the last few years, with various insane mob-job pile-ons, the angrily self-righteous working themselves up into a mouth-frothing fervour as they attack some unlucky woman journalist or erstwhile left-wing commentator for not strictly following their dogmatic sensibilities. By no means pleasant.
One of the more recent examples being the nasty and quite bizarre personal attack on Sacha Dylan on a Hard News thread. This most liberal and progressive of blokes was deemed Unsafe, Notorious, Misogynist and almost persona non grata (big black mark down on the old McCarthyite Blacklist run by these nutjobs) for committing the heinous crime of calling someone “a twat” a few times on Twitter.
Personally, I think these New McCarthyites with their teen-like pettiness and uber-precious self-martyrdom tendencies have been far too indulged by both the broader feminist movement and the broader Left in general.
So, there you go, TLS, you’ve got your bite. But I wouldn’t have bitten if I hadn’t thought it needed to be said. And it’s good to see sections of the Left drawing a line and moving into push-back territory.
The ‘mischief’ I am trying to cause is to trying to get the Left looking honestly into the reasons it has been out of Govt. for 3 terms heading for a 4th….
I agree with much of what you say, but I disagree that it is a niche issue. Having been a staunch and active Leftie since 1960, I can tell you there was a distinct trend from the early 1990’s on for the whole of LW culture to become more dogmatic and stridently intolerant of differing views.
It doesn’t need to be overt to be stifling. It only needs to be the subtle pressure of knowing that some ideas are not up for question, and anyone doing so will meet with an automatic condemnation.
For me, and many others I know, the Left simply became an unpleasant place to be.
I think that has a massive amount to do with the reason why the LW is failing to win back support, and why the Left cannot generate a new vision and the leaders to sell it…but obviously not many here want to hear that.
lolz
Compared to whom?
Yeah, hubristic stoats always claim they were pheasants……once. Rob Campbell…….Ports of Auckland and serial director. In my VUW days that guy frightened the shit out of me. Unease, maybe two decades prematurely. Only explanation – a vainglorious wanker – then or now. A la Trollwyn.
“there was a distinct trend from the early 1990’s on for the whole of LW culture to become more dogmatic and stridently intolerant of differing views”
Assuming that was the case, why do you think it happened then? Had anything else of political note occurred, say, from the mid-80s to the mid-90s?
What generally precedes radicalisation?
Or is it all just mercurial intellectual ‘fashion’ that is behind this kind of thing?
(BTW, I’m not conceding the truth of your claim, just following the questions that arise from it.)
There is an element of truth in that and it started well before the early 1990s.
I dropped out of [old] Labour in the 1980s because of it. Some of those ardent feminists of the 70s and 80s were bullies who isolated anyone who wasn’t prepared to strictly conform to their narrow views. When I returned to Labour 15 years later, I found most of them had either moved on of their own volition or had been ‘encouraged’ to move on. The current L.P. is now a much more tolerant and broad-based party with a pleasingly large number of ethnic minorities actively involved. I’m proud to be a member of the [new] Labour Party.
A Sword’ masterfully wielded ! Provoking The Lost Sheep to prattle on about how she/he was a liar/wanker then/now……a la Mad Dog Prebble, The Norton-ish Bassett, the suffocating up his own arse Moore.
Listen up Lost Sheep……if you wanna come home ya better show some respect……mouthing your own dick ain’t respect !
Oh I call folks twats all the time. (not to their face, don’t worry) Should I stop?
might be some truth in there
the article is about australia, but could very well be nz or many other places in the anglo saxon world.
https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2016/march/1456750800/richard-cooke/boomer-supremacy
“Quote: “Somehow young workers need to be both agile and traditional, team players and self-motivating, in search of a good job and willing to work a job that isn’t paid at all. To be grateful, and, most importantly, to wait their turn.”
“they are synergistic attacks on millennials, Gen Y and Gen X. They’re almost elegant in their efficiency: their motivator is youth’s use of public space, already diminished as the public square makes the declension to the shopping mall. They increase the price of already valuable properties further, and accelerate gentrification.
They also act as part of a wider attack on wages and conditions in hospitality, perhaps the single most critical source of well-paid employment for the young. They then deny those same workers the chance of a civic social life after they’ve finished their shifts, or even the chance to get something to eat.” Quote end.
Quote: “”The whole stretch from Darlinghurst to Surry Hills seemed to be empty, the greasy spoons shut, a couple of bars of last resort unpatronised apart from their gaming rooms. These are exempt from the lockout – they can remain open as long as patrons only gamble and don’t drink. I walked all the way to the casino, which is exempt from everything – early closing and plastic glasses and no entries and all the other shackles of the legislation – even though it’s one of the most violent venues in the state. If opponents want to have the lockout revoked, the surest method is not to campaign against the laws but to insist they cover the casino. But even The Star’s bars were almost deserted. The city couldn’t have been emptier if it were under curfew. Quote End.
China just laid off 1.8 million people. If commodity prices weren’t enough of a sign, the growth in China’s economy is pretty much at an end.
And look at from which sectors: coal and steel.
They’re predicting seriously diminishing demand for both. In other words, people won’t be making shit (unless massive amounts are stockpiled somewhere, and I’m talking a significant percentage of world demand).
It is also response to us countervailing duties,such as the 266% duty on steel.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-01/u-s-said-to-impose-266-tariff-on-imports-of-steel-from-china
ah, very interesting.
It may be partly to do with competitive edges – POSCO was widely expected to be closed about a decade ago as China outstripped their cost of production – but they upteched and reversed the decline and two Chaebol shipbuilders stepped in to consolidate Korea’s position as cost effective softa ship builder.
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/03/01/453260/South-Korea-to-build-steel-mill-in-Iran
This is one of a cluster of large heavy industry start-ups in the Middle East and central Asia that, destabilising events permitting, may yet change the face of the region.
Send him to the Hague! Tony Benn on Blair’s ‘war crimes’
Long after his war-mongering, opportunist son has been consigned to a distasteful memory, Tony Benn will still be honoured for his courage and his integrity…
@Prentice
You apparently have a lot of expertise in technical stuff to do with the Internet.
Are you able to tell me how easy it would be to manipulate up votes and down votes in Georges Word Press YourNZ Blog?
Somebody did it a few weeks ago … and I would like to know if that sort of viral technology can continue to be utilized within the blog once it has been uploaded on there?
Many thanks for your time.
Donald Trump actually seems decent in comparison to Nevil “Breivik” Gibson, Jordan Williams, Barry Corbett, Michael Bassett, Neil Miller, John Bishop, David Farrar, Stephen Franks, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet, Jacqueline Rowarth, Tau Henare, ad nauseam…..
The Panel, RNZ National, Wednesday 2 March 2016
Jim Mora, Jeremy Hansen, Ellen Reid, Zara Potts
About 4:25 p.m., following a discussion about the Super Tuesday voting with Professor Steve Hoadley from Auckland University, host Jim Mora read out a listener’s response….
JIM MORA: “Is it possible,” asks Neil, “to have someone on your program who SUPPORTS Donald Trump?”
JEREMY HANSEN: Ha ha ha ha!
ELLEN REID: [in a mock peremptory tone] No it’s not possible, Neil. Go away.
JIM MORA: [nervously] Ha ha ha. We do not instruct any of our guests what to say about Donald Trump, but I don’t think we have had anyone on who would admit to supporting him.
From that little exchange, one might infer that, morally, the guests on this program were of a higher than average calibre. Sadly, however, that doesn’t survive any serious scrutiny. Long-time sufferers of The Panel may not have actually heard any of the guests endorse Donald Trump, but plenty of them have made obnoxious and vicious statements live on air, without the giggling, sighing host uttering a word of demur….
Ellen reid
Symptomatic of NZs problems
I wonder who is paying for all the Key flag badges its supporters are wearing in parliament and actually should they be allowed in the house?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11596250
Oh Audrey…….you crone and baggage. It was never a simple fucking vote. It was always the man-child pulling his pud’. And you and ilk waiting waiting waiting with gobs expectantly wide open.
You’re a disgraceful suck-arse. Can’t help it. So fuck off with your haughty shit. No one owes any explanations to you as an archetype of everything that’s pathetic about the New Zealand MSM.
You do realise that you and ilk are laughed at in places where quality is thick on the ground. Khandallah Man you ! Fuck you’re barely literate.
Is Audrey Young a member of the National Party or something?
The lack of objectivity is off the planet.
Yeah, but doesn’t Murdoch own a large piece of the Herald, any paper owned by him is not worth the paper it’s printed on, it costs News Corp (Sydney morning Telegraph)
$30M a year to spread his bull shit.