Jacindas “year of delivery” was a quick on the fly catchphrase – which it seems was never supposed to be taken seriously or to be held to account for
“Last week Beehive insiders told leading political journalists that the “Year of Delivery” promise was actually a spin-line produced on the fly by the PM’s top spin doctor to get his boss out of a tight situation when she needed something memorable to say at the start of 2019. The explanation from the Beehive was to convey that it’s not actually fair to hold the PM to account for a catchphrase that was never intended to be taken so seriously.”
I wonder what her 2020 catchphrase is going to be ? Are we supposed to take it seriously?
More concerning is the rise in public service PR flacks – not a practice confined to this government – but now significantly outnumbering journalists. Loosely speaking, 8000 people paid to lie to the public instead of delivering improved service.
Are we supposed to take it seriously? It depends. Different people take different things seriously.
For example: A journalist wrote, “Last week Beehive insiders told leading political journalists that the “Year of Delivery” promise was actually a spin-line produced on the fly by the PM’s top spin doctor to get his boss out of a tight situation."
Whenever I read something like that what I actually read is, "Some random dude we passed in the corridor stopped to gossip with us for five minutes. None of what he said is in any way verifiable, but it makes for good copy." Another victory for quality journalism.
“Last week Beehive insiders told leading political journalists that the “Year of Delivery” promise was actually a spin-line produced on the fly by the PM’s top spin doctor to get his boss out of a tight situation…"
That only raises the questions of who are the Beehive insiders, who are the political journalists, and what was the tight situation? Trotting out a vague line can get a politician – not just any pollie but the PM! – out of a tight situation? Yeah nah.
As anyone who has had anything to do with the staff and journalists in parliament know, it is all in a little world of its own. Back in the 70s when my partner was a parliamentary journalist I was of the (often expressed) opinion that if the rest of the world died it would be at least a fortnight before anyone in the Beehive noticed! Truth and ethics had very little to do with most of their shennanigins, entered on, in most cases as far as I could see, in a closed little game of one-upmanship
A bit like a previous Prime Ministers "We'll doing everything to bring your boys home" and that was dealing with mourning families and dead relatives. You must of been outraged.
Actually and this coalition govt has delievered…..increasing minimum wage, increased wage for teachers and nurses, insulation for rentals, the winter energy supplement, building more state houses and some kiwibuild, Pike River, banning plastic bags, stopping overseas owners buying our property, Best start, increase to working for families, stopping bogus meth testing that saw state house tenants being kicked out of their homes and wrongly accused, re-starting payments to the superfund, changing our gun laws, starting the Dunedin hospital build, fixing or beginning to fix Middlemore Hospital, funding infrastructure spending) on schools, committing money to making our roads safer (following the Swedish model, where they have brought the road toll down), beginning the building of light rail in Auckland, extending paid parental leave, changes to consumer law (helping to stop the worst exploitation of vulnerable people, establishing a climate change commission and getting cross party support in ensure we are carbon neutral by 2050, including most recently announcing that 2020 is the year our carbon emissions will peak, holding an enquiry into fuel prices demonstrating that fuel prices are too high (hopefully forcing fuel companies to bring them down). Mental Health Enquiry and billions of dollars to mental health to develop the work force and implement services (both well underway, but a huge job). The cancer agency, including increasing funding for cancer and other drugs, buying new radiology equipment. Chch call, and did I say the best leadership in the world during two National crisis? Compare and contrast Jacinda with Scotty from marketing. WTF did Key and National do in 9 years? Seriously
Exactly. This Government is delivering already more than the last, but that doesn't fit with the relentless negative narrative of the Newstalk ZB and National crowd. Thank you for taking the time to list the above.
No social-democrat likes her but we prefer her to Simon Bridges. Never voted for laissez-faire 'Labour'. Thinking about giving the Greens the heave-ho, as compromised by , basically, middle class values. That's how far out '35 social-democratic values by which we grew up are. Amerika!!!
People are so polite. The women who let Morrison shake her hand, I would have told him to get fucked in no uncertain terms. Hand shaking has meaning, and there needs to be an agreement between the two people for it to happen. I don't blame her, we get socialised into it and then to respect authority. So glad to see the people later telling him off, "scumbag". Then he ran away. Gutless scumbag then.
"The Oxford Children’s Dictionary notoriously dropped the words acorn and buttercup in favor of bandwidth and chatroom, but restored them after public pressure."
They're a funny lot OUP – you know getting on for half their income in recent years has been from their Advanced Learner's Dictionary? The various Cobuilds are probably better, but don't have quite the same imprimatur.
Well they did enjoy a royal monopoly on printing bibles for a century or two there.
But Robert's point is more animist, I think, consonant with ideas of participation in a living community, which we see in the likes of the Ghibli films like Totoro, which I'll take the risk of asserting has some relevance to the Maori idea of wairua.
The thing about animist metaphysics is that, if you credit Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis at all, is that it provides some predictability to interactions with complex systems like the environment – if one disrespects the spirit of the environment, particular kinds of problems tend to develop.
I was struck by a local example recently – the stigmatisation of carp . I can readily accept that they're a problem in terms of water quality and predation of natives, but to assert that they are inedible seems pretty prejudicial, as this writer notes. Current estimates put them at 80% of the fish biomass in the Waikato.
I've eaten them in China, and there's nothing wrong with them. They don't have a taint like red cod or southern blue whiting that are eaten. I wonder how respectful it is to the wairua of the river to consign them to fertiliser when we have food banks struggling to feed increasing numbers of our people. I’d go as far as to say we should have a fishery of them – employment and food right there.
Along those lines, Stuart and from the same story:
"Writing as an indigenous plant woman I might say, 'My plant relatives have shared healing knowledge with me and given me a root medicine.' Instead of ignoring our mutual relationship, I celebrate it. Yet English grammar demands that I refer to my esteemed healer as it, not as a respected teacher, as all plants are understood to be in Potawatomi. That has always made me uncomfortable. I want a word for beingness. Can we unlearn the language of objectification and throw off colonized thought? Can we make a new world with new words?"
"I have been reading the Call of the Reed Warbler by Charles Massey, he is an Aussie farmer who had an epiphany after nearly killing himself trying to survive farming the Australia way – a fantastic book. I really liked his take on how we got into industrial agriculture and its links to growth and especially to capitalism, this idea of “mechanisation of the mind”.
I had to write it down, interested if it makes as much sense to you as it does to me.
Prior to the beginning of agriculture, a worldview called animism had reigned for >200,000 years in human societies. This view constituted the organic mind, as it did not see humans as separate from the environment or from an objective reality. Instead reality was an interconnected spirit filled landscape in which nonhuman entities – plants, animals, inanimate objects like rocks and rivers and mountains or phenomena like thunder, wind and shadows – possessed a living soul or spiritual essence and had awareness and feelings. Animism’s significance was that it contained strong ethical and spiritual implications for nurturing in sustaining the earth; an associated value system.
The shift from this organic mindset to our society's dominant mechanical worldview was triggered by the development of domesticated agriculture about 10,000 years ago. In time, domestication meant that plants, animals and other natural phenomena became manipulable property as opposed to sacred beings or entities. Consequently, from the dawn of agriculture until the Renaissance humans on the European and Southwest Asian continents in particular, began a slow process of progressively throwing off the long, co-evolved organic mind that had previously bound them to nature. Mother earth and a spiritual world.
This new cultural practice of agriculture and its resultant abundance of food eventually lead to population growth and intensified urban living, culminating in the ‘urban revolution’ and the appearance of cities. Thence came the rise of large-scale political and social systems: all an increasingly far cry from our genetic evolutionary conditioning as hunter-gatherers investing in the organic mind.
Humans now began to focus in on themselves and their societies (the beginnings of humanism). Part of this involve people beginning to apprehend the power of the human mind to manipulate the earth and its resources. Therefore, a massive shift in value systems, ethics and morals began to occur. Less and less was there an unquestioning recognition of the worth of all natural things, or the concept of cyclical renewal. So human evolution radically shifted.
A key influence was Judeo-Christianity. This gave us the idea of ‘man as nature's guardian and caretaker…. a managerial interpretation of the doctrine of domination’. This blended with classical and pastoral attitudes towards nature as being something that could be ploughed and cultivated, used as a commodity and manipulated as a resource, tamed and subdued for human benefit – particularly by males. This worldview also saw females as passive and receptive: thinking incorporated into the new Mechanical worldview. Such a mindset was easily and quickly adapted from 16th-century through to 18th-century enlightenment: that crucial phase of the scientific revolution and the evolution of the market economy.
The mechanical model meant humans perceive the world as a place where matter and nature were inert constituents of a new, machine-like world – one capable of manipulation.
As historian Henri Frankfort wrote in 1949, “the world around us has become an ‘it’ rather than a ‘thou’”. This also paved the way for the rise of capitalism, which goes hand in hand with the Mechanical mind. The machine image under Descartes and fellow ‘mechanists’ in the 17th-century, which invoked human power over lifeless, mechanistic nature, was a forerunner to modern capitalism as it became the foundation stone of materialist reductionism, empiricism and objectivism. In effect Descartes had ‘de-souled’ the Earth.’
The next step what's the linkage of the ideas of Bacon, Descartes, Newton and peers into that of economic and political theory, thereby embedding a capitalist philosophy. In this way of thinking, nature has no value except where it was reduced to a means to human ends – just an instrument for use. This bridge and its accompanying moral handwashing was made by John Locke and Adam Smith.
Locke's ideas on ‘rationality’ helped establish a platform for the value system of the European Enlightenment: that one could profitably appropriate the whole sphere of nature as ‘reason’s own individual property’. The acquisition of private property helped enable the idea that humanity could ‘progress’ from the state of nature into ordered civil society, where the natural world had no ‘rights’.
Adam Smith's contribution to the evolving master discourse was to incorporate new thinking on progress. This laid down a system of capitalist economic laws built on the advancement of science and technology, property and polity.
In the process morals and values regarding the Earth, nature, women, colonised lands and their indigenous people, and other ‘creatures’ began to be jettisoned. Thus, it was Smith’s thinking regarding the market system’s slow and steady growth that opened the way to the destructive shift to capitalist market economy and economic rationalism: the belief that continual growth is necessary and desirable.
The transition to capitalism marked the moment when the traditional organic model of communal, interdependent society (one that emphasized the whole as well as the parts) was undermined and transformed by competitiveness and acquisitiveness. Inherent now was an intellectual arrogance towards nature, which was regarded is the raw material for wealth creation, with little to no ethical restrictions on this."
Looks like instant grounds for impeachment by that take, but….well, the Democrats don't do impeachments for launching illegal wars (Pelosi refusing to consider impeachment Bush for the Iraq debacle).
They (the Democrats) prefer to run impeachment on the basis of someone's assumption. (Their 'star witness' on impeachment is on record as saying they assumed Trump was running a quid pro quo on holding back arms from Banderists in Ukraine for an announcement about an investigation into Biden's corruption) Arms, btw, that Obama refused to provide in spite of pressure from neo-cons within his own party and the foreign policy establishment.
Anyway. Middle East today. Not fucking good. Possibly very bad.
Well I'm not at all surprise that they have finally got their man, they have been trying for a few yrs now at knocking him off and it was really been cranked up a notch or two since the civil war in Syria. When there was reports of him travelling about the region via covert and invert means, so it was a matter of time before his luck will run out aka the law of averages will catch up with you sooner or later.
Where this leads as too, I really don't know? Probably more unrest in Iraq, Beirut and Gaza around Israeli borders areas? Or would Iran play a waiting game and attack at their time and place of their choosing?
Or would Iran play a waiting game and attack at their time and place of their choosing?
so far Iran has shown remarkable patience and restraint.
it is the US that is swinging the whole dog carcass at Iran hoping to provoke a reaction that would allow them to call for a coalition of the willing . Lets hope that Iranians once more be the more level headed player in this game of fuckwits.
Gee. That concern about the "public interest" needing protection from my "false narrative"didn't last long, did it? Oh, I get it. You seriously think that an MiT Professor, a former Guardian journalist, 2 OPCW whistleblowers and a current Independent journalist are running lines I created! That's funny. So you disagree with them and their analyses, meaning there is no "false narrative" of mine to expound on. Oh well. Care to highlight a comment I've made that might reasonably be deemed as "untrustworthy" instead?
Or will you merely wait for a comment to spring up and commence with your stupid gaslighting in lieu of ‘good faith’ commenting? (I wouldn't do that if I was you btw)
Oh, so you do have some exposition on this 'false narrative' malarkey?! I've asked that you expound on it, so there's no way I'm going to ban you for doing that. Do you think you could carry off such an exercise without resorting to smears and false bullshit about where I sit philosophically and politically? So, y'know, none of this childish bullshit that would assert issues only have two possible positions (eg against "this" = for "that")? You think you can do that Stuart? I'll come back later, and hopefully read some cogent thoughts from you on "my false narrative" 😉
Bill I'm really not interested – you've banned me before on specious grounds – you never produce any credible evidence – you even produced multiple posts denying Russian involvement in the novichok poisonings.
If you wanted to engage the place to do so was on and in respect of your post, if you don't want to engage you can go and jump in the lake. I've had enough of you for one day in either case.
Can't remember what those "specious grounds" might have been. Maybe I'll go and look. (I can't actually remember banning you.)
I "never produce any credible evidence"? Really? You think the rather indepth articles and video interview I provided on the OPCW post lack credibility? Gee.
And I never "denied" Russian involvement in the novichok poisonings. In fact, the very speculative post I did where I suggested a culprit,( git me some hot water for that one 🙂 ) – that culprit was Russian.
I still don't buy the assertion it was the Russian government, but if evidence is produced on that front, then hey…
Meanwhile you had nothing to say on the post I submitted today. Some arm waving, some bad faith engagement and gaslighting was about the entirety of it…and given that level of engagement…well, it's just not appropriate for that crap to be entertained beneath a discrete post.
Maybe tomorrow you'll submit that stuff you promised around "the public interest", aye?
edit – only ban I can find on you was handed down by Lynn because you were “offering violence”. Anyway…
Oh. I know that 🙂 But Stuart was lying again and I was kindly cutting him some slack. Not buying into the UK Government's version of events is simply not the same as denying the possible complicity of the Russian government. It's difficult for ideologues to get their head around that, but there it is.
I think you'd better substantiate that slander Bill.
I was kindly cutting him some slack
rofl – I posted a factual link but it was too much for you – you insulted me and bumped me.
You are a disgrace to this site Bill.
[If you are past the point of agreeing to disagree with an Author, I think it might be better that you stop commenting or you might find that you have used enough rope to hang yourself. Just to make it crystal clear to anyone who reads this, as a Moderator I will protect The Standard closely followed by shielding Authors from personal attacks and insults. I am known for my patience but it is starting to wear thin after yesterday’s shit storm. Another Moderator is infamous for handing out harsh bans without (much) prejudice to keep everybody on their toes. Nobody would want to attract Moderators’ attention for all the wrong reasons – Incognito]
What level of stupid is it that you operate at Stuart?
You were lying when you claimed I did posts denying Kremlin involvement in the novochok stuff. But I chose to interpret "Russian" in a wider context. (ie – I cut you some slack).
To repeat Not buying into the UK Government's version of events is simply not the same as denying the possible complicity of the Russian government. It's difficult for ideologues to get their head around that, but there it is.
btw, I was kindly alerted to the ban you whined aboutbefore. (Y'know, the one that was "specious"). Well…here's the link to the comment where you referred to a contributor as Lord Haw Haw – a "wretched sell out" and then topped it off by accusing them of lacking political purity and being a supporter of Putin.
That was a lot of shit to squeeze into one comment and know what? I didn't ban you for it.
Then you claimed I was "down with supporting despotic regimes" and….I still didn't ban you. It was when you didn't provide a link to anything I'd written that would back up that claim and instead went on a fairly unhinged rant that I banned you – for a couple of months.
And what strikes me is that all this time later you still puke out the same senseless accusations when someones views don't align with your own (I see what I'm told to see and hear what I'm told to hear) views.
Someone else might be along to deal with you attacking an author in the way you have btw. So if you've anything more to say, you might want to say it kinda tout suite 😉
(I guess I ain't going to be getting that "public service/Bill's false narrative" exposition now. Ah well…)
Stuart, have a look at Psycho's comment at 8.3 and ask yourself is is really worth being nailed to the cross in a thread populated by a handful of the same regulars whose take on the subject matter is one you may, or may not, dismiss out of hand anyway?
No-one debating the post in good faith will get nailed to anything, let alone a cross. I think the original point Adrian was highlighting was that those who have cleaved to "official" lies spun around Douma would have nothing of substance to contribute on that post if they were going to hang on to their previous notions of what happened.
And to be fair…scanning the comments, it would seem he was basically correct on that front.
McFlock is dancing on semantics,(which is kinda bad faith and boring) and that aside, it's been people submitting links and claiming the links contain info that they don't contain, somewhat ironically registering huffy justifications for not commenting…and gaslighting – which I can't be fucked with. Hope that clears things up for you there Al1en. 😉
Whilst knowingly chuckling at your framing of unmade contributions as "bullshit or nonsense", I thought it was pretty firmly implied by agreeing with “Bollocks. I don’t bother disputing anything Bill writes these days"
Just to be clear. You know I'm going to hold you to that, yes? And I don't want to hear any bitching from you if you do respond to something I say and cop a ban for going back on this deal.
(You can respond to this comment, or not, as you see fit.)
So to be really sure, for clarification, you're going to ban me if I ever respond to something you post again, even on the off chance it was to agree with you, because I subscribe to not bothering to dispute anything you write these days?
Ah, see the "won't" confuses the tense – previously it was quite clearly a description of current behaviour, rather than a commitment to future behaviour.
Well, McFlock, as I agree with "I don’t bother disputing anything Bill writes these days, for reasons made obvious in comment 5.1.1.1.1 above.”, and have observed that since his recent return, and as I see no worthwhile reason to change that stance, it follows that I will continue to observe it, so maybe "won't bother disputing anything Bill writes these days, for reasons made obvious in comment 5.1.1.1.1 above." isn't too far of a stretch moving forward.
The promise of a ban under the terms of Bill's imposed 'deal', that's a bit controlling, though I suspect sort of justifies the original PM quote in the first place.
I can live with it. One less eye roll to send out, and all that.
Yeah, like semantics between the possibility of fraud and the certainty of it. Semantics about whether one person saying several people think something is the word of one person or the word of all those people.
That stuff is actually important in geopolitics, but you steamroll over it.
No McFlock. A falsified document is fraud. The document was meant to be based on the facts found on the ground by the OPCW's own inspectors. And it most assuredly wasn't. Do yourself the favour of watching to the Postol interview if you have difficulty understanding the nature of actions taken by the OPCW 'big wigs'.
Bill, a document you or any other person doesn't agree with isn't necessarily "falsified" intentionally and might not even be false at all, even if some criticisms of it are accurate. Big if.
And yet you are categorical that there's "fraud" – intentional deception. That's just more of the inflation I talked about.
The other significant test was when Fisk was there shortly after,there was an entomologist being interviewed from Douma who suggested that there seemed to be no evidence of collateral damage to the adjacent insect population.
Spend some time on the links I provided. Go through them. (Because you obviously haven't). I most certainly didn't do a "he said she said" post as comments from you seem to be implying – ie, the suggestion that both sides of the OCPW report coin are equally valid and no detailed evidence of tampering, suppression and outright destruction of documentation has been produced..
I did not imply that. At one stage I even asked why the "whistleblowers" weren't due the same caution you give to the OPCW board.
I haven't bothered with the videos. More often than not they're a waste of time. I see no reason to expect this to be any different.The typed links had no new information, and none of it as damning as one might expect – as long as scepticism is applied to all parties involved, not just the OPCW.
I even asked why the "whistleblowers" weren't due the same caution you give to the OPCW board.
Get real McFlock. In even a general context, a whistle blower puts their future prospects on the chopping block. That's never done lightly.
And these ones have produced oodles of evidence to support their position (which again) is not one anyone adopts lightly.
Meanwhile, a board that's arm waving about how there's nothing to see here while denying requests for an airing by experts who work under its management…yeah. Nah.
edit – In Vino has a question for you here that you may not be aware of and may wish to respond to.
And an international, prior-to-now-respected scientific body would risk its existence and the professional reputations (and careers) of everyone involved if they created fraudulent reports.
Indeed. And it's been my recent experience (I don't claim to understand this) but it's a mind set not unknown within managerial boards. (To put everything on the line)
And it's maybe worth bearing in mind that the OPCW has recently (post Douma) been politicised, such that instead of merely gathering evidence, it is now charged with apportioning culpability. So we already know that impartiality has been sacrificed, and with that, probably a goodly proportion of its reputation.
Full court press is a logical approach when confronted with a popular leader – not that I'm suggesting the ascendant faction of the Nats is taking any notice of what Hoots has to say.
Genuinely shocked at the Suleimani assassination, that a Western democracy could resort to the flagrant and cold blooded political murder of a senior governmental figure of a major regional power.
The equivalent would be Colin Powell or Mike Pompeo getting knocked off in Toronto.
"The scientific community has been trying to warn the government of the need to plan to adapt to climate change for at least a decade. In fact, the world’s first global conference on climate change adaptation was hosted here in Australia, on the Gold Coast in 2010.
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This conference was run by the former National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCARF), which lost its federal funding in June 2018. It was a visionary initiative to attempt to help the most vulnerable nation in the developed world prepare for climate change. Despite this immensely important task, the initiative is now vastly scaled-down and operating through Griffith University by a handful of dedicated researchers.
How anyone thought that axing funding to the only dedicated national climate change adaptation program in the country was a good idea is completely beyond me.
This summer has been a brutal reminder that no matter how much we want to avoid addressing the problem of climate change, it simply can no longer be ignored. As this summer has shown, it is now part of every Australian’s lived experience."
you are past the point of agreeing to disagree with an Author, I think it might be better that you stop commenting or you might find that you have used enough rope to hang yourself
People are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Bill was and remains deliberately grossly offensive to me, on top of posting his… material.
I will no longer comment directly to him, but it is my view (which you are free to ignore) that the material he posts degrades the experience of this site – the moreso because it is evidently protected by some kind of special pleading.
[“was and is deliberately grossly offensive” and senseless etceteras…. You’re fucking gone after that wee add on rant/attack Stuart. To be fair – that last time you were banned for attacking people, it was for two months. Since that obviously wasn’t long enough to facilitate intelligent reflection, you can take twice the time this time around ] – B
[Since your comment was addressed to me, I will give you my perspective although you have already taken the rope and hanged yourself despite my friendly warning 🙁
People are free to express their opinion, argue their point, and disagree with others, including Authors. It is not tolerated that people attack and insult Authors or litigate Moderation.
Some commenters here have taken some kind of ‘vow’ to not directly respond to certain others. However, indirectly attacking Authors or litigating Moderation is not tolerated either.
One-upmanship and slagging others creates a negative vibe and lowers the experience of this site.
Stuart, the “special pleading” was for another Moderator to deal with the situation and the irony is that it could have shielded you from a (long) ban. Alas, Bill swapped his hat for his Moderator one and dealt with you himself.
We Authors and Moderators are only human and we do make mistakes. Nevertheless, we all endeavour, each in our own unique way and in our precious spare time, to make this site an inclusive site for robust debate and sharing of (our) progressive views and ideas with a broad audience, which is mostly the silent readership.
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
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Belated happy new year all.
here is to a happy and successful 2020.
Same to you James. Thanks for your participation here these past few years; you've helped stopped the place from becoming a complete echo-chamber 🙂
Thank you.
very kind of you to say.
I second that.
Happy New Year James.
We're going to have fun.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/31/new-zealands-year-of-style-over-substance
Jacindas “year of delivery” was a quick on the fly catchphrase – which it seems was never supposed to be taken seriously or to be held to account for
“Last week Beehive insiders told leading political journalists that the “Year of Delivery” promise was actually a spin-line produced on the fly by the PM’s top spin doctor to get his boss out of a tight situation when she needed something memorable to say at the start of 2019. The explanation from the Beehive was to convey that it’s not actually fair to hold the PM to account for a catchphrase that was never intended to be taken so seriously.”
I wonder what her 2020 catchphrase is going to be ? Are we supposed to take it seriously?
Better not to worry about it.
More concerning is the rise in public service PR flacks – not a practice confined to this government – but now significantly outnumbering journalists. Loosely speaking, 8000 people paid to lie to the public instead of delivering improved service.
Are we supposed to take it seriously? It depends. Different people take different things seriously.
For example: A journalist wrote, “Last week Beehive insiders told leading political journalists that the “Year of Delivery” promise was actually a spin-line produced on the fly by the PM’s top spin doctor to get his boss out of a tight situation."
Some people took that seriously.
Whenever I read something like that what I actually read is, "Some random dude we passed in the corridor stopped to gossip with us for five minutes. None of what he said is in any way verifiable, but it makes for good copy." Another victory for quality journalism.
“Last week Beehive insiders told leading political journalists that the “Year of Delivery” promise was actually a spin-line produced on the fly by the PM’s top spin doctor to get his boss out of a tight situation…"
That only raises the questions of who are the Beehive insiders, who are the political journalists, and what was the tight situation? Trotting out a vague line can get a politician – not just any pollie but the PM! – out of a tight situation? Yeah nah.
As anyone who has had anything to do with the staff and journalists in parliament know, it is all in a little world of its own. Back in the 70s when my partner was a parliamentary journalist I was of the (often expressed) opinion that if the rest of the world died it would be at least a fortnight before anyone in the Beehive noticed! Truth and ethics had very little to do with most of their shennanigins, entered on, in most cases as far as I could see, in a closed little game of one-upmanship
A bit like a previous Prime Ministers "We'll doing everything to bring your boys home" and that was dealing with mourning families and dead relatives. You must of been outraged.
Actually and this coalition govt has delievered…..increasing minimum wage, increased wage for teachers and nurses, insulation for rentals, the winter energy supplement, building more state houses and some kiwibuild, Pike River, banning plastic bags, stopping overseas owners buying our property, Best start, increase to working for families, stopping bogus meth testing that saw state house tenants being kicked out of their homes and wrongly accused, re-starting payments to the superfund, changing our gun laws, starting the Dunedin hospital build, fixing or beginning to fix Middlemore Hospital, funding infrastructure spending) on schools, committing money to making our roads safer (following the Swedish model, where they have brought the road toll down), beginning the building of light rail in Auckland, extending paid parental leave, changes to consumer law (helping to stop the worst exploitation of vulnerable people, establishing a climate change commission and getting cross party support in ensure we are carbon neutral by 2050, including most recently announcing that 2020 is the year our carbon emissions will peak, holding an enquiry into fuel prices demonstrating that fuel prices are too high (hopefully forcing fuel companies to bring them down). Mental Health Enquiry and billions of dollars to mental health to develop the work force and implement services (both well underway, but a huge job). The cancer agency, including increasing funding for cancer and other drugs, buying new radiology equipment. Chch call, and did I say the best leadership in the world during two National crisis? Compare and contrast Jacinda with Scotty from marketing. WTF did Key and National do in 9 years? Seriously
Exactly. This Government is delivering already more than the last, but that doesn't fit with the relentless negative narrative of the Newstalk ZB and National crowd. Thank you for taking the time to list the above.
So much for PR and spin lines….it isn't working so good for Scotty from marketing over the ditch is it.
Astonishing though that there are 8000 people paid to lie to the public instead of delivering……as outlined by Stuart below.
Welcome back. That article was noted hereabouts a couple of days ago.
It sure was 🙂
I wonder what her 2020 catchphrase is going to be ? Are we supposed to take it seriously?
20/20 vision?
Wordsmiths smith words.
Wordsmith smithed words about wordsmiths smithing words.
How many words can a wordsmith smith about a wordsmith smithing words?
This blew my mind to smithereens.
word.
What are words worth?
The Tom Tom Club
No social-democrat likes her but we prefer her to Simon Bridges. Never voted for laissez-faire 'Labour'. Thinking about giving the Greens the heave-ho, as compromised by , basically, middle class values. That's how far out '35 social-democratic values by which we grew up are. Amerika!!!
And this is only the start:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/118567741/australia-bushfires-pm-scott-morrison-forced-to-retreat-after-being-abused-by-angry-locals
https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/agricultural-commodities/australian-crop-report
https://twitter.com/isobelroe/status/1212500562102505472
People are so polite. The women who let Morrison shake her hand, I would have told him to get fucked in no uncertain terms. Hand shaking has meaning, and there needs to be an agreement between the two people for it to happen. I don't blame her, we get socialised into it and then to respect authority. So glad to see the people later telling him off, "scumbag". Then he ran away. Gutless scumbag then.
She should have given him a piece of glowing amber to take to Parliament.
The article says this:
I could say more, but I won’t …
We're brought up to be polite and reverential to authority. The older and wiser we get, the less reverential and polite to authority we become. 👿
"The Oxford Children’s Dictionary notoriously dropped the words acorn and buttercup in favor of bandwidth and chatroom, but restored them after public pressure."
https://www.terriwindling.com
They're a funny lot OUP – you know getting on for half their income in recent years has been from their Advanced Learner's Dictionary? The various Cobuilds are probably better, but don't have quite the same imprimatur.
Imprimatur. That has to be word of the week! 👍
Well they did enjoy a royal monopoly on printing bibles for a century or two there.
But Robert's point is more animist, I think, consonant with ideas of participation in a living community, which we see in the likes of the Ghibli films like Totoro, which I'll take the risk of asserting has some relevance to the Maori idea of wairua.
The thing about animist metaphysics is that, if you credit Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis at all, is that it provides some predictability to interactions with complex systems like the environment – if one disrespects the spirit of the environment, particular kinds of problems tend to develop.
I was struck by a local example recently – the stigmatisation of carp . I can readily accept that they're a problem in terms of water quality and predation of natives, but to assert that they are inedible seems pretty prejudicial, as this writer notes. Current estimates put them at 80% of the fish biomass in the Waikato.
I've eaten them in China, and there's nothing wrong with them. They don't have a taint like red cod or southern blue whiting that are eaten. I wonder how respectful it is to the wairua of the river to consign them to fertiliser when we have food banks struggling to feed increasing numbers of our people. I’d go as far as to say we should have a fishery of them – employment and food right there.
Along those lines, Stuart and from the same story:
"Writing as an indigenous plant woman I might say, 'My plant relatives have shared healing knowledge with me and given me a root medicine.' Instead of ignoring our mutual relationship, I celebrate it. Yet English grammar demands that I refer to my esteemed healer as it, not as a respected teacher, as all plants are understood to be in Potawatomi. That has always made me uncomfortable. I want a word for beingness. Can we unlearn the language of objectification and throw off colonized thought? Can we make a new world with new words?"
I favour favour over favor.
por favore
Meanwhile, Norway is in the process of opening an enormous North Sea oil field that will be in operation until 2070.
Western Norway is experiencing a rare heatwave for early January, at a time when temperatures should normally be below freezing.
The highest temperature of 19C (66F) – more than 25C above the monthly average – was measured in the village of Sunndalsora.
This makes it Norway's warmest January day since records began.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50971446
Good fun, reality.
Given my struthers (?) I'd be completely perplexed. But facing in the right direction, unlike the fools who rule.
"I have been reading the Call of the Reed Warbler by Charles Massey, he is an Aussie farmer who had an epiphany after nearly killing himself trying to survive farming the Australia way – a fantastic book. I really liked his take on how we got into industrial agriculture and its links to growth and especially to capitalism, this idea of “mechanisation of the mind”.
I had to write it down, interested if it makes as much sense to you as it does to me.
– Kevin Jay
link or citation please.
https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=330yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT7&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
or, https://g.co/kgs/thPPLM
big if true
https://twitter.com/worldonalert/status/1212902947895566336
hoo boy
https://twitter.com/Dannymakkisyria/status/1212903234895003648
Looks like the moran in chief has started a war with Shiite Islam.
https://twitter.com/leithfadel/status/1212910351378997248
And Iran in particular. They killed a current general who reported directly to the Iranian head of state.
I wonder if he's had any phone calls with MBS lately?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4zhvarPBZc&feature=youtu.be
but her fucking emails.
Thanks for the giggle Sabine.
Is the orange turd trying to start a war to distract from his impeachment proceedings?
In all probability – it wouldn't be the first time and he wouldn't be the first either.
My first thoughts too. In fact somebody here predicted it would happen weeks ago.
It won't be lost on anybody including Iran.
https://twitter.com/realTuckFrumper/status/1212926032954609664
https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1212301034871279616
Things are as peachy AF.
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1212929014341369856
U.S. Senator from Connecticut
https://www.twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1212913952436445185
Looks like instant grounds for impeachment by that take, but….well, the Democrats don't do impeachments for launching illegal wars (Pelosi refusing to consider impeachment Bush for the Iraq debacle).
They (the Democrats) prefer to run impeachment on the basis of someone's assumption. (Their 'star witness' on impeachment is on record as saying they assumed Trump was running a quid pro quo on holding back arms from Banderists in Ukraine for an announcement about an investigation into Biden's corruption) Arms, btw, that Obama refused to provide in spite of pressure from neo-cons within his own party and the foreign policy establishment.
Anyway. Middle East today. Not fucking good. Possibly very bad.
read engels statement
https://twitter.com/W7VOA
always
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KV_nIgg008&feature=youtu.be
Well I'm not at all surprise that they have finally got their man, they have been trying for a few yrs now at knocking him off and it was really been cranked up a notch or two since the civil war in Syria. When there was reports of him travelling about the region via covert and invert means, so it was a matter of time before his luck will run out aka the law of averages will catch up with you sooner or later.
Where this leads as too, I really don't know? Probably more unrest in Iraq, Beirut and Gaza around Israeli borders areas? Or would Iran play a waiting game and attack at their time and place of their choosing?
so far Iran has shown remarkable patience and restraint.
it is the US that is swinging the whole dog carcass at Iran hoping to provoke a reaction that would allow them to call for a coalition of the willing . Lets hope that Iranians once more be the more level headed player in this game of fuckwits.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12296040
This will be a compelling read no doubt, Jude'll give it both barrels!
You strike me as an irredeemable idiot
Well thanks for that, Bill.
I feel the same about you – but more importantly I feel that the public interest lies in opposing your false narrative.
Lousy as the US is, Putin is not a cause that anyone pretending to progressive values can support.
lol
Well, for the sake of "public interest" would you care to expound that "false narrative" (or is it just a catch phrase you thought might fit)?
I wholeheartedly agree with the final sentence of your comment btw.
I don't trust you Bill.
My conversation relates to your post – but you intend to control comment there.
That being the case, stay in your silo.
Gee. That concern about the "public interest" needing protection from my "false narrative"didn't last long, did it? Oh, I get it. You seriously think that an MiT Professor, a former Guardian journalist, 2 OPCW whistleblowers and a current Independent journalist are running lines I created! That's funny. So you disagree with them and their analyses, meaning there is no "false narrative" of mine to expound on. Oh well. Care to highlight a comment I've made that might reasonably be deemed as "untrustworthy" instead?
Or will you merely wait for a comment to spring up and commence with your stupid gaslighting in lieu of ‘good faith’ commenting? (I wouldn't do that if I was you btw)
You'd just ban me.
So, back to your false narrative Bill, and leave me alone.
Oh, so you do have some exposition on this 'false narrative' malarkey?! I've asked that you expound on it, so there's no way I'm going to ban you for doing that. Do you think you could carry off such an exercise without resorting to smears and false bullshit about where I sit philosophically and politically? So, y'know, none of this childish bullshit that would assert issues only have two possible positions (eg against "this" = for "that")? You think you can do that Stuart? I'll come back later, and hopefully read some cogent thoughts from you on "my false narrative" 😉
Bill I'm really not interested – you've banned me before on specious grounds – you never produce any credible evidence – you even produced multiple posts denying Russian involvement in the novichok poisonings.
If you wanted to engage the place to do so was on and in respect of your post, if you don't want to engage you can go and jump in the lake. I've had enough of you for one day in either case.
Can't remember what those "specious grounds" might have been. Maybe I'll go and look. (I can't actually remember banning you.)
I "never produce any credible evidence"? Really? You think the rather indepth articles and video interview I provided on the OPCW post lack credibility? Gee.
And I never "denied" Russian involvement in the novichok poisonings. In fact, the very speculative post I did where I suggested a culprit,( git me some hot water for that one 🙂 ) – that culprit was Russian.
I still don't buy the assertion it was the Russian government, but if evidence is produced on that front, then hey…
Meanwhile you had nothing to say on the post I submitted today. Some arm waving, some bad faith engagement and gaslighting was about the entirety of it…and given that level of engagement…well, it's just not appropriate for that crap to be entertained beneath a discrete post.
Maybe tomorrow you'll submit that stuff you promised around "the public interest", aye?
edit – only ban I can find on you was handed down by Lynn because you were “offering violence”. Anyway…
I think by "Russian involvement" people mean involvement of the Russian gummint. That would seem rather obvious.
Oh. I know that 🙂 But Stuart was lying again and I was kindly cutting him some slack. Not buying into the UK Government's version of events is simply not the same as denying the possible complicity of the Russian government. It's difficult for ideologues to get their head around that, but there it is.
But Stuart was lying again
I think you'd better substantiate that slander Bill.
I was kindly cutting him some slack
rofl – I posted a factual link but it was too much for you – you insulted me and bumped me.
You are a disgrace to this site Bill.
[If you are past the point of agreeing to disagree with an Author, I think it might be better that you stop commenting or you might find that you have used enough rope to hang yourself. Just to make it crystal clear to anyone who reads this, as a Moderator I will protect The Standard closely followed by shielding Authors from personal attacks and insults. I am known for my patience but it is starting to wear thin after yesterday’s shit storm. Another Moderator is infamous for handing out harsh bans without (much) prejudice to keep everybody on their toes. Nobody would want to attract Moderators’ attention for all the wrong reasons – Incognito]
What level of stupid is it that you operate at Stuart?
You were lying when you claimed I did posts denying Kremlin involvement in the novochok stuff. But I chose to interpret "Russian" in a wider context. (ie – I cut you some slack).
To repeat Not buying into the UK Government's version of events is simply not the same as denying the possible complicity of the Russian government. It's difficult for ideologues to get their head around that, but there it is.
btw, I was kindly alerted to the ban you whined about before. (Y'know, the one that was "specious"). Well…here's the link to the comment where you referred to a contributor as Lord Haw Haw – a "wretched sell out" and then topped it off by accusing them of lacking political purity and being a supporter of Putin.
That was a lot of shit to squeeze into one comment and know what? I didn't ban you for it.
Then you claimed I was "down with supporting despotic regimes" and….I still didn't ban you. It was when you didn't provide a link to anything I'd written that would back up that claim and instead went on a fairly unhinged rant that I banned you – for a couple of months.
And what strikes me is that all this time later you still puke out the same senseless accusations when someones views don't align with your own (I see what I'm told to see and hear what I'm told to hear) views.
Someone else might be along to deal with you attacking an author in the way you have btw. So if you've anything more to say, you might want to say it kinda tout suite 😉
(I guess I ain't going to be getting that "public service/Bill's false narrative" exposition now. Ah well…)
See my Moderation note @ 9:13 AM.
Stuart, have a look at Psycho's comment at 8.3 and ask yourself is is really worth being nailed to the cross in a thread populated by a handful of the same regulars whose take on the subject matter is one you may, or may not, dismiss out of hand anyway?
No-one debating the post in good faith will get nailed to anything, let alone a cross. I think the original point Adrian was highlighting was that those who have cleaved to "official" lies spun around Douma would have nothing of substance to contribute on that post if they were going to hang on to their previous notions of what happened.
And to be fair…scanning the comments, it would seem he was basically correct on that front.
McFlock is dancing on semantics,(which is kinda bad faith and boring) and that aside, it's been people submitting links and claiming the links contain info that they don't contain, somewhat ironically registering huffy justifications for not commenting…and gaslighting – which I can't be fucked with. Hope that clears things up for you there Al1en. 😉
Sure does, it’s why I agree with Psycho Milt 😉
“Bollocks. I don’t bother disputing anything Bill writes these days, for reasons made obvious in comment 5.1.1.1.1 above.”
Jolly! 🙂 Then you and PM are most welcome to not contribute any bullshit or nonsense in response to anything I write hereabouts. Deal?
Whilst knowingly chuckling at your framing of unmade contributions as "bullshit or nonsense", I thought it was pretty firmly implied by agreeing with “Bollocks. I don’t bother disputing anything Bill writes these days"
Just to be clear. You know I'm going to hold you to that, yes? And I don't want to hear any bitching from you if you do respond to something I say and cop a ban for going back on this deal.
(You can respond to this comment, or not, as you see fit.)
So to be really sure, for clarification, you're going to ban me if I ever respond to something you post again, even on the off chance it was to agree with you, because I subscribe to not bothering to dispute anything you write these days?
If by "post" you mean an OP, then no. I'm including comments/discussion. And it's not a threat. I'm simply looking to hold you to your word.
If by my word, I'll certainly be held by I won't "bother disputing anything Bill writes these days".
Glad that's settled. 🙂
Ah, see the "won't" confuses the tense – previously it was quite clearly a description of current behaviour, rather than a commitment to future behaviour.
#semanticsareimportant
Well, McFlock, as I agree with "I don’t bother disputing anything Bill writes these days, for reasons made obvious in comment 5.1.1.1.1 above.”, and have observed that since his recent return, and as I see no worthwhile reason to change that stance, it follows that I will continue to observe it, so maybe "won't bother disputing anything Bill writes these days, for reasons made obvious in comment 5.1.1.1.1 above." isn't too far of a stretch moving forward.
The promise of a ban under the terms of Bill's imposed 'deal', that's a bit controlling, though I suspect sort of justifies the original PM quote in the first place.
I can live with it. One less eye roll to send out, and all that.
You didn't have to seal the deal Al1en. Now stop bitching and wailing.
Yeah, like semantics between the possibility of fraud and the certainty of it. Semantics about whether one person saying several people think something is the word of one person or the word of all those people.
That stuff is actually important in geopolitics, but you steamroll over it.
No McFlock. A falsified document is fraud. The document was meant to be based on the facts found on the ground by the OPCW's own inspectors. And it most assuredly wasn't. Do yourself the favour of watching to the Postol interview if you have difficulty understanding the nature of actions taken by the OPCW 'big wigs'.
Bill, a document you or any other person doesn't agree with isn't necessarily "falsified" intentionally and might not even be false at all, even if some criticisms of it are accurate. Big if.
And yet you are categorical that there's "fraud" – intentional deception. That's just more of the inflation I talked about.
Fisk recent article suggests that it does not pass the sniff test.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-war-chemical-weapons-watchdog-opcw-assad-damascus-russia-a9262336.html
The other significant test was when Fisk was there shortly after,there was an entomologist being interviewed from Douma who suggested that there seemed to be no evidence of collateral damage to the adjacent insect population.
His last paragraph sums up the 'debate' here.
Spend some time on the links I provided. Go through them. (Because you obviously haven't). I most certainly didn't do a "he said she said" post as comments from you seem to be implying – ie, the suggestion that both sides of the OCPW report coin are equally valid and no detailed evidence of tampering, suppression and outright destruction of documentation has been produced..
I did not imply that. At one stage I even asked why the "whistleblowers" weren't due the same caution you give to the OPCW board.
I haven't bothered with the videos. More often than not they're a waste of time. I see no reason to expect this to be any different.The typed links had no new information, and none of it as damning as one might expect – as long as scepticism is applied to all parties involved, not just the OPCW.
I even asked why the "whistleblowers" weren't due the same caution you give to the OPCW board.
Get real McFlock. In even a general context, a whistle blower puts their future prospects on the chopping block. That's never done lightly.
And these ones have produced oodles of evidence to support their position (which again) is not one anyone adopts lightly.
Meanwhile, a board that's arm waving about how there's nothing to see here while denying requests for an airing by experts who work under its management…yeah. Nah.
edit – In Vino has a question for you here that you may not be aware of and may wish to respond to.
And an international, prior-to-now-respected scientific body would risk its existence and the professional reputations (and careers) of everyone involved if they created fraudulent reports.
Indeed. And it's been my recent experience (I don't claim to understand this) but it's a mind set not unknown within managerial boards. (To put everything on the line)
And it's maybe worth bearing in mind that the OPCW has recently (post Douma) been politicised, such that instead of merely gathering evidence, it is now charged with apportioning culpability. So we already know that impartiality has been sacrificed, and with that, probably a goodly proportion of its reputation.
Which actors politicised it…?
Can you guys please take this back to its own post.
Agree – and can McFlock answer the question I posted there?
was playing computer games. I'll have a look.
https://twitter.com/swordfish7774/status/1212943110143004672
Full court press is a logical approach when confronted with a popular leader – not that I'm suggesting the ascendant faction of the Nats is taking any notice of what Hoots has to say.
Possibly. Just seems like an insipid version of a woefully unsuccessful 50 year old National Party slogan.
second time lucky?
stopped clock, twice a century
phew…the last time was last century, we should be safe
How often do Labour have charismatic leaders anyway..
Genuinely shocked at the Suleimani assassination, that a Western democracy could resort to the flagrant and cold blooded political murder of a senior governmental figure of a major regional power.
The equivalent would be Colin Powell or Mike Pompeo getting knocked off in Toronto.
I honestly weep for the US.
Not even the current USian regime could think this would be allowed to pass.
But any direct response would play to dolt45's base and its racism.
But the Houthis have had some success lately – maybe they'll get an upgrade in their weapons…
Someone needs an election year war
Can't impeach the commandeur in chief, some might be hoping..
Usually it's unpatriotic to vote out a leader in war time, well, unless the body bag count is much higher than nationalist fervour.
I've accused you of being a footnotes section, but you're the most educational and entertaining footnotes section.
"The scientific community has been trying to warn the government of the need to plan to adapt to climate change for at least a decade. In fact, the world’s first global conference on climate change adaptation was hosted here in Australia, on the Gold Coast in 2010.
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This conference was run by the former National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCARF), which lost its federal funding in June 2018. It was a visionary initiative to attempt to help the most vulnerable nation in the developed world prepare for climate change. Despite this immensely important task, the initiative is now vastly scaled-down and operating through Griffith University by a handful of dedicated researchers.
How anyone thought that axing funding to the only dedicated national climate change adaptation program in the country was a good idea is completely beyond me.
This summer has been a brutal reminder that no matter how much we want to avoid addressing the problem of climate change, it simply can no longer be ignored. As this summer has shown, it is now part of every Australian’s lived experience."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/03/we-are-seeing-the-very-worst-of-our-scientific-predictions-come-to-pass-in-these-bushfires?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR20Et4aE1QhfndzsUq4KN81c7dTEXFKWs7us88wTYuDGQZQcn3lfiK6NHk
@ Incognito
you are past the point of agreeing to disagree with an Author, I think it might be better that you stop commenting or you might find that you have used enough rope to hang yourself
People are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Bill was and remains deliberately grossly offensive to me, on top of posting his… material.
I will no longer comment directly to him, but it is my view (which you are free to ignore) that the material he posts degrades the experience of this site – the moreso because it is evidently protected by some kind of special pleading.
[“was and is deliberately grossly offensive” and senseless etceteras…. You’re fucking gone after that wee add on rant/attack Stuart. To be fair – that last time you were banned for attacking people, it was for two months. Since that obviously wasn’t long enough to facilitate intelligent reflection, you can take twice the time this time around ] – B
[Since your comment was addressed to me, I will give you my perspective although you have already taken the rope and hanged yourself despite my friendly warning 🙁
People are free to express their opinion, argue their point, and disagree with others, including Authors. It is not tolerated that people attack and insult Authors or litigate Moderation.
Some commenters here have taken some kind of ‘vow’ to not directly respond to certain others. However, indirectly attacking Authors or litigating Moderation is not tolerated either.
One-upmanship and slagging others creates a negative vibe and lowers the experience of this site.
Stuart, the “special pleading” was for another Moderator to deal with the situation and the irony is that it could have shielded you from a (long) ban. Alas, Bill swapped his hat for his Moderator one and dealt with you himself.
We Authors and Moderators are only human and we do make mistakes. Nevertheless, we all endeavour, each in our own unique way and in our precious spare time, to make this site an inclusive site for robust debate and sharing of (our) progressive views and ideas with a broad audience, which is mostly the silent readership.
Incognito]
See my (belated) Moderation note @ 6:02 PM.