The emperors clothes may finally be seen by the bulk of the subjects of granny/ TVNZ for what they are….nothing. His vacuous demeanor is wearing thin and he doesn’t even bother to appear concerned about a global economy that has every other leader genuinely worried.
Time for the opposition to hit the trail hard, keep it simple and expose the shysters for plundering a zero nett debt position to give tax cuts to the already well off, reward their backers and generally degrade our standing on all the wrong indicators like child poverty, inequality, minimum wage buying power etc.
The only trick they’ve got is Asset sales …….imagine your power prices over the next 10yrs with the likes of Fay, Richwhite, Goldman Sachs etc behind the generators…..scary indeed.
Not to mention the privatization they’ve already undergone in ACC, health and other juicy govt funded sectors for their mates to plunder.
(That particular graphic has hadly changed in 3 months and the drought has affected Texas for nearly a year now). Similar things are happening all over the world. And Fukishima is still spewing radiation into the atmosphere and into the ocean.
Add to that the social meltdown and a health meltdown (cancer rates are rising spectacularly) throughout most of the western world)..
Clearly the vast majority of politiicans could not care less about any of it.
Either that or they are acting as agents to bring it all about. My experience of talking with politicians over many years indicates the latter.
It is long past time we threw out the dinosaurs and saboteurs, and put in the their place some people who have some knowledge of things other than how to operate rorts, long past time we put in place people who actually care about the people they are supposed to be representing and care about the future. Unfortunately, such people are probably unelectable because the general populace has been trained to believe in short- termism and trained to think that distractions, such as rugby, have some significance. The stupidity we have witnessed over recent weeks bears withness to that.
A friend of mine, now around 70 years old, told me yesterday that for the first time in his life he was seriously thinking about not voting because he now realised that voting made no difference.
Yes, systemic collapse is getting very close CV. And anyone who thinks the government or the local council will be of much (any?) assistance is utterly deluded.
We are in a really difficult position. Our advice in 2009 to focus on the threat of a Credit Rating downgrade to measure the success of the budget has come back to bite big time. It allowed National to get through tax cuts for the wealthy without any major damage.
But last week’s double downgrade poses major problems. Our carefully cultivated veneer of competent economic management is in tatters.
So we need to divert attention. Two Labour MPs said something not very nice about Peter Leitch and there were a few comments on the Standard what were not complimentary either. For the type of debates that occur on blogs they were not out of the ordinary but this presents us with a unique chance to try and divert attention.
So go for it. Talk about the two female MPs being “unleashed from their kennels” and be disparaging as you like. Don’t worry about the irony (look it up in the dictionary if you do not know what this means). Attack and be as pointed as you can be.
PS: And have a go at anyone who supports the two female MPs. Especaily if they’re also female. Be as venal as you can…paint them as silly bitches who don’t know nothing. It goes down well with Waitakere man.
Former Prime Minister of Australia John Howard once said “people who exercise free speech have an obligation to do so in a sensitive and caring fashion. That has always been my credo.”
But Howard also said: “It has also been my credo that, if someone disagrees with the prevailing orthodoxy of the day, that person should not be denigrated as a narrow-minded bigot.”
Perhaps what is missing though is what I first learnt in Territory politics and that is to play politics and business like you would a game of rugby: hard on the field, but to the rules, in the spirit of the game, with some simple courtesies before and after the game to demonstrate there is something bigger at stake.
That is the nature of a civil society; not the absence of conflict but the presence of civility, respect and the acceptance that there is a diversity of views out there.
BREAKING NEWS: Dan Carter is out of the World Cup.
The All Blacks first five-eighths has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament because of the groin injury he suffered at yesterday’s captains run and Colin Slade will now be expected to wear the No 10 jersey.
A challenge, like any greatv team if the ABs are good enough they will overcome this and still get a result. Tghey have to be good enough to do it without McCaw to if necessary.
Time for grumpy graham to roll that plan B he’s had 4 years to perfect…..great players though they are they’re not young and backing up after a tri nations series.
Just over a month ago, it was revealed that National was borrowing a whopping $380 million per week; but $100 million of that was not required. That amounts to around $5.2 billion in additional debt per year. When questioned about this, Bill English said it was a good time to borrow because interest rates were low, but it would put additional pressure on the exchange rate…
for massive tax cuts, and suddenly they get a downgrade.
They knew they were up for it, they pretty much insured
that it would happen.
So as Switzland finds that small country status ain’t
so good either, probably wishing it had a bunch of nasty
Nats running its economy (NOT, they ar emuch smarter),
that it has to peg its currency to the EU.
Small countries may be more stable in the crisis years
while the big blocks sort out the new more intergrated
world economic reality, but once we return to some
new normal small countries will be far worse off.
And their in lies the danger, as we enter the second
phase, those smart money will withdraw their cash from
Nz (its already started), farmers in Nz will be hit hard
by a stalled China, higher energy costs, low
commodity prices and still high currency as we still
all need new TVs.
So the stresses on European countries are actually
adaptive pressures that NZ is missing out on!
Because of the great short term management of National
to avoid the problem, and leave it for the future.
A shakeout of old tired thinkers, they sack their
Douglas’s far quicker, Thatcher only lasted a little
over a decade in the front shop! We have a Hubbard
like fashionation will keeping success long after its
use by date. aka Paul Holmes. Its hurts the economy
because they had their day, decades ago.
So here you have it, summation of the NZ economy.
Hollowed out by poor managers who won’t leave the
front desk when they make a killing so others
can, exposing NZ to exploitation and downgrades
for short term political and finance benefit (that
only pay out if they leave to retire in Hawaii!).
we are moving into a low growth world economy,
one where you either feed, house, doctor, your
population or they get very uncivil. Only then
can you pass the spoils on to your mates.
Remember don’t vote for a party that doesn’t
believe in government, doesn’t like the voting
system, and so spends its time in opposition
worried about lightbulbs rather than doing the
best with the system that’s there for all NZ.
ACC cannot be privatised as no Insurance Company in New Zealand is in any position, with the Christchurch situation, to re-open ACC with a new book of business.
Considering Billionaire George Soros owns Yahoo.com, is it any wonder that their search engines have been actively blocking communications containing the phrase Occupy Wall Street and OccupyWallStreet.org? Although Yahoo has been caught and apologized for blocking emails that contained content about the protests, doesn’t this show the underhanded way those controlling our media act?
It’s unsurprising that the capitalists don’t want the people to know what’s happening in the world. If they knew, they’d probably do something about the people (the capitalists) causing the poverty and that wouldn’t suit the psychopaths at all.
Although Yahoo has been caught and apologized for blocking emails that contained content about the protests, doesn’t this show the underhanded way those controlling our media act?
Oh good grief! I knew there were good reasons to ditch my Yahoo email, aside from the huge amount of spam and the fact that it doesn’t work very well..
If the media are stupid enough to pay interesting amounts of money for a story, then I back him 100% for selling said story. He doesn’t owe the public anything.
A sketch I would like to see……(a rewrite of Monty Python sketch)
Part V: Live Organ Transplants…
two paramedics (Chapman and Cleese) arrive at the doorstep of a card-carrying organ donor, Mr. John Key, to claim his kidney. Still being alive, he initially refuses. Not to be deterred, the paramedics burst through the door and brutally disembowel him, removing the organ “under condition of death”.
Was that the John Howard, notorious liar, who told the Australian nation that boat people threw their children to the sharks? the same John Howard who lied to the Australian people about Iraq so he could get troops involved? the same John Howard who lied to the people of Australia about the economy and told them the way to prosperity was to increase their debt level and spend their money on imported consumer goods? the same John Howard who refused to apologise to indigenous people for the injustices and abuses perpetrated against them by previous generations of psychotic spociopaths?
aerobubble
‘we are moving into a low growth world economy,
one where you either feed, house, doctor, your
population or they get very uncivil. Only then
can you pass the spoils on to your mates.’
We are in a negative growth world economy, due to the contraints of Peak Oil (peak practically everything actually).
Practially everyone’s standard of living is falling. The elites mission is to transfer an ever-bigger portion of the diminishing cake to themselves, at the expense of everyone, intially throiugh the use of lies, but when they start wearing thin, via the use of ‘security forces’ (as per 1984).
DTB
Exactly! 70% of NZers couldn’t care less about rugby, and of that 70%, about 30% loathe internationalised rugby and everythng it stands for -corporate bullshit wrapped in a platina of patriotism, money making by the few at the expense of the many, environmental and social degradation….. whorehouses and beer halls, smashed up hotel rooms and vomit.
thejackel
The [quoted] 400 people who control 99% of commercial activity in the western world will do whatever it takes to prevent the hundreds of millions of victims of the their scams from discovering the truth and throwing off the chains.
I’m sure that censorship is just the opening round of the ultimate war that has been in the making since the time humans gave up the hunter-gatehrer lifestyle and submitted themselves to agriculture and all it spawned, i.e. hierarchical societies in which the fruits of the labours of those at the bottom are transferred to those at the top.
“The [quoted] 400 people who control 99% of commercial activity in the western world will do whatever it takes to prevent the hundreds of millions of victims of the their scams from discovering the truth and throwing off the chains. ”
Another case of Russel Norman being out of touch with reality http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1110/S00006/govt-bungling-adds-cost-of-earthquake-levy-to-mortgages.htm
So if we introduced a levy there would have been no down grade?
With a levy kiwis would be facing interest increases AND this levy cost. Russel how does a household pay for this? There are not many households with surplus atthe moment, and with costs increasing all the time – just wait for the depreciating NZ$ to start taking hold.
A levy of 1.5 percent on income between $48,001-$70,000 and a 3 percent levy on income above $70,000, with no change needed to the corporate tax rate of 30 percent, would raise $1.026b a year, according to Green Party estimates. People earning $50,000 a year would pay an extra 58c a week, and those on $70,000 a year would pay an extra $6.33 a week. People on $100,000 would pay an extra $23.59 a week.
With a levy kiwis would be facing interest increases AND this levy cost. Russel how does a household pay for this? There are not many households with surplus atthe moment, and with costs increasing all the time – just wait for the depreciating NZ$ to start taking hold.
I know households who have bought tickets to every All Blacks game they think will happen right up to and including the final.
How the fuck did they afford that herod?
This reminds me of a lesson from budgeting 101. Its about your priorities.
How important is it that we help those New Zealanders (and those parts of New Zealand) who are most in need? We can assign the problem a high priority and deal with it as such, or put it in line behind a bunch of other shit.
Where economics is concerned, the Greens are generally never in touch with reality – it’s a nice luxury they have.
So if we introduced a levy there would have been no down grade?
No one knows. The agencies certainly didn’t say this, though Russel claims that’s what they meant. But the fact is no one knows.
However in fairness to Russel, he may be right, and therefore his assertion isn’t one iota as silly as Phil Goff’s claims that the downgrade somehow justifies Labour’s loophole-laden Capital Gains Tax.
(usual disclaimer: good on Labour for broaching the CGT rampart, support broad-based CGT in principle, brave move but poor execution, etc)
Where economics is concerned, the Greens are generally never in touch with reality…
They’re more connected to reality than pretty much any other party. Act is, of course, completely disconnected from reality and so is National. Unfortunately, so are the economists that advise the government.
How do the Road traffic department get controlling event and holiday traffic wrong?
Drove to Hamilton this afternoon. At 4 pm there was a major problem
of congestion north of Huntly – major traffic delays. Newstalkzb had
given an indication that traffic around Hamilton was building for RWC at 3 pm.
400 m, on a bend, sits a patrol car with lights flashing. Another one 200 metres with lights flashing. Neither indicating that as the expressway is finishing that the traffic is at a standstill or crawling.
It seems to be obvious that, if you have heavy traffic using two lanes, when those lanes merge, there is twice the amount of traffic to get into one lane. The traffic department must have known that this was likely to happen. What about a mobile trailer giving a warning to traffic on the Bombays that they were going to reduce the Expressway to single traffic at say Rangiri – coning one lane off and reducing traffic speed to say 70 KMH.
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Farmers held a hate-march on Parliament today, complete with MAGA hats, gun-nut signs, and gendered insults. While supposedly about a grab-bag of issues - including, weirdly, mental health - it was clear that the protest was about one thing, and one thing only: climate change. And specifically, forestry "destroying" rural ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security released their annual report today, and I've been busy reading through it. In amongst the usual review of what they've been doing all year, there's a few interesting bits. For example, a discussion on "agency retention and disposal of information", which points out that ...
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...
by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...
Since 2013, the Australian government has detained refugees without trial in Pacific gulags, where they are abused, tortured, and driven to suicide. The policy is not just an abuse of human rights and possible crime against humanity; it has also had a corrosive effect on the states Australia uses as ...
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by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
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In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
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Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and within it, one of the fastest sources is elite travel: billionaires flitting around the world in their private jets, spewing excessive pollution into the atmosphere just so they can avoid mixing with us dirty peasants. But in ...
That's what we face if we don't stop climate change, according to a warning from 11,000 scientists:The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally ...
by Phil Duncan Here’s just a few of the kind of threats issued day in and day out against gender-critical women – feminists, marxists, etc – overwhelmingly by MEN (albeit men identifying as women). “Kill all Terfs”. “Shoot a Terf today”. “All terfs deserve to be shot in the head”. ...
This is the third of the synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Unlike the humble cup of coffee and t-shirt that we looked at in ...
Tom MooreTraditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as ...
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…Installation complete: this was nothing ...
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters met with Korea Racing Authority Chairperson Nak Soon Kim in Seoul today to discuss closer cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean horse racing industries. As part of the visit to the Seoul Racecourse, Mr Peters witnessed ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $10 million to establish Otago as the centre of New Zealand’s creative digital industry over the next ten years, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “The initiative will bring us closer to the vision of ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)’s skills and employment programme will help young Otago people into long-term forestry careers, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Te Ara Mahi will invest $63,000 in the 2020 school year to support eight 17 and 18 ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will support local plans to revitalise and stimulate economic development opportunities in Otago, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The four Regional Economic Development Ministers have approved an in-principle investment of $19.9 million towards the region’s ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is pleased to have received the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) report on the Coalition Government’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication efforts, which shows significant progress in the fight against the disease. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, says the report’s findings ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing to support economic growth opportunities for Otago’s engineering and manufacturing sectors, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Trade and Export Minister David Parker announced today. Almost $20 million ...
Eleven men from a pilot forestry training programme for prisoners in Northland now have full time jobs or job offers upon release, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis and Forestry Minister Shane Jones announced today. The ‘release to work’ programme was a collaboration between Te Uru Rākau and the Department of Corrections, ...
Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins today introduced into Parliament a Bill that will make it easier for the public service to tackle the biggest challenges facing Governments. The Bill represents the most significant change in the public service in 30 years. The State Sector Act 1988 will be repealed ...
The families of more than 416,000 students will be better off next year as their schools have signed up to the Government’s donations scheme, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. The scheme will see almost $62.5 million in additional Government funding go to schools nationwide next year. “I’m really pleased ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced further support as the Government of Samoa responds to a serious measles outbreak. “New Zealand will deploy a further 18 vaccination nurses, bringing the total to 30 working in Samoa over the next four weeks,” Mr Peters said. “A New Zealand Medical Assistance ...
Fa’atalofa atu, malo e lelei, Kia ora koutou katoa Thank you to the Child Poverty Action Group for asking me to be here today to provide an update on some of the things that have been happening across my the social development portfolio. Can I firstly acknowledge the vast ...
***Please check against delivery*** Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning to open this year’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Conference and AGM. Firstly, thank you Dr Alan Jackson, NZTR Chair for your introduction. And let us acknowledge also: The NZTR Board; Dean McKenzie, Chair ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
A marine conservation milestone - the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve - is being celebrated today at a community event in Tairāwhiti/East Coast attended by the Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “The creation of this marine reserve in November 1999 was a game ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
Nelson’s Salisbury School is to be rebuilt, creating a modern and suitable learning environment for students at the residential special school, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The school for girls aged 8-15, in Richmond, was earmarked for closure by National until the process ...
The panel undertaking a comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act has identified the main issues to be addressed and options for reform and is calling for feedback to inform its final report. In July the Government announced the comprehensive review of the resource management system, including the RMA - ...
An important safety valve has been added to New Zealand’s criminal justice system with the third reading of the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill today. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “We’ve seen how our justice system can very occasionally get things spectacularly wrong, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters welcomes the tabling of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) 2019 Annual Report in Parliament today. He says the 2019 Annual Report marks the point when New Zealand’s racing industry’s decline was arrested and a turnaround started. RITA’s 2019 Annual Report recorded an industry net profit ...
The New Zealand Government is today sending 21 firefighters to help fight the ongoing catastrophic Australian bushfires. “The fires in Australia are in some of the toughest, most challenging conditions ever,” says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “As of yesterday morning, there were 100 active bushfire-related incidents across Queensland and ...
More frontline support for schools through a new education agency, as part of a redesigned Ministry of Education More support for principals and school boards including through a new centre of leadership and local leadership advisor roles New independent disputes panels for parents and students Management of school property ...
The Government’s reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system is a watershed moment in education and an opportunity to create meaningful change for ākonga Māori and their whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis said today. “Last year through Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation, Māori teachers, parents, ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi ...
Infrastructure Minister is welcoming the first of many updated project pipelines from the newly established New Zealand Infrastructure Commission today. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has released an expanded pipeline of major capital projects – another crucial step towards delivering better infrastructure outcomes. “The first iteration of the ...
Tougher gun laws designed to improve public safety through firearms prohibition orders are proposed in a new document released for public input. Police Minister Stuart Nash says firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) would give new powers to Police to ensure high-risk individuals come nowhere near firearms. “We have already prohibited the ...
Andy Coupe has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new Board Chair. “Mr Coupe has strong commercial and capital markets experience and TVNZ has benefited from his technical knowledge of business and finance, as well as his extensive governance experience,” the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi said. Andy ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today officially opened a separated pathway, following the completion of the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge, which will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along Hutt Road. The $6.8m Hutt Road project provides a separated path for cycling and pedestrians, the replacement of informal parking ...
Chlöe Swarbrick’s “OK boomer” retort in Parliament has proved to be the spark that set alight a dry field of latent generational angst. The debate over the remark rolls on and on, revealing that generational warfare is a growing cleavage in New Zealand. Increasingly, political problems of housing, inequality, climate ...
Can the flagship Disney+ show The Mandalorian serve the Star Wars diehards at the same time as the casual viewer, asks Sam Brooks.A quick multiple-choice test to find out if The Mandalorian is for you or not.Q. Does the title The Mandalorian mean anything to you?A) No.B) Kind of? It’s definitely part of ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First Matt Shand (Stuff): NZ First Foundation dodging electoral rules? Records suggest breaches Matt ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is labelling the Government and Auckland Council cowards, for reportedly giving in to the thugs occupying privately owned Ihumātao and proposing to use taxpayer funds and Auckland Council to buy the land. Radio NZ is reporting ...
Auckland one of the worst cities in the world for public transport, road taxes according to new data; and substantial benefit hikes appear off the Government's agenda. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rochelle Einboden, Lecturer, The Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sydney In Victoria, 35 young people aged 12-17 years ended their lives by suicide between 2007 and 2019 – all were entangled in the child protection system. This was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Haslam, Professor of Psychology and ARC Laureate Fellow, The University of Queensland The ABC’s Australia Talks project aims to stimulate a conversation on a broad sweep of topics — from job security and sexual habits to national pride and personal finances. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pep Canadell, Chief research scientist, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere; and Executive Director, Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Nitrous oxide (N₂O) (more commonly known as laughing gas) is a powerful contributor to global warming. It is 265 times more effective at trapping heat in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hilary Hollingsworth, Principal Research Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research Australian teachers are in the thick of producing end-of-year reports. In many schools, the report writing process begins several weeks – or even months – before reports are eventually released. This process ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future. (attributed to Danish physicist Niels Bohr) The difficulty of making predictions has long been known, but the rise of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Smith, Professor of Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University The Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory is dotted with around 300 termite mounds, dressed as people. They are reminiscent of giant, ochre coloured “snowmen” in their distinctly ...
Almost half a million dollars in political donations appear to have been hidden inside a secret slush fund controlled by a coterie of Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters’ trusted advisers. ...
Sources tell RNZ the Crown is considering loaning money to the council to buy the disputed land, with Fletcher seeking $40m - more than double what it paid in 2014. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Christchurch stadium funding in the spotlight, more trouble for NZ First, and medical students caught in rort.Construction hasn’t even come close to starting on the new Christchurch stadium and the money is looking shaky. Stuff’s Michael Hayward reports a business case is ...
New rental reforms aren’t about shafting landlords, they’re about requesting that those who built an industry around housing accept that with industry, comes regulation, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell. ...
Severe storm surges will get bigger around parts of the South Island and smaller around the North Island as the climate changes, two studies have now predicted. ...
Bernard Hickey visited E-Go’s electric car factory in Aachen, Germany to find how it used a 5G network to flip car-making on its head, and how it’s an example of what Industry 4.0 could look like in New Zealand. ...
Were Fonterra’s Open Gates events a shallow PR stunt, or was there something deeper going on? Alex Braae went to Mangatawhiri to find out.This feature is made possible thanks to the Spinoff Members Fund. We need your help to make journalism that matters. For more information, click here.Walking into the Fonterra ...
It was meant to ‘draw a line under the whole episode’. So how did it turn into an unmitigated PR disaster, asks former Edelman executive David Brain.The thing about the Royal Family is that everything they do is PR really. I mean in the old sense of image and spin. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Clarke, Associate Professor, National Security College, Australian National University This past weekend, The New York Times’ China correspondents, Chris Buckley and Austin Ramzy, published an expose of over 400 internal Chinese government documents relating to Beijing’s mass detentions of Uighurs, Kazakhs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Clarke, Associate Professor, National Security College, Australian National University This past weekend, The New York Times’ China correspondents, Chris Buckley and Austin Ramzy, published an expose of over 400 internal Chinese government documents relating to Beijing’s mass detentions of Uighurs, Kazakhs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janet Stanley, Associate professor/Principal Research Fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne It’s hard to comprehend why someone would deliberately light a bushfire. Yet this behaviour regularly occurs in Australia and other countries. We would go a long way to preventing ...
There are 540,000 dwellings in Auckland and 580,000 households. The result is misery no matter how you try to square things through tenancy regulation. ...
The PM says she's set a very clear expectation that the clearing of firing ranges in Afghanistan will be sped up, but says it's not possible to conclude NZ is responsible for civilian deaths. ...
A forestry company with close links to New Zealand First has revealed it applied for a $15 million loan from the Provincial Growth Fund, which is overseen by NZ First minister Shane Jones. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Former prime minister Paul Keating has launched a scathing attack on the Australian media for its coverage of China, denouncing “the nominally pious belchings of ‘do-gooder’ journalists” who live on leaks from security agencies. Keating ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University A parasite is an organism that lives in or on an organism of another species. Three main classes of parasites can cause disease in humans: protozoa, helminths, and ectoparasites. Protozoa and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Lilburn, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Melbourne You’re driving down an unfamiliar street on a clear spring evening. You’ve been invited to a friend of a friend’s party, at a house you’ve never been to before. Tracking the street numbers, you ...
Crimestoppers New Zealand launched its updated website www.crimestoppers-nz.org today. As well as catering for traditional anonymous reports the site now supports mobile users and allows files and images to be attached. The changes support people of all ...
Prince Andrew has spoken for the first time in public about his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. What did he say to create such a media storm, and how did he get into this mess in the first place? First thing’s first: who is Prince Andrew? Prince Andrew, Duke ...
Sam Brooks interviews the three guest curators of the New Zealand Festival of Arts: Bret McKenzie, Laurie Anderson and Lemi Ponifasio.An Oscar-winning Conchord, the world’s most beloved multimedia artist, and a world-renowned director and choreographer with an attitude. Three weeks, three unique visions of what a festival can and should ...
Plans are being put in place to increase methyl bromide monitoring following a theoretical modelling report about how the log fumigant disperses into the environment after use. ...
It’s the most beautiful time of the year! Comedian Sera Devcich joins Emily Writes to share the joy and investigate the top 10 toys your ungrateful kids will want this Christmas.It’s November which means it’s officially time for your kids to start bugging you day in and day out about ...
Proposed changes to tenancy rights are trickle down, not transformational, change says the Manawatu Tenants’ Union (MTU). There are however improvements for renters, and these efforts must be commended according to the MTU. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Stokes, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Deakin University “To be dead,” wrote the 20th century French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, “is to be a prey for the living.” Even Sartre, though, would have struggled to imagine casting James Dean in a movie 64 ...
The Good Citizen podcast focuses on the way good design – and good people – can change cities for the better. In this episode, Jeremy Hansen talks to architect Richard Goldie about his bold idea for a partially submerged stadium on Auckland’s waterfront, a project that’s now a finalist in ...
Former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC has published two books with Andrew Butler calling for a written, codified constitution that sets out ‘in an accessible form and a single document the fundamental rules and principles under which New Zealand is to be governed’. A road trip and consultation attracted ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Housing Luke Malpass and Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government hikes claims thresholds for bad landlords, increases ...
People with intellectual disabilities and their families are struggling to access support more than ever before, as the disability sector faces a now $574 million annual funding shortfall, says IHC. ...
The Labour-led coalition may have to generate a second wave of Jacindamania if it is to win another term in the Beehive. Re-election is not an impossible dream, despite the failure of Labour to deliver what many of those who voted for it in 2017 expected. Retiring Green MP Gareth Hughes ...
A corporate undertaker talks top tips for making sure you get paid, reining in rogue liquidators, and having a heart for those who’ve lost money.PwC’s John Fisk has handled high profile company failures from Pike River to Lombard Finance and the Ross Asset Management Ponzi scheme. He also chairs the ...
Armed police represent a serious cause for concern, especially for the most vulnerable, writes the chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation.The Mental Health Foundation has publicly condemned the police trial of special armed response teams patrolling three districts around New Zealand. We’re extremely worried these trials will result in ...
International crime rings are increasingly targeting New Zealanders’ bank accounts to launder proceeds from scams and fraud. Bronwyn Groot, Fraud Education Manager at the Commission for Financial Capability (CFFC) is highlighting the rising incidence ...
A just-released report shows that the food industry wants to stay in a business-as-usual mode with a few minor tweaks around the edges. In response, the New Zealand Government appeared comfortable with that approach, and provided no Government plans for comprehensive ...
New Zealand consumers will be left in the dark about foods grown in Australia that have been created using gene editing techniques. On the 13 November the Australian Senator Rice put up a motion to disallow, or overturn, the recently passed Gene Technology ...
As Aotearoa plans for festive season celebrations, The Salvation Army is preparing to make its house a home to hundreds of men, women and children who have nowhere else to stay. ...
Landlords say they feel under siege with the government planning to make it tougher for them to boot out troublesome tenants; and skilled immigrants waiting for a residents visa say its unfair officials are fast tracking applications for those on salaries over $105,000. ...
Standing with the farmers, New Conservative is committed to pushing back against the lunacy of the ETS and Carbon Zero commitments by this government. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tomas Trescak, Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Systems, Western Sydney University Just a few years ago, virtual reality (VR) was being showered with very real money. The industry raised an estimated US$900 million in venture capital in 2016, but by 2018 that figure ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rowena Maguire, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology Over the past two weeks, bushfires have raged across New South Wales and Queensland. While the narrative appears focused on potential causes and political point-scoring, what’s lost ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Davis, Chair of Women’s Health, Monash University At menopause, a woman’s ovaries lose their reproductive function. Eggs are no longer released and the production of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone falls. It’s the lowered levels of oestrogen after menopause that gives ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Bolleter, Deputy Director, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, University of Western Australia Around the world, the vast majority of people are flocking to cities not to dwell in their centres but to live in the new suburbs expanding their outer limits. ...
Open mike 02/10/2011 
Didn't See It Coming: NZ Herald columnist Lizzie Marvelly's latest column merits serious scrutiny because such a clear example of anti-democratic thinking is encountered only rarely on the pages of the daily press. Which is not to say that the elitism which lies at the heart of such social disparagement ...50 mins ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Initially it was reported that in an aerial bombardment that took place on August 30th seven children were massacred; the figure then went up to eight and then on November 11th Noticias Uno reported that, according to people from the community in close proximity to the ...4 hours ago
Next year is an election year, and Labour needs money to fund its campaign. So naturally, they're selling access:Labour is charging wealthy business figures $1500-a-head to lunch with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at its annual conference later this month. [...] On the weekend beginning November 29th, around 800 delegates will ...22 hours ago
Words and images by Jacqui Gibson Gone are Auckland Museum’s days of doing science using a museum-centric academic approach, after Māori land rights holders Ngāti Kuri gave the museum an ultimatum.
MediaWorks announced in October 2019 that it intended to sell off its struggling television business and cancel or cut back on several popular local programmes, including New Zealand Today, Married at First Sight New Zealand and 7 Days. Its radio and outdoor advertising arms are currently performing well, but MediaWorks’ ...1 day ago
Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...2 days ago
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...3 days ago
. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...3 days ago
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...7 days ago
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ... 1 week ago
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…
Installation complete: this was nothing ... 2 weeks ago
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...19 hours ago
We're setting our young people up for success, investing in education around the country. ...1 day ago
Eleven men from a pilot forestry training programme for prisoners in Northland now have full time jobs or job offers upon release, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis and Forestry Minister Shane Jones announced today. The ‘release to work’ programme was a collaboration between Te Uru Rākau and the Department of Corrections, ...2 hours ago
Women are taking medication to dehydrate themselves because they cannot access a toilet at work. ...29 mins ago
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The emperors clothes may finally be seen by the bulk of the subjects of granny/ TVNZ for what they are….nothing. His vacuous demeanor is wearing thin and he doesn’t even bother to appear concerned about a global economy that has every other leader genuinely worried.
Time for the opposition to hit the trail hard, keep it simple and expose the shysters for plundering a zero nett debt position to give tax cuts to the already well off, reward their backers and generally degrade our standing on all the wrong indicators like child poverty, inequality, minimum wage buying power etc.
The only trick they’ve got is Asset sales …….imagine your power prices over the next 10yrs with the likes of Fay, Richwhite, Goldman Sachs etc behind the generators…..scary indeed.
Not to mention the privatization they’ve already undergone in ACC, health and other juicy govt funded sectors for their mates to plunder.
Must watch: MELTDOWN part 2 – an Al Jazeera special – “A Global Financial Tsunami”
American government and business leaders incompetently contrive to fuck the American people.
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/meltdown/2011/09/201191713542357406.html
It’s not just a financial meltdown, of course. There is an ongoing environmental meltdown. For example.
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
(That particular graphic has hadly changed in 3 months and the drought has affected Texas for nearly a year now). Similar things are happening all over the world. And Fukishima is still spewing radiation into the atmosphere and into the ocean.
Add to that the social meltdown and a health meltdown (cancer rates are rising spectacularly) throughout most of the western world)..
Clearly the vast majority of politiicans could not care less about any of it.
Either that or they are acting as agents to bring it all about. My experience of talking with politicians over many years indicates the latter.
It is long past time we threw out the dinosaurs and saboteurs, and put in the their place some people who have some knowledge of things other than how to operate rorts, long past time we put in place people who actually care about the people they are supposed to be representing and care about the future. Unfortunately, such people are probably unelectable because the general populace has been trained to believe in short- termism and trained to think that distractions, such as rugby, have some significance. The stupidity we have witnessed over recent weeks bears withness to that.
A friend of mine, now around 70 years old, told me yesterday that for the first time in his life he was seriously thinking about not voting because he now realised that voting made no difference.
Yes, systemic collapse is getting very close CV. And anyone who thinks the government or the local council will be of much (any?) assistance is utterly deluded.
Memo to all RWNJs
From Crosby Textor NZ
We are in a really difficult position. Our advice in 2009 to focus on the threat of a Credit Rating downgrade to measure the success of the budget has come back to bite big time. It allowed National to get through tax cuts for the wealthy without any major damage.
But last week’s double downgrade poses major problems. Our carefully cultivated veneer of competent economic management is in tatters.
So we need to divert attention. Two Labour MPs said something not very nice about Peter Leitch and there were a few comments on the Standard what were not complimentary either. For the type of debates that occur on blogs they were not out of the ordinary but this presents us with a unique chance to try and divert attention.
So go for it. Talk about the two female MPs being “unleashed from their kennels” and be disparaging as you like. Don’t worry about the irony (look it up in the dictionary if you do not know what this means). Attack and be as pointed as you can be.
Message ends.
PS: And have a go at anyone who supports the two female MPs. Especaily if they’re also female. Be as venal as you can…paint them as silly bitches who don’t know nothing. It goes down well with Waitakere man.
and, if you can, throw in some homophobia that seems to go down well with many right wing males….
Memo to all LWNJs
From Mark Textor
Former Prime Minister of Australia John Howard once said “people who exercise free speech have an obligation to do so in a sensitive and caring fashion. That has always been my credo.”
But Howard also said: “It has also been my credo that, if someone disagrees with the prevailing orthodoxy of the day, that person should not be denigrated as a narrow-minded bigot.”
Perhaps what is missing though is what I first learnt in Territory politics and that is to play politics and business like you would a game of rugby: hard on the field, but to the rules, in the spirit of the game, with some simple courtesies before and after the game to demonstrate there is something bigger at stake.
That is the nature of a civil society; not the absence of conflict but the presence of civility, respect and the acceptance that there is a diversity of views out there.
Message ends.
The words sound good.
Until you remember that his job is to lie and bullshit us into voting for, outwardly impressive, thieves.
The biggest crooks wear suits and ties, and open doors for Ladies.
Google Psychopath again.
I used to think you were a smart man putting on a dumb internet persona, Joe Bloggs.
Really, I always thought he was an idiot putting on a dumb internet persona because he’s stupid.
The nature of a civil society is one where everybody cooperates rather than one where individuals compete in a war of all against all.
Joe Bloggs quoting john Howard as if he is a moral and noble person whose fine words actually represent his thinking? Mutual self-hypnosis I think.
It’s not on podcast yet, but Mediawatch on National Radio had some good items.
One about John Key’s Radio Live appearance which hit all the main points of criticism.
One about the media focus on certain political leaders but not on any policies.
One on media ownership.
If you missed it then the podcast will be worth a listen.
Up now:
[audio src="http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mwatch/mwatch-20111002-0905-mediawatch_for_2_october_2011-048.mp3" /]
John Key is obviously out of touch with the mainstream – 70% of kiwis were ignoring the rugby/league as they have no interest in it.
Good points on the rest as well especially the ownership of the MSM.
Exactly! 🙂
Thanks Felix – I knew I wasn’t going to get back on the net for most of the day so hoped someone else would provide the link.
Yup looking forward to Goff’s hour in the interests of fair play and balance…..yeah right !
Panic in National’s ranks.
Dan Carter has just been ruled out of the World cup with a torn tendon …
Wonder how Smile and Wave is feeling?
John Key is getting advice from the Mad Butcher… cheapest cuts ever.
He’s been on the phone to Ted telling him is is an all round sportsman (see his cricket performance anyone?) and also that he looks good in Jokey’s.
Hasn’t had time to make a video, too busy out on the piss in Sydney.
Man! I can’t wait for the Feelers to bang out ‘Right here right now’ as well. Awesome!
media works watch free fluff from celeb cat walk cat talk PM.Nzeds next top model.That only cost us taxpayers $ 43 million
BREAKING NEWS: Dan Carter is out of the World Cup.
The All Blacks first five-eighths has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament because of the groin injury he suffered at yesterday’s captains run and Colin Slade will now be expected to wear the No 10 jersey.
A challenge, like any greatv team if the ABs are good enough they will overcome this and still get a result. Tghey have to be good enough to do it without McCaw to if necessary.
Time for grumpy graham to roll that plan B he’s had 4 years to perfect…..great players though they are they’re not young and backing up after a tri nations series.
Injury prone colin slade
SHOTGUN WEDDING IN PALESTINE
Life goes on, even under brutal military occupation…
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/shotgun-wedding-in-palestine/
National’s Downgrade
Just over a month ago, it was revealed that National was borrowing a whopping $380 million per week; but $100 million of that was not required. That amounts to around $5.2 billion in additional debt per year. When questioned about this, Bill English said it was a good time to borrow because interest rates were low, but it would put additional pressure on the exchange rate…
Wonder what they’re using as collateral ?
Might not need to sell state assets if they get repoed by the international wunch of banksters.
We can only borrow and hope
The people and their ability to produce.
pollywog – neat description.
for massive tax cuts, and suddenly they get a downgrade.
They knew they were up for it, they pretty much insured
that it would happen.
So as Switzland finds that small country status ain’t
so good either, probably wishing it had a bunch of nasty
Nats running its economy (NOT, they ar emuch smarter),
that it has to peg its currency to the EU.
Small countries may be more stable in the crisis years
while the big blocks sort out the new more intergrated
world economic reality, but once we return to some
new normal small countries will be far worse off.
And their in lies the danger, as we enter the second
phase, those smart money will withdraw their cash from
Nz (its already started), farmers in Nz will be hit hard
by a stalled China, higher energy costs, low
commodity prices and still high currency as we still
all need new TVs.
So the stresses on European countries are actually
adaptive pressures that NZ is missing out on!
Because of the great short term management of National
to avoid the problem, and leave it for the future.
A shakeout of old tired thinkers, they sack their
Douglas’s far quicker, Thatcher only lasted a little
over a decade in the front shop! We have a Hubbard
like fashionation will keeping success long after its
use by date. aka Paul Holmes. Its hurts the economy
because they had their day, decades ago.
So here you have it, summation of the NZ economy.
Hollowed out by poor managers who won’t leave the
front desk when they make a killing so others
can, exposing NZ to exploitation and downgrades
for short term political and finance benefit (that
only pay out if they leave to retire in Hawaii!).
we are moving into a low growth world economy,
one where you either feed, house, doctor, your
population or they get very uncivil. Only then
can you pass the spoils on to your mates.
Remember don’t vote for a party that doesn’t
believe in government, doesn’t like the voting
system, and so spends its time in opposition
worried about lightbulbs rather than doing the
best with the system that’s there for all NZ.
Gareth Morgan and Sir Paul O’Callaghan highlighted a lack of balance and a loss of opportunities in our current economic management when interviewed on Q & A this morning.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/10/national-measures-balance-with-faulty.html
Good report about growing Occupy Wall Street movement from Stuff (of all places)!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/5719337/Anti-Wall-St-protesters-block-Brooklyn-Bridge
Have a look at nytimes.com – quite a good detailed article there
Bomber has a bit of a go at the NZ Herald for their lack of reporting.
Apologies! That was Phoebe Fletcher who wrote New Zealand Herald: you are failing us. Not sure why I got that wrong!
Interestingly the New York Times article was changed soon after publication to be nicer on the cops.
Even the Herald managed to have a miniscule link on their front page http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10756045
It would have been a headline had there been 400 polices arrests in Kabul, Beijing or Cairo.
The land of the free? Yeah Right
ACC cannot be privatised as no Insurance Company in New Zealand is in any position, with the Christchurch situation, to re-open ACC with a new book of business.
That just leaves the overseas insurance companies and investment funds then
The Revolution will not be Televised
Considering Billionaire George Soros owns Yahoo.com, is it any wonder that their search engines have been actively blocking communications containing the phrase Occupy Wall Street and OccupyWallStreet.org? Although Yahoo has been caught and apologized for blocking emails that contained content about the protests, doesn’t this show the underhanded way those controlling our media act?
It’s unsurprising that the capitalists don’t want the people to know what’s happening in the world. If they knew, they’d probably do something about the people (the capitalists) causing the poverty and that wouldn’t suit the psychopaths at all.
Oh good grief! I knew there were good reasons to ditch my Yahoo email, aside from the huge amount of spam and the fact that it doesn’t work very well..
Unfortunately all the email services capitulated to the American government a while ago so there are non that keep your info private anymore.
700 people arrested on Brooklyn Bridge today… not one word on New Zealand’s Six O’Clock news. Shame!
The revolution will not be privatized!
Lomu needs new kidney – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10756006
Lets see when Key offer his kidney! Now we know why Jonah wanted privacy; the story had been sold to NZ Womans Weekly.
If the media are stupid enough to pay interesting amounts of money for a story, then I back him 100% for selling said story. He doesn’t owe the public anything.
That’s odd. I heard he was donating his groin, maybe it’s both.
A sketch I would like to see……(a rewrite of Monty Python sketch)
Part V: Live Organ Transplants…
two paramedics (Chapman and Cleese) arrive at the doorstep of a card-carrying organ donor, Mr. John Key, to claim his kidney. Still being alive, he initially refuses. Not to be deterred, the paramedics burst through the door and brutally disembowel him, removing the organ “under condition of death”.
Joe Bloggs
Was that the John Howard, notorious liar, who told the Australian nation that boat people threw their children to the sharks? the same John Howard who lied to the Australian people about Iraq so he could get troops involved? the same John Howard who lied to the people of Australia about the economy and told them the way to prosperity was to increase their debt level and spend their money on imported consumer goods? the same John Howard who refused to apologise to indigenous people for the injustices and abuses perpetrated against them by previous generations of psychotic spociopaths?
aerobubble
‘we are moving into a low growth world economy,
one where you either feed, house, doctor, your
population or they get very uncivil. Only then
can you pass the spoils on to your mates.’
We are in a negative growth world economy, due to the contraints of Peak Oil (peak practically everything actually).
Practially everyone’s standard of living is falling. The elites mission is to transfer an ever-bigger portion of the diminishing cake to themselves, at the expense of everyone, intially throiugh the use of lies, but when they start wearing thin, via the use of ‘security forces’ (as per 1984).
DTB
Exactly! 70% of NZers couldn’t care less about rugby, and of that 70%, about 30% loathe internationalised rugby and everythng it stands for -corporate bullshit wrapped in a platina of patriotism, money making by the few at the expense of the many, environmental and social degradation….. whorehouses and beer halls, smashed up hotel rooms and vomit.
thejackel
The [quoted] 400 people who control 99% of commercial activity in the western world will do whatever it takes to prevent the hundreds of millions of victims of the their scams from discovering the truth and throwing off the chains.
I’m sure that censorship is just the opening round of the ultimate war that has been in the making since the time humans gave up the hunter-gatehrer lifestyle and submitted themselves to agriculture and all it spawned, i.e. hierarchical societies in which the fruits of the labours of those at the bottom are transferred to those at the top.
“The [quoted] 400 people who control 99% of commercial activity in the western world will do whatever it takes to prevent the hundreds of millions of victims of the their scams from discovering the truth and throwing off the chains. ”
JP Morgan buy $400 mill of Twitter shares
http://stopforeclosurefraud.com/2011/10/01/jpmorgan-chase-co-has-invested-in-a-fund-that-has-bought-about-400-million-in-twitter-inc/
Warriors lose.
*John Key & the Warriors lose.
Haha, my only upside of that loss is that Key didn’t get the chance to do a Mandela.
He’s got one more chance I suppose…
Maybe next season will be the year!!!!
Another case of Russel Norman being out of touch with reality
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1110/S00006/govt-bungling-adds-cost-of-earthquake-levy-to-mortgages.htm
So if we introduced a levy there would have been no down grade?
With a levy kiwis would be facing interest increases AND this levy cost. Russel how does a household pay for this? There are not many households with surplus atthe moment, and with costs increasing all the time – just wait for the depreciating NZ$ to start taking hold.
A levy of 1.5 percent on income between $48,001-$70,000 and a 3 percent levy on income above $70,000, with no change needed to the corporate tax rate of 30 percent, would raise $1.026b a year, according to Green Party estimates. People earning $50,000 a year would pay an extra 58c a week, and those on $70,000 a year would pay an extra $6.33 a week. People on $100,000 would pay an extra $23.59 a week.
Whats the problem?
I know households who have bought tickets to every All Blacks game they think will happen right up to and including the final.
How the fuck did they afford that herod?
This reminds me of a lesson from budgeting 101. Its about your priorities.
How important is it that we help those New Zealanders (and those parts of New Zealand) who are most in need? We can assign the problem a high priority and deal with it as such, or put it in line behind a bunch of other shit.
Where economics is concerned, the Greens are generally never in touch with reality – it’s a nice luxury they have.
So if we introduced a levy there would have been no down grade?
No one knows. The agencies certainly didn’t say this, though Russel claims that’s what they meant. But the fact is no one knows.
However in fairness to Russel, he may be right, and therefore his assertion isn’t one iota as silly as Phil Goff’s claims that the downgrade somehow justifies Labour’s loophole-laden Capital Gains Tax.
(usual disclaimer: good on Labour for broaching the CGT rampart, support broad-based CGT in principle, brave move but poor execution, etc)
They’re more connected to reality than pretty much any other party. Act is, of course, completely disconnected from reality and so is National. Unfortunately, so are the economists that advise the government.
Well thenm buddy, who is in touch with reality? Fitch? S&P?
You notice that both those guys just downgraded our asses?
Is that what you call reality, the incompetence of Key and English.
How do the Road traffic department get controlling event and holiday traffic wrong?
Drove to Hamilton this afternoon. At 4 pm there was a major problem
of congestion north of Huntly – major traffic delays. Newstalkzb had
given an indication that traffic around Hamilton was building for RWC at 3 pm.
400 m, on a bend, sits a patrol car with lights flashing. Another one 200 metres with lights flashing. Neither indicating that as the expressway is finishing that the traffic is at a standstill or crawling.
It seems to be obvious that, if you have heavy traffic using two lanes, when those lanes merge, there is twice the amount of traffic to get into one lane. The traffic department must have known that this was likely to happen. What about a mobile trailer giving a warning to traffic on the Bombays that they were going to reduce the Expressway to single traffic at say Rangiri – coning one lane off and reducing traffic speed to say 70 KMH.