Any one see any irony in the fact that Kronic and other cannabinoid drugs can be banned within a week – – – this news on the same day as we read about an alcohol-fuelled murder stabbing in Auckland ?
I’m very disappointed with Key’s position. Our kids deserve better – the Prime Minister should be leading with an all party all people approach to this.
Thing could get worse for Labour. It realistically looks like Bill English in 2002 all over again:
The Colmar Brunton Poll results from 2002
February 17 2002 – Labour 51%, National 35%.
March 17 2002 – Labour 49%, National 35%.
April 21 2002 – Labour 50%, National 34%.
May 19 2002 – Labour 51%, National 32%.
June 16 2002 – Labour 53%, National 27%.
June 29 2002 – Labour 51%, National 30%.
July 14 2002 – Labour 46%, National 27%.
July 25 2002 – Labour 44%, National 21%.
Actual election result – Labour 41%, National 21%
The major difference is that if national get 44%, how likely is it that they’ll get an extra 7% in coalition partners?
Let’s assume that this year will be a mirror of the 2002 election.
National 41%, Labour 27%, ACT 7% (REALLY? With Brash not Hyde/Pebble?), Greens 7%, MP+Mana 7% (substituting for United Future), NZ1 10% (doubtful, but I’ll only rule winston out if he is decapitated and a stake thrust through his heart. Even then I’d think it a gamble).
Without ACT getting 7% (and at the moment they need to be gifted Epsom), it is still between two 3/4 party coalitions. Without NZ1, it becomes an open race – although frankly I’d half expect the Greens to support National either way.
As McFlock illuminates, if this is 2002 all over again, then National are actually the ones in real trouble.
If their impressive lead over Labour in the polls goes down to the extent that Labour’s did in 2002 I can’t see how they could govern, assuming that ACT doesn’t do a stunning Lazarus act and the MP don’t take all the Maori seats.
According to your figures, Labour lost 20% of the people who were supporting it a month out from the election (going down from 51% to 41%). If anything like that happened this time to National’s support then we’ll be viewing a very sick looking John Key late on election night – and, in fact, it doesn’t matter to which party those votes go.
So you and John Key better pray this isn’t 2002 all over again.
Edit: I meant “If their impressive polling goes down …”
Salsy Michelle Boag buggered up forgot To mention to dumb national supporters to tick party vote in her hoardings ,And Bill English doing his calender come sex symbol trick probably didn’t help either.No wonder you guys need so many spin doctors cause you can never tell the truth.
Alcohol forms part of that blind trust shonkey’s sheckles are held in so alcohol levies being raised etc……yeah right, been there before they’ll bash some benes to compensate.
The alcohol excise tax was raised on 1st of July. It went from ~$45/litre of alcohol in spirits to ~$49/litre, or about 10%. The rise in beer and wine was less.
It’s funny how National trumpet that they cut taxes for everyone, and then go and raise an alcohol tax and somehow it’s not counted?
I like rugby. My wife, who is from Thailand, is mad keen on it. She also enjoys the cricket, but I think that has more to do with it being an opportunity for a day out in the sun to picnic, nap, read novels, and occasionally ask about the score.
I love rugby, played a lot, one eyed fan etc. The 81 tour was my lifes most schizo moment, wanted to see the Boks desparately but had to stand by conviction and protest. I am sure theres a lot more of us rugby nuts on the Standard, wouldnt be surprised if Gos and Burt lurk on the sidelines screaming the same abuse at the refs I do….
From the bank at Lancaster Park, gave up abusing refs after I reffed. There was an old dude on the bank years back who waited for the first penalty of the game, we would all go silent as he yelled, “Thats right ref, he’s been doin it all day”!
Plenty of rugby fans vto. Also plenty of places elsewhere to talk rugby!
On the issue, I thought imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. Some of the responses, along the lines of NZ somehow “owns” the rights to an all black jersey are a little precious, if not immature.
And also rather ironic given it was a typo by an English journalist that gave rise to the NZ team’s nickname.
Some of the team manipulations of jersey colours is immature too. We could end up with all teams wearing black because statistics show that black wearing teams have the most success at test rugby. And that would improve the black statitiscs even more.
They would be better off just learning to place decent rugby.
I just think it is weak. Reflects poorly on the English.
But you know, rugby has historically been wracked with cheating and underhand behaviour – on and off the field. NZ is pretty good at cheating on the field but our laidback somewhat naive approach to life in general is reflected in how we get nailed tme and again by others in the rugby world. Such as, being shafted by Aussie re the 2003 World Cup, poisoned by the South Africans in the 95 world cup, being made to wear pink off the field and non-black on the field by the Frogs who changed their colour to near-black in the 07 world cup, corrupt and bribed refs back in the ’76 South African tour, the list just goes on and on …
But we will prevail! And through use of another of our traits, namely the unassuming underdog approach. I predict a whitewash of every single game this year … tri-nations and world cup.
Ha! I like the even more surprising statistic that white wearing teams have the most success at test cricket.
I’m sure all the critics realise it’s an alternate strip and the number of times it will be seen won’t be that many. I’m sure they’ve also factored in that up until recently the All Blacks’ alternate strip was/is white and looks like we are going to have to invent a new colour to avoid being hypocrites.
My first test I ever saw live (as a 10 y.o. and can still remember well thanks to that rain) was NZ v Scotland at Eden Park in 1975 – NZ wore white and Scotland wore dark blue.
So in 36 years we’ve gone from being a host gracious enough to give up our “natural colours” to the visitors, to moaning when another team adopts black for an alternate strip, as if we own the rights to the colour.
Yep, I still call it immature.
Edit/PS: I tell my 15 y.o. stepdaughter if someone tries to copy the way she looks it’s actually a compliment because they like the way my stepdaughter dresses/ does her make-up etc etc. Maybe I’m wrong.
Slimy New Zealand “entertainment” writer publicly humiliated
One of the more unpleasant algae to slither into public view after the News of the World tipped over was a New Zealander called DAN WOOTTON. If you fancy seeing him receive a very public kicking, click HERE….
Here’s Rupert Murdoch’s worst nightmare: Nick Davies, the tenacious investigative reporter for the Guardian who has broken much of the Hackinggate story, comes to the U.S. in search of News Corp. crimes and coverup.
Well, it’s come true. Davies arrives in New York today. He’ll be there until Friday, and then he’s going to Los Angeles in pursuit of hacking-type practices that might have been carried out on U.S. soil by Murdoch’s U.S. reporters, by his U.K. reporters working in the U.S., or by private detectives hired by News Corp.
Putin’s Army: tearing off their clothes for victory
They call themselves “Putin’s Army”. They are young, female, and urging others to “rip for Putin” – rip off some of their clothing, that is.
A remarkable bit of video propaganda starring these cleavage-baring footsoldiers has been circulating furiously around Russia, and beyond. Some see it as the handiwork of Nashi, a frankly rather scary Kremlin-supported youth group devoted to exalting Vladimir Putin and demonising (harassing, too) his enemies.
The new campaign can only boost speculation that Putin, now prime minister, will stand again for the presidency in March next year – in doing so moving the centre of power back to that post.
“I’m just crazy about the man who changed our country,” enthuses the young star of the video, according to a translation at GlobalVoices.com. “He is a great politician and an amazing man. He is Vladimir Putin. And although there are millions who admire him, there are some who pour dirt on him, perhaps because they are scared of him or because they themselves are weak and will never be able to take his place.”
A blog for Putin’s Army puts it like this: “We will show that many beautiful and smart young women support Mr Putin! We all share the opinion that Putin is a decent and honest politician, as well as an AMAZING man!
Objective: “Putin – President!”
We accept only young women without complexes! Our campaigns will be roaring across all Russia! Each participant will become an Internet star! Are you ready to show everyone how cool YOU are and how great is YOUR president? Join PUTIN’S ARMY!!!
As a post at Radio Free Europe reminds us, it all suits the careful efforts to project the image of a desirable leader. Tom Balmforth writes:
Vladimir Putin is no stranger to offbeat forms of public veneration. His image adorns T-shirts. Billboards in Moscow and online comic strips have portrayed him as a James Bond-like action hero. And a cult in Siberia worships him as the reincarnation of St Paul …
Putin has cultivated the image of a hard man through a myriad of highly choreographed feats of manliness, including sedating a polar bear and burning rubber at a race track behind the wheel of a Formula One race car.
Why “rip for Putin”? Clearly there is the salacious idea of tearing ripping off clothing, but the phrase rip for in Russian has another, more sinister meaning. According to an analysis in the Moscow Times, it also suggests a threat along the lines of “I’ll rip your head off”.
“The Sexy Soldier in Putin’s Army rips her T-shirt in a (possibly ironic) gesture of threat,” writes Michele A Berdy, “describing what she’s doing and (possibly) promising to beat the daylights out of anyone who insults her idol or (possibly) swearing to do anything to see him win his (possible) electoral campaign.”
Based on previous years data for this site, I’m unsurprised to see that the mid-winter slump in july affects almost all of the blog sites listed at Open Parachute. But out of the sites that I compared, if you look at No Right Turn in May I/S managed to slightly increase his audience.
I’ve never quite figured out why we get a mid-winter slump. But it has happened every year that we have been operating including election year in 2008 (although that was more of a flattening off of exponential growth). It doesn’t appear to be particularly related to numbers of comments.
They come from a public statscounter or sitemeter on the site.
If there isn’t such a counter or Ken doesn’t have the link to the public counter then they aren’t on the site – so Brown or Slater or or Edwards or Trotter or quite a few others are not on it. But what it is is a simple method of looking between sites without any of the interesting algorithms that show up on scubones or other sites.
Louden has a vertical nutter constituency offshore who read his site. Steve Gray, I’d guess has a offshore readership. Both consequently have some quite severe spiking in their monthly readership – Louden’s page views dropped down to half the volume between June and July which was rather extreme. This site gets over 95% of its human readers from NZ.
We did a large drop in page views after May, but that was mostly because of a glitch at Facebook for weeks in April/May that was bumping up the page views. Facebook eventually fixed their irritating servers that were sucking up our bandwidth.
The “visits” calc is a bit subjective as it depends entirely on what is defined as a “visit” in the meter. Visits in google analytics are vastly different to those in sitemeter, which is different to statcounter. It also depends on the layout of your site. On this site we get some pretty long visits according to google because people tend to leave it running pressing refresh periodically to look at who is commenting. Our page view time tends to be pretty long as well. You can get a distorted idea looking at alexa compared to other sites.
I tend to look at the page views as being the least susceptible to site variability. These are the actual loads of the main page, post pages, and ancillary pages like policy etc and ignoring all of the includes of css, images, js, etc (of which there are millions per month) and the robots which do at least 2x the number of page views (currently on the US server only). It is certainly the closest to how I see the NZ server working.
Excluding the bots and spammers. They are about 2-3x the size of the humans if we counted them….
The US based server now gets all of the bots (and acts as the offshore warm site) and the NZ server gets almost all of the humans. Shifting the US one to the cloud and leaving the NZ one as a dedicated box.
Reading things like the Hitchhikers Guide..Galaxy its like a brainstorming session on our conceptions of life. I like this bit when we are introduced to Zaphod Beeblebrox who wants to be Galactic President which sounds very important.
Adams writes – Only six people in the Galaxy knew that the job of the Galactic President was not to wield power but to attract attention away from it.
“You describe yourself as a hero, as a knight. You are no hero,” Ivar Benjamin Oesteboe, who lost five friends in the shootings, said in the letter addressed: “Dear Anders Behring Breivik.”
“But one thing is certain, you have created heroes. On Utoya on that warm July day, you created some of the greatest heroes the world has seen, you united the people of the world,” the teenager wrote.
“We are not responding to evil with evil as you wanted. We are fighting evil with good. And we are winning.
Maybe you think you’ve won. Maybe you think you’ve destroyed the Labour Party and people around the world who stand for a multicultural society by killing my friends and fellow party members.
Know that you failed,”
The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station seems to go from bad to worse.
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it has detected 10,000 millisieverts of radioactivity per hour at the plant. The level is the highest detected there since the nuclear accident in March.
Not the 10,000 mS (=10 sieverts) radiation level, which is enough to provide a lethal dose to most people within one or two minutes.
But the fact that the radiation level is measured at that because it’s all that the instrumentation they have there goes up to.
That’s right, the radiation levels are completely off the charts and their instrumentation is reading offscale maximum.
Japan is frakked, IMO they are hiding how badly they have been hit, there are dangerous levels of hot particles 100km-200km from the Fukushima plant, if not further.
It is an Election. We all populate the pantomime of participation. We are all willing extras and we want to hear the leads orate on the grand desires that spin doctors deign to be good enough for our democracy to discuss. It matters what the last soundbite is before a beer commercial. It is important that the camera cuts away to show glazed possums behind the podiums when an off-script moment leaps out. On a more serious note…This Election year a full debate is more important than usual. The Global situation and our place within that structure is still negotiable.
I propose a radical restructuring of the concept of a Leaders’ Debate. The Leaders’ Debate should be a full engagement with all balloted parties being represented in a week long series of random groupings of three, drawn from a hat a week before in a nationally televised draw, using the ‘lotto rules’ would be good. They are fair, tried and true and the symbolism is not without its mirth.
here is how the draw works:
All parties are put in the hat. The first draw of three is done, those three are left out, next draw, those three are left out, etc,. When the hat is empty, irrespective of how many empty slots remain in the debate being drawn, all parties so far removed are put back in. The process continues until the debate roster is complete. Five nights, three debaters, fifteen slots, all will get representation and none should be favoured over any other
The series of debates are using questions from wherever. It does not really matter, what matters is the draw of the participants. Until we see the ballot we will not know final numbers obviously, but a rotating roster of debates where the Greens may be on stage with just ACT and United would be a good debate. National up against Mana with Progessive along for conscience would have its moments. Labour and Greens and Maori Party would be a riot and i suspect a hasty unforseen event would cause transmission to be interrupted soon into the broadcast.
Give it some consideration. The media driven Election campaigns warrant an event of this scale. More and more influence is attributed to Tv Media so it makes sense for the Public to find a way to ask that the media become a constructive particpant and not just a manipulative tool.
The series of debates are using questions from wherever. It does not really matter, what matters is the draw of the participants. Until we see the ballot we will not know final numbers obviously, but a rotating roster of debates where the Greens may be on stage with just ACT and United would be a good debate. National up against Mana with Progessive along for conscience would have its moments. Labour and Greens and Maori Party would be a riot and i suspect a hasty unforseen event would cause transmission to be interrupted soon into the broadcast.
Give it some consideration. The media driven Election campaigns warrant an event of this scale. More and more influence is attributed to Tv Media so it makes sense for the Public to find a way to ask that the media become a constructive particpant and not just a manipulative tool.
Idiot/Savant has a noce breakdown of this over at NRT:
Instead, National and Labour have colluded to exclude all other parties from the debates, thus denying them coverage – and votes. Its a fine example of their dirty oligarchical tendencies, and why we need to keep them under control.
Yeah, the whole point of MMP was to have better representation but it doesn’t look like we’re getting it from the two main parties. Neither of which wanted MMP in the first place.
They really are just awful people at heart, but even accepting that, you’d think they might realise that all the ‘bad’ mps they show are elected under the fpp electorate system.
You might want to take another look Lanth; the ACT bit is there as the sexy straight non-creepy non-crippled alternative to MMP. It’s not a subtle message.
“The government announced today that it’s changing it’s emblem to a CONDOM, because it more accurately reflects the government’s political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts productions, destroys the next generations, protects a bunch of dicks, and gives you a sense of security while you’re being screwed. It just doesn’t get more accurate than that.”
Been doing the rounds since 2010 – I think the original was.
‘The Government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the government’s political stance… A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of dicks, and gives you a sense of security while you’re actually being screwed!’
US inspired obviously but can be applied to most governments.
Most Kiwis have no interest in the Rubber Wool Cup. About as many people loath it as actually want to watch it – the rest are neutral.
The poll showed 37 percent of Kiwis were keen for the Rugby World Cup to kick-off, while 35 percent were not looking forward to it and 29 percent were neutral.
Wonder what would have happened if this had been put to a referendum…
Fuck no. It is an absolute saviour in any of those awkward enforced social situations where you have to try to find something useful to say to some 60 year old guy. A working knowledge is an easy out.
Trust me Oleole, that 60 yr old guy doesn’t want to talk to you either. You’re just making it weirder for everyone.
Besides, if you’re not a completely boring cnut you won’t find it a problem just being yerself.
And if you weren’t wasting your time maintaining your working knowledge for the supposed benefit of men who don’t want to talk to you anyway, you could be well on your way to being a less boring cnut.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 18.2.1.2.1
I will always remember a very sad event in 1981 that I heard of in the news. A boy, the son of a diplomat from South America, ended up with permanent damage in a – is the word ‘ruck’? That was the first (but not the last time) I had heard of that happening. Now I am very thankful that my brother and my sons all somehow managed to avoid being forced to play rugby at school!
More brain injuries than those caused by traffic “accidents” we don’t need!
The numbers will probably change once it’s under way.
I’m not interested in all the lead up stuff to any major sports events, including opening ceremonies, but I enjoy the sport once it gets under way, and it’s good to get out and meet people visiting the country – that was the highlight for me in the last RWC here.
But I guess we could try and stop anything from happening if in advance the majority of the population aren’t interested in it.
yeah – the Romans knew that you needed to provide BREAD as well as circuses, otherwise the peasants will still rebel. DonKey’s only doing half the distraction/pacification routine – good for the Left.
I have a project going to it first public outing at the end of October. I can’t go on holiday or die before then. Does feel a bit unusual for me to be scheduled on a project with a major milestone in an election year. But my time schedule plans got scuppered in the financial chaos at the end of 2009.
So I will have to put up with the RWC idiocy, especially since Eden park is too damn close.
Debate it all you want – just use facts. Oh, that’s right, you can’t because all the facts show that MMP is the best system of representative democracy available.
But, that’s not all:
I am a believer in the cornerstone of neo-democracy in such a large welfare state that New Zealand now has is that there should be no representation unless you pay net taxation.
Yep, she doesn’t want all those poor people* voting even though it is their society and should have a say in it’s direction.
The call of the dictator is the cry of property rights which is Acts central theme and Cactus Kate has just proved that Act is bunch of dictators by saying that she wants only her preferred people voting.
* Who are only poor because of the policies Act promote.
I am a believer in the cornerstone of neo-loyalty in that if you leave NZ in your 20’s to chase bucks then your opinion on NZ affairs means diddly-squat and you should STFU
@RobC – How can young people know the world from just staying in the country facebooking or watching videos for experience. You yourself have to go and live it. When you are over there it’s in your face, there is no avoiding the reality as it hits you. Also going overseas to do advanced study enriches the graduate’s expertise and if we can get them back then we have increased our IQ.
Just staying in NZ would lead us back to the narrow-minded types we were before the Second World War caused thousands of our people to do an OE and thousands of displaced Europeans and others to come here and show us their culture and way of thinking.
Hi Prism, you’ve read too much into my comment – I just find it rather amusing that someone who has lived/worked overseas until just recently (?) and probably has paid F.A. net tax in NZ comes out with no representation without paying net taxation.
But if only net taxpayers can vote that means Sam Morgan can’t vote, virtually all the farmers can’t vote (perhaps that is an angle for the left), and the only voters left are the working, hard slogging wage and salary earners.
Or perhaps we take Cactus Kate (never read her but she sounds horrid) approach and extend it a little so that a person gets a number of votes, that number rising or falling depending on the proportion of their income that ends up in the government coffers… smokers and boozers would get the most votes … equals Cactus Kate equals zombie.
I see that the Nat government is going to pay to those red-zoned homeowners with insurance, if they accept the governments offer to purchase, a deposit of up to 50% (max $50,000) once signed… if that aint an election stimulant I don’t know what is. I betcha the cheques arrive well in time.
And btw, what was the reason for only insured homeowners receiving the governments offer?
Boscowen – someone tell him that the word is horrific not hirrofic. Perhaps if he spoke from within rather than reading a prepared script he might be a little more credible, (especially as he repeated the same error when re-reading the phrase).
Ilargi over at Theautomaticearth posted this today and it pretty much sums up the world and the state of our polity today. its a DIRE WARNING.
Once a society or country allows money to enter its politics, the outcome is inevitable: the money interests will come to rule that country. This is evident all over the western world, whether you look at the Greek, Irish and other EU bail-outs, or at the debt dungeon debate the US is presently digging its way into ever deeper, with the respective bills handed to the people and their children.
As we speak, and as we watch the wall-sized media coverage of the debt dungeon chasm, municipalities and counties are on the cusp of bankruptcy. Services will be cut across the board. That is our future.
A future that won’t involve growth, but which be all about austerity and cutting back and outright poverty for rapidly increasing numbers of people. Just not for the politicians and their puppeteers, not for those who get to decide who will hurt the most.
That is the main issue today. Who are you going to let decide how bad your future will be? If you opt for Washington, anyone in Washington, or Brussels if you’re in Europe, your future will hurt something bad. When it comes to that future of yours and, of your offspring, the debt dungeon debate is the wrong focus. There’s nothing beneficial for you in there.
This is nothing less than outright class warfare where those with the means are stealing ours and our childrens future and liberty.
I can’t get through the code word barrier to send a Contact message. I have tried three times and am sure I was correct the last two. I wear glasses but thought I was seeing well the last two times. I was trying to say that none of my personal posts show up since July 31. Cheers
Obama got nothing except forcing Republicians to agree to reductions in militrary spending in return for keeping the unfordable tax cuts for the richest. Obama delayed the debate until after the pay off, mid term elections, where military constituencies will make Repubalicians pay for their greed.
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Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Asia Pacific Report A West Papuan resistance leader has condemned the United Nations role in allowing Indonesia to “integrate” the Melanesian Pacific region in what is claimed to be an “egregious act of inhumanity” on 1 May 1963. In an open letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Organisasi Papua Merdeka-OPM ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A key part of the Albanese government’s political strategy is to fill the news cycle with its presence and messaging. Ministers are deployed to the maximum, even when they’ve little to say. This week ...
Recent extreme weather events showed the importance of a well-functioning insurance system, says Commerce and Consumer Affairs minister Andrew Bayly. ...
By Jo Moir, RNZ News political editor, and Craig McCulloch, deputy political editor New Zealand’s Labour Party is demanding Winston Peters be stood down as Foreign Minister for opening up the government to legal action over his “totally unacceptable” attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. In an interview on RNZ’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Brakenridge, Postdoctoral research fellow at Swinburne University, Centre for Urban Transitions, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute The Conversation, Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock People have a pretty intuitive sense of what is healthy – standing is better than sitting, exercise is great for overall ...
The Wellington-based Reserve Force soldier is now almost three years into his New Zealand Army career with 5th/7th Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment. ...
"The Government needs to release the review immediately as this reckless approach to change risks disjointed decision making and creates more distress and uncertainty for staff," Fitzsimons said. ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Jeremiah Manele has been elected Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, polling 31 votes to 18 over rival candidate and former opposition leader Mathew Wale with one abstention. The final result of the election by secret ballot was announced by the Governor-General, Sir David Vunagi, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Priestley Habru, PhD candidate, public diplomacy, University of Adelaide Former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele has been elected the next prime minister of Solomon Islands, defeating the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in a vote in parliament. The result is a mixed bag for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shaun Eaves, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Jamey Stutz, CC BY-SA How often do mountains collapse, volcanoes erupt or ice sheets melt? For Earth scientists, these are important questions as we try ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Flood, Professor of Sociology, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Most young adult men in Australia reject traditional ideas of masculinity that endorse aggression, stoicism and homophobia. Nonetheless, the ongoing influence of those ideas continues to harm men and the people ...
The NZQA proposal released to staff today would involve a net loss of 35 roles. There are 66 roles being disestablished with 13 of those currently vacant, and 31 new roles proposed, said Fleur Fitzsimons Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga ...
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By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Police in Solomon Islands are on high alert ahead of the election of the prime minister today. The two candidates for the top job are former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele at the head of the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation, which is ...
He’s fine but it feels like I’m losing a friend and it’s making me bitter. How do I say ‘enough is enough’? Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzHey Hera,I’ve recently moved in with a girlfriend, her partner Steve, and his friend. We all live in a lovely little house. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Chartres, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of Sydney shutterstockAhmet Misirligul/Shutterstock You go to the gym, eat healthy and walk as much as possible. You wash your hands and get vaccinated. You control your health. This is ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Balanzategui, Senior Lecturer in Media, RMIT University ABC “Bluey mania” shows no sign of abating. Bluey’s season finale, The Sign, was the most viewed ABC program of all time on iView. A “hidden” follow-up episode, aptly named The Surprise, created ...
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The campaign will engage the community and encourage submissions on the bill to the New Zealand government by the closing submission deadline of Friday 31st of May 2024 4pm. ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 2 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Any one see any irony in the fact that Kronic and other cannabinoid drugs can be banned within a week – – – this news on the same day as we read about an alcohol-fuelled murder stabbing in Auckland ?
Grass clippings sprayed with nasty chemicals…yuck.
Kids don’t need to be smoking that shit eh.
good riddance
why do people go to the shop for Dairy Whip when there are plenty of cows in the field
Jiggling the cows makes them angry.
Time to moove on, methinks.
Ry Cooder sings: No banker left behind
Just like to reiterate a message from yesterdays “All the world a square”.
Innocent bankers, innocent financiers, innocent politicians, innocent police, innocent media!
Guilty citizens.
Thats how the powers who be portray their culpable guilt, pure denial and blame others. Its psycho behavoir.
Yep, blame the victim, works with rape and in a round about sort of way this is rape too!
Clare Curran touches on it here: The essentials
And I expand on it: Key, knee, jerk
I’m very disappointed with Key’s position. Our kids deserve better – the Prime Minister should be leading with an all party all people approach to this.
“Ultimately parties are going to have to campaign on what they believe is the right solution for those problems.”
And where is National’s policy? A Green paper with responses (and consideration) deferred for 7 months – well after the next election.
Oerhaps that is just part of the “plan for New Zealand” that is making him so popular.
Thing could get worse for Labour. It realistically looks like Bill English in 2002 all over again:
The Colmar Brunton Poll results from 2002
February 17 2002 – Labour 51%, National 35%.
March 17 2002 – Labour 49%, National 35%.
April 21 2002 – Labour 50%, National 34%.
May 19 2002 – Labour 51%, National 32%.
June 16 2002 – Labour 53%, National 27%.
June 29 2002 – Labour 51%, National 30%.
July 14 2002 – Labour 46%, National 27%.
July 25 2002 – Labour 44%, National 21%.
Actual election result – Labour 41%, National 21%
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/jessica-mutch-polls-could-get-worse-labour-4328514
See my comment above…guilty media. No fucker there tells the truth.
The major difference is that if national get 44%, how likely is it that they’ll get an extra 7% in coalition partners?
Let’s assume that this year will be a mirror of the 2002 election.
National 41%, Labour 27%, ACT 7% (REALLY? With Brash not Hyde/Pebble?), Greens 7%, MP+Mana 7% (substituting for United Future), NZ1 10% (doubtful, but I’ll only rule winston out if he is decapitated and a stake thrust through his heart. Even then I’d think it a gamble).
Without ACT getting 7% (and at the moment they need to be gifted Epsom), it is still between two 3/4 party coalitions. Without NZ1, it becomes an open race – although frankly I’d half expect the Greens to support National either way.
As McFlock illuminates, if this is 2002 all over again, then National are actually the ones in real trouble.
If their impressive lead over Labour in the polls goes down to the extent that Labour’s did in 2002 I can’t see how they could govern, assuming that ACT doesn’t do a stunning Lazarus act and the MP don’t take all the Maori seats.
According to your figures, Labour lost 20% of the people who were supporting it a month out from the election (going down from 51% to 41%). If anything like that happened this time to National’s support then we’ll be viewing a very sick looking John Key late on election night – and, in fact, it doesn’t matter to which party those votes go.
So you and John Key better pray this isn’t 2002 all over again.
Edit: I meant “If their impressive polling goes down …”
Salsy Michelle Boag buggered up forgot To mention to dumb national supporters to tick party vote in her hoardings ,And Bill English doing his calender come sex symbol trick probably didn’t help either.No wonder you guys need so many spin doctors cause you can never tell the truth.
Alcohol forms part of that blind trust shonkey’s sheckles are held in so alcohol levies being raised etc……yeah right, been there before they’ll bash some benes to compensate.
The alcohol excise tax was raised on 1st of July. It went from ~$45/litre of alcohol in spirits to ~$49/litre, or about 10%. The rise in beer and wine was less.
It’s funny how National trumpet that they cut taxes for everyone, and then go and raise an alcohol tax and somehow it’s not counted?
Alcohol levies up: Doesn’t count.
Tobacco levies up: Doesn’t count
GST up: Doesn’t count.
ACC levies up: Doesn’t count.
Petrol levies up: Doesn’t count.
Car registration up: Doesn’t count.
PAYE down a couple of bucks a week: Fucking economic miracle!
lovin it
I thought the whole point of joining the navy was to get very drunk in foreign ports.
He’s had the rum, now comes the sodomy and the lash …
The England rugby team playing in all black makes them so very lame. Weak lame pussies, no longer the lion hearts.
Not that many on here semm to be rugby fans …
I like rugby. My wife, who is from Thailand, is mad keen on it. She also enjoys the cricket, but I think that has more to do with it being an opportunity for a day out in the sun to picnic, nap, read novels, and occasionally ask about the score.
I love rugby, played a lot, one eyed fan etc. The 81 tour was my lifes most schizo moment, wanted to see the Boks desparately but had to stand by conviction and protest. I am sure theres a lot more of us rugby nuts on the Standard, wouldnt be surprised if Gos and Burt lurk on the sidelines screaming the same abuse at the refs I do….
I was a ref – where did you scream abuse??
I’ve also played a lot too, before and after I refereed. Going to the first Foobar Stadium game, North Otago versus West Coast this Sunday.
From the bank at Lancaster Park, gave up abusing refs after I reffed. There was an old dude on the bank years back who waited for the first penalty of the game, we would all go silent as he yelled, “Thats right ref, he’s been doin it all day”!
Look at my gravatar ‘:wink:’
Ex A grade player 12 years
Ex ref before I got too old
Eden park is my hangout when I can afford it (and when it’s not too cold – piss weak I know but I’m getting a bit old lol)
i object, the battles i have finding a good stream on test nights is totally worthy of a supporter’s pin
Plenty of rugby fans vto. Also plenty of places elsewhere to talk rugby!
On the issue, I thought imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. Some of the responses, along the lines of NZ somehow “owns” the rights to an all black jersey are a little precious, if not immature.
And also rather ironic given it was a typo by an English journalist that gave rise to the NZ team’s nickname.
Some of the team manipulations of jersey colours is immature too. We could end up with all teams wearing black because statistics show that black wearing teams have the most success at test rugby. And that would improve the black statitiscs even more.
They would be better off just learning to place decent rugby.
I just think it is weak. Reflects poorly on the English.
But you know, rugby has historically been wracked with cheating and underhand behaviour – on and off the field. NZ is pretty good at cheating on the field but our laidback somewhat naive approach to life in general is reflected in how we get nailed tme and again by others in the rugby world. Such as, being shafted by Aussie re the 2003 World Cup, poisoned by the South Africans in the 95 world cup, being made to wear pink off the field and non-black on the field by the Frogs who changed their colour to near-black in the 07 world cup, corrupt and bribed refs back in the ’76 South African tour, the list just goes on and on …
But we will prevail! And through use of another of our traits, namely the unassuming underdog approach. I predict a whitewash of every single game this year … tri-nations and world cup.
I predict a whitewash of every single game this year … tri-nations
Maybe that’s possible.
and world cup.
Are you serious? I wonder if you realize that France is in the same first round pool as the All Blacks?
Ha! I like the even more surprising statistic that white wearing teams have the most success at test cricket.
I’m sure all the critics realise it’s an alternate strip and the number of times it will be seen won’t be that many. I’m sure they’ve also factored in that up until recently the All Blacks’ alternate strip was/is white and looks like we are going to have to invent a new colour to avoid being hypocrites.
My first test I ever saw live (as a 10 y.o. and can still remember well thanks to that rain) was NZ v Scotland at Eden Park in 1975 – NZ wore white and Scotland wore dark blue.
So in 36 years we’ve gone from being a host gracious enough to give up our “natural colours” to the visitors, to moaning when another team adopts black for an alternate strip, as if we own the rights to the colour.
Yep, I still call it immature.
Edit/PS: I tell my 15 y.o. stepdaughter if someone tries to copy the way she looks it’s actually a compliment because they like the way my stepdaughter dresses/ does her make-up etc etc. Maybe I’m wrong.
Not sure if that would improve the black wiining figures PeteG, it may actually worsen them if the team is pathetic.
don’t tell Don Brash pete it could be a very bad move if that statistic transfered to politics
Slimy New Zealand “entertainment” writer publicly humiliated
One of the more unpleasant algae to slither into public view after the News of the World tipped over was a New Zealander called DAN WOOTTON. If you fancy seeing him receive a very public kicking, click HERE….
http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/hackgate-twitterspat-flamewars-moran-wootton-monbiot-aaronovitch/
Watch out Rupert, The Guardian’s investigative reporter Nick Davies is off to the USofA.
Here’s Rupert Murdoch’s worst nightmare: Nick Davies, the tenacious investigative reporter for the Guardian who has broken much of the Hackinggate story, comes to the U.S. in search of News Corp. crimes and coverup.
Well, it’s come true. Davies arrives in New York today. He’ll be there until Friday, and then he’s going to Los Angeles in pursuit of hacking-type practices that might have been carried out on U.S. soil by Murdoch’s U.S. reporters, by his U.K. reporters working in the U.S., or by private detectives hired by News Corp.
Look out Nick, they have lots of guns in the USA and they know how to use them.
http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/putin-army-rip-for-putin-russia-election-president/
Putin’s Army: tearing off their clothes for victory
They call themselves “Putin’s Army”. They are young, female, and urging others to “rip for Putin” – rip off some of their clothing, that is.
A remarkable bit of video propaganda starring these cleavage-baring footsoldiers has been circulating furiously around Russia, and beyond. Some see it as the handiwork of Nashi, a frankly rather scary Kremlin-supported youth group devoted to exalting Vladimir Putin and demonising (harassing, too) his enemies.
The new campaign can only boost speculation that Putin, now prime minister, will stand again for the presidency in March next year – in doing so moving the centre of power back to that post.
“I’m just crazy about the man who changed our country,” enthuses the young star of the video, according to a translation at GlobalVoices.com. “He is a great politician and an amazing man. He is Vladimir Putin. And although there are millions who admire him, there are some who pour dirt on him, perhaps because they are scared of him or because they themselves are weak and will never be able to take his place.”
A blog for Putin’s Army puts it like this: “We will show that many beautiful and smart young women support Mr Putin! We all share the opinion that Putin is a decent and honest politician, as well as an AMAZING man!
Objective: “Putin – President!”
We accept only young women without complexes! Our campaigns will be roaring across all Russia! Each participant will become an Internet star! Are you ready to show everyone how cool YOU are and how great is YOUR president? Join PUTIN’S ARMY!!!
As a post at Radio Free Europe reminds us, it all suits the careful efforts to project the image of a desirable leader. Tom Balmforth writes:
Vladimir Putin is no stranger to offbeat forms of public veneration. His image adorns T-shirts. Billboards in Moscow and online comic strips have portrayed him as a James Bond-like action hero. And a cult in Siberia worships him as the reincarnation of St Paul …
Putin has cultivated the image of a hard man through a myriad of highly choreographed feats of manliness, including sedating a polar bear and burning rubber at a race track behind the wheel of a Formula One race car.
Why “rip for Putin”? Clearly there is the salacious idea of tearing ripping off clothing, but the phrase rip for in Russian has another, more sinister meaning. According to an analysis in the Moscow Times, it also suggests a threat along the lines of “I’ll rip your head off”.
“The Sexy Soldier in Putin’s Army rips her T-shirt in a (possibly ironic) gesture of threat,” writes Michele A Berdy, “describing what she’s doing and (possibly) promising to beat the daylights out of anyone who insults her idol or (possibly) swearing to do anything to see him win his (possible) electoral campaign.”
http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/putin-army-rip-for-putin-russia-election-president/
You’ll give Johnny boy ideas.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/5373516/Computer-failure-hits-papers
oh dear the propoganda machine got busted and the locals get to see how little of their news is actually written by anyone in their local Newspaper.
Yep, and it also shows the weakness of outsourcing sub-editing to Oz and design and technical back up to India.
Weekly NZ Lefty paper please. 12 pages long, $1 per copy, half goes to the seller. Pick volunteer from worth causes.
News, interviews and analysis and nothin’ but.
Oh, except half a page of very funny cartoons alongside half a page of very interesting political economic NZ history.
Based on previous years data for this site, I’m unsurprised to see that the mid-winter slump in july affects almost all of the blog sites listed at Open Parachute. But out of the sites that I compared, if you look at No Right Turn in May I/S managed to slightly increase his audience.
I’ve never quite figured out why we get a mid-winter slump. But it has happened every year that we have been operating including election year in 2008 (although that was more of a flattening off of exponential growth). It doesn’t appear to be particularly related to numbers of comments.
Eh? Trevor Louden gets more views than Kiwiblog or The Standard? And Russel’s dinner party doesn’t feature at all?
What kind of stats are these?
They come from a public statscounter or sitemeter on the site.
If there isn’t such a counter or Ken doesn’t have the link to the public counter then they aren’t on the site – so Brown or Slater or or Edwards or Trotter or quite a few others are not on it. But what it is is a simple method of looking between sites without any of the interesting algorithms that show up on scubones or other sites.
Louden has a vertical nutter constituency offshore who read his site. Steve Gray, I’d guess has a offshore readership. Both consequently have some quite severe spiking in their monthly readership – Louden’s page views dropped down to half the volume between June and July which was rather extreme. This site gets over 95% of its human readers from NZ.
We did a large drop in page views after May, but that was mostly because of a glitch at Facebook for weeks in April/May that was bumping up the page views. Facebook eventually fixed their irritating servers that were sucking up our bandwidth.
The “visits” calc is a bit subjective as it depends entirely on what is defined as a “visit” in the meter. Visits in google analytics are vastly different to those in sitemeter, which is different to statcounter. It also depends on the layout of your site. On this site we get some pretty long visits according to google because people tend to leave it running pressing refresh periodically to look at who is commenting. Our page view time tends to be pretty long as well. You can get a distorted idea looking at alexa compared to other sites.
I tend to look at the page views as being the least susceptible to site variability. These are the actual loads of the main page, post pages, and ancillary pages like policy etc and ignoring all of the includes of css, images, js, etc (of which there are millions per month) and the robots which do at least 2x the number of page views (currently on the US server only). It is certainly the closest to how I see the NZ server working.
Ah so.
95% from NZ is amazing! Good to know about the winter slump as well.
Excluding the bots and spammers. They are about 2-3x the size of the humans if we counted them….
The US based server now gets all of the bots (and acts as the offshore warm site) and the NZ server gets almost all of the humans. Shifting the US one to the cloud and leaving the NZ one as a dedicated box.
Reading things like the Hitchhikers Guide..Galaxy its like a brainstorming session on our conceptions of life. I like this bit when we are introduced to Zaphod Beeblebrox who wants to be Galactic President which sounds very important.
Adams writes – Only six people in the Galaxy knew that the job of the Galactic President was not to wield power but to attract attention away from it.
all six parts of that trilogy fall into the rare cadre of books that you can never read too many times
Dune by Frank Herbert…
From and open letter to the Norwegian killer:
“You describe yourself as a hero, as a knight. You are no hero,” Ivar Benjamin Oesteboe, who lost five friends in the shootings, said in the letter addressed: “Dear Anders Behring Breivik.”
“But one thing is certain, you have created heroes. On Utoya on that warm July day, you created some of the greatest heroes the world has seen, you united the people of the world,” the teenager wrote.
“We are not responding to evil with evil as you wanted. We are fighting evil with good. And we are winning.
Maybe you think you’ve won. Maybe you think you’ve destroyed the Labour Party and people around the world who stand for a multicultural society by killing my friends and fellow party members.
Know that you failed,”
The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station seems to go from bad to worse.
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it has detected 10,000 millisieverts of radioactivity per hour at the plant. The level is the highest detected there since the nuclear accident in March.
I’ll tell you something hilarious*.
Not the 10,000 mS (=10 sieverts) radiation level, which is enough to provide a lethal dose to most people within one or two minutes.
But the fact that the radiation level is measured at that because it’s all that the instrumentation they have there goes up to.
That’s right, the radiation levels are completely off the charts and their instrumentation is reading offscale maximum.
Japan is frakked, IMO they are hiding how badly they have been hit, there are dangerous levels of hot particles 100km-200km from the Fukushima plant, if not further.
*in a horrific graveyard kind of way
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/5374887/Key-I-ll-only-debate-Goff
i smell roast tory in the oven
who the fuck do these politicians think they are?
It is an Election. We all populate the pantomime of participation. We are all willing extras and we want to hear the leads orate on the grand desires that spin doctors deign to be good enough for our democracy to discuss. It matters what the last soundbite is before a beer commercial. It is important that the camera cuts away to show glazed possums behind the podiums when an off-script moment leaps out. On a more serious note…This Election year a full debate is more important than usual. The Global situation and our place within that structure is still negotiable.
I propose a radical restructuring of the concept of a Leaders’ Debate. The Leaders’ Debate should be a full engagement with all balloted parties being represented in a week long series of random groupings of three, drawn from a hat a week before in a nationally televised draw, using the ‘lotto rules’ would be good. They are fair, tried and true and the symbolism is not without its mirth.
here is how the draw works:
All parties are put in the hat. The first draw of three is done, those three are left out, next draw, those three are left out, etc,. When the hat is empty, irrespective of how many empty slots remain in the debate being drawn, all parties so far removed are put back in. The process continues until the debate roster is complete. Five nights, three debaters, fifteen slots, all will get representation and none should be favoured over any other
The series of debates are using questions from wherever. It does not really matter, what matters is the draw of the participants. Until we see the ballot we will not know final numbers obviously, but a rotating roster of debates where the Greens may be on stage with just ACT and United would be a good debate. National up against Mana with Progessive along for conscience would have its moments. Labour and Greens and Maori Party would be a riot and i suspect a hasty unforseen event would cause transmission to be interrupted soon into the broadcast.
Give it some consideration. The media driven Election campaigns warrant an event of this scale. More and more influence is attributed to Tv Media so it makes sense for the Public to find a way to ask that the media become a constructive particpant and not just a manipulative tool.
Excellent ideas! 🙂
Idiot/Savant has a noce breakdown of this over at NRT:
Yeah, the whole point of MMP was to have better representation but it doesn’t look like we’re getting it from the two main parties. Neither of which wanted MMP in the first place.
This shit makes me mad.
Courtesy of Boganette we have some of Vote for Change’s reasons for changing from MMP.
If you have a weak stomach or have just eaten I suggest not looking.
They really are just awful people at heart, but even accepting that, you’d think they might realise that all the ‘bad’ mps they show are elected under the fpp electorate system.
Comes across as mostly anti-Labour.
Guess they threw in the ACT bit as a way to deflect.
You might want to take another look Lanth; the ACT bit is there as the sexy straight non-creepy non-crippled alternative to MMP. It’s not a subtle message.
That was the bit that forced me to write the warning…
Sent to me courtesy of my daughter lol
😆
🙂 🙂 🙂
Been doing the rounds since 2010 – I think the original was.
‘The Government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the government’s political stance… A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of dicks, and gives you a sense of security while you’re actually being screwed!’
US inspired obviously but can be applied to most governments.
Yeah, thought I’d seen it before but couldn’t remember where or when.
, Thanks! I needed a laugh.
Most Kiwis have no interest in the Rubber Wool Cup. About as many people loath it as actually want to watch it – the rest are neutral.
Wonder what would have happened if this had been put to a referendum…
The comments under the article, especially the ones about haters and wreckers are hilarious 😆
Should veneration of a contact sport as part of good social stupification be a criminal offence in NZ?
Fuck no. It is an absolute saviour in any of those awkward enforced social situations where you have to try to find something useful to say to some 60 year old guy. A working knowledge is an easy out.
What? Why don’t you just talk about heroin or buttsex like a normal person would.
Won’t be having Mr awkward convo for long. Gauranteed.
And it’ll give him something to be shocked about to his mates.
Win/Win
Trust me Oleole, that 60 yr old guy doesn’t want to talk to you either. You’re just making it weirder for everyone.
Besides, if you’re not a completely boring cnut you won’t find it a problem just being yerself.
And if you weren’t wasting your time maintaining your working knowledge for the supposed benefit of men who don’t want to talk to you anyway, you could be well on your way to being a less boring cnut.
What is a cnut?
It’s a vile little mis-print! (Or so Rik Mayall’s character Adolphus Cnut was told in the sitcom Believe Nothing.) 😀
If it weren’t the national sport, I’m sure it would be considered child abuse to send children along to such a dangerous activity.
Brain injuries sustained from contact sports probably play a part in underachievement at school.
I will always remember a very sad event in 1981 that I heard of in the news. A boy, the son of a diplomat from South America, ended up with permanent damage in a – is the word ‘ruck’? That was the first (but not the last time) I had heard of that happening. Now I am very thankful that my brother and my sons all somehow managed to avoid being forced to play rugby at school!
More brain injuries than those caused by traffic “accidents” we don’t need!
Yeah Vicky now you can understand why they all end up in the National party!
Good point, mik e! 🙂
veneration of a contact sport
Actually rugby is more of a running, jumping and kicking sport than a contact sport. If you want to see a violent contact sport, watch THIS…
The numbers will probably change once it’s under way.
I’m not interested in all the lead up stuff to any major sports events, including opening ceremonies, but I enjoy the sport once it gets under way, and it’s good to get out and meet people visiting the country – that was the highlight for me in the last RWC here.
But I guess we could try and stop anything from happening if in advance the majority of the population aren’t interested in it.
The numbers WILL probably change once it is underway. Which WAY they will change is the question 🙂
yeah – the Romans knew that you needed to provide BREAD as well as circuses, otherwise the peasants will still rebel. DonKey’s only doing half the distraction/pacification routine – good for the Left.
Channel Four is positioning itself as the channel of No Rugby in their latest advertising campaign. Some of the ads are actually pretty funny.
Gets my watch. In fact the less I see of the RWC the happier I will be.
I was planning to exit the country for a month, unfortunately my plans have been scuppered.
I have a project going to it first public outing at the end of October. I can’t go on holiday or die before then. Does feel a bit unusual for me to be scheduled on a project with a major milestone in an election year. But my time schedule plans got scuppered in the financial chaos at the end of 2009.
So I will have to put up with the RWC idiocy, especially since Eden park is too damn close.
I am one of the loathers! I am very much not looking forward to it.
And Cactus Kate is up to her normal bigotry.
Debate it all you want – just use facts. Oh, that’s right, you can’t because all the facts show that MMP is the best system of representative democracy available.
But, that’s not all:
Yep, she doesn’t want all those poor people* voting even though it is their society and should have a say in it’s direction.
The call of the dictator is the cry of property rights which is Acts central theme and Cactus Kate has just proved that Act is bunch of dictators by saying that she wants only her preferred people voting.
* Who are only poor because of the policies Act promote.
I am a believer in the cornerstone of neo-loyalty in that if you leave NZ in your 20’s to chase bucks then your opinion on NZ affairs means diddly-squat and you should STFU
@RobC – How can young people know the world from just staying in the country facebooking or watching videos for experience. You yourself have to go and live it. When you are over there it’s in your face, there is no avoiding the reality as it hits you. Also going overseas to do advanced study enriches the graduate’s expertise and if we can get them back then we have increased our IQ.
Just staying in NZ would lead us back to the narrow-minded types we were before the Second World War caused thousands of our people to do an OE and thousands of displaced Europeans and others to come here and show us their culture and way of thinking.
“Chasing bucks” vs “OE”.
Hi Prism, you’ve read too much into my comment – I just find it rather amusing that someone who has lived/worked overseas until just recently (?) and probably has paid F.A. net tax in NZ comes out with no representation without paying net taxation.
On the flip side, if votes were apportioned to how much net tax you paid, say 1 vote for every $10k, we’d probably see less tax evasion.
But if only net taxpayers can vote that means Sam Morgan can’t vote, virtually all the farmers can’t vote (perhaps that is an angle for the left), and the only voters left are the working, hard slogging wage and salary earners.
Or perhaps we take Cactus Kate (never read her but she sounds horrid) approach and extend it a little so that a person gets a number of votes, that number rising or falling depending on the proportion of their income that ends up in the government coffers… smokers and boozers would get the most votes … equals Cactus Kate equals zombie.
“neo-democracy”. pffft.
Sounds like “new coke” to me.
I see that the Nat government is going to pay to those red-zoned homeowners with insurance, if they accept the governments offer to purchase, a deposit of up to 50% (max $50,000) once signed… if that aint an election stimulant I don’t know what is. I betcha the cheques arrive well in time.
And btw, what was the reason for only insured homeowners receiving the governments offer?
Boscowen – someone tell him that the word is horrific not hirrofic. Perhaps if he spoke from within rather than reading a prepared script he might be a little more credible, (especially as he repeated the same error when re-reading the phrase).
Ilargi over at Theautomaticearth posted this today and it pretty much sums up the world and the state of our polity today. its a DIRE WARNING.
Once a society or country allows money to enter its politics, the outcome is inevitable: the money interests will come to rule that country. This is evident all over the western world, whether you look at the Greek, Irish and other EU bail-outs, or at the debt dungeon debate the US is presently digging its way into ever deeper, with the respective bills handed to the people and their children.
As we speak, and as we watch the wall-sized media coverage of the debt dungeon chasm, municipalities and counties are on the cusp of bankruptcy. Services will be cut across the board. That is our future.
A future that won’t involve growth, but which be all about austerity and cutting back and outright poverty for rapidly increasing numbers of people. Just not for the politicians and their puppeteers, not for those who get to decide who will hurt the most.
That is the main issue today. Who are you going to let decide how bad your future will be? If you opt for Washington, anyone in Washington, or Brussels if you’re in Europe, your future will hurt something bad. When it comes to that future of yours and, of your offspring, the debt dungeon debate is the wrong focus. There’s nothing beneficial for you in there.
This is nothing less than outright class warfare where those with the means are stealing ours and our childrens future and liberty.
I can’t get through the code word barrier to send a Contact message. I have tried three times and am sure I was correct the last two. I wear glasses but thought I was seeing well the last two times. I was trying to say that none of my personal posts show up since July 31. Cheers
Obama got nothing except forcing Republicians to agree to reductions in militrary spending in return for keeping the unfordable tax cuts for the richest. Obama delayed the debate until after the pay off, mid term elections, where military constituencies will make Repubalicians pay for their greed.
US is in a political and economic death spiral. The aim is to get re-elected, not lead the country or help the people.