"The obvious explanation for wealth growing during the pandemic is that we are simply seeing the effect of businesses and consumers buying into the central banks’ confidence trick.
Monetary easing has inflated the value of house prices, shares and pension schemes beyond their fundamentals, making us collectively better off on paper – but not in actuality."
A lot of it will be the effects of the border being closed to tourism. The money we would have spent travelling the world has been spent in New Zealand, with multiplier effects as that moves around the economy, or saved. So individually and collectively we get richer.
I wouldn't be surprised if one of the 'learnings' once the washup is done of our Covid experience is that tourism, both outbound and inbound was a major net negative to our economy.
The 'fundamentals' he references is essentially productivity .
Productivity is essentially more efficient use of energy.
EROI is decreasing so productivity must decrease.
And yet we waste that energy on consumerism.
Having said I agree that we may belatedly realise that our 'biggest export earner' was in fact simply a swap to enable the few to live the life of Riley
yes, many in my circle of aquantainances have spent up large on toys(boats, motorcycles,cars, spa pools etc) with $$$ that would otherwise be taken offshore. too many of our local tourism ventures are overseas owned and many busloads of asian tourists spend there money in asian owned facilities, so NZ really only benefits from gst, not the whole pie.I think you are on point graeme.
Pot calling the kettle black just nibbles at the edges of this one, an outright disinformation tool of the expansionist kremlin calling anyone else a propaganda tool.
How about we recognise that all the major nation's use soft power projection? And media channels which selectively distort and misinform are just part of this game? And that relying on any one of them to try and gain an objective sense of reality is just going to disappoint.
And at the same time there is still a remarkable amount of usable information out there, most sources don't make up shit all of the time, they cannot entirely disconnect from reality. Even uncritical people notice that.
Right now the media world is in a tough place, with reliable professionalism under siege from multiple directions. It's very difficult for any individual in the system to write fearlessly on all topics. But most of the time they do their best, and if in sum the ‘media’ falls short of our ideals, we can be grateful that we have literally at our fingertips a torrent of information that was unimaginable even just 30 years ago.
And it's a wild torrent that demands some effort if you want to swim in it.
It's also a torrent that is impossible to navigate without some structural understanding of how the world works. That this understanding can harden into ideology doesn't mean that we don't need it. The proliferation of lunacy we see everywhere parallels the proliferation of information.
It's also why I've shifted my attention away from ideologies and toward the geopolitical and demographic realities that determine the fate of nations in the long run.
And one of the few good things about getting older is that I can look back and observe the things I used to believe, which have turned out to be not so true. And then contemplate that a fair chunk of what I believe now will likely have the same fate.
We all need some kind of belief and values system as a framework to conceive, grow, and store and share our hopes, dreams, and aspirations for and about the world and ourselves. This will give is a relatively safe haven to anchor and moor without which we will be pounded and pummelled by the waves and tidal currents of time and smashed on the rocks of reality. However, from time to time, we have to lift the anchor and leave the familiar small surroundings and seek other new places before they turn into a bay of boredom and we lose our mobility and become stale and fixated. After all, we are all sailors on an ocean of possibilities and fishermen of the sea.
Bit unclear as to what the mod meant by "you two".
Gabby definitely one, replying to RL, but there also seemed to be a comment that didn't get past premod or got deleted? but then Adrian has also been commenting today.
Very few comments never make it through to the front-end. This can happen when a ‘new’ commenter does not get past the Pre-Mod filter, e.g. when it is spam, utter vile crap, or an existing user trying to bypass a ban. Sometimes, commenters are put in Pre-Mod for a specific reason, but this always comes with a warning.
We never delete a comment from an existing user after it has actually appeared in the front-end without telling; it’ll show up as [deleted] and often is self-explanatory to the commenter and/or comes with a brief explanation – all this takes up Moderator time.
I’d like to think that Moderators here act with honesty and integrity and we can get a bit shitty when we’re accused of ‘censorship’ in all its gory forms.
Well, Gabby and the Easter bunny did get it. So, obviously, it was obvious enough to them; your miscomprehension is irrelevant regardless unless you thought that RL was or should have been banned, which is also misplaced and irrelevant regardless.
Neither McFlock nor myself 'got it' so, yeah. Part of the problem for commenters is cryptic moderation notes.
[Part of the problem for Moderators is that you keep on creating problems here and that you don’t take a hint. In other words, stubborn obnoxious recidivist behaviour that is wasting time. I’m not going to waste my time repeating what I’ve written to you in recent comments and Moderation notes, one of which was a particularly clear Moderation note (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30-03-2021/#comment-1785916). Stop digging a hole or meet that molehill that you seem to be seeking so desperately; the signpost is clearly labelled: molehill or freedom to comment here. This is your warning – Incognito]
First time I've seen that "particularly clear" moderation note.
You didn't follow my comment very closely if you think I labelled RL's comment "woke-left". My entire position was that the use of the term right wing was for some reason frowned upon yet RL uses the pejorative "woke-left" on a daily basis in order to wind up commenters here.
[The onus is on you to read the replies to your comments and the alerts to Moderation notes.
You’re still trying to manipulate me into taking sides in your personal vendetta against RL. In fact, I’m starting to think that you’re trying to deliberately wind up RL and me as well.
You’re still ignoring the fact that you’re being moderated for your behaviour and conduct here on this site.
Stop wasting my time; this is your final warning – Incognito]
I can look back and observe the things I used to believe, which have turned out to be not so true. And then contemplate that a fair chunk of what I believe now…
It's a by product of getting old RL.
Another way of saying;
If only I knew then what I know now things might have been different. 😉
The proliferation of lunacy has less to do with the proliferation of information, but more to do with the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation.
To take the favourite example of the convergence moonbats trying to discredit mainstream media, the Iraq WMD lies (disinformation), the mainstream media were correctly and reporting the (evidence free) assertions of the Shrub and Blair administrations as assertions, and the misinformation reports originating from Ahmed Chalabi via Chris Hedges and Judith Miller and others, they were also reporting the (valid information as it turned out) leaks from the intelligence communities that those claims were a crock of crap, and also reporting the valid information that Hans Blix and his team of UN inspectors were finding nothing of significance that might justify an invasion.
Sorting the valid information from the crap is the difficult bit. It becomes a bit easier when you just don't give those in the habit of flooding the zone with shit an entry into your news stream.
And then there are those in the habit of not telling you that which they don't want you to know. That's a lot harder to detect if you only pay attention to a few 'good' channels that you happen to like. The absence of something is always much less apparent.
Thing is, on the rare (very rare) occasions Sputnik and RT have some sort of actual connection with reality, it's because reality just happens to align with what the Kremlin wants others to think.
The rarity of those occasions in the zone that's otherwise flooded with shit disinformation makes it a waste of time trying to filter through it, unless one has a particular interest in trying to sift through the sewage to glean what might be current Kremlin motivations.
It's a shame, because in the first couple of years, before the state agenda began to dominate reporting, they really were a breathe [sic] of fresh air.
You're correct to note the heavy bias of RT. I'm really appalled by the way they routinely use the most extreme right wing British and American talk radio boofheads to comment on British and American politics. Peter Lavelle's Crosstalk often threatens to be an interesting and informative program but is frequently derailed by the host himself unleashing some crazed extreme right wing opinions that ruin the rest of the program. On the plus side, however, RT regularly features real journalists and academics of unimpeachable integrity, such as Chris Hedges, Norman Finkelstein, and Noam Chomsky.
So does that description imply to you a primary editorial inclination towards truth, a primary editorial inclination towards clickbait, or a primary editorial inclination towards supporting internal criticism within the US and "West"?
Or some other primary editorial inclination?
Because it seems to me that their main role in regards to international affairs is to confuse reporting of Russian actions and motives while providing handy links and "evidence" for americans and western europeans to sow discontent within america and western europe. And any similarity with real people or events is purely coincidental.
Thing is, on the rare (very rare) occasions Sputnik and RT have some sort of actual connection with reality, it's because reality just happens to align with what the Kremlin wants others to think.
A mirror image, then, of the British state broadcaster, the BBC.
Nope, not a mirror image. The BBC frequently reports things that the UK government of the day would prefer were left unaired.
The bias in the BBC is merely consistent with its decision makers having the UK's best interests at heart, which is quite different to the way RT and Sputnik act as propaganda organisations promoting whatever disinformation the Kremlin is pushing at that moment.
The BBC frequently reports things that the UK government of the day would prefer were left unaired.
That was the case briefly at the beginning of this century. That period of independence came to a brutal end in 2003, after Andrew Gilligan plainly stated live on radio that the intelligence used to justify the attack on Iraq was "sexed up", i.e. manipulated and untrustworthy. Blair's chief enforcer, Alistair Campbell, instigated a jihad against the BBC, ensuring that the insubordinate and awkward director-general Greg Dyke—he believed his duty was to serve the public, not the Blair regime—was forced out and replaced by the compliant and reliable functionary Mark Thompson. The rest is gloomy and infuriating history.
Yes, the BBC publishes articles containing critique of the UK government, it's actions and policies. I've asked before from those spouting the editorial 'independence' of RT etc. to link to stories criticising Putin or what he does in a negative light, but no joy as yet.
Today on the BBC UK politics page there are pieces on the outcry against the governments plan for covid passports for pubs and the Tory reception of the racial disparity report.
Not to mention TV programs like Panorama, which regularly put the boot in to the annoyance of number 10.
TBH, I don't pay much attention to the UK. It's just that there's been a bunch of times some topic has caught my eye and I've followed a BBC link for more info, and thought 'ooh, [prominent UK government figure] isn't going to like that getting out'.
The BBC is in a spot of bother if the documentary about the famous Princess Diana interview some 25 plus years the other night on TV1 is to be believed.
Its shaping up to be a story full of lies, deceit and dirty tricks followed by the inevitable cover-up by management.
Well the police have decided to rule out a criminal investigation into Bashir, the interviewer, over allegations from the Spencer family about the alleged use of false documentation to get HRH to do the sit down, so looks like bother gone.
Though if it were true, surely it would be a case of the Beeb going against the establishment and, not doing it's bidding, which is the opposite of what some people are saying.
With regards to the BBC making content against the government's party lines, I'd suggest you seek out the Panorama episode about their mismanagement of ppe supplies from last year. Shockingly on target.
The BBC then came under fire for using ‘labour activists’ to push the message in the program.
The BBC then came under fire for using ‘labour activists’ to push the message in the program.
So, if they had been 'tory activists' pushing a line then I presume they would not come under fire – at least not to the same extent.
If 'the state' decrees there is to be no investigation then the police will not investigate. Wouldn't be the first time that has happened and it won't be the last.
You'll have to put it in context with what's been written above.
The notion being that the BBC is a total shill for the British government. Using the examples I've given, that is very much open to debate. It certainly isn't an organisation in any way equivalent to those pushing Russian propaganda.
The BBC World service is most certainly a propaganda tool of the UK government..
" BBC World Service is not regulated by Ofcom. Instead the BBC is responsible for setting its overall strategic direction, the budget and guarding its editorial independence for World Service. It must set and publish a Licence for the World Service, which defines its remit, scope, annual budget and main commitments, as well as "objectives, targets and priorities" which are agreed with the Foreign Secretary."
But as I mentioned only yesterday on OP, there are a bunch of regular commentors here on TS whom, as it turns out have a world view that aligns up with the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and his UK conservative party like a hand in a glove…go figure, yet for some reason only known to them, they insist on thinking themselves Left or Left leaning, when in reality they are more like some sort of post modernist colonialist hybrid, who also it seems, have a very distinct attraction to western authoritarianism (as long as it if coated in liberal sensibilities).
"….. as I mentioned only yesterday on OP, there are a bunch of regular commentors here on TS whom, as it turns out have a world view that aligns up with the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and his UK conservative party like a hand in a glove…go figure, yet for some reason only known to them, they insist on thinking themselves Left or Left leaning, when in reality they are more like some sort of post modernist colonialist hybrid, who also it seems, have a very distinct attraction to western authoritarianism (as long as it if coated in liberal sensibilities)."
Adrian Thornton
It is a fear of engaging in open debate with someone who actually has experience of Syria, that is a noticable defining feature of supporters of the Assad regime at this website.
Back in 2017 I also wrote this:
"In my opinion it can be reasonably argued that the failure of the Liberal Centre Left to show solidarity with the Syrian people, and instead side with the regime that is oppressing and murdering them, has helped prolong this war on the Syrian people by the Assad regime and its foreign allies, and helped fuel islamaphobia here."
Jenny
March 15 is the globally recognised anniversary date of the start of the Syrian revolution. Two years after I made the above observation, in March 2019, as Syrian refugees from the Assad regime and their supporters were preparing to mark this anniversary, the anti-Islamic terrorist chose this date to launch his murderous attack in Christchurch.
Don't support fascism. It really shouldn't have to be said.
No, because as usual you seem to intentionally not address the outrageous western Weaponizing of the OCPW….which is what I have been posting about. I can’t believe I have to go over this again FFS..I have never uttered one word of support for Assad…but you people seem to think that all of a sudden the CIA and the western military industrial complex are the friends of the Left, and freedom fighters around the world (WTF!)…it is actually people like you who through your blinkered support for a legitimate uprisings, have wilfully allowed yourselves to be turned into useful idiots to western military/corporate hegemony..well done.
You hit the nail on the head.." Don't support fascism. It really shouldn't have to be said."…quite right, maybe you should stop doing it then.
Perhaps you should explain this particularly gross misrepresentation, Adrian. You have one or possibly two very marginal instances of possible OPCW error, out of hundreds of events. The OPCW moreover went to considerable lengths to try to satisfy the complainants, but was obliged to face the fact that ultimately their sole objective was to discredit the organization and the mission.
The Russian media have beaten it up to the skies, and dupes like you parrot that incessantly – but essentially the OPCW is on the ground to clean up the chemical weapons made by Russia and accumulated by the Assad regime. Just as they spent some years in Russia at US & UN expense cleaning up multiple soviet era chemical weapon sites.
The only outrageous weaponising of the OPCW is by you and your fellow dupes.
There you go again Adrian, actively ignoring/denying genocide.
Genocide denial, like Holocaust denial, is an expression of support for fascism.
Let me repeat that; 'Genocide denial is support for fascism'.
That the Assad regime has been committing genocide against its own people is an absolute fact that you refuse to face.
Instead of addressing this fact you choose to throw up dust around the gas attacks.
I put up a link to a video which goes in depth to expose the conspiracy theories around the gas attacks being spread about by the Assad regime and Russia and their useful idiots, that variously claim, (a) the gas attacks didn't happen at all or, (b). were the work of the opposition who gassed their own supporters to discredit your fascist hero.
But I am not going to debate with you the various weaknesses of fascist propaganda around the sarin and chlorine gas attacks against Syrian civilians, that most definitely did happen.
Instead I put up a video of the destruction of the revolutionary city of Homs by the Assad regime.
Every single one of the genocide deniers and pro-Assad apologists on this site, have to date repeatedly refused to answer the simple question I have posed. Every single one.
Maybe you are different Adrian, maybe you might have enough conscience to look into the abyss and admit that you are playing a game of interference in support of a genocidal fascist style regime.
I am not going to keep on going around in circles with you, this is a pointless and a waste of time, you and Stuart Munro are just too far gone to have any kind of rational debate with…well too far gone.
Rationally and reasonably, you would then stop reading their comments and stop replying to them. But you don’t and you won’t. You’re a walking card-carrying self-contradiction and don’t want to see it and/or admit it.
Thanks for your insightful phycology lesson there Incognito, maybe you would do well to turn that lens on yourself and see what it is inside of you that makes you compulsively want to control all those in your orbit..now that would be something interesting to get to the bottom of, don’t you think?
BTW every human being on this planet is a “walking card-carrying self-contradiction” and so as you have obviously never been self-aware enough to have ever acknowledge that about yourself…welcome to the club, I think we will get along just fine LOL!!!
[RL: The role of moderators is essential. Their purpose is to put limits on people’s behaviour and attempt to instill a culture of constructive conversation. The deal is that if you want to continue to comment here, you respect that role.
Having done it intensively for a number of years here I’m vividly aware of how much goes into good moderation, and how much everyone else benefits from it. The two primary mods we have here at present, weka and Incognito, are doing a way better job of it than I ever did. While it’s a job that can never make everyone happy, I’m fed up seeing this kind of casual undermining. It’s not a game worth playing.
Get this through your head – no-one, but no-one ever enjoyed being moderated, and you are certainly not the first. But it’s a fact of life and you either suck it up like a big boy or sulk off elsewhere.]
Something we should all be aware of and try and guard against and take notice of and continually check ourselves on.
'Confirmation Bias'
Adrian it's disapointing that you refuse to answer the question, and instead run away from the debate. But, I've come to expect it. The reason you, and others like you will not answer the question, is because it challenges your preconceived black and white assumptions.
Reading up on the fixed views of conservatives like Ted Cruz, I came across the following quote.
"It’s part of human nature to want to resist information that contradicts with the way we see the world. Psychologists call the practice confirmation bias, and define it as the tendency to interpret information in ways that support our preconceptions."
A few people read my debates with Assad apologists here, the feedback I get is how can be so tolerant as to engage with people who excuse genocide?
The answer is; I could be where you are, that is if I had not had the life changing privilege to be in the Middle East at the time to be witness to the first stirrings of the Arab Spring.
From comments found under a piece by Novara Media concerning the bbc a quite choice quote by Arundhati Roy : on national flags " First they use them as shrinkwrap for your brain ,then as ceremonial shrouds for their war dead "
Great quote, plenty of people on this site have never seen a western regime change war that hasn't got them all juiced up….these free market liberals are just as jingoistic, ruthless and bloodthirsty as any right wing conservative as it turns out….guess that's why they line up with the UK conservatives so well….a perfect fit.
The funny thing is, Michele Bachmann turned out to be a very focused, hardworking member—even though she spent a few months later in 2011 on a short-lived campaign for president. She showed up to the committee, did her homework, and ended up winning over her fellow members with her dedication. Mike Rogers was impressed—and I have to admit, so was I. The whole situation ended up working out well for everyone. As one of those old Boehnerisms goes, “Get the right people on the bus, and help them find the right seat.”
An exercise in getting a loose cannon pointed in a less dangerous direction, actually turned out quite well. It's why I tend to think of at least 95% of people as pretty decent really, with the potential to be great in the right circumstances.
'Zero Covid' strategy far better for economy, European think-tank concludes
Pursuing a “zero Covid” strategy is best for health outcomes and the economy.
Everyone in NZ except for the National Party and David Seymour knew this to be true. Multiple studies, including this one, have confirmed that the New Zealand government's Covid strategy (with fast financial support) is better for both health and economic outcomes.
But more countries need to commit to the programme for the leaders to get the full benefit, a European think-tank has concluded.
Recovery in zero-Covid countries was to some extent at the mercy of policies in countries where that was not the goal, the institute suggested.
“The recovery is limited only by the failure of other countries to achieve this goal and this should motivate better global collaboration for achieving a shared end.”
This is now the concern. Conservative countries which are bizarrely wedded to 'freedom at any cost' will continue to drag the chain and jeopardise not only their own populations but the world as a whole. Their disastrous Covid-19 response damages those who have done well.
But the Easter Bunny came along and looked up at Boris and said – Que? (it was Manuel’s pet). And so Boris has had to buckle down and face off his mates while he sets another lockdown to end all lockdowns
Que is the most common word in Spanish, according to one study I read. It’s most often used as a conjunction and/or relative pronoun, then (with tilde) as interrogative “What” (Qué). It has many uses, and like a chameleon, can change its meaning to suit the context of the sentence. https://www.spanishdict.com/answers/181220/so-much-trouble-understanding-when-que-is-used-
As I understand it, the word que in latin means and. As in senatus populusque romanus (the senate and the roman people). I'm not how this differs from the word et. Perhaps this word is used in the sense of also as in et te Brute, (You too, Brutus?)
"…. more countries need to commit to the programme for the leaders to get the full benefit, a European think-tank has concluded."
One country that won't commit to the program is Australia, which has an official policy of 'suppression' rather than 'elimination', New Zealand's policy.
New Zealand is preparing to open a quarantine free travel bubble with Australia, unless Australia agrees to adopt New Zealand's policy of elimination, (which Scott Morrison has said Australia will never do), New Zealand will be defacto adopting Australia's policy of suppression.
Their disastrous Covid-19 response damages those who have done well.
One of the big stories over the next 12-18 months will be whether or not these nations will bite the bullet or let the pandemic run through, hoping vaccines do the work for them. Which they may not.
All lively lads and lasses who work in ways and places that NZ needs, that earns its own money from graft not grift, and who appreciate having a life and a society with standards and fairness; a country to be proud of living in for ordinary people as well as the 'swells'. I suggest that a few of you who are motivated with these sorts of ideas do this. Start a facebook page, capture a domain name, and the rights to the name wherever you have to apply to legally acquire it. And become a centre for go-ahead people who are trying to downsize consumption, buy local, get out of 4WDs and large people movers not needed, be into conservation and conversation, a helping hand for others and all families and children, and practical kindness.
You need to get together – in the old saying 'Birds of a feather flock together' – seen the starling images when they fly off? I will put my idea for a name for you on this blog on Tuesday night after seven after you have had Easter to think about this idea. If the active amongst you haven't thought of better, I suggest that someone with the vitals grab it and run with it as I have suggested. I think a lot of us are into 'rolling up our sleeves and doing' – we've all heard, read, done enough talking, chewing the cud! Things have to be moved with people power or what we want won't happen at all, and machines will fill the slack with empty promises and hype that fools people into thinking the answer is going to come from the tech direction.
I see that projections are for Auckland to inflate to 2 million from present 1.7m by early 2030s. Why wait till then, stacks on the mill, as the kids' game used to chant. An extra 1900 people a month appears somewhere in the item in Stuff p.12 Apr.1/21.
It was short and didn't have room to state guesses on when gridlock will be reached, or when police will start evicting people from favelas along motorways and under bridges. (They have already closed down a caravan park in the last decades because some criminals lived there.)
And will people in Auckland fund a charity hospital as they do in Christchurch for the large number of uncared for people? It may be that the Aucklanders will have no money left over after paying for their houses if they have managed to get their fingertips on one, and won a loan in the Australian bank's monthly lottery which they will probably set up soon.
I had a look at the on-line link incognito. It is really upsetting to read the way this article is slanted – that growth in population is automatically good, and the bigger the better. Despite a small mention of problems.
...The medium projection is considered suitable for assessing future population changes, and this week’s release contained the usual gloom about a higher proportion of older people and a declining percentage of children…
(Anyone who is aware knows that NZ is no longer a good place to bring up children as was once proclaimed. In fact it seems that the government finds them a burden with all their needs from start to adulthood. It's more efficient to bring in families from overseas where they have been educated at the family's expense or of that country.)
But beyond that, the cities of Hamilton and Tauranga – the other two hubs in the golden triangle – are expected to grow at the same rate as Auckland.
…By 2033, the projected population for the three regions is put at 2.93m – 51.7 per cent of the national total of 5.68m. For 2048, the figure is 3.32m – 53.4 per cent of the New Zealand population of 6.21m.
Further south, Christchurch, when combined with the adjacent districts where much of the area’s new housing is going – is thought likely to stay close to the leading bunch.
(Sounds like a racing commentary. Listen to Spike Jones' one – 'and Banana is coming through the bunch!').
Christchurch City had a 2018 population of 383,800, and on its own has an unspectacular annual growth projection of 0.6 per cent.
But the South Island’s main centre has a more robust look to it when the Waimakariri District – projected average annual growth 1 per cent – and Selwyn District -1.7 per cent – are added. Combined, the three territorial authorities had a population of 508,400 in 2018 – 10.4 per cent of the national total.
(Like a faster growing population makes a place More Robust! Weak minds repeating weak ideas here.)
And at the bottom, a message from Stuff: …'Why? Because with the pandemic situation constantly changing, it’s easy for misinformation and rumours to take hold. You can rely on Stuff’s journalists to question the decision-makers, interview experts, and use eyewitness reporting to answer your key questions with facts and context.'
It certainly is hard to keep on top of the tide of information, checking for tainted facts and what environment they arise from.
The Mayor announced some years after the quakes that she had a target of increasing (greater) Christchurch's population to one million within (if I recall correctly) 20 years……she never mentioned it again.
What a horrible projection. Now I understand the property investor who commented yesterday that the prices of houses would not be coming down (in fact not for the forseeable future, the changes in his opinion would only temporarily slow things). How depressing.
edit
The experiment of government central and local contracting business carry out its services should now draw to a close. It was an expensive one in the long term, and while it did lead to some improvements it appears that it cannot cope with the constant ramifications that arise in the fast-changing social and physical environment. While tied down to tight contracts and a business case that forces it to answer to shareholders requirements for profit, it cannot meet needs when presenting in reality which can multiply daily.
(Paragraph from a yet-to-be presented report from someone who has a bigger brain than the average bear.)
Opinion from Metlink
Passengers travelling on Metlink services operated by NZ Bus experienced almost 70 last-minute cancellations on Wednesday. Metlink General Manager Scott Gallacher said the recent service from NZ Bus simply wasn’t good enough.
Oh do you mean the racist nationalist Alexey Navalny that Amnesty International dropped because of his known racist rhetoric…the Navalny who was funded by the US backed National Endowment for Democracy (a known funding route for the CIA) in his Russian election run?…(isn't that kind of like election interference? and here I was thinking you guys hated it when countries meddled in other peoples elections, guess you don't give a shit about that after all)
Oh – you mean Putin is not nationalist? Or racist?
Lacking decades of exposure to a reforming activist base, Russia is as racist as it gets – hence the war of extermination in Chechnya.
To feed your own nonsense back at you: since Russia doesn't give a flying finangle about racism, and is cheerfully nationalist, shouldn't they love Navalny?
But Navalny has committed the unforgiveable crime of revealing the truth about Putin's republic of thieves – something RT will never do.
Have you no shame though, as a professed lefty, supporting this murderous kleptocrat? What would Putin have to do to disabuse you of your infatuation? He's already a genocide, an autocrat, a rigger of elections and a poisoner of political alternatives. Does he have to eat babies live onscreen, or would that too be America's fault?
FFS man "Oh – you mean Putin is not nationalist? Or racist?"…I know Putin is a probably a racist and is definitely a nationalist…but he is not the man that the west and you guys are spouting as some sort of Russian arch angle ready to free the Russian people from their evil overlord… maybe you should check out Putin's popularity stats in his own country once and while to get a grip on the reality over there…but I can tell you this for sure, any politician so obviously backed by the USA is never going to get any real in traction in Russia…sort of like your man Guaido in Venezuela.
If the Russians are ever going to break free from Putin, it will be from an organic rising from within Russia, supported by the Russian people…and not some Western backed Instagram sensation, that would be like you backing a politician in NZ that you knew was backed by Xi Jinping and funded by the MSS. https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-rating-russia/
The funny thing is I never (or if so, rarely) saw any of you 'lefties' utter a murmur when an actual Left wing leader, Lula was outrageously imprisoned by an outright right wing authoritarian..in fact now I think about it, I don’t believe I have ever (or very rarely if so) seen any of you so called lefties show even the slightest sign of support for any actual Left Wing project around the world, or voice your concern when they are regularly threatened….
It really has become quite apparent to me over the previous few days, that you, Mcflock, Joe90, Al1en and a couple of others on TS are in fact, in your geopolitical beliefs (the ones you express on TS anyway) for want of a better description, are some sort of postmodern (liberal) imperialists. It was always obvious that you guys had some pretty seriously flawed world views, but when I saw recently, exactly how closely nearly all your geopolitical standpoints matched with the UK Conservative parties own positions…I guess the penny dropped…holy crap…I mean did you even realize yourself how far right you had drifted?
in the meantime I am committing the music to red haired boy to memory. at slow speed it is like this scottish lament but brightens up when played fast. stroke of luck I have this country instrumental compilation by NASHVILLE session pickers with this tune and old joe clark on it. nifty stuff. And the music by Steve Carr on bluegrassguitar.com and dude you are swinging . yee hahhh
@ Eco Maori , thanks for that. I really love that Folkways stuff, have been collecting it for many years.,,haven't got that one though, strangely I haven't even seen it in NZ, and I have been a record collector since I was a young man….just found one on Ebay, going to fill that hole in my collection.
Great record too, listening to it now on youtube..thanks again.
Here is a good interview on the history of Folkways that might interest you…
'Worlds Of Sound' A Tribute To Folkways
"Sixty years ago, Moses Asch set out with the lofty ambition to record "all the sound of the world." He established Folkways Records — "the little label that could" — and in the decades that followed, Folkways recorded everything from folk singers, to jazz greats, to sounds of the natural world."
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
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The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
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COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
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Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
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"The obvious explanation for wealth growing during the pandemic is that we are simply seeing the effect of businesses and consumers buying into the central banks’ confidence trick.
Monetary easing has inflated the value of house prices, shares and pension schemes beyond their fundamentals, making us collectively better off on paper – but not in actuality."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/124468085/covid-seems-to-have-left-us-wealthier-but-less-productive-and-that-cant-add-up
And the million dollar question is will widespread realisation be sudden or gradual?…..I’d suggest the former.
A lot of it will be the effects of the border being closed to tourism. The money we would have spent travelling the world has been spent in New Zealand, with multiplier effects as that moves around the economy, or saved. So individually and collectively we get richer.
I wouldn't be surprised if one of the 'learnings' once the washup is done of our Covid experience is that tourism, both outbound and inbound was a major net negative to our economy.
Ahem. Correct management-speak is 'learnings going forwud'.
The multiplier effect works in both directions.
The 'fundamentals' he references is essentially productivity .
Productivity is essentially more efficient use of energy.
EROI is decreasing so productivity must decrease.
And yet we waste that energy on consumerism.
Having said I agree that we may belatedly realise that our 'biggest export earner' was in fact simply a swap to enable the few to live the life of Riley
yes, many in my circle of aquantainances have spent up large on toys(boats, motorcycles,cars, spa pools etc) with $$$ that would otherwise be taken offshore. too many of our local tourism ventures are overseas owned and many busloads of asian tourists spend there money in asian owned facilities, so NZ really only benefits from gst, not the whole pie.I think you are on point graeme.
https://sptnkne.ws/FP7Z
A comment on the BBC.
British tax payers compulsory funding of this Imperialist propaganda tool.
Buwaaaahaha!
Pot calling the kettle black just nibbles at the edges of this one, an outright disinformation tool of the expansionist kremlin calling anyone else a propaganda tool.
How about we recognise that all the major nation's use soft power projection? And media channels which selectively distort and misinform are just part of this game? And that relying on any one of them to try and gain an objective sense of reality is just going to disappoint.
And at the same time there is still a remarkable amount of usable information out there, most sources don't make up shit all of the time, they cannot entirely disconnect from reality. Even uncritical people notice that.
Right now the media world is in a tough place, with reliable professionalism under siege from multiple directions. It's very difficult for any individual in the system to write fearlessly on all topics. But most of the time they do their best, and if in sum the ‘media’ falls short of our ideals, we can be grateful that we have literally at our fingertips a torrent of information that was unimaginable even just 30 years ago.
And it's a wild torrent that demands some effort if you want to swim in it.
It's also a torrent that is impossible to navigate without some structural understanding of how the world works. That this understanding can harden into ideology doesn't mean that we don't need it. The proliferation of lunacy we see everywhere parallels the proliferation of information.
Yes that's a really good way of putting it.
It's also why I've shifted my attention away from ideologies and toward the geopolitical and demographic realities that determine the fate of nations in the long run.
And one of the few good things about getting older is that I can look back and observe the things I used to believe, which have turned out to be not so true. And then contemplate that a fair chunk of what I believe now will likely have the same fate.
We all need some kind of belief and values system as a framework to conceive, grow, and store and share our hopes, dreams, and aspirations for and about the world and ourselves. This will give is a relatively safe haven to anchor and moor without which we will be pounded and pummelled by the waves and tidal currents of time and smashed on the rocks of reality. However, from time to time, we have to lift the anchor and leave the familiar small surroundings and seek other new places before they turn into a bay of boredom and we lose our mobility and become stale and fixated. After all, we are all sailors on an ocean of possibilities and fishermen of the sea.
A very apt metaphor.
This is weird. I thought you were banned for abuse until after Easter. How is it you are still able to comment here today?
Bit unclear as to what the mod meant by "you two".
Gabby definitely one, replying to RL, but there also seemed to be a comment that didn't get past premod or got deleted? but then Adrian has also been commenting today.
FYI
Very few comments never make it through to the front-end. This can happen when a ‘new’ commenter does not get past the Pre-Mod filter, e.g. when it is spam, utter vile crap, or an existing user trying to bypass a ban. Sometimes, commenters are put in Pre-Mod for a specific reason, but this always comes with a warning.
We never delete a comment from an existing user after it has actually appeared in the front-end without telling; it’ll show up as [deleted] and often is self-explanatory to the commenter and/or comes with a brief explanation – all this takes up Moderator time.
I’d like to think that Moderators here act with honesty and integrity and we can get a bit shitty when we’re accused of ‘censorship’ in all its gory forms.
HTH
A textbook example of wishful thinking AKA believing is seeing 😀
When I said “you two”, I obviously referred to Gabby and the Easter bunny. Doh!
It wasn't obvious at all.
Silly of me to expect that particular moderator to be held to the same standard as we mortals.
Well, Gabby and the Easter bunny did get it. So, obviously, it was obvious enough to them; your miscomprehension is irrelevant regardless unless you thought that RL was or should have been banned, which is also misplaced and irrelevant regardless.
Stop digging a hole for yourself.
Neither McFlock nor myself 'got it' so, yeah. Part of the problem for commenters is cryptic moderation notes.
[Part of the problem for Moderators is that you keep on creating problems here and that you don’t take a hint. In other words, stubborn obnoxious recidivist behaviour that is wasting time. I’m not going to waste my time repeating what I’ve written to you in recent comments and Moderation notes, one of which was a particularly clear Moderation note (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30-03-2021/#comment-1785916). Stop digging a hole or meet that molehill that you seem to be seeking so desperately; the signpost is clearly labelled: molehill or freedom to comment here. This is your warning – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 4:04 PM.
First time I've seen that "particularly clear" moderation note.
You didn't follow my comment very closely if you think I labelled RL's comment "woke-left". My entire position was that the use of the term right wing was for some reason frowned upon yet RL uses the pejorative "woke-left" on a daily basis in order to wind up commenters here.
[The onus is on you to read the replies to your comments and the alerts to Moderation notes.
You’re still trying to manipulate me into taking sides in your personal vendetta against RL. In fact, I’m starting to think that you’re trying to deliberately wind up RL and me as well.
You’re still ignoring the fact that you’re being moderated for your behaviour and conduct here on this site.
Stop wasting my time; this is your final warning – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 6:36 pm.
Brilliant!
It's a by product of getting old RL.
Another way of saying;
If only I knew then what I know now things might have been different. 😉
The proliferation of lunacy has less to do with the proliferation of information, but more to do with the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation.
To take the favourite example of the convergence moonbats trying to discredit mainstream media, the Iraq WMD lies (disinformation), the mainstream media were correctly and reporting the (evidence free) assertions of the Shrub and Blair administrations as assertions, and the misinformation reports originating from Ahmed Chalabi via Chris Hedges and Judith Miller and others, they were also reporting the (valid information as it turned out) leaks from the intelligence communities that those claims were a crock of crap, and also reporting the valid information that Hans Blix and his team of UN inspectors were finding nothing of significance that might justify an invasion.
Sorting the valid information from the crap is the difficult bit. It becomes a bit easier when you just don't give those in the habit of flooding the zone with shit an entry into your news stream.
And then there are those in the habit of not telling you that which they don't want you to know. That's a lot harder to detect if you only pay attention to a few 'good' channels that you happen to like. The absence of something is always much less apparent.
Thing is, on the rare (very rare) occasions Sputnik and RT have some sort of actual connection with reality, it's because reality just happens to align with what the Kremlin wants others to think.
The rarity of those occasions in the zone that's otherwise flooded with shit disinformation makes it a waste of time trying to filter through it, unless one has a particular interest in trying to sift through the sewage to glean what might be current Kremlin motivations.
It's a shame, because in the first couple of years, before the state agenda began to dominate reporting, they really were a breathe of fresh air.
It's a shame, because in the first couple of years, before the state agenda began to dominate reporting, they really were a breathe [sic] of fresh air.
You're correct to note the heavy bias of RT. I'm really appalled by the way they routinely use the most extreme right wing British and American talk radio boofheads to comment on British and American politics. Peter Lavelle's Crosstalk often threatens to be an interesting and informative program but is frequently derailed by the host himself unleashing some crazed extreme right wing opinions that ruin the rest of the program. On the plus side, however, RT regularly features real journalists and academics of unimpeachable integrity, such as Chris Hedges, Norman Finkelstein, and Noam Chomsky.
So does that description imply to you a primary editorial inclination towards truth, a primary editorial inclination towards clickbait, or a primary editorial inclination towards supporting internal criticism within the US and "West"?
Or some other primary editorial inclination?
Because it seems to me that their main role in regards to international affairs is to confuse reporting of Russian actions and motives while providing handy links and "evidence" for americans and western europeans to sow discontent within america and western europe. And any similarity with real people or events is purely coincidental.
Thing is, on the rare (very rare) occasions Sputnik and RT have some sort of actual connection with reality, it's because reality just happens to align with what the Kremlin wants others to think.
A mirror image, then, of the British state broadcaster, the BBC.
Nope, not a mirror image. The BBC frequently reports things that the UK government of the day would prefer were left unaired.
The bias in the BBC is merely consistent with its decision makers having the UK's best interests at heart, which is quite different to the way RT and Sputnik act as propaganda organisations promoting whatever disinformation the Kremlin is pushing at that moment.
The BBC frequently reports things that the UK government of the day would prefer were left unaired.
That was the case briefly at the beginning of this century. That period of independence came to a brutal end in 2003, after Andrew Gilligan plainly stated live on radio that the intelligence used to justify the attack on Iraq was "sexed up", i.e. manipulated and untrustworthy. Blair's chief enforcer, Alistair Campbell, instigated a jihad against the BBC, ensuring that the insubordinate and awkward director-general Greg Dyke—he believed his duty was to serve the public, not the Blair regime—was forced out and replaced by the compliant and reliable functionary Mark Thompson. The rest is gloomy and infuriating history.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/02/bbc-defends-distinctive-programmes-against-government-criticism
Yes, the BBC publishes articles containing critique of the UK government, it's actions and policies. I've asked before from those spouting the editorial 'independence' of RT etc. to link to stories criticising Putin or what he does in a negative light, but no joy as yet.
Today on the BBC UK politics page there are pieces on the outcry against the governments plan for covid passports for pubs and the Tory reception of the racial disparity report.
Not to mention TV programs like Panorama, which regularly put the boot in to the annoyance of number 10.
TBH, I don't pay much attention to the UK. It's just that there's been a bunch of times some topic has caught my eye and I've followed a BBC link for more info, and thought 'ooh, [prominent UK government figure] isn't going to like that getting out'.
The BBC is in a spot of bother if the documentary about the famous Princess Diana interview some 25 plus years the other night on TV1 is to be believed.
Its shaping up to be a story full of lies, deceit and dirty tricks followed by the inevitable cover-up by management.
Well the police have decided to rule out a criminal investigation into Bashir, the interviewer, over allegations from the Spencer family about the alleged use of false documentation to get HRH to do the sit down, so looks like bother gone.
Though if it were true, surely it would be a case of the Beeb going against the establishment and, not doing it's bidding, which is the opposite of what some people are saying.
With regards to the BBC making content against the government's party lines, I'd suggest you seek out the Panorama episode about their mismanagement of ppe supplies from last year. Shockingly on target.
The BBC then came under fire for using ‘labour activists’ to push the message in the program.
So, if they had been 'tory activists' pushing a line then I presume they would not come under fire – at least not to the same extent.
If 'the state' decrees there is to be no investigation then the police will not investigate. Wouldn't be the first time that has happened and it won't be the last.
You'll have to put it in context with what's been written above.
The notion being that the BBC is a total shill for the British government. Using the examples I've given, that is very much open to debate. It certainly isn't an organisation in any way equivalent to those pushing Russian propaganda.
That is all.
The BBC World service is most certainly a propaganda tool of the UK government..
" BBC World Service is not regulated by Ofcom. Instead the BBC is responsible for setting its overall strategic direction, the budget and guarding its editorial independence for World Service. It must set and publish a Licence for the World Service, which defines its remit, scope, annual budget and main commitments, as well as "objectives, targets and priorities" which are agreed with the Foreign Secretary."
https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/governance/regulation
But as I mentioned only yesterday on OP, there are a bunch of regular commentors here on TS whom, as it turns out have a world view that aligns up with the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and his UK conservative party like a hand in a glove…go figure, yet for some reason only known to them, they insist on thinking themselves Left or Left leaning, when in reality they are more like some sort of post modernist colonialist hybrid, who also it seems, have a very distinct attraction to western authoritarianism (as long as it if coated in liberal sensibilities).
"
"….. as I mentioned only yesterday on OP, there are a bunch of regular commentors here on TS whom, as it turns out have a world view that aligns up with the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and his UK conservative party like a hand in a glove…go figure, yet for some reason only known to them, they insist on thinking themselves Left or Left leaning, when in reality they are more like some sort of post modernist colonialist hybrid, who also it seems, have a very distinct attraction to western authoritarianism (as long as it if coated in liberal sensibilities)."
Adrian Thornton
3 April 2021 at 12:42 pm
I admit I could be wrong, but I am guessing, that you are referring here Adrian, to my and others comments yesterday.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02-04-2021/#comment-1786446
Instead of replying to my comments and debating directly, you have slunk away from open debate and resorted to making sly digs in other threads.
As I said in reply to Bill's accusation that I am guilty of not "engaging or debating".
"it is you and the other supporters of the Syrian regime who refuse to engage or debate"
Jenny
14 February 2017 at 5:36 am
It is a fear of engaging in open debate with someone who actually has experience of Syria, that is a noticable defining feature of supporters of the Assad regime at this website.
Back in 2017 I also wrote this:
"In my opinion it can be reasonably argued that the failure of the Liberal Centre Left to show solidarity with the Syrian people, and instead side with the regime that is oppressing and murdering them, has helped prolong this war on the Syrian people by the Assad regime and its foreign allies, and helped fuel islamaphobia here."
Jenny
14 February 2017 at 5:20 am
March 15 is the globally recognised anniversary date of the start of the Syrian revolution. Two years after I made the above observation, in March 2019, as Syrian refugees from the Assad regime and their supporters were preparing to mark this anniversary, the anti-Islamic terrorist chose this date to launch his murderous attack in Christchurch.
Don't support fascism. It really shouldn't have to be said.
No, because as usual you seem to intentionally not address the outrageous western Weaponizing of the OCPW….which is what I have been posting about. I can’t believe I have to go over this again FFS..I have never uttered one word of support for Assad…but you people seem to think that all of a sudden the CIA and the western military industrial complex are the friends of the Left, and freedom fighters around the world (WTF!)…it is actually people like you who through your blinkered support for a legitimate uprisings, have wilfully allowed yourselves to be turned into useful idiots to western military/corporate hegemony..well done.
You hit the nail on the head.." Don't support fascism. It really shouldn't have to be said."…quite right, maybe you should stop doing it then.
the outrageous western Weaponizing of the OCPW….
Perhaps you should explain this particularly gross misrepresentation, Adrian. You have one or possibly two very marginal instances of possible OPCW error, out of hundreds of events. The OPCW moreover went to considerable lengths to try to satisfy the complainants, but was obliged to face the fact that ultimately their sole objective was to discredit the organization and the mission.
The Russian media have beaten it up to the skies, and dupes like you parrot that incessantly – but essentially the OPCW is on the ground to clean up the chemical weapons made by Russia and accumulated by the Assad regime. Just as they spent some years in Russia at US & UN expense cleaning up multiple soviet era chemical weapon sites.
The only outrageous weaponising of the OPCW is by you and your fellow dupes.
There you go again Adrian, actively ignoring/denying genocide.
Genocide denial, like Holocaust denial, is an expression of support for fascism.
Let me repeat that; 'Genocide denial is support for fascism'.
That the Assad regime has been committing genocide against its own people is an absolute fact that you refuse to face.
Instead of addressing this fact you choose to throw up dust around the gas attacks.
I put up a link to a video which goes in depth to expose the conspiracy theories around the gas attacks being spread about by the Assad regime and Russia and their useful idiots, that variously claim, (a) the gas attacks didn't happen at all or, (b). were the work of the opposition who gassed their own supporters to discredit your fascist hero.
But I am not going to debate with you the various weaknesses of fascist propaganda around the sarin and chlorine gas attacks against Syrian civilians, that most definitely did happen.
Instead I put up a video of the destruction of the revolutionary city of Homs by the Assad regime.
Every single one of the genocide deniers and pro-Assad apologists on this site, have to date repeatedly refused to answer the simple question I have posed. Every single one.
Maybe you are different Adrian, maybe you might have enough conscience to look into the abyss and admit that you are playing a game of interference in support of a genocidal fascist style regime.
So I will pose the question again,
Who did this?
And is it not evidence of genocide?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt3gR4BUPmQ
I am not going to keep on going around in circles with you, this is a pointless and a waste of time, you and Stuart Munro are just too far gone to have any kind of rational debate with…well too far gone.
Rationally and reasonably, you would then stop reading their comments and stop replying to them. But you don’t and you won’t. You’re a walking card-carrying self-contradiction and don’t want to see it and/or admit it.
Thanks for your insightful phycology lesson there Incognito, maybe you would do well to turn that lens on yourself and see what it is inside of you that makes you compulsively want to control all those in your orbit..now that would be something interesting to get to the bottom of, don’t you think?
BTW every human being on this planet is a “walking card-carrying self-contradiction” and so as you have obviously never been self-aware enough to have ever acknowledge that about yourself…welcome to the club, I think we will get along just fine LOL!!!
[RL: The role of moderators is essential. Their purpose is to put limits on people’s behaviour and attempt to instill a culture of constructive conversation. The deal is that if you want to continue to comment here, you respect that role.
Having done it intensively for a number of years here I’m vividly aware of how much goes into good moderation, and how much everyone else benefits from it. The two primary mods we have here at present, weka and Incognito, are doing a way better job of it than I ever did. While it’s a job that can never make everyone happy, I’m fed up seeing this kind of casual undermining. It’s not a game worth playing.
Get this through your head – no-one, but no-one ever enjoyed being moderated, and you are certainly not the first. But it’s a fact of life and you either suck it up like a big boy or sulk off elsewhere.]
I hate rock snot.
What makes you think Adrian hasn't stopped? I think he just indicated he's walking away from this one.
Oh dear, you go me there
Au revoir Adrian,
As you depart the scene.
Something we should all be aware of and try and guard against and take notice of and continually check ourselves on.
'Confirmation Bias'
Adrian it's disapointing that you refuse to answer the question, and instead run away from the debate. But, I've come to expect it. The reason you, and others like you will not answer the question, is because it challenges your preconceived black and white assumptions.
Reading up on the fixed views of conservatives like Ted Cruz, I came across the following quote.
"It’s part of human nature to want to resist information that contradicts with the way we see the world. Psychologists call the practice confirmation bias, and define it as the tendency to interpret information in ways that support our preconceptions."
https://www.salon.com/2015/04/07/ted_cruz_is_dangerous_why_liberals_scoff_at_his_campaign_at_their_peril_partner/
A few people read my debates with Assad apologists here, the feedback I get is how can be so tolerant as to engage with people who excuse genocide?
The answer is; I could be where you are, that is if I had not had the life changing privilege to be in the Middle East at the time to be witness to the first stirrings of the Arab Spring.
I wish I had stayed.
From comments found under a piece by Novara Media concerning the bbc a quite choice quote by Arundhati Roy : on national flags " First they use them as shrinkwrap for your brain ,then as ceremonial shrouds for their war dead "
Great quote, plenty of people on this site have never seen a western regime change war that hasn't got them all juiced up….these free market liberals are just as jingoistic, ruthless and bloodthirsty as any right wing conservative as it turns out….guess that's why they line up with the UK conservatives so well….a perfect fit.
Former Repug Speaker of the House John Boehner has his say on the crazies of the past decade and Faux News' part in fomenting the crazy.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/04/02/john-boehner-book-memoir-excerpt-478506
An interesting quote from that link:
An exercise in getting a loose cannon pointed in a less dangerous direction, actually turned out quite well. It's why I tend to think of at least 95% of people as pretty decent really, with the potential to be great in the right circumstances.
Everyone in NZ except for the National Party and David Seymour knew this to be true. Multiple studies, including this one, have confirmed that the New Zealand government's Covid strategy (with fast financial support) is better for both health and economic outcomes.
This is now the concern. Conservative countries which are bizarrely wedded to 'freedom at any cost' will continue to drag the chain and jeopardise not only their own populations but the world as a whole. Their disastrous Covid-19 response damages those who have done well.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124739946/zero-covid-strategy-far-better-for-economy-european-thinktank-concludes
edit
UK goes its own way at its peril, and that of its hapless population. People in UK need more 'hap' before they can get happy.
At the Covid 19 start. Easy-peasy will do it suggests Boris.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/03/16/report-boris-johnson-said-uk-should-ignore-covid-19-at-the-start-of-the-pandemic/?sh=56542f144285
(Bill Bailey talked about Johnson as being a mobile haystack! So good.)
Boorish hasn't improved. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/27/data-still-supports-lifting-covid-19-restrictions-insists-boris-johnson
But the Easter Bunny came along and looked up at Boris and said – Que? (it was Manuel’s pet). And so Boris has had to buckle down and face off his mates while he sets another lockdown to end all lockdowns
Que is the most common word in Spanish, according to one study I read. It’s most often used as a conjunction and/or relative pronoun, then (with tilde) as interrogative “What” (Qué). It has many uses, and like a chameleon, can change its meaning to suit the context of the sentence.
https://www.spanishdict.com/answers/181220/so-much-trouble-understanding-when-que-is-used-
As I understand it, the word que in latin means and. As in senatus populusque romanus (the senate and the roman people). I'm not how this differs from the word et. Perhaps this word is used in the sense of also as in et te Brute, (You too, Brutus?)
I looked up google and it gave me Manuel (Fawlty Towers) meaning. Sorry I'm just one of the hoi polloi with language, learning as I go.
Zero Covid seems unlikely.
It's 'Zero Covid strategy', KSays. Read and understand the link please.
"…. more countries need to commit to the programme for the leaders to get the full benefit, a European think-tank has concluded."
One country that won't commit to the program is Australia, which has an official policy of 'suppression' rather than 'elimination', New Zealand's policy.
New Zealand is preparing to open a quarantine free travel bubble with Australia, unless Australia agrees to adopt New Zealand's policy of elimination, (which Scott Morrison has said Australia will never do), New Zealand will be defacto adopting Australia's policy of suppression.
Private Wealth vs. Public Health
Suppression not elimination
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6836358/elimination-risky-and-illusory-scott-morrison/
Elimination not suppression
http://isocracy.org/content/elimination-not-suppression
One of the big stories over the next 12-18 months will be whether or not these nations will bite the bullet or let the pandemic run through, hoping vaccines do the work for them. Which they may not.
All lively lads and lasses who work in ways and places that NZ needs, that earns its own money from graft not grift, and who appreciate having a life and a society with standards and fairness; a country to be proud of living in for ordinary people as well as the 'swells'. I suggest that a few of you who are motivated with these sorts of ideas do this. Start a facebook page, capture a domain name, and the rights to the name wherever you have to apply to legally acquire it. And become a centre for go-ahead people who are trying to downsize consumption, buy local, get out of 4WDs and large people movers not needed, be into conservation and conversation, a helping hand for others and all families and children, and practical kindness.
You need to get together – in the old saying 'Birds of a feather flock together' – seen the starling images when they fly off? I will put my idea for a name for you on this blog on Tuesday night after seven after you have had Easter to think about this idea. If the active amongst you haven't thought of better, I suggest that someone with the vitals grab it and run with it as I have suggested. I think a lot of us are into 'rolling up our sleeves and doing' – we've all heard, read, done enough talking, chewing the cud! Things have to be moved with people power or what we want won't happen at all, and machines will fill the slack with empty promises and hype that fools people into thinking the answer is going to come from the tech direction.
Saying 'There is no time like the present'!
I see that projections are for Auckland to inflate to 2 million from present 1.7m by early 2030s. Why wait till then, stacks on the mill, as the kids' game used to chant. An extra 1900 people a month appears somewhere in the item in Stuff p.12 Apr.1/21.
It was short and didn't have room to state guesses on when gridlock will be reached, or when police will start evicting people from favelas along motorways and under bridges. (They have already closed down a caravan park in the last decades because some criminals lived there.)
And will people in Auckland fund a charity hospital as they do in Christchurch for the large number of uncared for people? It may be that the Aucklanders will have no money left over after paying for their houses if they have managed to get their fingertips on one, and won a loan in the Australian bank's monthly lottery which they will probably set up soon.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124732205/new-population-projections-show-growing-upper-north-island-dominance-with-solid-showing-from-christchurch
I had a look at the on-line link incognito. It is really upsetting to read the way this article is slanted – that growth in population is automatically good, and the bigger the better. Despite a small mention of problems.
...The medium projection is considered suitable for assessing future population changes, and this week’s release contained the usual gloom about a higher proportion of older people and a declining percentage of children…
(Anyone who is aware knows that NZ is no longer a good place to bring up children as was once proclaimed. In fact it seems that the government finds them a burden with all their needs from start to adulthood. It's more efficient to bring in families from overseas where they have been educated at the family's expense or of that country.)
But beyond that, the cities of Hamilton and Tauranga – the other two hubs in the golden triangle – are expected to grow at the same rate as Auckland.
…By 2033, the projected population for the three regions is put at 2.93m – 51.7 per cent of the national total of 5.68m. For 2048, the figure is 3.32m – 53.4 per cent of the New Zealand population of 6.21m.
Further south, Christchurch, when combined with the adjacent districts where much of the area’s new housing is going – is thought likely to stay close to the leading bunch.
(Sounds like a racing commentary. Listen to Spike Jones' one – 'and Banana is coming through the bunch!').
Christchurch City had a 2018 population of 383,800, and on its own has an unspectacular annual growth projection of 0.6 per cent.
But the South Island’s main centre has a more robust look to it when the Waimakariri District – projected average annual growth 1 per cent – and Selwyn District -1.7 per cent – are added. Combined, the three territorial authorities had a population of 508,400 in 2018 – 10.4 per cent of the national total.
(Like a faster growing population makes a place More Robust! Weak minds repeating weak ideas here.)
And at the bottom, a message from Stuff: …'Why? Because with the pandemic situation constantly changing, it’s easy for misinformation and rumours to take hold. You can rely on Stuff’s journalists to question the decision-makers, interview experts, and use eyewitness reporting to answer your key questions with facts and context.'
It certainly is hard to keep on top of the tide of information, checking for tainted facts and what environment they arise from.
The Mayor announced some years after the quakes that she had a target of increasing (greater) Christchurch's population to one million within (if I recall correctly) 20 years……she never mentioned it again.
What a horrible projection. Now I understand the property investor who commented yesterday that the prices of houses would not be coming down (in fact not for the forseeable future, the changes in his opinion would only temporarily slow things). How depressing.
edit
The experiment of government central and local contracting business carry out its services should now draw to a close. It was an expensive one in the long term, and while it did lead to some improvements it appears that it cannot cope with the constant ramifications that arise in the fast-changing social and physical environment. While tied down to tight contracts and a business case that forces it to answer to shareholders requirements for profit, it cannot meet needs when presenting in reality which can multiply daily.
(Paragraph from a yet-to-be presented report from someone who has a bigger brain than the average bear.)
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=135195
70 NZ Bus Cancellations "Not Good Enough"
Opinion from Metlink
Passengers travelling on Metlink services operated by NZ Bus experienced almost 70 last-minute cancellations on Wednesday. Metlink General Manager Scott Gallacher said the recent service from NZ Bus simply wasn’t good enough.
The GOP's favourite Russian.
https://twitter.com/biannagolodryga/status/1377625929946701827
https://twitter.com/biannagolodryga/status/1377999658094628864
Oh do you mean the racist nationalist Alexey Navalny that Amnesty International dropped because of his known racist rhetoric…the Navalny who was funded by the US backed National Endowment for Democracy (a known funding route for the CIA) in his Russian election run?…(isn't that kind of like election interference? and here I was thinking you guys hated it when countries meddled in other peoples elections, guess you don't give a shit about that after all)
The US government and the Russian election
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/12/27/pers-d27.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyqAWCx-I38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgGzAKP_HuM
That was pretty good, thanks…reminded me of Samurai Jack (one of my favourite modern animated series).
Oh – you mean Putin is not nationalist? Or racist?
Lacking decades of exposure to a reforming activist base, Russia is as racist as it gets – hence the war of extermination in Chechnya.
To feed your own nonsense back at you: since Russia doesn't give a flying finangle about racism, and is cheerfully nationalist, shouldn't they love Navalny?
But Navalny has committed the unforgiveable crime of revealing the truth about Putin's republic of thieves – something RT will never do.
Have you no shame though, as a professed lefty, supporting this murderous kleptocrat? What would Putin have to do to disabuse you of your infatuation? He's already a genocide, an autocrat, a rigger of elections and a poisoner of political alternatives. Does he have to eat babies live onscreen, or would that too be America's fault?
FFS man "Oh – you mean Putin is not nationalist? Or racist?"…I know Putin is a probably a racist and is definitely a nationalist…but he is not the man that the west and you guys are spouting as some sort of Russian arch angle ready to free the Russian people from their evil overlord… maybe you should check out Putin's popularity stats in his own country once and while to get a grip on the reality over there…but I can tell you this for sure, any politician so obviously backed by the USA is never going to get any real in traction in Russia…sort of like your man Guaido in Venezuela.
If the Russians are ever going to break free from Putin, it will be from an organic rising from within Russia, supported by the Russian people…and not some Western backed Instagram sensation, that would be like you backing a politician in NZ that you knew was backed by Xi Jinping and funded by the MSS.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-rating-russia/
The funny thing is I never (or if so, rarely) saw any of you 'lefties' utter a murmur when an actual Left wing leader, Lula was outrageously imprisoned by an outright right wing authoritarian..in fact now I think about it, I don’t believe I have ever (or very rarely if so) seen any of you so called lefties show even the slightest sign of support for any actual Left Wing project around the world, or voice your concern when they are regularly threatened….
It really has become quite apparent to me over the previous few days, that you, Mcflock, Joe90, Al1en and a couple of others on TS are in fact, in your geopolitical beliefs (the ones you express on TS anyway) for want of a better description, are some sort of postmodern (liberal) imperialists. It was always obvious that you guys had some pretty seriously flawed world views, but when I saw recently, exactly how closely nearly all your geopolitical standpoints matched with the UK Conservative parties own positions…I guess the penny dropped…holy crap…I mean did you even realize yourself how far right you had drifted?
Quite – it's all our fault that Putin poisons people.
Look what we made him do.
easter holiday.
3 day ban from fb
hehehe
offended someone by telling them to shut up and that they were a male chauvinist pig.
snapchat that!
happy easter
in the meantime I am committing the music to red haired boy to memory. at slow speed it is like this scottish lament but brightens up when played fast. stroke of luck I have this country instrumental compilation by NASHVILLE session pickers with this tune and old joe clark on it. nifty stuff. And the music by Steve Carr on bluegrassguitar.com and dude you are swinging . yee hahhh
Apt analogy for today’s discussion topics.
https://youtu.be/P4NT1UUCZV4
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU
@ Eco Maori , thanks for that. I really love that Folkways stuff, have been collecting it for many years.,,haven't got that one though, strangely I haven't even seen it in NZ, and I have been a record collector since I was a young man….just found one on Ebay, going to fill that hole in my collection.
Great record too, listening to it now on youtube..thanks again.
Here is a good interview on the history of Folkways that might interest you…
'Worlds Of Sound' A Tribute To Folkways
"Sixty years ago, Moses Asch set out with the lofty ambition to record "all the sound of the world." He established Folkways Records — "the little label that could" — and in the decades that followed, Folkways recorded everything from folk singers, to jazz greats, to sounds of the natural world."
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96820123