The block to comments this morning was due to the temp directory getting full. I’d left a bash shell tail the standard’s log, and it was spooling the log output into /tmp as history. I must set the bash to not be on an infinite scroll.
Oops. I think that I j have been talking to the kitten too much – it is catching. Not too dissimilar to moderating bad behaviour here (looks at comment 2). But here I am required to treat possible humans as being human until they display troll behaviours.
I will be restricting what is allowed on this over the weekend.
However, lets see what works (preferably with something relevant to the post or OpenMike) – just add the URL with things that you think we should have on the site. If they don’t have a oEmbed support, I can add it retrospectively if I find them relevant (or I get special pleadings from someone I somewhat respect).
Usual stupidity moderation will apply, in this case I’d add the type of link to my personal ‘probably remove the oEmbed’ and the author of the comment to ‘probably ruled by their genitals’ lists respectively.
If I eventually turn an oEmbed off for comments it will leave the link. So do the usual and explain why you think that other should click on the link.
Twitter:
Our baby, Peanut is having medical procedures done this week so won't be able to wear a costume on Halloween. I decided to have an early one so he could show off how handsome he looks. 😀 pic.twitter.com/0bKQJzlUCB
Pete George @ Your NZ:
“It’s hard to measure whether Kiwiblog is worse than The Standard – abuse at KB is generally worse but it is also more open, there’s a more subtle insidious approach often taken at TS – and it is aided by one sided moderation, and promoted by the master moderator, which arguably reflects more poorly on the blog.”
It’s a conspiracy, Robert. We master moderators have a solemn pact where we let PG comment here just to make his moaning about moderation at TS seem hypocritical. The rest of the commenters are subject to random, anarchic moderation decisions based on a throw of the I ching.
Watch out Pete’s probably writing another post on labour and Chinese names even as we speak…
‘At the Jacinda love blog the labour blackhats haters have once again ripped in again into immigrant and Chinese again as I predicted many time though a humble hobbyist and amiable amateur am I – I’m sure Mr or Mrs I ching is as deeply offended as I am at this and now I await my ban at that filthy jungle full of running dogs and sitting cats.’
Because in everyday life you don’t make a good thing if you put poor, even poisonous, ingredients in it.
And TRP the idea of letting anybody have a go as long as they don’t go against the basic rules supposedly is an example of free speech actually ignores why The Standard is important even vital in my opinion. It is an exchange of thinking peoples ideas
I’m not saying stop just make sure you’re getting what you want from it – imo you do good. Pete is Pete and that cat won’t change. But we also need to know the insidious lies he says to poison the well so if someone can stomach it well good on them.
I think I was bored, Marty. I should have instead, pursued my old habit of learning new words. Here’s a good one: grimalkin
“A grimalkin (also called a greymalkin) is an archaic term for a cat. The term stems from “grey” (the colour) plus “malkin”, an archaic term with several meanings (a cat, a low class woman, a weakling, a mop, or a name derived from a hypocoristic form of the female name Maud.”
Much more fun 🙂
Hey is that an obscure put-downm? Hah! Great word ‘grimalkin’. Thinking about cats – the Cheshire Cat might be a good concept that could indicate a paragraph of opinion within those three words. A sort of code.
Wikipedia says: “One of its distinguishing features is that from time to time its body disappears, the last thing visible being its iconic grin. ” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire_Cat
Just perfect for people who need a ban. Could say, this one deserves the Cheshire Cat treatment!
That would fit into PGs description of TS in 2 above. “It’s hard to measure whether Kiwiblog is worse than The Standard – abuse at KB is generally worse but it is also more open, there’s a more subtle insidious approach often taken at TS
Subtle, insidious, machiavellian. Just the way that the powers that be are working away manipulating our society, and people like PG are useful foot soldiers. Meet them with an understanding of their own methods I say. As long as we try to speak truth and be as open as possible except when facing the twisted.
Humans dislike being bored so much sometimes physical pain is preferable. Experiments around sensory deprivation have shown humans will even inflict pain like an electric shock on themselves (or they will even go to yawnNZ) in an effort to alleviate their boredom.
Some deadbeat subjects will even get so bored they will invent absurd fantasies like: ” I suppose that Marama Davidson is probably going to claim that Santa was a c**t though and claim him/her as being part of her taonga” to amuse themselves.
Take care Robert, stick to reading the dictionary rather than the ramblings of the deranged. 🙂
The difference between electric shocks and yawnNZ is that some people use electric shocks for fun. I can’t see PG’s work inspiring any sexual fetishists.
AND no I don’t suffer from a nail and claw disorder now that I have to have (give myself) very frequent Vitamin B12 injections to stay alive. Nails and claws are in top notch condition. LOL
veutoviper – re-claws (nails and hair too) I met a woman recently who needed to strengthen hers, so drank tea made from horsetail (equisetum) daily for a month and built strong, vigorously-growing locks and nails. She recommended it highly. Yesterday I met a bloke who recommends darkening hair with water in which un-hulled walnuts have been boiled. He too swore by the process.
Interesting, Robert. Good hair and nails are a small inconsequential tangent benefit of my injections, as my body cannot absorb B12 from food through the stomach/gastric system. Addison-Biemers Syndrome aka Pernicious Anaemia (PA) which is a bit of a misnomer as its symptoms/effects are body wide and not just haematological.
Vitamin B12 (In the case of PA – injections) are essential to make good red blood cells which can then transport oxygen around my body to keep my heart, lungs, brain and every other organ functioning and to try to stem the permanent muscular and neurological damage already done which means I can no longer walk far, or do a lot of other things in particular gardening. I have always been a very keen and active gardener (come from a long line of home and professional gardeners) and the inability to do so any more is devastating. Hence my silence to date on your posts on that subject.
(FYI the long line apparently includes three generations of Head Gardeners and gardeners at Kew Gardens London, including when Joseph Banks returned with his NZ plant collection.)
BUT a great benefit (double edged sword?) of the B12 injections is my brain function and memory have improved probably the most of all. IMO these functions are back to what they were probably in my late 30s (and the bloody brain will not stop churning in the middle of the night!)
I could write a thesis on all of this but won’t today – LOL (TG, they all say.)
Jeepers! You’ve got great Garden Cred, veutoviper!
The woman who recommended the horsetail treatment to me had also suffered from anaemia, though she didn’t say pernicious. She was from Baja California and looked Mexican. Great hair and nails!
As someone who canvasses for the Labour party I find the expression of such views useful and in particular the response to them. It gives me a greater understanding of the views out there. Unfortunately a lot of people are influenced by ridiculous anti union and anti labour views promoted by our media. It also takes me out of my bubble which is important when I want to help win elections. I do have a theory though that PG comes here to promote his blog and encourage people to click on it to see what the story is. Perhaps he comes here when his blog is quiet.
I came here recently to address false claims being made by Robert. he seems to feel aggrived that he should abide by reasonable standards of debate like everyone else (not here of course, he seems free to make things up).
Did you notice that it was Robert bringing it up here and linking to Your NZ, not me.
While some people here wonder why I and others bother to read PG’s and other blogs, I totally agree with what you have said re it being useful to know what is being said elsewhere and the reactions to it. As you say, this is needed to be able to put things in perspective and look at things from outside our own bubbles.
I also suspect your last sentence is very close to the truth as to why PG comes here. (see my last para below.)
I was actually adding to my tongue in cheek reply at 2.3.2 when I ran out of editing time, to say that I have been interested in seeing the road the comments have taken on my comment I filed on Open Mike on 1 Jan which lprent then put up as the post called “Discussion on Political Leader PR”.
After making one slightly snide reply (sorry) to someone who commented on that post, I decided to not comment further and just see where the conversation went of its own accord. It has been an interesting exercise, and I am putting together a short summary of my observations as a sort of close off comment.
While my comment started by replying to some assertions PG had made, very few people focused on what my actual comment morphed into as I wrote it which was the different treatment of PR by Ardern to that by Bridges, particularly in relation to their families – other than lprent and one or two others who actually read it in full (thanks Andre) and got the drift. I suspect most did not read it in full, but that’s life.
I may also include a short bit about my observations of the reactions to PG’s comments on his own blog re his discussions/reactions to the thread here – Hint; very few there have taken the bait and responded in detail. Focus there is also now on Kiwiblog where yesterday Farrar finally banned someone for a hideous comment re the PM’s baby. I refuse to say anymore about that but PF has done a post on the whole situation – but has also taken the opportunity to include comparisions of Ts to Kiwiblog.
But I also intended to include a comment similar to yours. That is, PG does put a lot of time and effort into his posts on his blogs and I give him credit for that. Sometimes, he gets a lot of on topic comments, but sometimes he gets very few. At times, it must be a bit soul destroying, and I have wondered more than once, whether he comes here for a different environment and different commenters when he is feeling a little disillusioned with his own blog. Fair enough, but also expect to be challenged.
I also totally agree with what mickysavage says at 2.5 – both in respect to PG and as a general principle in relation to all commenters including myself.
I have a soft spot for Pete. He has a deep respect for freedom of expression. He is tribal conservative but has reached a position where he thinks the centre provides the best result in a goldilocks sort of way.
As long as he does not infringe the basic tenets of the site he is welcome to comment.
“Hours after taking office, Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, has launched an assault on environmental and Amazon protections with an executive order transferring the regulation and creation of new indigenous reserves to the agriculture ministry – which is controlled by the powerful agribusiness lobby.
The move sparked outcry from indigenous leaders, who said it threatened their reserves, which make up about 13% of Brazilian territory, and marked a symbolic concession to farming interests at a time when deforestation is rising again.”
Another step well into climate catastrophe IMO. We should have stomped on this type of shit back in the 1990s but the governments have been taken over by business and refused to listen to the science.
Now it’s going to end up being every country for themselves. The nations that won’t be too afflicted by the changing climate can’t afford the influx of refugees from those that will be.
Sounds like he Listens to Happy clappy born agains.
You know the ones who believe in the oncoming apocalypse.
“Silas Malafia, an influential televangelist and close friend of Bolsonaro, said developed countries who centuries ago cut down their own forests should pay if they wanted Brazil to preserve the Amazon.”
There is that interesting link thhat touches on Brazil’s surprisingly small haul from its oil sales. I think Brazil doesn’t have to be paid anything for doing what it should have done when the money was flowing like oi.
Glenn Greenwald shows how the Guardian has become a facade.
Five weeks ago, it published a fake news front page story. It was totally made up.
Its editor has been an ostrich and kept her head in the sand.
The Guardian now displays where its priorities lie – not with the truth and not with the public, . It has become a pillar of the deep state.
Thanks Ed
There have been comments about The Guardian for ages and I can see that there is something there. Pity because the G sounds good. I was thinking of putting payments into their pockets but hey?
What’s going on down in China? How do people think about their system there, how do foreigners get treated? A close look by foreigners who live/have lived there and who know. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNPa8fSXzzAZuT9859GVhg
I don’t know DTB about this. I will have to check and come back with this after I have had some lunch and done some work! It’s really good so i will attend to it later.
Thanks fender.
Draco see link on fender’s comment. It’s about 19 minutes and worth seeing and listening to it all for chatty on site background. Even if you have to halt it and come back to it (hint note how many minutes have gone).
Yeah…disgustingly privileged white people fearing their loss of privileges, one of whom is an angst fulled white South African who thinks he was ‘discriminated’ against in South Africa.
From 9:04 to 10:16: Bemoaning the fact that the Chinese government does not accredit the diplomas of American international schools in China who follow their own curricula. He hates the fact that his kids should attend the local schools.
Can anyone imagine the uproar in NZ say, if there were Chinese established schools teaching entirely in Chinese, teaching Chinese cultural and political perspectives, and these schools expecting to be fully accredited under the NZQA system?
These people are pure FILTH (Failed in London Try Hong Kong) types. China would do well to be rid of such types.
Gardening question for our resident organic gardeners.
My brussel sprout plants are being overrun by aphids or might be cabbage butterfly larvae. The plants are looking really unwell. What is the peraculture solution to this please?
A garlic spray can deter aphids, mites and white butterflies. Try crushing several cloves of garlic, add 1 litre of boiling water, leave to cool, then strain through a sieve. Add 1 teaspoon of soap or detergents to help the spray stick to the leaves.
I am going to try to put this up as a totally neutral comment (with one exception*).
FYI, yesterday David Farrar finally banned someone on his Kiwiblog General Debate post for an absolutely noxious* comment wishing violence to the PM’s daughter.
I am not going to link to that comment or Kiwiblog, or give any more detail.
Today, no General Debate post has been put up on Kiwiblog.
h/t to a commenter on Pete George’s YourNZ blog. (I have checked and there is no GD for today on KB.)
Pete George has done a detailed post on his blog on this banning and his views on comments on Kiwiblog and Farrar’s approach to moderation.
This post and the comments on it can be viewed here.
There are no mentions of The Standard in the post itself but there are some in the comments, primarily by Pete George, with one or two small related replies from others.
FYI, yesterday David Farrar finally banned someone on his Kiwiblog General Debate post for an absolutely noxious* comment wishing violence to the PM’s daughter.
They egg each other on and lose their sense of perspective. Seen fresh from the outside it all looks sick but the players know the nuances and histories of who’s saying what and see it all very differently. I think it suits Farrar to have those things said on his blog; he simply claims he can’t moderate them and thus allowing the harmful claims to see the light of day where a lot of “silent watchers” will see them. It’s an ugly strategy, imo.
Bryan Bruce reflects on knighthoods, questions the hardworking ethic of the new rich and lament the loss of egalitarianism in this country.
As ever, he is spot on.
“While I think it is important to acknowledge people for their contribution to our communities and our country, I do think it’s time we had the discussion again about what Knighthoods and Damehoods signify.
Do we still want to cling to these vestiges of the British Empire or is it time to replace them with our own honours that reflect our now diverse multi-cultural country ?
Your answer to that question, I suspect ,reflects what you think it means to be a New Zealander.
A few days ago I was talking with Liz Gunn on her Drive show on Radio Live when I found myself remembering out loud that one of the things that once marked our National character is that we were an egalitarian country – that we believed “Jack was as good as his master” and that we called no man “Sir”
It’s a charactistic, I regret to say, that is in grave risk of disappearing from the New Zealand psyche.”
I don’t mind giving homage to a man or woman that I deeply respect. Some deserve it. It is who receives this homage that bothers me. I think it should be up to the people to vote.
MEMO: greywarshark
FROM: The Knights of the British Empire
It has been brought to our attention that you have had the gall and temerity to write: “Some deserve it. It is who receives this homage that bothers me. I think it should be up to the people to vote..”
We would like to point out that a Knighthood is the culmination of a lifetime of careful groveling to the powerful and assiduously keeping an eye out for “the main chance.” This process is what the “great unwashed”, i.e., such oiks as yourself, are obliged to call “public service”.
We strongly contest your implication that some Knights and Dames do not deserve their honours.
Respectfully,
Sir Paul Holmes
Sir Thomas Eichelbaum
Sir Jimmy Savile
Dame Denise L’Estrange-Corbet
Sir Peter Leitch
Sir Jeremiah Mateparae
Sir John Key
Sir William “Double Dipper” English
Sir William Gallagher
Dame Lesley Max
Sir Clive Woodward
Sir Robert Jones
Well Morry i can see some obvious ones in the list that bring to mind that old circular saying that someone is famous for being famous (although having some position in the community and/or wealth would be a requirement.)
Perhaps we should retrospectively duck them in a pond and see if they come up to see who is one of the truly chosen.
And to be really boring I’ll repeat Bad Sir Brian Botany which I guess not everyone has come across, I hope.
Here is a reading from Chris Blue who is a NZr, He also does another one about knights.
“Today, on the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, don’t forget that for years the ENTIRE WORLD has voted at the UN to call for an end to the illegal, crippling US embargo on Cuba.
In 2018, the vote was 189 nations to 2 (USA and Israel).
189. To. 2.”
I would add the words of Morgan Artyukhina that Cuba is “a model for socialism & decolonization in innumerable ways. Real grassroots democracy ensures popular participation in politics everyday-not 1 day every 2-4 years like in capitalist democracies. Its medical system is the envy of the world, based on the local polyclinic.”
Happy 60th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution! ¡Hasta la victoria siempre!.
Day and night, the screams of tormented women in panic and desperation who cry for God’s mercy fall upon the deaf ears of prison authorities. They are confined to narrow cells with no sunlight called “drawers” that have cement beds, a hole on the ground for their bodily needs, and are infested with a multitude of rodents, roaches, and other insects.
These female prisoners lack all sort of necessary personal possessions and almost always have no water, even for bathing, often drinking this precious liquid full of insects. The food distributed to them is terrible, smells rotten, and is stored in receptacles lacking in hygiene. Even prison officials have complained of the small quantities served.
In these “drawers” the women remain weeks and months. When they scream in terror due to the darkness (blackouts are common) and the heat, they are injected sedatives that keep them half-drugged.
They are supervised by men who personally administer the feminine products they need and who so often open these “drawers” without respecting their privacy.
One female prisoner cried out, “get me out!”, “get me out, I’m suffocating!”, and an official called Marino replied: “stick your nose out through a hole and shut up!”
If anyone in the penitentiary protests out loud, they are taken to assigned punishment cells where they must abide by a ruthless discipline.
That is horrible joe90. I was wondering if Amnesty International has been trying to put pressure on them. I haven’t heard them referred to in the years I have been coming to TS. Does anyone write with them? Perhaps Cuba would be a good place to start.
One of the only nations where the Red Cross is banned fron visiting prisons. Under there rules all of us would get about 17 years in prison for our anti National or anti Labour comments. So hardly a free country.
The health system as commented by ED is free but it’s also not free. Treatment is compulsory with no right of complaint. If the doctor wants to cut your arm off, your arm gets cut off. Some of the high profile political prisoners are Doctors and without free speech we actually have no way of knowing how good the system actually is. We very rarely hear about its errors or failings. Life expectancy figures shows it’s pretty good. Born today 78.8 years male: 76.5 years female. Not sure why women die younger. Maybe with less economic pressure etc on men unlike our society things are better for men. Plus they have regulated shared care so don’t have the ridiculous male suicide rate we get from our fault divorce, gynocentric family court scam.
Okay Cuba isn’t paradise. I’ll write it off my list of drawcards for my next overseas holiday, though if they are poor they might welcome me. Howecver I had better have super health insurance by the sounds of it. Probably a picture for much of the world.
I read many reviews on climate change. After spending an afternoon in the garden, whilst in the bathroom spotting a few exposed areas that missed out on suntan lotion, gave thought to how strong the sun is and the absence of comment regarding the ozone. NZ may “benefit” from a change in climate, yet we face hash consequences from the loss in ozone. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/06/ozone-layer-not-recovering-over-populated-areas-scientists-warn
Hitchens jumped, suddenly and inexplicably, on to the doomed ship of neocon fools after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Even more foolish than that mad choice was his crazed attack shortly after on, of all people, Noam Chomsky. Interviewed by Kim Hill on National Radio in early 2002, Chomsky memorably wrote Hitchens off as “incoherent.”
In October 2014, this writer, i.e. moi, wrote that Hitchens was:
a supremely gifted writer, who ended up being regarded by most people as a courtier, a crawler and a callous, unapologetic liar. In his risible final book, he spends several pages enviously detailing how wonderfully urbane his friend Martin Amis was in the company of the young women at a Manhattan brothel they were visiting. He also indulges in a ridiculous attack on Noam Chomsky, and calls the democratically elected Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez a “dictator”.
George Galloway, who memorably humiliated him in 2005 in New York City, was dead right when he said that Hitchens had transformed himself from a butterfly into a slug.
I never could fathom why he turned from the brightest of lights to a slavish defender of the neocon wars of conquest.
That debate between Galloway and Hitchens is memorable.
In it George said of Hitchens,”What you have witnessed is something unique in natural history – the first ever metamorphosis of a butterfly back into a slug.”
If that didn’t quite signal the full animosity he meant to convey, he extended the image: “The one thing a slug leaves behind it is a trail of slime.”
This could result in a few murders or even a war. OK there’s been a few murders already but the dreaded, often predicted water wars.
Egyptians population growth is out of control with population set to double over the next 50 years. They are already facing an immediate fresh water crisis, power crisis so unless they get there act together things will get nasty.
Then there is this bold move by Ethiopia. Yes Ethiopia.
Explian how that worthless comment matters to the dam? The article is News far more than opinion so deal with it.
I’ll quote who I like. Most if not all your fixations on media is irrational. All of us realise that media, no matter who it is, are pushing one eyed wheelbarrows.
The recent comments by the former female editor of the NY Times is a good example of bias. The NY Times being blatantly anti Trump, driven by click bait and graduates out of the lefty indoctrinated universities. Same in NZ.
The ability of the do-it-yourselfer with or without No.8 wire, this guy uses duct tape and lots of it, is the subject of this next serious skill-building video.
@Lprent – for your notes, auto-embed worked and then it disappeared when I edited the text. Oh, and now it’s back even though the edit window is still open.
Ed
She does have the right to consider Corbyn unsatisfactory. Why don’t you think of some things to ask your next local government candidates as on Matthew’s post?
She does not have the right to recycle vicious lies, however.
Yes, yes, she’s made a career out of penning fantasies, but she’s foolishly signed up to repeat the sad and stupid fantasies of Yenta Hodge, Rudolf Giuliani, Alan Shredowitz, Binyamin Netanyahoo, et al.
As we see every day with that loon in the White House, money can’t undo the stupid.
Rowling; influenced by socialist writer Mitford, a well heeled supporter of multiple causes including ending child poverty, single parents, the welfare of child mental health patients, Médecins Sans Frontières, human rights, refugees, and a long time supporter and donor to UK Labour.
Ed, an ahistoric, poe-faced malcontent with a boner for war criminals and corrupt, authoritarian thugs.
Your really don’t get it do you.
Your source Norman? Links to Twitter, that longs further into Twitter. Why not direct to the Rowling comment.
A Rowling comment.
“I chose to remain a domiciled taxpayer for a couple of reasons. The main one was that I wanted my children to grow up where I grew up, to have proper roots in a culture as old and magnificent as Britain’s; to be citizens, with everything that implies, of a real country, not free-floating ex-pats, living in the limbo of some tax haven and associating only with the children of similarly greedy tax exiles.
A second reason, however, was that I am indebted to the British welfare state; the very one that Mr Cameron would like to replace with charity handouts. When my life hit rock bottom, that safety net, threadbare though it had become under John Major’s Government, was there to break the fall. I cannot help feeling, therefore, that it would have been contemptible to scarper for the West Indies at the first sniff of a seven-figure royalty cheque. This, if you like, is my notion of patriotism. On the available evidence, I suspect that it is Lord Ashcroft’s idea of being a mug”
The top tax rate is 45% and she has earnt at least 650million pounds. You want her to pay more? Other people’s money eh.
You’re such a little cheer germ aren’t you Ed. Always something overseas, or here, to pass judgment on. Find us one good piece of news a day will you, and not about kittens please. Lprent is covering that.
Just curious, has Mort been verbed yet? As in, “What happened to my sandals?” “Oh, they just got Morted.” or “Where’s the kitten?” “He’s busy Morting your cables.”
You should read her repulsive tweets about Corbyn.
Yeah, how dare a woman draw attention to his spinless incompetence and refusal to listen to his party’s members that’s giving the Tories licence to pursue their Brexit plan with no political opposition.
/
Three-quarters of Labour party members want a second EU referendum, according to a new poll.
Research by YouGov on behalf of Queen Mary University and Sussex University found that 72% want another poll to be carried out, compared to just 18% who do not.
The poll of 1,034 Labour members also showed that 88% of them would vote to stay in the EU if another referendum took place.
‘A former All Blacks manager and national rugby president has claimed a Polynesian star was robbed of a match appearance because the tour bosses couldn’t spell his name.
The outrageous revelation was made by West Coast rugby identity John Sturgeon, and brought howls of laughter from a Greymouth audience.’
It was a superb example of ineffective management though. What a dumbie, and couldn’t the office workers get their information correct? Was there a legal side, where you are expected to have names correct? It’s not necessarily racism, it’s slackism.
Does anyone know why Music 101 and Alex Behan have been dropped from Radionz?
And going back why did Simon Mercep get put off? He’d hardly got started.
Everyone is having trouble fronting up to the waste problem. The authorities don’t take control – in this case the workers are losing out as well as those trying to run a difficult business. This in Scotland.
But Indians are generating more waste than ever as processed food takes over kitchens, cheap electronics fly off the rack, and home delivery apps fill up phones. And a deep-rooted sense of thrift (the same one that has fuelled India’s famous “jugaad” or cheap innovation)
Interesting 2019 predictions from Bomber Bradbury.
I agree with someof them…. I don’t see the establishment being shaken out of its complacency to climate change, I am hopeful Jeremy Corbyn will lead a Lexit.
Interesting thoughts from Martin.
Thought provoking.
The Western Australia has got there future on the correct path renewable enery is going to power our future ka pai
Renewable energy
New lithium hydroxide factory in Western Australia wins federal approval
Plant set to boost local jobs and supply growing global demand for lithium, which is used in renewable energy storage Earthworks for a new lithium hydroxide factory in Western Australia are expected to begin this month after the $1bn project received federal environmental approval.
The plant owned by the world’s largest lithium producer, the US chemical company Albemarle, was approved by the WA government in October and is estimated to create up to 500 jobs in construction, with another 100 to 500 operational jobs once it is operational.
Australia’s trade minister, Simon Birmingham, said the plant would provide a much-needed local jobs boost and supply a growing global demand for lithium, which is used in renewable energy storage.The company has been ordered to identify a new breeding and foraging habitat for WA’s three threatened black cockatoo species – Carnaby’s cockatoo, Forest red-tailed cockatoo, and Baudin’s black cockatoo – to offset habitat lost by clearing the 89ha plant site, including 54ha of coastal plain vegetation that is home to a number of threatened native orchids.
The director of the Conservation Council of Western Australia, Piers Verstegen, said the environmental impacts of the project were “manageable” Ka kite ano links below P.S I know wild whenua will be ruined but its will counter by limiting carbon being burnt
‘Momentum is growing’: reasons to be hopeful about the environment in 2019
As we reflect on a year of extreme weather and ominous climate talks, Guardian environment writer Fiona Harvey explains why 2019 could see some much-needed breakthroughs E
xtreme weather hit the headlines throughout 2018, from the heatwave across much of the northern hemisphere, which saw unprecedented wildfires in Sweden, drought in the UK and devastating wildfires in the US, to floods in India and typhoons in south-east Asia.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation, last year was the fourth hottest on record and confirms a trend of rising temperatures that is a clear signal that we are having an effect on the climate. Droughts, floods, fiercer storms and heatwaves, as well as sea level rises, are all expected to increase markedly as a result.
Late in the year there was also the starkest warning yet from scientists of what our future will be if we allow climate change to take hold. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the global body of the world’s leading climate scientists, which has been producing regular reports on the state of climate science since 1988, produced its latest comprehensive overview examining what the future will look like if we undergo 1.5C (2.7F) of warming. That does not sound like a lot – most people would be hard put to notice a temperature difference of 1.5C – but in climate terms, 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is enough to take us into the danger zone. It would see the mass die-off of coral reefs, the extinction of some species, rising sea levels, wet areas of the world becoming wetter and dry areas drier, and the decline of agricultural productivity across swaths of the globe Ka kite ano links below.
Its cheaper and more intelligent to prevent making a mess of our lakes and awa rivers. Change to organic farming the tourist boom was predicted by national so why was there no intro structure money invested in the places were they new the tourist booms would take place well ask simon. We need to get the toilets and sewage systems up to a standard to handle the tourist.
The end is nigh for our lakes
Queenstown and Wanaka are New Zealand’s poster children, Instagram worthy and renowned around the world – always with our ostensibly ‘pristine’ lakes in the foreground.
The appearance belies the reality – our Southern-Lakes waterways are in danger and no-one is talking loudly enough about it. It’s not bad all the time, and for some, that’s enough leeway to ignore the problem.
There’s a map, on the Ministry of the Environment’s webpage that shows the real-time, most recently recorded water quality for every large lake and river in the country. The colour coding goes from red being ‘poor’ to blue being ‘excellent’.
If you look closely enough, there’s a trend, the red dots are creeping their way upstream, multiplying, coming ever-closer to the source. Our waterways are dying.
Water quality is a weathervane, it signals changes on the horizon. Those changes are occurring at a rapid rate. The Southern-Lakes is home to New Zealand’s fastest growing population, increasing annually at around 8 percent – a lot when compared with Auckland’s 2 percent.
We have over 3 million visitors a year, and that number is multiplying with airport expansions and draft tourism strategies tabled that forecast five million visitors in the not too distant future. Our water quality is in danger across the district – not only big bodies of water under regional council control but also drinking water and stormwater under local district council control. The infrastructure is under too much pressure – from development runoff, stormwater provisions, sewage treatment
E. Coli, cyanobacteria, Lake Snot, these are all terms that have become part of our everyday vocabulary. We have begun to expect days in summer where the quality is so bad as to be unswimmable rather than being shocked by it. That desensitisation leads to a slippery slope of acceptance.
The only response to anything less than pristine and excellent condition of our waterways should be outrage. Foot-stamping, loud, vocal, in-your-face outrage. There’s a crisis afoot, not just brewing, and we need our authorities to recognise it.
Just because water looks clear doesn’t mean it isn’t contaminated. So where’s the problem? What is causing it? And most importantly, what can we do about it?
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Te kaea one has to keep a eye on the weather when diving there are a few people drowning While diving.
Ngati porou pa wars is going strong I seen a couple of faces I know.
Feed the need is a good idear feeding the children with no lunches at school.
Ka pai Te whano apunui has a wakama team for there tamariki.
It’s cool to see way wine boxing getting some media coverage.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub some people need to learn how to forgive the American hip-hop 2 different groups from the USA fight in Aotearoa no way to be a role model for the tamariki.
I wonder if he knows that he has bitten off more than he can chew trump that is .
Let’s hope there is not any lives lost or to much damage in the Tasmanian Bush fires.
Ka pai to all the new Democrats members of the American Representative of The House.
It was a sad loss the Rugby league Fai drowning trying to save a m8.
Congratulations to China for landing a spacecraft’s on the far side of the Marama.
I seen a show were a lady could detect some dease just buy smell to .
It will be a great way to diagnose cancers from someone’s breath that will save a lot of lives. Ka kite ano
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Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
The Government is acting swiftly to strengthen NZTA’s regulatory role following a review into the Transport Agency, and Ministry of Transport’s performance as its monitor, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. An independent review by Martin Jenkins has found NZTA failed to properly regulate the transport sector under the previous ...
The Netherlands and New Zealand have a long-standing and close relationship based on many shared interests and values. We value the rule of law, our democracies, and multilateralism. And we value our environment – at home and globally. Right now there are major global challenges in all of these areas – ...
The Government is putting right a decade’s worth of underpayment to nurses, doctors and other health workers, says Health Minister Dr David Clark. Initial sampling of District Health Boards payroll records has found that around $550-$650 million is owed to DHB staff to comply with the Holidays Act. It’s expected ...
A strong surplus and low debt show the economy is performing well, and means the Government is in a good position to meet the challenges of global economic uncertainty. “The surplus and low levels of debt show the economy is in good shape. This allows the Government to spend more ...
New applications from mining company OceanaGold to purchase land in Waihi for new tailings ponds associated with its gold mines have been approved. Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and Associate Minister of Finance David Parker considered the applications under the Overseas Investment Act. Earlier this year, applications from OceanaGold to ...
New Zealanders in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay will witness Māori, Pākehā and Pacific voyaging traditions come together today as the Tuia 250 Voyage flotilla assembles for the first time, Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Minister Kelvin Davis says. “Tuia 250 is a national commemoration and an opportunity for honest conversations ...
Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker leaves tomorrow for Dubai, London and Berlin for a series of meetings to advance New Zealand’s trade interests. In Dubai he will visit New Zealand’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 where construction is underway. There he will meet Minister of State for International Cooperation, Her ...
Confirmation that PHARMAC will fund two new cancer drugs is further evidence of the good progress the Government is making to improve the treatment of New Zealand’s leading cause of death, Health Minister David Clark says. From 1 December PHARMAC will fund alectinib (Alecensa) for ALK positive advanced non-small cell ...
By Michael Andrew Pacific diplomats, academics and youth leaders will gather in Auckland this week to discuss security, economic development and other pressing issues shaping the region’s future. Pacific Futures will be held on October 18 and will feature speakers from across the region, including Samoa’s Deputy Prime Minister ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Hutchinson, PhD Candidate, Australian National University It has been more than two years since “clearance operations” by Myanmar’s security forces, the Tatmadaw, forced more than 700,000 Rohingya across the border to neighbouring Bangladesh. During this time, the UN Security Council has ...
Fast food company Restaurant Brands has made a smaller half year profit largely because of accounting changes as it prepares to invest heavily in the launch of Taco Bell in New Zealand. ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Papua New Guinea police have issued a warrant for the arrest of former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill. According to EMTV News, the Waigana district court issued the warrant which was based on evidence previously compiled by police investigators. Acting Police Commissioner David Manning said he ...
Patient Voice Aotearoa welcomes the comments made by the Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters on ‘The Project’ on Friday last week. Peters stated “Right now…we know we are not spending nearly enough on pharmaceuticals and first world drugs…the ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on outgoing Porirua Mayor Mike Tana to repay money clocked up on his ratepayer-funded fuel card for personal travel. The Ernst and Young report released yesterday reveals that, within less than three ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, a new hole-in-the-wall eatery in Auckland dedicated to New Zealand’s favourite snack.Cheese On Toast has unsavoury connotations for a lot of New Zealand music fans, but now you can wash that bad taste out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Md Arif Hasan, PhD candidate, Victoria University of Wellington CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert ...
There’s an innovation renaissance brewing in post-earthquake Christchurch as multicultural entrepreneurship replaces the old boys’ network. This required a new name, writes Steven Moe.An unusual name that evokes images from Harry Potter is fine by the Ministry of Awesome, because it immediately sets it apart. Founded in the aftermath of ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) and Ngā Tāngata Microfinance endorse the Salvation Army’s call for tougher regulations on debt collectors and mechanisms to provide forgiveness or waivers for debts to private lenders and Government that are "effectively ...
Cotton On members are currently negotiating a new Collective Agreement with their employer, but despite the company’s repeated claims that they will provide “a pathway to the living wage”, a “people first focus” and a “commitment to ...
Today the Wellington Howard League releases the results of its fourth annual Wellington Howard League prison survey. The survey suggests a variation in the conditions experienced across prisons in New Zealand and an overall decline in most aspects surveyed. This ...
Some people go for a run to let off steam after work, while others try their hand at ballroom dancing or hit up a pub quiz. And some, as Greta Yeoman discovers, throw sharp objects at walls. She gives it a go.An uncoordinated, anxious journalist with terrible aim is probably ...
A move by Australia's financial regulator could be enough to turn the big banks' threat to ditch New Zealand into a reality - or at least see them charge customers more. ...
A staffing survey carried out by the senior doctors’ union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, has found a gaping shortfall of hospital specialists at the Northland DHB. ...
Iain Lees-Galloway has defended granting residency to a man with multiple drink-driving convictions saying the person had been in the country for 20 years and had kept out of trouble for a long time. ...
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.Industrial relations Luke Malpass (Stuff): Winston Peters holds the keys to new union laws. Will ...
Yes we fully support Minister of transport plan to use special speed cameras finally catching all speeding trucks, and other vehicles on our narrow single lane roads that are not fit to use as a speedway by any vehicle. ...
This afternoon Fish & Game posted a public statement responding to my email to supporters this morning – specifically rejecting our claim that steel shot is now deemed "enhanced penetration ammunition" and therefore possession of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mandie Shean, Lecturer, School of Education, Edith Cowan University Two-thirds of young people experience levels of exam stress that mental health organisation ReachOut describes as “worrying”. Research shows high levels of exam stress can interfere with attention and reduce working memory, leading ...
The National Party's outrage that the Immigration Minister granted residency to a protected person and recidivist drink driver, entitling them to the same benefits as New Zealanders, has backfired. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Beckett, Lecturer in Media and Communications, University of Melbourne Reports of Facebook moderators’ appalling working conditions have been making headlines worldwide. Workers say they are burning out as they moderate vast flows of violent content under pressure, with vague, ever-changing guidelines. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Lycett, Senior Research Officer, Deakin University; Honorary Fellow, The University of Melbourne, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Three simple factors can predict whether a child is likely to be overweight or obese by the time they reach adolescence: the child’s body mass ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Marshall, Lecturer, Landscape Architecture and Urban Ecology, University of Melbourne You may mock the national anthem by singing “Our land abounds in nature strips” but what you might not know is how true that is. In Melbourne, for example, more than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University It’s unlikely Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets basketball team, realised he’d be sparking an international diplomatic incident when, on October 4, he tweeted the following Stand with Hong ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Pressure on government from unions, mosque attack victim widows turned down for residency, and another Nat eyes safe Botany seat nomination.Pressure is being put on the government to deliver on one of their major promises to the union movement, reports the NZ ...
It’s the end of an era at Three as MAFS NZ and Guy Williams’ new show canceled and 7 Days cut to bone, writes Duncan Greive.A trio of shows which have been amongst Three’s most important local productions are either being canceled or severely cut back, as the channel’s agonising ...
'Joker' expects viewers not only to understand its cruelty, but to understand the justified violence of a white man when the protests of black men and women in the US are regularly met with condemnation, vilification and exclusion. ...
She runs the women's Aussie Rules and netball programmes at one of Australia's oldest sports clubs, so why is Jane Woodlands-Thompson sitting on the Silver Ferns bench? ...
As someone with a severe chronic illness, Hannah McGowan has a vested interest in getting to the bottom of what cannabis can and can’t do for her health. The reality, she discovers, is complicated.Woo [colloq.]: Mystical, supernatural or pseudo-scientific beliefs not backed up by evidence. I crave a well informed, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The last PM shock jock Alan Jones slapped down was Jacinda Ardern. His language was particularly offensive, advertisers deserted his program and he apologised to New Zealand’s leader. But at least Ardern didn’t have to ...
By Michael Andrew and Sri Krishnamurthi The true story of one of the Pacific’s great waka builders and sailor has been captured in a stirring and visually gripping documentary. Loimata: The Sweetest Tears follows the final years of Ema Siope, a Samoan born kiwi who endured a tumultuous past ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Cowie, Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity Around one-third of Australians living with hepatitis C have been cured in the last four years. Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis C is ...
New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. Image AsiaPacificReport.nz/RNZ.Commentators across the political spectrum seem to agree – the Labour-led Government’s popularity is being damaged by its failure to deliver in Jacinda Ardern’s self-proclaimed “Year of Delivery”. Instead, the delivery of bad news to Labour and the Government has come in ...
Internet Service Providers have cautiously greeted the news that the Government is exploring an internet filter for violent extremist and terrorist content. ...
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.Polls Richard Harman (Politik): Ardern now dependent on Peters Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ardern still standing, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Austin, Professor UNSW Canberra Cyber, UNSW This is part of a new series looking at the national security challenges facing Australia, how our leaders are responding to them and how these measures are impacting society. Read other stories in the series ...
Researchers from Lincoln University are investigating how to use nanotechnology in agriculture to increase productivity and reduce environmental impact. ...
The increased presence of anti-trans and white supremacist stickers around the University of Auckland campus is proof that inaction is enabling hate groups, write Anisha Sankar and Max Whitehurst.Anisha Sankar is a Chennai-born, Te Awakairangi-raised, South Indian Tamil studying at the University of Auckland. Max Whitehurst is a transgender Pākehā ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Following the Christchurch mosque shootings, the New Zealand government’s first response was to ban the firearms the alleged gunman had used to murder 51 people. Seven months later, the second tranche of this process ...
The nine members for the next three year term of the Independent Māori Statutory Board (IMSB) for Auckland have been appointed by the statutory Selection Body. Their appointments begin on 1 November 2019 and continue to 31 October 2022. Mana Whenua ...
“If we are truly to solve the challenge of poverty within the Te Ao Maori world we must lift our people from the low wage and low skills growth side of the economy. At the same time we must continue to ensure our people, no matter where they are, ...
Alex Casey asks Rose Stewart from Family Planning every single question she can think of about New Zealand’s new free IUDs. Listen up, womb-owners who love free shit and long-term contraceptive options: Pharmac announced that they will be fully funding two new long-lasting, reversible contraceptives in New Zealand from November 1, ...
Patients are increasingly being turned away for treatment and there can be no more excuses from the Government over properly funding district health boards to boost specialist numbers in public hospitals, says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the ...
Today’s Council of Trade Unions’ report, Fair Pay Agreements: A Framework for Fairness , provides a much-needed pathway to fair wages and conditions across several major industries, and the Government must deliver on its promise to introduce FPAs ...
The Speaker has limited the number of questions Simon Bridges can ask in the House as a punishment for the National Party defying Trevor Mallard by not pulling down their attack ads. ...
Sunshine capital? Check. Rich artisan tradition? Check. Incredible sausages? That’s a big check. We’ve put together a list of all you need to know before you explore the truly gorgeous Nelson region this summer. If you’ve got friends or relatives visiting Aotearoa, top of their list should be sorting out their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Jotzo, Director, Centre for Climate and Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University In the four years since the Paris climate agreement was adopted, countries have debated the fine print of how emissions reduction should be tracked and ...
The flight drink company 1Above, partly-owned by the high profile, venture capital fund Movac and businessman Gareth Morgan, is in liquidation owing almost $10 million. ...
In recent weeks Responsible Campers Association Incorporated (RCAi) has become involved in some high level discussions about our right to camp. This began out of discussion about the disabled who which to participate in Sport and Recreation activities. ...
In their quest for a cashless society the Japanese have beaten New Zealand to its own next-gen shopping experience.New Zealanders are missing out to the Japanese on a Kiwi technology that is set to eliminate supermarket queues.The first store to implement the SmartCart cashierless shopping system will be in Osaka, ...
Open Mike 03/01/2019 
The government has decided that someone has done Something Bad. But despite their belief, there seems to be no evidence that they have actually broken the law. So the government's solution is to pass a retrospective law allowing them to be punished anyway, on a lower standard of proof. If ...33 mins ago
I came across this song quite by accident. If it isn't one of Greta Thunberg's favourites - it should be.Video courtesy of YouTube.This post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...4 hours ago
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...23 hours ago
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...1 day ago
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...5 days ago
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...6 days ago
https://mailchi.mp/7d9133add053/closing-the-gap-october-2019-newsletter ...6 days ago
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...7 days ago
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...4 hours ago
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...1 day ago
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...32 mins ago
By Michael Andrew Pacific diplomats, academics and youth leaders will gather in Auckland this week to discuss security, economic development and other pressing issues shaping the region’s future. Pacific Futures will be held on October 18 and will feature speakers from across the region, including Samoa’s Deputy Prime Minister ...29 mins ago
Fast food company Restaurant Brands has made a smaller half year profit largely because of accounting changes as it prepares to invest heavily in the launch of Taco Bell in New Zealand. ...1 hour ago
Higher household costs helped to push consumer prices higher in the past three months, beating expectations. ...1 hour ago
Just talking about how good things will be if given the chance no longer cuts the electoral mustard. ...1 hour ago
In the 1980s, 78 percent of New Zealanders owned the home they lived in. Fast forward to today, and that's dropped to just 55 percent. ...1 hour ago
The government has introduced a new bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealand fighters returning from overseas. ...2 hours ago
Patient Voice Aotearoa welcomes the comments made by the Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters on ‘The Project’ on Friday last week. Peters stated “Right now…we know we are not spending nearly enough on pharmaceuticals and first world drugs…the ...2 hours ago
Principals nervously wait for the final outcomes of the biggest education system review in 30 years. ...3 hours ago
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, a new hole-in-the-wall eatery in Auckland dedicated to New Zealand’s favourite snack.Cheese On Toast has unsavoury connotations for a lot of New Zealand music fans, but now you can wash that bad taste out ...4 hours ago
Dairy prices rose slightly in the latest global auction overnight. ...5 hours ago
New Zealand's light is still glowing bright on the international investment stage despite a pause of caution from investors this year. ...5 hours ago
A move by Australia's financial regulator could be enough to turn the big banks' threat to ditch New Zealand into a reality - or at least see them charge customers more. ...6 hours ago
Zhang Jun looks at how China can move beyond imitating its more developed counterparts to leading the world in innovation. ...10 hours ago
After two bad polls, Jacinda Ardern was greeted by a friendly crowd of unionists - but one eager for faster and greater progress. ...10 hours ago
'Joker' expects viewers not only to understand its cruelty, but to understand the justified violence of a white man when the protests of black men and women in the US are regularly met with condemnation, vilification and exclusion. ...10 hours ago
She runs the women's Aussie Rules and netball programmes at one of Australia's oldest sports clubs, so why is Jane Woodlands-Thompson sitting on the Silver Ferns bench? ...10 hours ago
Is the Government going soft on its so-called Electric Vehicles pledge? The University of Auckland's Basil Sharp doesn't think so. ...10 hours ago
A preview of the public lecture to be given at the National Library in Wellington this week by distinguished playwright Dean Parker. ...10 hours ago
Volunteer drug testers must tip-toe around a legal grey area to be able to spell out the risks of drug-taking to festival-goers. ...11 hours ago
Internet Service Providers have cautiously greeted the news that the Government is exploring an internet filter for violent extremist and terrorist content. ...21 hours ago
The proceeds from the sale of Trump-style "Make Ardern Go Away" hats are being used to promote far right Facebook pages. ...22 hours ago
Support has risen for the general arming of police officers in the wake of March 15, but the police minister is opposed. ...23 hours ago
Researchers from Lincoln University are investigating how to use nanotechnology in agriculture to increase productivity and reduce environmental impact. ...23 hours ago
The real estate market has sprung back into life, but national sales volumes were flat. ...1 day ago
The flight drink company 1Above, partly-owned by the high profile, venture capital fund Movac and businessman Gareth Morgan, is in liquidation owing almost $10 million. ...1 day ago
The block to comments this morning was due to the temp directory getting full. I’d left a bash shell tail the standard’s log, and it was spooling the log output into /tmp as history. I must set the bash to not be on an infinite scroll.
Thanks again. Lynn.
I was the culprit that caused the problem 🙁
Naughty Lynn…
Oops. I think that I j have been talking to the kitten too much – it is catching. Not too dissimilar to moderating bad behaviour here (looks at comment 2). But here I am required to treat possible humans as being human until they display troll behaviours.
Test facebook links. Got it with an amusing cat video from facebook… Mort trying to destroy my shoes.
Facebook;
I will be restricting what is allowed on this over the weekend.
However, lets see what works (preferably with something relevant to the post or OpenMike) – just add the URL with things that you think we should have on the site. If they don’t have a oEmbed support, I can add it retrospectively if I find them relevant (or I get special pleadings from someone I somewhat respect).
Usual stupidity moderation will apply, in this case I’d add the type of link to my personal ‘probably remove the oEmbed’ and the author of the comment to ‘probably ruled by their genitals’ lists respectively.
If I eventually turn an oEmbed off for comments it will leave the link. So do the usual and explain why you think that other should click on the link.
Twitter:
Vimeo:
Youtube:
Quora:
https://www.quora.com/As-a-software-developer-what-is-the-most-obnoxious-request-you-ve-ever-received-during-your-career
Instagram:
NZ Herald:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12185292
Stuff:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/109723967/the-queen-was-not-amused-when-australia-tried-a-government-shutdown-in-1975
Pete George @ Your NZ:
“It’s hard to measure whether Kiwiblog is worse than The Standard – abuse at KB is generally worse but it is also more open, there’s a more subtle insidious approach often taken at TS – and it is aided by one sided moderation, and promoted by the master moderator, which arguably reflects more poorly on the blog.”
https://yournz.org/2019/01/03/farrar-acts-on-ongoing-attacks-on-ardern/#comment-336562
Why do we allow George to comment here?
His views seem poisonous.
It’s a conspiracy, Robert. We master moderators have a solemn pact where we let PG comment here just to make his moaning about moderation at TS seem hypocritical. The rest of the commenters are subject to random, anarchic moderation decisions based on a throw of the I ching.
Ah! Now I understand how it all works, TRP! The I Ching! Suddenly, it all makes sense!
That’s a relief!
Watch out Pete’s probably writing another post on labour and Chinese names even as we speak…
‘At the Jacinda love blog the labour blackhats haters have once again ripped in again into immigrant and Chinese again as I predicted many time though a humble hobbyist and amiable amateur am I – I’m sure Mr or Mrs I ching is as deeply offended as I am at this and now I await my ban at that filthy jungle full of running dogs and sitting cats.’
🙂
mm Risible +100
The I ching, my goodness get with the times. Toss a D20 dice or shake up a custom made 8 ball filled with moderation decisions to spice things up.
Why do you care so much Robert?
Because in everyday life you don’t make a good thing if you put poor, even poisonous, ingredients in it.
And TRP the idea of letting anybody have a go as long as they don’t go against the basic rules supposedly is an example of free speech actually ignores why The Standard is important even vital in my opinion. It is an exchange of thinking peoples ideas
Good question, marty mars – I have no reasonable answer to offer and thanks to you, I’m abandoning all interest in his waffling.
I’m not saying stop just make sure you’re getting what you want from it – imo you do good. Pete is Pete and that cat won’t change. But we also need to know the insidious lies he says to poison the well so if someone can stomach it well good on them.
I think I was bored, Marty. I should have instead, pursued my old habit of learning new words. Here’s a good one: grimalkin
“A grimalkin (also called a greymalkin) is an archaic term for a cat. The term stems from “grey” (the colour) plus “malkin”, an archaic term with several meanings (a cat, a low class woman, a weakling, a mop, or a name derived from a hypocoristic form of the female name Maud.”
Much more fun 🙂
Hey is that an obscure put-downm? Hah! Great word ‘grimalkin’. Thinking about cats – the Cheshire Cat might be a good concept that could indicate a paragraph of opinion within those three words. A sort of code.
Wikipedia says: “One of its distinguishing features is that from time to time its body disappears, the last thing visible being its iconic grin. ”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire_Cat
Just perfect for people who need a ban. Could say, this one deserves the Cheshire Cat treatment!
That would fit into PGs description of TS in 2 above.
“It’s hard to measure whether Kiwiblog is worse than The Standard – abuse at KB is generally worse but it is also more open, there’s a more subtle insidious approach often taken at TS
Subtle, insidious, machiavellian. Just the way that the powers that be are working away manipulating our society, and people like PG are useful foot soldiers. Meet them with an understanding of their own methods I say. As long as we try to speak truth and be as open as possible except when facing the twisted.
“I think I was bored…”
Humans dislike being bored so much sometimes physical pain is preferable. Experiments around sensory deprivation have shown humans will even inflict pain like an electric shock on themselves (or they will even go to yawnNZ) in an effort to alleviate their boredom.
Some deadbeat subjects will even get so bored they will invent absurd fantasies like: ” I suppose that Marama Davidson is probably going to claim that Santa was a c**t though and claim him/her as being part of her taonga” to amuse themselves.
Take care Robert, stick to reading the dictionary rather than the ramblings of the deranged. 🙂
Thanks, fender – it’s nice to know someone cares 🙂
The difference between electric shocks and yawnNZ is that some people use electric shocks for fun. I can’t see PG’s work inspiring any sexual fetishists.
That’s just a reflection of your lack of imagination.
Mine too.
Ha. Fair point. It takes a village…
That sounds vaguely provocative and challenging.
“But we also need to know the insidious lies he says”
That is more of an insidious lie than your vague unsubstantiated assertion.
https://www.petfinder.com/cats/cat-care/senior-cat/
Hardly vague Pete.
You and Pete got a bit of bro love going on Robert The mutual infatuation is sweet 😊
You’re right, Bewildered. Pete won’t admit to it though 🙂
You jealous bewildered?
Robert, thanks for keeping an eye on Your NZ and passing on some of the waffle – sorry to read you won’t be doing this anymore.
Pete George’s catty assessment of The Standard’s moderation (and “master moderator”) arguably reflects more poorly on Pete George, and is weak poison.
Petey is getting on in years and may be suffering from a nail and claw disorder:
https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/skin/c_ct_nail_nailbed_disorders
Well, Drowsy, if Pete’s suffering from onychomycosis, which might explain his caterwauling (https://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/caterwauling-what-is-it-and-why-do-cats-do-it), then he deserves our sympathy, or at least mine, and I’m happy to offer it.
That’s OK – I probably will!
BUT a warning – I am probably older than PG …
AND no I don’t suffer from a nail and claw disorder now that I have to have (give myself) very frequent Vitamin B12 injections to stay alive. Nails and claws are in top notch condition. LOL
veutoviper – re-claws (nails and hair too) I met a woman recently who needed to strengthen hers, so drank tea made from horsetail (equisetum) daily for a month and built strong, vigorously-growing locks and nails. She recommended it highly. Yesterday I met a bloke who recommends darkening hair with water in which un-hulled walnuts have been boiled. He too swore by the process.
Interesting, Robert. Good hair and nails are a small inconsequential tangent benefit of my injections, as my body cannot absorb B12 from food through the stomach/gastric system. Addison-Biemers Syndrome aka Pernicious Anaemia (PA) which is a bit of a misnomer as its symptoms/effects are body wide and not just haematological.
Vitamin B12 (In the case of PA – injections) are essential to make good red blood cells which can then transport oxygen around my body to keep my heart, lungs, brain and every other organ functioning and to try to stem the permanent muscular and neurological damage already done which means I can no longer walk far, or do a lot of other things in particular gardening. I have always been a very keen and active gardener (come from a long line of home and professional gardeners) and the inability to do so any more is devastating. Hence my silence to date on your posts on that subject.
(FYI the long line apparently includes three generations of Head Gardeners and gardeners at Kew Gardens London, including when Joseph Banks returned with his NZ plant collection.)
BUT a great benefit (double edged sword?) of the B12 injections is my brain function and memory have improved probably the most of all. IMO these functions are back to what they were probably in my late 30s (and the bloody brain will not stop churning in the middle of the night!)
I could write a thesis on all of this but won’t today – LOL (TG, they all say.)
Jeepers! You’ve got great Garden Cred, veutoviper!
The woman who recommended the horsetail treatment to me had also suffered from anaemia, though she didn’t say pernicious. She was from Baja California and looked Mexican. Great hair and nails!
Suffering from nail and claw problems? Or perhaps foot-and-mouth – though different animal? That could come from trying to beef up his arguments!
As someone who canvasses for the Labour party I find the expression of such views useful and in particular the response to them. It gives me a greater understanding of the views out there. Unfortunately a lot of people are influenced by ridiculous anti union and anti labour views promoted by our media. It also takes me out of my bubble which is important when I want to help win elections. I do have a theory though that PG comes here to promote his blog and encourage people to click on it to see what the story is. Perhaps he comes here when his blog is quiet.
I came here recently to address false claims being made by Robert. he seems to feel aggrived that he should abide by reasonable standards of debate like everyone else (not here of course, he seems free to make things up).
Did you notice that it was Robert bringing it up here and linking to Your NZ, not me.
https://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/stop-cats-fighting
I can see the truth of your opinions TFG. That was helpful explanation.
While some people here wonder why I and others bother to read PG’s and other blogs, I totally agree with what you have said re it being useful to know what is being said elsewhere and the reactions to it. As you say, this is needed to be able to put things in perspective and look at things from outside our own bubbles.
I also suspect your last sentence is very close to the truth as to why PG comes here. (see my last para below.)
I was actually adding to my tongue in cheek reply at 2.3.2 when I ran out of editing time, to say that I have been interested in seeing the road the comments have taken on my comment I filed on Open Mike on 1 Jan which lprent then put up as the post called “Discussion on Political Leader PR”.
After making one slightly snide reply (sorry) to someone who commented on that post, I decided to not comment further and just see where the conversation went of its own accord. It has been an interesting exercise, and I am putting together a short summary of my observations as a sort of close off comment.
While my comment started by replying to some assertions PG had made, very few people focused on what my actual comment morphed into as I wrote it which was the different treatment of PR by Ardern to that by Bridges, particularly in relation to their families – other than lprent and one or two others who actually read it in full (thanks Andre) and got the drift. I suspect most did not read it in full, but that’s life.
I may also include a short bit about my observations of the reactions to PG’s comments on his own blog re his discussions/reactions to the thread here – Hint; very few there have taken the bait and responded in detail. Focus there is also now on Kiwiblog where yesterday Farrar finally banned someone for a hideous comment re the PM’s baby. I refuse to say anymore about that but PF has done a post on the whole situation – but has also taken the opportunity to include comparisions of Ts to Kiwiblog.
But I also intended to include a comment similar to yours. That is, PG does put a lot of time and effort into his posts on his blogs and I give him credit for that. Sometimes, he gets a lot of on topic comments, but sometimes he gets very few. At times, it must be a bit soul destroying, and I have wondered more than once, whether he comes here for a different environment and different commenters when he is feeling a little disillusioned with his own blog. Fair enough, but also expect to be challenged.
I also totally agree with what mickysavage says at 2.5 – both in respect to PG and as a general principle in relation to all commenters including myself.
I have a soft spot for Pete. He has a deep respect for freedom of expression. He is tribal conservative but has reached a position where he thinks the centre provides the best result in a goldilocks sort of way.
As long as he does not infringe the basic tenets of the site he is welcome to comment.
Cat-lover, huh!
I’m sorry, mickysavage. I’ll stop now.
Haha
Happy new year Robert!
One of the reasons I have a degree of respect for Pete …
https://yournz.org/2018/11/03/nottingham-fails-again-in-court-of-appeal-judicial-system-faltering/
Yeah, I saw all that; he sure can dig in, badger-like, when he feels aggrieved!
Happy new year to you, mickeysavage 🙂
“Hours after taking office, Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, has launched an assault on environmental and Amazon protections with an executive order transferring the regulation and creation of new indigenous reserves to the agriculture ministry – which is controlled by the powerful agribusiness lobby.
The move sparked outcry from indigenous leaders, who said it threatened their reserves, which make up about 13% of Brazilian territory, and marked a symbolic concession to farming interests at a time when deforestation is rising again.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/02/brazil-jair-bolsonaro-amazon-rainforest-protections
The war has just gone up a few notches.
And we get another step closer to climate catastrophe.
Another step well into climate catastrophe IMO. We should have stomped on this type of shit back in the 1990s but the governments have been taken over by business and refused to listen to the science.
Now it’s going to end up being every country for themselves. The nations that won’t be too afflicted by the changing climate can’t afford the influx of refugees from those that will be.
Sounds like he Listens to Happy clappy born agains.
You know the ones who believe in the oncoming apocalypse.
“Silas Malafia, an influential televangelist and close friend of Bolsonaro, said developed countries who centuries ago cut down their own forests should pay if they wanted Brazil to preserve the Amazon.”
There is that interesting link thhat touches on Brazil’s surprisingly small haul from its oil sales. I think Brazil doesn’t have to be paid anything for doing what it should have done when the money was flowing like oi.
Hence the fevered support from Netanyahu, Pence and Haley.
Another order removed the concerns of the LGBT community from consideration by the new human rights ministry.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-01-02/brazils-bolsonaro-hinders-demarcation-of-indigenous-lands
Glenn Greenwald shows how the Guardian has become a facade.
Five weeks ago, it published a fake news front page story. It was totally made up.
Its editor has been an ostrich and kept her head in the sand.
The Guardian now displays where its priorities lie – not with the truth and not with the public, . It has become a pillar of the deep state.
https://t.co/PvHYD56DYv?amp=1
Thanks Ed
There have been comments about The Guardian for ages and I can see that there is something there. Pity because the G sounds good. I was thinking of putting payments into their pockets but hey?
What’s going on down in China? How do people think about their system there, how do foreigners get treated? A close look by foreigners who live/have lived there and who know.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNPa8fSXzzAZuT9859GVhg
You linked to the person’s subscriber channel. Which particular video are you talking about?
I don’t know DTB about this. I will have to check and come back with this after I have had some lunch and done some work! It’s really good so i will attend to it later.
Could be the one titled The Mass Exodus of Foreigners from China
Thanks fender.
Draco see link on fender’s comment. It’s about 19 minutes and worth seeing and listening to it all for chatty on site background. Even if you have to halt it and come back to it (hint note how many minutes have gone).
Righto
Yeah…disgustingly privileged white people fearing their loss of privileges, one of whom is an angst fulled white South African who thinks he was ‘discriminated’ against in South Africa.
From 9:04 to 10:16: Bemoaning the fact that the Chinese government does not accredit the diplomas of American international schools in China who follow their own curricula. He hates the fact that his kids should attend the local schools.
Can anyone imagine the uproar in NZ say, if there were Chinese established schools teaching entirely in Chinese, teaching Chinese cultural and political perspectives, and these schools expecting to be fully accredited under the NZQA system?
These people are pure FILTH (Failed in London Try Hong Kong) types. China would do well to be rid of such types.
Gardening question for our resident organic gardeners.
My brussel sprout plants are being overrun by aphids or might be cabbage butterfly larvae. The plants are looking really unwell. What is the peraculture solution to this please?
Kia ora Maui,
This might help.
A garlic spray can deter aphids, mites and white butterflies. Try crushing several cloves of garlic, add 1 litre of boiling water, leave to cool, then strain through a sieve. Add 1 teaspoon of soap or detergents to help the spray stick to the leaves.
Cool, thanks for that Fran. Worth a go.
yes and using a baby hair brush to knock them down helps. Put small pots of cornstarch out for the ants. They actually put the aphids to work Cheers’
Thanks Patricia. ideally I’m looking for a solution that is part of the garden design and doesn’t involve human interaction if possible.
prob gd to have the brassica doing most of their growing in a cooler time of the year maui ditto peas etc
I am going to try to put this up as a totally neutral comment (with one exception*).
FYI, yesterday David Farrar finally banned someone on his Kiwiblog General Debate post for an absolutely noxious* comment wishing violence to the PM’s daughter.
I am not going to link to that comment or Kiwiblog, or give any more detail.
Today, no General Debate post has been put up on Kiwiblog.
h/t to a commenter on Pete George’s YourNZ blog. (I have checked and there is no GD for today on KB.)
Pete George has done a detailed post on his blog on this banning and his views on comments on Kiwiblog and Farrar’s approach to moderation.
This post and the comments on it can be viewed here.
https://yournz.org/2019/01/03/farrar-acts-on-ongoing-attacks-on-ardern/
There are no mentions of The Standard in the post itself but there are some in the comments, primarily by Pete George, with one or two small related replies from others.
The most important word being finally.
A High five for you!
They egg each other on and lose their sense of perspective. Seen fresh from the outside it all looks sick but the players know the nuances and histories of who’s saying what and see it all very differently. I think it suits Farrar to have those things said on his blog; he simply claims he can’t moderate them and thus allowing the harmful claims to see the light of day where a lot of “silent watchers” will see them. It’s an ugly strategy, imo.
Spot on, Robert…
That is precisely what DF is doing…
I’ve been to KB once many years ago…read the comments sections…never went back…
I’ve also seen well known and highly placed business people link and quote from KB…
DF takes his orders from somewhere…ugly indeed…
Bryan Bruce reflects on knighthoods, questions the hardworking ethic of the new rich and lament the loss of egalitarianism in this country.
As ever, he is spot on.
“While I think it is important to acknowledge people for their contribution to our communities and our country, I do think it’s time we had the discussion again about what Knighthoods and Damehoods signify.
Do we still want to cling to these vestiges of the British Empire or is it time to replace them with our own honours that reflect our now diverse multi-cultural country ?
Your answer to that question, I suspect ,reflects what you think it means to be a New Zealander.
A few days ago I was talking with Liz Gunn on her Drive show on Radio Live when I found myself remembering out loud that one of the things that once marked our National character is that we were an egalitarian country – that we believed “Jack was as good as his master” and that we called no man “Sir”
It’s a charactistic, I regret to say, that is in grave risk of disappearing from the New Zealand psyche.”
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/01/03/guest-blog-bryan-bruce-call-no-man-sir/
I don’t mind giving homage to a man or woman that I deeply respect. Some deserve it. It is who receives this homage that bothers me. I think it should be up to the people to vote.
MEMO: greywarshark
FROM: The Knights of the British Empire
It has been brought to our attention that you have had the gall and temerity to write: “Some deserve it. It is who receives this homage that bothers me. I think it should be up to the people to vote..”
We would like to point out that a Knighthood is the culmination of a lifetime of careful groveling to the powerful and assiduously keeping an eye out for “the main chance.” This process is what the “great unwashed”, i.e., such oiks as yourself, are obliged to call “public service”.
We strongly contest your implication that some Knights and Dames do not deserve their honours.
Respectfully,
Sir Paul Holmes
Sir Thomas Eichelbaum
Sir Jimmy Savile
Dame Denise L’Estrange-Corbet
Sir Peter Leitch
Sir Jeremiah Mateparae
Sir John Key
Sir William “Double Dipper” English
Sir William Gallagher
Dame Lesley Max
Sir Clive Woodward
Sir Robert Jones
We?
Well Morry i can see some obvious ones in the list that bring to mind that old circular saying that someone is famous for being famous (although having some position in the community and/or wealth would be a requirement.)
Perhaps we should retrospectively duck them in a pond and see if they come up to see who is one of the truly chosen.
And to be really boring I’ll repeat Bad Sir Brian Botany which I guess not everyone has come across, I hope.
Here is a reading from Chris Blue who is a NZr, He also does another one about knights.
Brilliant! Thanks, Mr Shark!
Talley is a notorious knight.
Ben Norton nails it.
“Today, on the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, don’t forget that for years the ENTIRE WORLD has voted at the UN to call for an end to the illegal, crippling US embargo on Cuba.
In 2018, the vote was 189 nations to 2 (USA and Israel).
189. To. 2.”
I would add the words of Morgan Artyukhina that Cuba is “a model for socialism & decolonization in innumerable ways. Real grassroots democracy ensures popular participation in politics everyday-not 1 day every 2-4 years like in capitalist democracies. Its medical system is the envy of the world, based on the local polyclinic.”
Happy 60th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution! ¡Hasta la victoria siempre!.
Amazing numbers there. Cross your heart that’s totally factual?
Good on Cuba, anyway. They have been through the mill. What about Puerto Rico?
Your kinda place, eh, Ed.
/
https://web.archive.org/web/20090331143515/http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/nov03/10e8.htm
That is horrible joe90. I was wondering if Amnesty International has been trying to put pressure on them. I haven’t heard them referred to in the years I have been coming to TS. Does anyone write with them? Perhaps Cuba would be a good place to start.
This is what Amnesty say about Cuba:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/04/cuba-change-of-leadership-must-herald-a-new-era-for-human-rights/
One of the only nations where the Red Cross is banned fron visiting prisons. Under there rules all of us would get about 17 years in prison for our anti National or anti Labour comments. So hardly a free country.
The health system as commented by ED is free but it’s also not free. Treatment is compulsory with no right of complaint. If the doctor wants to cut your arm off, your arm gets cut off. Some of the high profile political prisoners are Doctors and without free speech we actually have no way of knowing how good the system actually is. We very rarely hear about its errors or failings. Life expectancy figures shows it’s pretty good. Born today 78.8 years male: 76.5 years female. Not sure why women die younger. Maybe with less economic pressure etc on men unlike our society things are better for men. Plus they have regulated shared care so don’t have the ridiculous male suicide rate we get from our fault divorce, gynocentric family court scam.
Okay Cuba isn’t paradise. I’ll write it off my list of drawcards for my next overseas holiday, though if they are poor they might welcome me. Howecver I had better have super health insurance by the sounds of it. Probably a picture for much of the world.
A fast talking punchy USA comedian Hasan Minhaj. Looking at Amazon and the behaviour of behemoths.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5maXvZ5fyQY
I read many reviews on climate change. After spending an afternoon in the garden, whilst in the bathroom spotting a few exposed areas that missed out on suntan lotion, gave thought to how strong the sun is and the absence of comment regarding the ozone. NZ may “benefit” from a change in climate, yet we face hash consequences from the loss in ozone.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/06/ozone-layer-not-recovering-over-populated-areas-scientists-warn
Christopher Hitchens at his best
Try to forget the memory of the sad fellow he became in the 2000s. He used to be great once….
Poor Hitchens must have been in despair in those years, knowing how low he’d fallen in morrissey’s esteem.
Hitchens jumped, suddenly and inexplicably, on to the doomed ship of neocon fools after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Even more foolish than that mad choice was his crazed attack shortly after on, of all people, Noam Chomsky. Interviewed by Kim Hill on National Radio in early 2002, Chomsky memorably wrote Hitchens off as “incoherent.”
In October 2014, this writer, i.e. moi, wrote that Hitchens was:
Still, thanks to the wonders of YouTube and the library, we can now appreciate Hitchens as he used to be, before he became unhinged.
I never could fathom why he turned from the brightest of lights to a slavish defender of the neocon wars of conquest.
That debate between Galloway and Hitchens is memorable.
In it George said of Hitchens,”What you have witnessed is something unique in natural history – the first ever metamorphosis of a butterfly back into a slug.”
If that didn’t quite signal the full animosity he meant to convey, he extended the image: “The one thing a slug leaves behind it is a trail of slime.”
Contrarianism, pure and simple. He just didn’t care.
This could result in a few murders or even a war. OK there’s been a few murders already but the dreaded, often predicted water wars.
Egyptians population growth is out of control with population set to double over the next 50 years. They are already facing an immediate fresh water crisis, power crisis so unless they get there act together things will get nasty.
Then there is this bold move by Ethiopia. Yes Ethiopia.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/2/egypt-water-anxiety-grows-over-ethiopia-dam-nile/
You fool, you’ve quoted a Moonie paper.
Explian how that worthless comment matters to the dam? The article is News far more than opinion so deal with it.
I’ll quote who I like. Most if not all your fixations on media is irrational. All of us realise that media, no matter who it is, are pushing one eyed wheelbarrows.
The recent comments by the former female editor of the NY Times is a good example of bias. The NY Times being blatantly anti Trump, driven by click bait and graduates out of the lefty indoctrinated universities. Same in NZ.
Blatantly anti-Trump. Perhaps she is just trying to find that elusive balance. Are you a Trump supporter?
The ability of the do-it-yourselfer with or without No.8 wire, this guy uses duct tape and lots of it, is the subject of this next serious skill-building video.
Stoked to see the top-notch material that talented NZ musicians and film-makers can produce these days:
@Lprent – for your notes, auto-embed worked and then it disappeared when I edited the text. Oh, and now it’s back even though the edit window is still open.
J.K. Rowling writes amusing children’s fantasy,
but that’s as far as her talent goes, unfortunately.
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2018/12/30/nouveau-riche-j-k-rowling-doesnt-want-to-share-her-bundle-of-swag-so-naturally-she-cries-antisemitism/
She is a notorious anti-lefty on Twitter.
Spends hours going after Corbyn.
She has forgotten the days she was penniless writing in an Edinburgh cafe.
Ed
She does have the right to consider Corbyn unsatisfactory. Why don’t you think of some things to ask your next local government candidates as on Matthew’s post?
She does not have the right to recycle vicious lies, however.
Yes, yes, she’s made a career out of penning fantasies, but she’s foolishly signed up to repeat the sad and stupid fantasies of Yenta Hodge, Rudolf Giuliani, Alan Shredowitz, Binyamin Netanyahoo, et al.
As we see every day with that loon in the White House, money can’t undo the stupid.
Rowling; influenced by socialist writer Mitford, a well heeled supporter of multiple causes including ending child poverty, single parents, the welfare of child mental health patients, Médecins Sans Frontières, human rights, refugees, and a long time supporter and donor to UK Labour.
Ed, an ahistoric, poe-faced malcontent with a boner for war criminals and corrupt, authoritarian thugs.
Ed, an ahistoric, poe-faced [sic] malcontent with a boner for war criminals and corrupt, authoritarian thugs.
You’re trying too hard, joe. Lying like you’re doing never helps. Not for long.
Your really don’t get it do you.
Your source Norman? Links to Twitter, that longs further into Twitter. Why not direct to the Rowling comment.
A Rowling comment.
“I chose to remain a domiciled taxpayer for a couple of reasons. The main one was that I wanted my children to grow up where I grew up, to have proper roots in a culture as old and magnificent as Britain’s; to be citizens, with everything that implies, of a real country, not free-floating ex-pats, living in the limbo of some tax haven and associating only with the children of similarly greedy tax exiles.
A second reason, however, was that I am indebted to the British welfare state; the very one that Mr Cameron would like to replace with charity handouts. When my life hit rock bottom, that safety net, threadbare though it had become under John Major’s Government, was there to break the fall. I cannot help feeling, therefore, that it would have been contemptible to scarper for the West Indies at the first sniff of a seven-figure royalty cheque. This, if you like, is my notion of patriotism. On the available evidence, I suspect that it is Lord Ashcroft’s idea of being a mug”
The top tax rate is 45% and she has earnt at least 650million pounds. You want her to pay more? Other people’s money eh.
You should read her repulsive tweets about Corbyn.
You’re such a little cheer germ aren’t you Ed. Always something overseas, or here, to pass judgment on. Find us one good piece of news a day will you, and not about kittens please. Lprent is covering that.
Obsessed parent. All I ever hear is kitten, kitten… Oh well it makes a change from engineers. Back to work Monday.
But morrissey appears to just be emulating his namesakes.
Just curious, has Mort been verbed yet? As in, “What happened to my sandals?” “Oh, they just got Morted.” or “Where’s the kitten?” “He’s busy Morting your cables.”
Yeah, how dare a woman draw attention to his spinless incompetence and refusal to listen to his party’s members that’s giving the Tories licence to pursue their Brexit plan with no political opposition.
/
Three-quarters of Labour party members want a second EU referendum, according to a new poll.
Research by YouGov on behalf of Queen Mary University and Sussex University found that 72% want another poll to be carried out, compared to just 18% who do not.
The poll of 1,034 Labour members also showed that 88% of them would vote to stay in the EU if another referendum took place.
https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/jeremy-corbyn/news/100810/three-quarters-labour-members-want
https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/jeremy-corbyn/news/100810/three-quarters-labour-members-want
‘A former All Blacks manager and national rugby president has claimed a Polynesian star was robbed of a match appearance because the tour bosses couldn’t spell his name.
The outrageous revelation was made by West Coast rugby identity John Sturgeon, and brought howls of laughter from a Greymouth audience.’
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12184488&fbclid=IwAR0FbcCoWyy4ujfsG2f6YuY8qRhoX_n6gkW8S9j2EwB4WUt7ApiVc56cPC0
So, not only was Va’aiga Tuigamala’s career adversely affected, Sturgeon and his audience think racism is hilarious.
But, hey no racism in Newzild, eh.
It was a superb example of ineffective management though. What a dumbie, and couldn’t the office workers get their information correct? Was there a legal side, where you are expected to have names correct? It’s not necessarily racism, it’s slackism.
Does anyone know why Music 101 and Alex Behan have been dropped from Radionz?
And going back why did Simon Mercep get put off? He’d hardly got started.
Everyone is having trouble fronting up to the waste problem. The authorities don’t take control – in this case the workers are losing out as well as those trying to run a difficult business. This in Scotland.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-46741497
And in India, two poor brothers run an efficient scrap business and just make a living. Is this what the west really want?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46616372
But Indians are generating more waste than ever as processed food takes over kitchens, cheap electronics fly off the rack, and home delivery apps fill up phones. And a deep-rooted sense of thrift (the same one that has fuelled India’s famous “jugaad” or cheap innovation)
So what’s this ‘jugaad’?
Interesting 2019 predictions from Bomber Bradbury.
I agree with someof them…. I don’t see the establishment being shaken out of its complacency to climate change, I am hopeful Jeremy Corbyn will lead a Lexit.
Interesting thoughts from Martin.
Thought provoking.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/01/03/pessimistic-predictions-for-2019/
The Western Australia has got there future on the correct path renewable enery is going to power our future ka pai
Renewable energy
New lithium hydroxide factory in Western Australia wins federal approval
Plant set to boost local jobs and supply growing global demand for lithium, which is used in renewable energy storage Earthworks for a new lithium hydroxide factory in Western Australia are expected to begin this month after the $1bn project received federal environmental approval.
The plant owned by the world’s largest lithium producer, the US chemical company Albemarle, was approved by the WA government in October and is estimated to create up to 500 jobs in construction, with another 100 to 500 operational jobs once it is operational.
Australia’s trade minister, Simon Birmingham, said the plant would provide a much-needed local jobs boost and supply a growing global demand for lithium, which is used in renewable energy storage.The company has been ordered to identify a new breeding and foraging habitat for WA’s three threatened black cockatoo species – Carnaby’s cockatoo, Forest red-tailed cockatoo, and Baudin’s black cockatoo – to offset habitat lost by clearing the 89ha plant site, including 54ha of coastal plain vegetation that is home to a number of threatened native orchids.
The director of the Conservation Council of Western Australia, Piers Verstegen, said the environmental impacts of the project were “manageable” Ka kite ano links below P.S I know wild whenua will be ruined but its will counter by limiting carbon being burnt
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/03/new-lithium-hydroxide-factory-in-western-australia-wins-federal-approval
‘Momentum is growing’: reasons to be hopeful about the environment in 2019
As we reflect on a year of extreme weather and ominous climate talks, Guardian environment writer Fiona Harvey explains why 2019 could see some much-needed breakthroughs E
xtreme weather hit the headlines throughout 2018, from the heatwave across much of the northern hemisphere, which saw unprecedented wildfires in Sweden, drought in the UK and devastating wildfires in the US, to floods in India and typhoons in south-east Asia.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation, last year was the fourth hottest on record and confirms a trend of rising temperatures that is a clear signal that we are having an effect on the climate. Droughts, floods, fiercer storms and heatwaves, as well as sea level rises, are all expected to increase markedly as a result.
Late in the year there was also the starkest warning yet from scientists of what our future will be if we allow climate change to take hold. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the global body of the world’s leading climate scientists, which has been producing regular reports on the state of climate science since 1988, produced its latest comprehensive overview examining what the future will look like if we undergo 1.5C (2.7F) of warming. That does not sound like a lot – most people would be hard put to notice a temperature difference of 1.5C – but in climate terms, 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is enough to take us into the danger zone. It would see the mass die-off of coral reefs, the extinction of some species, rising sea levels, wet areas of the world becoming wetter and dry areas drier, and the decline of agricultural productivity across swaths of the globe Ka kite ano links below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/02/climate-change-environment-2019-future-reasons-hope
Its cheaper and more intelligent to prevent making a mess of our lakes and awa rivers. Change to organic farming the tourist boom was predicted by national so why was there no intro structure money invested in the places were they new the tourist booms would take place well ask simon. We need to get the toilets and sewage systems up to a standard to handle the tourist.
The end is nigh for our lakes
Queenstown and Wanaka are New Zealand’s poster children, Instagram worthy and renowned around the world – always with our ostensibly ‘pristine’ lakes in the foreground.
The appearance belies the reality – our Southern-Lakes waterways are in danger and no-one is talking loudly enough about it. It’s not bad all the time, and for some, that’s enough leeway to ignore the problem.
There’s a map, on the Ministry of the Environment’s webpage that shows the real-time, most recently recorded water quality for every large lake and river in the country. The colour coding goes from red being ‘poor’ to blue being ‘excellent’.
If you look closely enough, there’s a trend, the red dots are creeping their way upstream, multiplying, coming ever-closer to the source. Our waterways are dying.
Water quality is a weathervane, it signals changes on the horizon. Those changes are occurring at a rapid rate. The Southern-Lakes is home to New Zealand’s fastest growing population, increasing annually at around 8 percent – a lot when compared with Auckland’s 2 percent.
We have over 3 million visitors a year, and that number is multiplying with airport expansions and draft tourism strategies tabled that forecast five million visitors in the not too distant future. Our water quality is in danger across the district – not only big bodies of water under regional council control but also drinking water and stormwater under local district council control. The infrastructure is under too much pressure – from development runoff, stormwater provisions, sewage treatment
E. Coli, cyanobacteria, Lake Snot, these are all terms that have become part of our everyday vocabulary. We have begun to expect days in summer where the quality is so bad as to be unswimmable rather than being shocked by it. That desensitisation leads to a slippery slope of acceptance.
The only response to anything less than pristine and excellent condition of our waterways should be outrage. Foot-stamping, loud, vocal, in-your-face outrage. There’s a crisis afoot, not just brewing, and we need our authorities to recognise it.
Just because water looks clear doesn’t mean it isn’t contaminated. So where’s the problem? What is causing it? And most importantly, what can we do about it?
Ka kite ano
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/01/03/377614/the-end-is-nigh-for-our-lakes
No need for Eco Maori words this mana wahine say’s it all for me.
No need for Eco Maori words Tama Iti say it all.
Kia ora Te kaea one has to keep a eye on the weather when diving there are a few people drowning While diving.
Ngati porou pa wars is going strong I seen a couple of faces I know.
Feed the need is a good idear feeding the children with no lunches at school.
Ka pai Te whano apunui has a wakama team for there tamariki.
It’s cool to see way wine boxing getting some media coverage.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub some people need to learn how to forgive the American hip-hop 2 different groups from the USA fight in Aotearoa no way to be a role model for the tamariki.
I wonder if he knows that he has bitten off more than he can chew trump that is .
Let’s hope there is not any lives lost or to much damage in the Tasmanian Bush fires.
Ka pai to all the new Democrats members of the American Representative of The House.
It was a sad loss the Rugby league Fai drowning trying to save a m8.
Congratulations to China for landing a spacecraft’s on the far side of the Marama.
I seen a show were a lady could detect some dease just buy smell to .
It will be a great way to diagnose cancers from someone’s breath that will save a lot of lives. Ka kite ano