Capitalists have claimed responsibility for America’s past economic success. Let’s begin by setting the record straight. American success had little to do with capitalism. This is not to say that the US would have had more success with something like Soviet central planning.
Prior to 1900 when the frontier was closed, America’s success was a multi-century long success based on the plunder of a pristine environment and abundant natural resources. Individuals and companies were capitalized simply by occupying the land and using the resources present.
As the population grew and resources were depleted, the per capita resource endowment declined.
America got a second wind from World War I, which devastated European powers and permitted the emergence of the US as a budding world power. World War II finished off Europe and put economic and financial supremacy in Washington’s hands. The US dollar seized the world reserve currency role from the British pound, enabling the US to pay its bills by printing money. The world currency role of the dollar, more than nuclear weapons, has been the source of American power. Russia has equal or greater nuclear weapons power, but it is the dollar not the ruble that is the currency in which international payments are settled.
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American success had little to do with capitalism. Then you contradict yourself: "World War II finished off Europe and put economic and financial supremacy in Washington’s hands. The US dollar seized the world reserve currency role from the British pound, enabling the US to pay its bills by printing money. The world currency role of the dollar, more than nuclear weapons, has been the source of American power."
Arguable that the nuclear threat empowers the superpower less than their capitalist system. I think the success of the USA post-WWII is due to both equally. Why did the rest of the world choose the US dollar as world currency? Tacit psychology. Trust that it works better as a medium of exchange than any other contender…
'For the men who would later be mythologised as the “Founding Fathers”, conquest – the right of white settlers to seize whatever land they wanted – was from the start inseparable from liberty. Freedom, in the American sense of the word, was unimaginable without the frontier, limitless land for the taking just beyond the boundaries of the known.'
Intriguing and good to see they are taking the initiative with the coalition. I'm hoping we'll get more than navel-gazing out of the conference. They failed to give me any reason to attend, so I figured I've got plenty of better things to do. Wish them well tho..
In corporate-speak, Human Resources. Struck me as a clever joke (unless it means something else). I was obliged to interact with one or two of the TVNZ HR drones in the '90s due to my somewhat-stroppy attitude. One needs to be able to finesse their attempts to file people into typical categories…
He's an Ed. But at least Ed did serve up some reason to post his links – this guy has so much contempt for readers of TS that he is incapable of conceiving such courtesy. I see it as a combination of Jungian projection with a variant of virtue-signalling. He assumes readers share his desire to promote whatever virtue he perceives in the links. Classic narcissism: the subject's interior world totally displaces the world we share…
Ah, thought it rang a bell in the back of my mind. I did watch that years ago & agree it was worth the time spent (even though I had long been familiar with the back story).
Google finds 22.3 million web pages if you search health effects of 5g. Bit of a groundswell, but ignore the rabble. You'll be ok.
“The radio wave band – used for mobile phone networks – is non-ionising, “which means it lacks sufficient energy to break apart DNA and cause cellular damage,” says David Robert Grimes, physicist and cancer researcher. Higher up the electromagnetic spectrum, well beyond those frequencies used by mobile phones, there are clear health risks from extended exposure.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48616174
The report does suggest a serious risk to male rats, so some of the more rabid kiwibloggers may get eliminated…
"Google finds 22.3 million web pages if you search health effects of 5g"
Is that all? I tried "Trump is an alien" and got 328 million. Nearly 15 times as many. Surely that must be interpreted as meaning there aren't any health effects from 5g if hardly anyone seems to care?
How to use Google 101: if you include the quotation marks you’ll get about 113,000 results. This is because you search for this exact word or phrase. Have you ever used the Advanced Search settings? Very handy!
Sure. I read comments in the back-end and they are in reverse order without the context of the discussion thread. In fact, I read the all comments of all posts lumped together in reverse chronological order. In between, I write the odd comment myself, occasionally, but mostly I keep an eye on things as moderator – the two are almost mutually exclusive, to me at least.
Jesus! I am amazed that you can make any sense of anything. I certainly don't think I would be able to do it.
I now see, on the other hand, how you can respond to comments so quickly. I found it a real pain when I couldn't find, easily, my own recent comments so that I could see if a response should be given. Getting that back is wonderful. I only have to find my own comments though.
You put the finger on the pain point, which is that I cannot make much sense of anything unless I concentrate really hard and pay much attention – very tiring if not exhausting to combine with a demanding life outside or alongside TS. The back-end works well for moderation but not for commenting (the editor is different too). I find myself spending a lot of time and energy here and not nearly enjoying it as much as I used to when I was merely commenting and joining in the conversations. The technical aspect is only one factor; the other issue that it is almost impossible to disentangle oneself from being a ‘player’ in a ‘game’ to become the ‘referee/umpire’ and make fair and neutral decisions to protect the ‘game’. Maybe I’m taking it all too seriously; it wouldn’t be the first time. One thing that helps though is that I am anonymous and that lowers the personal involvement; I can turn off the device and walk away from it without a lingeringemotional connection, which is much harder to do in real life, for me at least.
You have to thank Lynn, of course, for the search function and the smooth running of the site. You know that you can click on Replies on the RH side to see whether anybody has replied to one of your comments, don’t you? It does not work when threads get too long because the nesting of comments only goes so deep before the reply button disappears.
A lot of starnge stuff around about 5G . Because the spectrum they will use in US is high frequency it wont provide much performance away from cell sites.
this part of the Niwa incorrect claim as the bands will be FR2. Im surprised they failed to check even wikipedia over this
I understand other countries will be using lower frequencies including this 2.5Ghz band in NZ. ( known in the jargon as FR1)
Im not sure of this but one of the reasons for 5G faster downloads is the 'broader bands' used for reception
.Perhaps it's time for the left to start investing in this strategy, too. Or we kill facebook.
The lobbying firm run by Boris Johnson’s close ally Sir Lynton Crosby has secretly built a network of unbranded “news” pages on Facebook for dozens of clients ranging from the Saudi government to major polluters, a Guardian investigation has found.
In the most complete account yet of CTF Partners’ outlook and strategy, current and former employees of the campaign consultancy have painted a picture of a business that appears to have professionalised online disinformation, taken on a series of controversial clients and faced incidents of misogynistic bullying in its headquarters.
Facebook said it shut down 265 fake accounts run by an Israeli social media company on Thursday for engaging in “coordinated inauthentic behavior” as it sought to affect politics in African, Latin American and Southeast Asian nations.
The move, while underscoring the increasingly global nature of social media disinformation campaigns, was unusual for singling out a company that appeared to profit from its publicized work to spread falsehoods online. Archimedes Group, the Israeli company, claims the ability to “use every tool and take every advantage available in order to change reality according to our client’s wishes.”
A pair of Toronto city councillors hired a scrappy political strategist to wage a multi-front PR campaign after CBC News ran stories examining their ties to local developers, with one of the councillors privately making threatening comments about a CBC reporter and compiling a "research" dossier on him and political foes, according to allegations in a lawsuit.
[…]
The PR campaign was to include complaints to CBC about its reporting, slipping "pertinent information" to competing media, arranging for letters to the editor to be signed by the councillors' friends and relatives, and the creation of "myriad" websites and social media accounts promoting the politicians and their message and attacking a past electoral rival.
Collins? Bennett? Mitchell? Luxton? Is the intersection of 'Bridges and his potential replacements' with 'people having a high level of personal integrity' an empty set?
This morning on Radionz (great piece on new discovery about treatment of one type of cancer) that the Malaghan Institute was founded by the owner of Tip Top (died 1967 of Hodgkin's disease).
The concept of a Wellington-based, independent medical research institute was first proposed in the early 1960s. At that time, relatively little medical research was carried out in New Zealand due to a lack of facilities and support by hospital boards.
Using funds from a trust established by the Wellington Medical Research Foundation and the Wellington Division of the Cancer Society, the Wellington Cancer and Medical Research Institute was opened on 26 July 1979, in rented premises in the Wellington School of Medicine.
In 1986, the name of the Institute was changed to the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in recognition of the generous support by Len and Ann Malaghan. Two decades later, the Institute relocated to a purpose-built facility at Victoria University of Wellington.
History. In 1936 Albert Hayman and Len Malaghan opened their first ice cream parlour in Manners Street, Wellington, New Zealand followed in the same year by a second milk bar in Wellington, and one in Dunedin. Tip Top Ice Cream Company was registered as a manufacturing company in 1936…
In November 1962, Hayman and Malaghan opened the biggest and most technically advanced ice cream factory in the Southern Hemisphere, built at Mount Wellington, Auckland, New Zealand. The Tip Top factory included staff houses and 20 acres (81,000 m2) of farm land overlooking the Southern Motorway and cost NZ$700,000. Prime Minister Keith Holyoake attended the opening ceremony.
By 1964 the Company had expanded to such an extent that a parent company was formed, General Foods Corporation (NZ) Limited. It was rated as one of the soundest investments on the stock exchange and other companies were quick to note its potential.
In this link it shows how Tip Top changed hands six times from 1968 when Watties acquired control to the 2001 'mega-merger'.
June 2001 – The 'mega-merger' of Kiwi, NZ Co-op Dairy Co. and the NZ Dairy Board formed a huge new dairy company, Fonterra. Fonterra inherited the ice cream businesses and brands; Tip Top, New American and Peters (WA and NZ).
2019 Fonterra sold Tip Top to Froneri (the pureplay ice cream company.. I just love these terms that business invent.)
FRONERI is a global pureplay ice cream company. Froneri is widely diversified across the world, operating in 20 countries. Froneri offers the full suite of ice cream products, from dairy ice cream to water ice, sorbet and organic ice cream, and from tubs to sticks to cones to name a few.
We need to develop a co-operative system as they have in Spain – the Mondragon group. We are concentrating on making things for export and we have to pay world prices for things made or grown here. To strengthn the country we have to have a domestic market that prices for the domestic market and it seems to me the only way we will get that is starting a NZ co-operative belonging to NZs who look to buy product from the organisation, and possibly work in it. If we don't divorce ourselves from the wealthy and self-interested, we will continue to see our living standards decline – we will be forced to live simply because of a desire by the wealthy to refuse equality to the population inparticipating in the country's economy, and its jobs and wages, and distribution of the proceeds of trading and taxation in a fair manner.
Business has no long-term commitment to this country and growing our own strengths at all. The present system has enabled this white-anting of our enterprise and resources. Yet look at who are in the top wealth bracket in the world, the people who have worked as family, and kept hold of their stuff.
This morning Luxon of AirNZ commented on how costly it has been to get a presence in Argentina, an awareness of the country and the company. He mentioned being confused with shoe polish and some other product.
This is the result of a lack of prowess by NZ business leaders and politicians. When we lost our Kiwi name to the Kiwi polish we should have then bought it back and patented it, but no too timid and short-sighted. Perhaps we could wait for the crash and then leap out and buy our name for peanuts. Those who play the share market know you can get great leverage then.
From local Tip Top Ice Cream we have a valuable research institute looking into cancer, the Malaghan Institute. What of lasting benefit to the country's social infrastructure do we get from the baby boomers?
Corruption free government? Try that line with the householders ripped off by EQC and its subsidiaries. Look closely at any privatization of public assets and you'll find corruption, not service improvement is the driver. Prior to Rogergnomics we had low corruption, now the Panama Papers is the operating norm.
Yet you'd go to prison for many of the commonplaces of NZ corruption in some administrations – the insider trading Key performed with NZRail shares, the misappropriation of Hubbard's wealth, the theft of public assets like the electricity infrastructure and private ones like the fisheries quota management system. The revolving doors between former ministers and well paid sinecures, gross instances of graft like the appointment of unqualified directors like Jenny Shipley to the NZ funded Asian Infrastructure Bank, and the systematic and deliberate non-enforcement of immigration rules on unskilled labour and so forth.
NZ really has no cause to boast of its corruption status anymore, in fact it's due for a clean out.
Every one of your list is cracked Ad. They have been attempts to meet the standards of a modern first world society, yes. But there are huge numbers of people who are in poverty, no decent housing, no reliable jobs to look forward to with two days off in the weekend if they want them to be with family, join in community; this means that the benefits above arise from having reduced the benefits to those who have been designated unworthy. That is what the baby boomers have passed on to the young ones today, the degraded society that the early colonials sailed here to rise above, and the treatment that was meted out in the early 30's in Germany to those designated as unsuitable citizens.
Corruption-free government? You have to be joking. Ok, not as bad as many other countries but to say we are corruption free is ludicrous. I witnessed a few things during my many years in the Public Service and others will have too. For obvious reasons I cannot elaborate.
Well regulated and functioning society? It might have started off that way but in the past 30 years it has gone downhill.
Robertson and Ardern and company have yet to make their mark. Eighteen months in power is not long enough to produce anything concrete and permanent.
Corruption free compared to any other country on earth. Us and Denmark.
Boomers formed a well regulated society.
There's no pity in politics. Ardern and Robertson have got 8 more months before it all goes on the line again, and everyone can see they're dodging most of the hard stuff.
I vividly recall the Winebox years. By dint of a former association with a person who was close to the main culprits, I picked up on the nature of the dirty practices before it became generally known. I think I read every book and article written about the era and the level of corruption was mind boggling – at least for a country which had previously been free from such practices.
That the culprits (all filthy rich and powerful) were never prosecuted is an indictment on the establishment (including the police) of this country. Given the perpetrators stole millions of NZ taxpayers’ money that response in itself was worthy of an investigation.
And the huge irony… some of those involved were instrumental in setting up the "Association of Consumers and Tax Payers" – the ACT Party.
I consider that period set the scene for the introduction of the often corrupt practices that exist today (look at some of the antics of the previous Key government) and which are now accepted by many as normal.
As far as Ardern and Robertson are concerned… I agree they must have something solid to present to the public by the end of next year, but I'm optimistic it will happen even if their efforts are still in the process of being fully realised.
Rainy day, but a well spent hour watching The Great Hack on Netflix. Highly recommended.
It's quite clear from this outstanding doco that the deluge of anti-Hillary and pro-Brexit content sent out to groups of voters, based on the data mining (conducted primarily from Facebook) by Cambridge Analytica was the prime reason for the Trump and Brexit result. Not to mention the practise runs in a large number of other minor countries in the lead up.
Noam Chomksy et al would be correct in saying that any Russian 'meddling' would be inconsequential compared to that.
I've only watched the first 20 or so minutes. Did the Trump team hire in Google and FB staff to help them with that? There was a bit about where the Google/FB people sat in the room, but it wasn't explained in depth in that part.
The "Black lives matter" stuff was amazing, a way to divide the country. It made me think of the ChCh terror attack and how his intention was to divide and stir shit, it made me think Adern really did an amazing job of shutting that down compared to what went on in the U.S.
I don't think there was direct collusion between political candidates/parties but there was between parties and Cambridge Analytica (and it's parent company SCL*). It's well worth watching the full doco.
*SCL’s involvement in the political world has been primarily in the developing world where it has been used by the military and politicians to study and manipulate public opinion and political will. It uses what have been called “psy ops” to provide insight into the thinking of the target audience. SCL claimed to be able to help foment coups. According to its website, SCL has influenced elections in Italy, Latvia, Ukraine, Albania, Romania, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritius, India, Indonesia, The Philippines,Thailand, Taiwan, Colombia, Antigua, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Kitts & Nevis, and Trinidad & Tobago.vWhile the company initially got involved in elections in the United Kingdom, it ceased to do so after 1997 because staff members did not exhibit the same "aloof sensibility" as with projects abroad.SCL claims that its methodology has been approved or endorsed by agencies of the Government of the United Kingdom and the Federal government of the United States, among others.
The ‘black lives’ comments were interesting, but not really election related. The targeting of derogatory Clinton adverts to certain Facebook groups as a consequence of the data mining would rate as very directly affecting the election.
Condolences to Sir Brian Lachore whanau he was a awesome ambassador for Rugby and Aotearoa he was A True Kiwi humble but hard .
Its good for Wahine who want a abortion to get one without breaking the law that is stupid that being a criminal offense. Its Its their BODY Thanks to our Coalition Governments for putting up the new law to be voted on by our MPs .
A big heavy Snow Storm in the South Island of Aotearoa Te wai pounamu the tamariki and skiers will be happy the farmers not so happy .
12 new Radiation machines to help detect cancer earlier its good to detect cancer quickly to cure it and keep cancer at bay.
Jamie Shaw is a awesome Green Party Co leader like Marama .Ka kite ano
There is a reason Im not commenting on Ihumatao WHY because the police will try and blame some of the issues with the larger numbers of Tangata whenua being there on Eco Maori. What are they touting guns there for its a peaceful protest are they trying to stir up tangata whenua emotion.
More Ports on Waihike Island we need to protect our sea shore and sea environments.
Ka pai to our tangata whenua contemporary Artist the theme is the effects of colonialism I agree about it being oppressive and bad for the native people. I our tamariki mana will get the changes needed for JUSTICE.
I ,,, Eco Maori will go to Anglican Church for prayer I love it that the Church includes tangata whenua cultural as part of its Cultural ka pai.
Herds Eco Maori tau toko Herbs Im just to distract to have time to scan good Aotearoa Music and Musicians it will be a awesome Movie I will definitely watch it
Ka kite ano
P.S they thought I was bluffing yesterday Yea right
Wellington has the fittest people in Aotearoa that's cool.
What did national do to improve the treatment of cancer not very much actually .Not a problem for them they would all get private treatment if they had signs of cancer of cancer or any other ailment.
I agree with Doctor Jackson strong central leadership like you say the DHB act as individuals and not a collective they worry about their budgets so they put off buying expensive equipment.
Duncan David doesn't have a magical tool to make changes to OUR Health system happen over night Papatuanuku was not built in a day.
Snow on the beach in down South Island it is cooler in Hawksbay to .This extreme shifting in the weather dosen't go against Global Warming these events confirme Our Scientists predictions of the effects of Human Caused Climate Change.
Lydia rise in the Golfing Papatuanuku helped lift the profile of Wahine golf Papatuanuku wide she lifted a lot of young Wahine golfers as well Kia kaha lydia.
The Greens should not team up with national became they would just stuff them up like they did to the Maori Party
Its quite cold here in Eskmount we had a light dusting of Snow this morning.
Its good making that statement about abortion but it will be better when the law is changed.
People are using the Christchurch disaster as a excuses for people in power playing the racist CARD to bolster their public RATINGS with out no though about the people WHO are affected by their BULLSHIT words
Its was not good behavior of a middle aged man who rammed the young guys cars .
Don't worry Jacinda will find a solution to Ihumatao Whanau.
Abortion should be treated as a health issue it would be a very hard situation to deal with for Wahine when they could have other issues around their pregnancy its their BODYs.
Tama Iti is correct heaps of there whenua was taken by the crown the art work will become very valuable ma te wa.
The largest tukutuku panel in Papatuanuku is being conducted they are Tangata whenua O Aotearoa Tai taiwhiti ka pai
Yoga gurus and cult leaders – I’ve seen a few. Two weeks ago, I unknowingly joined an alleged new-age cult at the Kāpiti coast, together with a giant kraken and some neatly dressed pensioners who would make any book club proud.They were among the two hundred people of all ages ...
The last decade has seen a trend of increasing weapons availability to police. Assault rifles. Tasers on every hip. Guns in cars. And following the march 15 massacre, pistols on every hip, all over the country. At the same time, its also seen an increase in the abuse of force: ...
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been busy preparing for our summer paper on Science Communication. Looking for something amusing about ‘risk’ in science, I came across this neat xkcd.com cartoon about why so many people come knocking on my door (or phoning me, or emailing me) desperately wanting ...
by John Edmundson The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) have recently reposted a February article, by Romany Tasker-Poland, explaining ISO’s position in the “trans rights” debate. It is available on their website and on their Facebook Page. The article sets out to explain why “socialists support trans rights”. It reads more ...
"Auckland City Mission: 10% of Kiwis experiencing food insecurity", RNZ, 16 October 2019:About half a million people are experiencing food insecurity, according to new research from the Auckland City Mission. Food insecurity, or food poverty, is defined as not having enough appropriate food. The City Mission said over the last ...
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...
Would You Buy A Used Propaganda Video From This Man? Bridges and the National Party’s strategists have discovered that the ideas and attitudes considered acceptable by today’s editors and journalists are no longer enforceable. The rise and rise of the Internet and the social media platforms it spawned means that ...
There is plenty of evidence of the way the business mentality has permeated every level of society since the recrudescence of market liberalism 35 years ago. You only need to think of how citizens in need of help from their government, their state, their country, are now routinely described as ...
John MacCormickOver the last 40 years, New Zealanders – and people in other countries – have experienced big changes in the jobs they do and where they live and work. These changes include: a decline in manufacturing jobs an increase in jobs in ‘information-intensive’ industries (which are better paid ...
Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Mereana Wilson, Anja Mizdrak, Phil Shoemack, Michael BakerProtecting waterways has the benefits of: (1) protecting water from hazardous microbes; (2) minimising cancer risk and other problems from nitrates in water; (3) avoiding algal blooms that are hazardous to health; (4) protecting mahinga kai uses (cultural ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In a press release today Massey University announced it has decided to rebrand and reorientate after struggling to be a University for grown-ups. For some time the University has wanted to be a safe play space for wee-woke-misogynists who have been really badly triggered ...
After a brief dalliance with 'hard Revoke' it looks like the Lib Dems are changing ground on on Brexit, with leader Jo Swinson reverting to calling for a second referendum on Johnson's deal.The party has tabled an amendment to the Queen’s speech requesting that any deal brought back from Brussels ...
The government has decided that someone has done Something Bad. But despite their belief, there seems to be no evidence that they have actually broken the law. So the government's solution is to pass a retrospective law allowing them to be punished anyway, on a lower standard of proof. If ...
So, Judith Collins has done a Facebook rant about climate change, peddling the same shit National has been shovelling for the past twenty years: the impacts are overstated, there's no need to do anything about it, and its too hard anyway (oh, and its so unfair that people who peddle ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThere is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...
I came across this song quite by accident. If it isn't one of Greta Thunberg's favourites - it should be.Video courtesy of YouTube.This post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
Last month, NZDF's shoddy coverup of what it knew about civilian casualties in Operation Burnham began to fall apart, with the revelation that a report on the matter, which NZDF claimed not to have, had been sitting in an NZDF safe for the past nine years. Yesterday, the man responsible ...
While many imagine that countries like the USA and Europe dominate space activities, in fact India is now a major player on this stage. It launches satellites for its own purposes and also commercially, and has constellations orbiting our planet and returning data of vital importance to that nation in ...
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...
An essay by Judith Collins MP reported on Carbon News yesterday seems to show an alarming shift in attitude within the National Party. Collins argues against the Zero Carbon Bill, the Paris Agreement, and downplays the magnitude of climate impacts. The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and ratified ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
Nothing Left To Say: Labour's pollster, Stephen Mills, remains swaddled-up in the comforting myths of the 1980s. As if the experience of Roger Douglas’s genuinely radical post-Muldoon policy agenda was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing – as much as the party could possibly absorb for at least the next 50 years.MEMO ...
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...
With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
How could government evolve over the next decades? Reports of democracy’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. However, satisfaction with political systems in many countries is low, so there is much to do for governments of all political stripes to improve relevance and trust. Digital technologies are seen as one ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand has prided itself for decades with regard to its lack of pollution, and all will be aware that the ‘100% Pure New Zealand‘ meme is under threat through land, water and air pollution of various causes. There is another type of contamination that the country also faces: light ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy do people still think climate change isn’t real?David ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
What is language? We generally assume that it a facility unique to humans, allowing us to share what’s in and on our minds. We can tell of our plans, our past exploits, our knowledge. It also allows us to lie. And yet there are vast numbers of people we can’t ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
The Government today announced its support for a project that could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. The announcement was made as part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s visit to Nelson’s Cawthron Aquaculture Park. The Cawthron Institute will receive $100,000 from the Government’s ...
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Legislation Amendment Bill. “Every New Zealander has a stake in New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension,” says Carmel Sepuloni. “They are our most common form of social assistance – nearly 800,000 New ...
Babies in Auckland aged six months and over can receive a free vaccination and children will all have access to vaccines, Associate Minister of Health Julie Anne Genter announced today at Papatoetoe High School. The move comes as part of Government efforts to step up the fight against measles. ...
***Check against delivery*** Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here, and to have the honour of opening this important conference on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. Let us take the opportunity to acknowledge all the people who have helped make today possible, including our special ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash says the safety of frontline officers and members of the public will be the focus of a new trial of specialist Police response teams in three of our largest urban centres. Police have this morning released details of an initiative to be trialled in Counties Manukau, ...
The Minister of Fisheries is calling for entries for a new public award to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector. “I have established the Seafood Sustainability Awards to recognise and celebrate those throughout industry, tangata whenua and communities who demonstrate outstanding dedication and innovation towards the sustainability of New Zealand’s ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter welcomes leaders in the private sector taking action on closing their gender pay gaps to ensure a fairer workplace for all New Zealanders. Ms Genter today launched a new report, Addressing the gender pay gap and driving women’s representation in senior leadership, from the Champions for ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Recently the Health Promotion Agency released a report into hazardous drinking in New Zealand. The report shows that Māori who drink alcohol and live in deprived circumstances are less likely to have a harmful relationship with alcohol if they ...
Turkey-US joint-statement on military ops within Syria’s territory.The Turkish Embassy in New Zealand issued Evening Report this unabridged United States of America-Republic of Turkey joint-statement detailing what both sides agreed to regarding Turkey’s military operations within the so-called security zone within Syrian territory near Turkey’s southern border. It is ...
Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash didn’t mention what winners will receive, when he proudly called for entries for a new public award “to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector”. Nor did he mention the cost to taxpayers of this initiative. Point of Order’s checks with the website where more details have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona R Martin, Senior Lecturer in Convergent and Online Media, University of Sydney One of the basic tenets of the ABC Act is independence from government. Yet once again, in contravention to that principle, the federal government is trying to push through ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Lily Holloway.modernity to globalisationwhen I get there as still life and landscape and also portraitureseeking the cacti in small pots who dot the globeslices of pie offer up the vision after the sermonexpressing emotions without coherent narrative supportbecause no artist responded to this callemploying ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi to rule out any taxpayer-funded purchase or bailout for Mediaworks’s channel Three. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “For the last few months Mediaworks ...
The Police Commissioner's announcement that squadcars of officers with automatic rifles will patrol New Zealand's streets is dangerous and unnecessary, according to the criminal justice community organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. The ...
News broke this morning that Mediaworks is seeking to sell off, and even contemplating closing, its TV division. What might that mean for journalism?For journalism in New Zealand, the loss of Three’s TV division is a devastating blow. It is not yet known whether any of the news properties will ...
In our defence of our coalition Government policy on climate change, we fully support Government plan to use rail funding for rail infrastructure upgrades to promote use rail infrastructure for freight around NZ. ...
The billions of tonnes of plastic in our oceans isn’t going away any time soon, but innovative companies here and abroad are working together to find silver linings to this daunting problem.Fishing boats head out to sea and set their nets. They go back to shore. They head back out, ...
An EveningReport.nz investigation by Kevin ListKiwibank services. Image by Kevin List.Evening Report looks into the separation of Kiwibank from New Zealand Post, and considers the impact on the public’s access to banking services in their communities.Kiwibank. What’s going on? Kiwibank and New Zealand Post are in the ...
Local Government New Zealand today confirmed what many local election commentators have observed; that more of the voting public cast their ballots in favour of women candidates than ever before. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington (this week we totted up the data a day early, on Wednesday, to let our books ed. ...
New Zealand's mineral manufacturing sector is expected to face some testing times, with softer prices, tighter margins and sluggish export markets. ...
Portugal has been painted by pro-cannabis legalisation groups as a model to follow. Yet just last month, the mayor of Porto contradicted his previous pro-harm reduction position and endorsed reintroducing criminal penalties for drug use in public spaces. ...
Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short announced today the inclusion of six Cook Island First World War soldiers in the New Zealand and Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s official rolls of honour. ...
The latest statistics released by the Health Promotion Agency showing a dramatic fall in the numbers of cigarettes being sold in supermarkets, service stations, and liquor stores are being welcomed by the Vaping Trade Association of New Zealand (VTANZ). ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Where to from here? How NZ First will win in ...
Aotearoa Climate Emergency (ACE), a climate change network, will host a conference in Wellington on 11 November (Armistice Day) to promote holding a Citizens Assembly in 2020, as a way of breaking the current political deadlock on treating climate ...
MediaWorks’ owners have called time after years of losses from its TV division. Sources say the company will announce it is for sale – if no buyers emerge, it will close within months.Three is facing the biggest crisis in its three decade history today, as its ownership will soon announce ...
Sam Brooks reviews Amazon Prime’s Modern Love, an anthology series based on the New York Times column dedicated to ‘love in all its forms’. A first date that ends up in the emergency room. A flagging marriage that finds new energy through tennis. The founder of a dating app who doesn’t ...
If we want to grow support for New Zealand’s aid, we need to get better at partnering with the ‘unlike-minded’ as well as the ‘like-minded’, and much better at telling people what we do with the money they give, says Josie Pagani, Executive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Orsola De Marco, Astrophysicist , Macquarie University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How are stars made? –Zali, age 8, Karkoo, South Australia. How are stars made? Well, stars are not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gita Mishra, Professor of Life Course Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland All women know to expect the time in life when their periods finish and they reach menopause. Many might even look forward to it. What many women don’t ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul McGreevy, Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science, University of Sydney Since ancient times, horse behaviour, and the bond between horses and humans, has been a source of intrigue and fascination. The horse-lore that has accumulated over the centuries is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Wallis, Lecturer and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Southern Queensland A move to the country is often presented in popular culture as an idyllic life, a place where you can escape the pressures of the city. It’s in television shows such ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW The just-announced inquiry into Australia’s retirement income system ought to be anything but run-of-the-mill. Taking place 25 years after the introduction of compulsory superannuation, it provides an opportunity to either fix a broken system, or discard ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allan McCay, Law Lecturer, University of Sydney The rise of artificial intelligence has led to widespread concern about the role of humans in the workplaces of the future. Indeed, Israeli historian, futurist and publishing sensation Yuval Noah Harari warns in his most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Saunders, Phd candidate, University of Wollongong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images and names of deceased people. You leave Sydney and head for holidays on the South Coast. You plan to catch a quick surf, ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Clayton Mitchell denies accusations around a night out, food insecurity on the rise, and UK PM Boris Johnson secures deal with dubious prospects.NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell has got himself in a spot of late night bother in a Tauranga ...
As the rugby world wrestles with the new reality that players can, and will, be dismissed for accidental contact with an opponent’s head it's worth pondering the fate of three All Blacks not selected for the Ireland quarterfinal. ...
A new exhibition in Raetihi offers a rare opportunity to see early, colonialism-focused works by Wellington artist Barbara Strathdee, writes Pat Baskett. ...
Italy's Ambassador to New Zealand Fabrizio Marcelli responds to Newsroom stories - and The Detail podcasts - questioning the price of imported tinned tomatoes in light of reports of slave labour in the industry in his home country. ...
A measles outbreak in Samoa suspected to be responsible for the death of a one-year-old was “inevitable”, according to an expert who thinks NZ could have prevented it. ...
The big shock of the results in the weekend’s local elections was the unseating of Justin Lester as Wellington mayor. We invited him to pen a sort-of-valedictory.My three years as the mayor of Wellington ended on Sunday and I will forever remain grateful for the experience.I’m also acutely aware of ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Alex Braae reviews a night spent on the Intercity overnight sleeper bus getting from Wellington to Auckland.The most important thing to understand about long haul bus travel is that it’s all about getting exactly ...
Britain and the EU have agreed new terms for divorce. But with the Conservatives’ Northern Irish support party unimpressed, can the British prime minister at last put an end to the interminable shitstorm?At last, a deal! A palpable deal! A path out of the endless brain-melt!“Where there is a will, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...
The proposition that global warming driven by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a risk that needs to be dealt with has achieved a large measure of agreement among policymakers. The proposition that it has to be dealt with right now and at great cost has no such consensus.One point ...
A bill to improve the pastoral care of students living in halls of residence has flown through its first reading in Parliament, thanks to cross-party support. ...
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...
Twenty-five young people who represent the future of the Asia-New Zealand relationship have been acknowledged as ‘ones to watch’, by the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono. ...
The taboo that surrounds immigration and our refugee qouta, are two issues rising in New Zealand that need to start being given attention to challenge the fruit loops of the far left. ...
Winston Peters has been ordered to answer questions about whether he received a letter from MSD asking him to check details of his living arrangements, three years before discovering he'd been overpaid. ...
To celebrate 10 years since the start of New Zealand’s Next Top Model, our reality TV podcast The Real Pod is going to recap it week by week. Here are 10 of the most incredible revelations from the very first episode. 1) Colin Mathura-Jeffree was an emo kidThis was the moment ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Terrorism bill Lydia Lewis and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Security expert backs new terror law proposal ...
Occupiers of the disputed land at Ihumātao have been shut out of talks with the government about finding a resolution, saying they haven’t had any direct contact with ministers in more than a month, writes RNZ‘s Te Aniwa Hurihanganu and Meriana Johnsen.The Māori King announced in September mana whenua had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Fancourt, Adjunct Research Fellow, University of New England Feral cats are wreaking havoc on our native wildlife, eating more than a billion animals across Australia every year. But managing feral cats and reducing their impacts on our threatened species is challenging, ...
Later this month, the national commemoration of the New Zealand Wars, known as Te Pūtake o Te Riri, is to be held in Taranaki. Local community activist Vivian Hutchinson looks at how a history of conflict has shaped our sense of citizenship and describes how some people in Taranaki are ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jerry Zhou, Lecturer, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.Does chewing gum stay inside you for years? – Olivia, aged 12, Australia. Great question, Olivia! ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Elphick, Adjunct Research Fellow, Law School, University of Western Australia In March last year, Frances McDormand won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In her acceptance speech, she drew attention to the female nominees in the room and left them with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peggy Kern, Associate professor, University of Melbourne The Portal follows six individuals who undergo a personal transformation from trauma and struggle to calmness, self-acceptance, and compassion towards others. These personal changes are intertwined with contemplations about the broader struggles facing humanity and ...
Many hill country farmers could be locked into low-return agriculture by government policy, with little chance of breaking the cycle, according to the main meat producers' lobby, Beef + Lamb New Zealand. ...
The Southern DHB has apologised and pledged to change practices after a report into a young woman’s complaint about treatment which included being stripped naked and left unattended in seclusion for 12 hours. Here she tells her story.I’d forgotten the Health and Disability Commission was about to publish its report. ...
In the Chief Ombudsman’s latest Annual Report, contacts for advice increased 29 percent, while more use was being made of guidance material, including the 23 new or updated guides that were published in the 2018/19 year. ...
Fletcher's new offsite home manufacturing facility could be producing two homes a day within a couple of years. But for the moment this high-tech factory is underwhelming. ...
Open mike 03/08/2019 
Yoga gurus and cult leaders – I’ve seen a few. Two weeks ago, I unknowingly joined an alleged new-age cult at the Kāpiti coast, together with a giant kraken and some neatly dressed pensioners who would make any book club proud.They were among the two hundred people of all ages ...2 hours ago
The last decade has seen a trend of increasing weapons availability to police. Assault rifles. Tasers on every hip. Guns in cars. And following the march 15 massacre, pistols on every hip, all over the country. At the same time, its also seen an increase in the abuse of force: ...2 hours ago
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been busy preparing for our summer paper on Science Communication. Looking for something amusing about ‘risk’ in science, I came across this neat xkcd.com cartoon about why so many people come knocking on my door (or phoning me, or emailing me) desperately wanting ...6 hours ago
Jo Swinson is doing even worse at this Being Sensible lark that I'd thought. I've just become aware of the following utterance
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...1 day ago
Would You Buy A Used Propaganda Video From This Man? Bridges and the National Party’s strategists have discovered that the ideas and attitudes considered acceptable by today’s editors and journalists are no longer enforceable. The rise and rise of the Internet and the social media platforms it spawned means that ...1 day ago
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz There is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...2 days ago
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...3 days ago
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...3 days ago
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...7 days ago
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...2 days ago
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...3 days ago
The Government today announced its support for a project that could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. The announcement was made as part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s visit to Nelson’s Cawthron Aquaculture Park. The Cawthron Institute will receive $100,000 from the Government’s ...28 mins ago
Recently the Health Promotion Agency released a report into hazardous drinking in New Zealand. The report shows that Māori who drink alcohol and live in deprived circumstances are less likely to have a harmful relationship with alcohol if they ...31 mins ago
A new poem by Auckland poet Lily Holloway.modernity to globalisationwhen I get there as still life and landscape and also portraitureseeking the cacti in small pots who dot the globeslices of pie offer up the vision after the sermonexpressing emotions without coherent narrative supportbecause no artist responded to this callemploying ...59 mins ago
Politicians come crawling back after the holidays to repair some 'bad optics'. James Elliott pulls no punches in his news of the week. ...3 hours ago
New Zealand's mineral manufacturing sector is expected to face some testing times, with softer prices, tighter margins and sluggish export markets. ...3 hours ago
Power Play - It's not you Jacinda, it's me, Winston. Will the coalition government break up before the next election? Jo Moir asks. ...4 hours ago
Environmental groups are urging the government to crack down on commercial industries whose activities are harming the marine environment. ...4 hours ago
Struggling media company MediaWorks is putting its TV business Three on the sale block, after axing and scaling back shows. ...5 hours ago
As the rugby world wrestles with the new reality that players can, and will, be dismissed for accidental contact with an opponent’s head it's worth pondering the fate of three All Blacks not selected for the Ireland quarterfinal. ...9 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling NZ books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan NZ bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias. ...9 hours ago
A new exhibition in Raetihi offers a rare opportunity to see early, colonialism-focused works by Wellington artist Barbara Strathdee, writes Pat Baskett. ...9 hours ago
Italy's Ambassador to New Zealand Fabrizio Marcelli responds to Newsroom stories - and The Detail podcasts - questioning the price of imported tinned tomatoes in light of reports of slave labour in the industry in his home country. ...9 hours ago
A measles outbreak in Samoa suspected to be responsible for the death of a one-year-old was “inevitable”, according to an expert who thinks NZ could have prevented it. ...9 hours ago
Plans for Facebook’s proposed “stablecoin”, Libra, appear to be unraveling as awareness about its adverse effects grows. ...9 hours ago
Explosives were used to blast a millions-of-years-old rock overhang in a national park. ...9 hours ago
Medical issues, party leaks and a surprise resignation have taken their toll - but Winston Peters argues his party is as strong as ever. ...9 hours ago
What's different about what Donald Trump did this time to finally snap Democrats into action and launch an impeachment inquiry? ...10 hours ago
Former MediaWorks news chief and Newsroom co-editor Mark Jennings looks at who or what might save Three now it has been put on the block. ...15 hours ago
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...18 hours ago
Judith Collins is filling the blackhole that is National’s climate policy with social media posts appealing to science deniers. ...19 hours ago
A Tom Sainsbury snapchat celebrating the genius of Dan Brown. ...24 hours ago
Many hill country farmers could be locked into low-return agriculture by government policy, with little chance of breaking the cycle, according to the main meat producers' lobby, Beef + Lamb New Zealand. ...1 day ago
Sky Television's shareholders have approved its deal to retain the Sanzaar rugby rights for an undisclosed sum, making it unconditional. ...1 day ago
Fletcher's new offsite home manufacturing facility could be producing two homes a day within a couple of years. But for the moment this high-tech factory is underwhelming. ...1 day ago
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2019/08/01/americas-collapse-2-in-a-series/
[Added quote marks. When quoting text verbatim you must include quote marks and a link and preferably an acknowledgment too. Similarly, when posting video clips you must include a reason and/or explanation what it is about and why they should watch it. You have warned before, e.g. /open-mike-28-06-2019/#comment-1632321, and this is your final warning before you go the same way as another commenter here who used to do similar things and who continued to do so after repeated warnings. To spell it out for you: you are inching closer to a permanent ban – Incognito]
American success had little to do with capitalism. Then you contradict yourself: "World War II finished off Europe and put economic and financial supremacy in Washington’s hands. The US dollar seized the world reserve currency role from the British pound, enabling the US to pay its bills by printing money. The world currency role of the dollar, more than nuclear weapons, has been the source of American power."
Arguable that the nuclear threat empowers the superpower less than their capitalist system. I think the success of the USA post-WWII is due to both equally. Why did the rest of the world choose the US dollar as world currency? Tacit psychology. Trust that it works better as a medium of exchange than any other contender…
Why no quote marks? The text is a straight rip from the link.
See my Moderation note @ 7:10 AM.
This interesting book review from yesterday; standing further back from history can widen the field of vision. Of course the guy in the white house wants to go to Mars:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/31/the-end-of-the-myth-by-greg-grandin-review
'For the men who would later be mythologised as the “Founding Fathers”, conquest – the right of white settlers to seize whatever land they wanted – was from the start inseparable from liberty. Freedom, in the American sense of the word, was unimaginable without the frontier, limitless land for the taking just beyond the boundaries of the known.'
Climate Scientist Jason Box: “Our Economic System Is Crashing With Reality”
The Greens annual conference and AGM is being held this weekend. A Stuff reporter gets the gist from our co-leaders:
"The sinking of the Government's flagship KiwiBuild policy may also hold a silver lining for the Greens and its housing goal. The agreement lists a rent to own scheme or similar progressive ownership model to be developed and now KiwiBuild is being "reset" this could be a good opportunity. It is understood the Greens and Housing Minister Megan Woods are currently talking about this." https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/114721355/green-party-coleaders-set-to-tell-members-we-want-to-do-more-with-housing-inequality-and-climate-change
Intriguing and good to see they are taking the initiative with the coalition. I'm hoping we'll get more than navel-gazing out of the conference. They failed to give me any reason to attend, so I figured I've got plenty of better things to do. Wish them well tho..
I'm fairly sure the failure is on your part.
Could be. Expecting more from them than I'm getting. If you're going, how about giving us a report of your impressions, when you get back.
The whole ownership thing is dumb. Focus on decent rentals priced to undercut private landlords.
Four Horsemen – Feature Documentary – Official Version
That’s 1:38:53 long; what is it about and why is it worth watching?
That is a meaningless non-self-explanatory caption.
The third horseman was from HR.
https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=nasb:Revelation.6:5%E2%80%936:6
HR? Some people might not know.
In corporate-speak, Human Resources. Struck me as a clever joke (unless it means something else). I was obliged to interact with one or two of the TVNZ HR drones in the '90s due to my somewhat-stroppy attitude. One needs to be able to finesse their attempts to file people into typical categories…
He's an Ed. But at least Ed did serve up some reason to post his links – this guy has so much contempt for readers of TS that he is incapable of conceiving such courtesy. I see it as a combination of Jungian projection with a variant of virtue-signalling. He assumes readers share his desire to promote whatever virtue he perceives in the links. Classic narcissism: the subject's interior world totally displaces the world we share…
You might be interested to see my Moderation note I just left under the comment @ 1.
I am pleased to see that you didn’t bring up the sockpoppet allegation because my antibody titres against that are sky-high 😉
Great documentary movie.
Puts the banks, fractional reserve banking and politics under the microscope.
I thoroughly recommend it.
Ah, thought it rang a bell in the back of my mind. I did watch that years ago & agree it was worth the time spent (even though I had long been familiar with the back story).
NIWA wrong on 5G impact.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/08/niwa-apologises-for-5g-weather-confusion.html
Moving to Vodafone in anticipation.
Google finds 22.3 million web pages if you search health effects of 5g. Bit of a groundswell, but ignore the rabble. You'll be ok.
“The radio wave band – used for mobile phone networks – is non-ionising, “which means it lacks sufficient energy to break apart DNA and cause cellular damage,” says David Robert Grimes, physicist and cancer researcher. Higher up the electromagnetic spectrum, well beyond those frequencies used by mobile phones, there are clear health risks from extended exposure.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48616174
The report does suggest a serious risk to male rats, so some of the more rabid kiwibloggers may get eliminated…
"Google finds 22.3 million web pages if you search health effects of 5g"
Is that all? I tried "Trump is an alien" and got 328 million. Nearly 15 times as many. Surely that must be interpreted as meaning there aren't any health effects from 5g if hardly anyone seems to care?
""Trump is an alien"
So little you know about Google searches Alwrong.
You can see from the first page of those 328 mill things like :
Alien hunters at Area 51
Vanity Fair 'Please let it be Aliens and not Trumps Space Force'
learn how to use google, when you search for exact phrase "trump is an Alien" you only get 112,000 results.
But I was using the exact method that Dennis Frank used. Why do you not tell him that he should have enclosed his phrase in quotation marks?
After all, if I search for "health effects of 5g" I only get 34,300 hits. That is of course much less than the 20+ million that he quoted.
I was using exactly the same method that he was. What is wrong with that?
How to use Google 101: if you include the quotation marks you’ll get about 113,000 results. This is because you search for this exact word or phrase. Have you ever used the Advanced Search settings? Very handy!
Note my reply to Dukeofurl just above.
Sure. I read comments in the back-end and they are in reverse order without the context of the discussion thread. In fact, I read the all comments of all posts lumped together in reverse chronological order. In between, I write the odd comment myself, occasionally, but mostly I keep an eye on things as moderator – the two are almost mutually exclusive, to me at least.
Jesus! I am amazed that you can make any sense of anything. I certainly don't think I would be able to do it.
I now see, on the other hand, how you can respond to comments so quickly. I found it a real pain when I couldn't find, easily, my own recent comments so that I could see if a response should be given. Getting that back is wonderful. I only have to find my own comments though.
You put the finger on the pain point, which is that I cannot make much sense of anything unless I concentrate really hard and pay much attention – very tiring if not exhausting to combine with a demanding life outside or alongside TS. The back-end works well for moderation but not for commenting (the editor is different too). I find myself spending a lot of time and energy here and not nearly enjoying it as much as I used to when I was merely commenting and joining in the conversations. The technical aspect is only one factor; the other issue that it is almost impossible to disentangle oneself from being a ‘player’ in a ‘game’ to become the ‘referee/umpire’ and make fair and neutral decisions to protect the ‘game’. Maybe I’m taking it all too seriously; it wouldn’t be the first time. One thing that helps though is that I am anonymous and that lowers the personal involvement; I can turn off the device and walk away from it without a lingering emotional connection, which is much harder to do in real life, for me at least.
You have to thank Lynn, of course, for the search function and the smooth running of the site. You know that you can click on Replies on the RH side to see whether anybody has replied to one of your comments, don’t you? It does not work when threads get too long because the nesting of comments only goes so deep before the reply button disappears.
A lot of starnge stuff around about 5G . Because the spectrum they will use in US is high frequency it wont provide much performance away from cell sites.
this part of the Niwa incorrect claim as the bands will be FR2. Im surprised they failed to check even wikipedia over this
I understand other countries will be using lower frequencies including this 2.5Ghz band in NZ. ( known in the jargon as FR1)
Im not sure of this but one of the reasons for 5G faster downloads is the 'broader bands' used for reception
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5G_NR_frequency_bands
.Perhaps it's time for the left to start investing in this strategy, too. Or we kill facebook.
The lobbying firm run by Boris Johnson’s close ally Sir Lynton Crosby has secretly built a network of unbranded “news” pages on Facebook for dozens of clients ranging from the Saudi government to major polluters, a Guardian investigation has found.
In the most complete account yet of CTF Partners’ outlook and strategy, current and former employees of the campaign consultancy have painted a picture of a business that appears to have professionalised online disinformation, taken on a series of controversial clients and faced incidents of misogynistic bullying in its headquarters.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/01/revealed-johnson-allys-firm-secretly-ran-facebook-propaganda-network
Facebook said it shut down 265 fake accounts run by an Israeli social media company on Thursday for engaging in “coordinated inauthentic behavior” as it sought to affect politics in African, Latin American and Southeast Asian nations.
The move, while underscoring the increasingly global nature of social media disinformation campaigns, was unusual for singling out a company that appeared to profit from its publicized work to spread falsehoods online. Archimedes Group, the Israeli company, claims the ability to “use every tool and take every advantage available in order to change reality according to our client’s wishes.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/16/facebook-shuts-down-israel-based-disinformation-campaigns-election-manipulation-increasingly-goes-global/
A pair of Toronto city councillors hired a scrappy political strategist to wage a multi-front PR campaign after CBC News ran stories examining their ties to local developers, with one of the councillors privately making threatening comments about a CBC reporter and compiling a "research" dossier on him and political foes, according to allegations in a lawsuit.
[…]
The PR campaign was to include complaints to CBC about its reporting, slipping "pertinent information" to competing media, arranging for letters to the editor to be signed by the councillors' friends and relatives, and the creation of "myriad" websites and social media accounts promoting the politicians and their message and attacking a past electoral rival.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/di-ciano-grimes-kinsella-lawsuit-allegations-1.5183813
Or drag linty crobby and his ilk by their tails and drag them up onto the surface where people can watch them squirm.
I'd rather it by their heels on a gibbet, Gabs.
A healthy contrast to the pussyfooting so common in contemporary politics:
'Is working with National after the election next year off the table?'
James Shaw: "Yes, absolutely. I would never empower someone with as little personal integrity as Simon Bridges to become Prime Minister."
Delivered without the slightest hesitation, too. I guess it does not rule out working with a party head who has more integrity than Bridges.
Collins? Bennett? Mitchell? Luxton? Is the intersection of 'Bridges and his potential replacements' with 'people having a high level of personal integrity' an empty set?
Certainly can't include Collins. 🙂
This morning on Radionz (great piece on new discovery about treatment of one type of cancer) that the Malaghan Institute was founded by the owner of Tip Top (died 1967 of Hodgkin's disease).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018707063/breakthrough-cancer-treatment-coming-to-new-zealand
Malaghan Institute: https://www.malaghan.org.nz/our-history/
The concept of a Wellington-based, independent medical research institute was first proposed in the early 1960s. At that time, relatively little medical research was carried out in New Zealand due to a lack of facilities and support by hospital boards.
Using funds from a trust established by the Wellington Medical Research Foundation and the Wellington Division of the Cancer Society, the Wellington Cancer and Medical Research Institute was opened on 26 July 1979, in rented premises in the Wellington School of Medicine.
In 1986, the name of the Institute was changed to the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in recognition of the generous support by Len and Ann Malaghan. Two decades later, the Institute relocated to a purpose-built facility at Victoria University of Wellington.
The philanthropy of the Malaghan family has continued to benefit others over the years. https://www.malaghan.org.nz/news/celebrating-three-generations-of-philanthropy/
And the connection with cancer and the Malaghan Institute is Tip-Top Icecream. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_Top_(ice_cream)
History. In 1936 Albert Hayman and Len Malaghan opened their first ice cream parlour in Manners Street, Wellington, New Zealand followed in the same year by a second milk bar in Wellington, and one in Dunedin. Tip Top Ice Cream Company was registered as a manufacturing company in 1936…
In November 1962, Hayman and Malaghan opened the biggest and most technically advanced ice cream factory in the Southern Hemisphere, built at Mount Wellington, Auckland, New Zealand. The Tip Top factory included staff houses and 20 acres (81,000 m2) of farm land overlooking the Southern Motorway and cost NZ$700,000. Prime Minister Keith Holyoake attended the opening ceremony.
By 1964 the Company had expanded to such an extent that a parent company was formed, General Foods Corporation (NZ) Limited. It was rated as one of the soundest investments on the stock exchange and other companies were quick to note its potential.
https://www.nzicecream.org.nz/history-nz-trans-tasman.htm
In this link it shows how Tip Top changed hands six times from 1968 when Watties acquired control to the 2001 'mega-merger'.
June 2001 – The 'mega-merger' of Kiwi, NZ Co-op Dairy Co. and the NZ Dairy Board formed a huge new dairy company, Fonterra. Fonterra inherited the ice cream businesses and brands; Tip Top, New American and Peters (WA and NZ).
2019 Fonterra sold Tip Top to Froneri (the pureplay ice cream company.. I just love these terms that business invent.)
FRONERI is a global pureplay ice cream company. Froneri is widely diversified across the world, operating in 20 countries. Froneri offers the full suite of ice cream products, from dairy ice cream to water ice, sorbet and organic ice cream, and from tubs to sticks to cones to name a few.
We need to develop a co-operative system as they have in Spain – the Mondragon group. We are concentrating on making things for export and we have to pay world prices for things made or grown here. To strengthn the country we have to have a domestic market that prices for the domestic market and it seems to me the only way we will get that is starting a NZ co-operative belonging to NZs who look to buy product from the organisation, and possibly work in it. If we don't divorce ourselves from the wealthy and self-interested, we will continue to see our living standards decline – we will be forced to live simply because of a desire by the wealthy to refuse equality to the population inparticipating in the country's economy, and its jobs and wages, and distribution of the proceeds of trading and taxation in a fair manner.
Business has no long-term commitment to this country and growing our own strengths at all. The present system has enabled this white-anting of our enterprise and resources. Yet look at who are in the top wealth bracket in the world, the people who have worked as family, and kept hold of their stuff.
This morning Luxon of AirNZ commented on how costly it has been to get a presence in Argentina, an awareness of the country and the company. He mentioned being confused with shoe polish and some other product.
This is the result of a lack of prowess by NZ business leaders and politicians. When we lost our Kiwi name to the Kiwi polish we should have then bought it back and patented it, but no too timid and short-sighted. Perhaps we could wait for the crash and then leap out and buy our name for peanuts. Those who play the share market know you can get great leverage then.
From local Tip Top Ice Cream we have a valuable research institute looking into cancer, the Malaghan Institute. What of lasting benefit to the country's social infrastructure do we get from the baby boomers?
"What of lasting benefit to the country's social infrastructure do we get from the baby boomers?"
– Air New Zealand
– Kiwisaver
– Kiwibank
– Massive motorway system
– ACC, Pharmac
– Most electricity generators
– Fibre optic cable to most houses
– Modern health system
– Corruption-free government
– MMP
– Some earthquake rebuilds over 60 years
– Most national parks
– Well regulated and functioning society
Ask the same question about millenials, and you're getting to Robertson and Ardern and Shaw: different answer.
Corruption free government? Try that line with the householders ripped off by EQC and its subsidiaries. Look closely at any privatization of public assets and you'll find corruption, not service improvement is the driver. Prior to Rogergnomics we had low corruption, now the Panama Papers is the operating norm.
Us and Denmark: most corruption-free countries in the world, and have been for a while.
Boomers formed all the structures, and they broke some of them. We're still a well regulated and functioning society anyway.
It's a spurious statistic with no objective backing, hence the title CPI. https://www.transparency.org.nz/corruption-perceptions-index/
Yet you'd go to prison for many of the commonplaces of NZ corruption in some administrations – the insider trading Key performed with NZRail shares, the misappropriation of Hubbard's wealth, the theft of public assets like the electricity infrastructure and private ones like the fisheries quota management system. The revolving doors between former ministers and well paid sinecures, gross instances of graft like the appointment of unqualified directors like Jenny Shipley to the NZ funded Asian Infrastructure Bank, and the systematic and deliberate non-enforcement of immigration rules on unskilled labour and so forth.
NZ really has no cause to boast of its corruption status anymore, in fact it's due for a clean out.
Every one of your list is cracked Ad. They have been attempts to meet the standards of a modern first world society, yes. But there are huge numbers of people who are in poverty, no decent housing, no reliable jobs to look forward to with two days off in the weekend if they want them to be with family, join in community; this means that the benefits above arise from having reduced the benefits to those who have been designated unworthy. That is what the baby boomers have passed on to the young ones today, the degraded society that the early colonials sailed here to rise above, and the treatment that was meted out in the early 30's in Germany to those designated as unsuitable citizens.
Oh sure. Bad things as well. But that wasn't the question that was asked.
Corruption-free government? You have to be joking. Ok, not as bad as many other countries but to say we are corruption free is ludicrous. I witnessed a few things during my many years in the Public Service and others will have too. For obvious reasons I cannot elaborate.
Well regulated and functioning society? It might have started off that way but in the past 30 years it has gone downhill.
Robertson and Ardern and company have yet to make their mark. Eighteen months in power is not long enough to produce anything concrete and permanent.
For pity’s sake give them time!
Corruption free compared to any other country on earth. Us and Denmark.
Boomers formed a well regulated society.
There's no pity in politics. Ardern and Robertson have got 8 more months before it all goes on the line again, and everyone can see they're dodging most of the hard stuff.
I vividly recall the Winebox years. By dint of a former association with a person who was close to the main culprits, I picked up on the nature of the dirty practices before it became generally known. I think I read every book and article written about the era and the level of corruption was mind boggling – at least for a country which had previously been free from such practices.
That the culprits (all filthy rich and powerful) were never prosecuted is an indictment on the establishment (including the police) of this country. Given the perpetrators stole millions of NZ taxpayers’ money that response in itself was worthy of an investigation.
And the huge irony… some of those involved were instrumental in setting up the "Association of Consumers and Tax Payers" – the ACT Party.
I consider that period set the scene for the introduction of the often corrupt practices that exist today (look at some of the antics of the previous Key government) and which are now accepted by many as normal.
As far as Ardern and Robertson are concerned… I agree they must have something solid to present to the public by the end of next year, but I'm optimistic it will happen even if their efforts are still in the process of being fully realised.
yeah the National Parks just fell out of the air fully formed with no one in them yay thanks baby boomers lol
Ain't no new national parks generated by millennials. You can check thee years they were legislated.
I suspect marty is referring to people who predate the Boomers by quite a long time.
ad is just being his annoyingly ignorant self – part of his poke with a stick game – I'm sure he isn't as thick as he portrays but you never know
Some of those things were built by the previous generation, not the boomers who inherited them.
Which ones?
Rainy day, but a well spent hour watching The Great Hack on Netflix. Highly recommended.
It's quite clear from this outstanding doco that the deluge of anti-Hillary and pro-Brexit content sent out to groups of voters, based on the data mining (conducted primarily from Facebook) by Cambridge Analytica was the prime reason for the Trump and Brexit result. Not to mention the practise runs in a large number of other minor countries in the lead up.
Noam Chomksy et al would be correct in saying that any Russian 'meddling' would be inconsequential compared to that.
I've only watched the first 20 or so minutes. Did the Trump team hire in Google and FB staff to help them with that? There was a bit about where the Google/FB people sat in the room, but it wasn't explained in depth in that part.
The "Black lives matter" stuff was amazing, a way to divide the country. It made me think of the ChCh terror attack and how his intention was to divide and stir shit, it made me think Adern really did an amazing job of shutting that down compared to what went on in the U.S.
I don't think there was direct collusion between political candidates/parties but there was between parties and Cambridge Analytica (and it's parent company SCL*). It's well worth watching the full doco.
The ‘black lives’ comments were interesting, but not really election related. The targeting of derogatory Clinton adverts to certain Facebook groups as a consequence of the data mining would rate as very directly affecting the election.
Kia Ora Newshub.
Condolences to Sir Brian Lachore whanau he was a awesome ambassador for Rugby and Aotearoa he was A True Kiwi humble but hard .
Its good for Wahine who want a abortion to get one without breaking the law that is stupid that being a criminal offense. Its Its their BODY Thanks to our Coalition Governments for putting up the new law to be voted on by our MPs .
A big heavy Snow Storm in the South Island of Aotearoa Te wai pounamu the tamariki and skiers will be happy the farmers not so happy .
12 new Radiation machines to help detect cancer earlier its good to detect cancer quickly to cure it and keep cancer at bay.
Jamie Shaw is a awesome Green Party Co leader like Marama .Ka kite ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
There is a reason Im not commenting on Ihumatao WHY because the police will try and blame some of the issues with the larger numbers of Tangata whenua being there on Eco Maori. What are they touting guns there for its a peaceful protest are they trying to stir up tangata whenua emotion.
More Ports on Waihike Island we need to protect our sea shore and sea environments.
Ka pai to our tangata whenua contemporary Artist the theme is the effects of colonialism I agree about it being oppressive and bad for the native people. I our tamariki mana will get the changes needed for JUSTICE.
I ,,, Eco Maori will go to Anglican Church for prayer I love it that the Church includes tangata whenua cultural as part of its Cultural ka pai.
Herds Eco Maori tau toko Herbs Im just to distract to have time to scan good Aotearoa Music and Musicians it will be a awesome Movie I will definitely watch it
Ka kite ano
P.S they thought I was bluffing yesterday Yea right
Kia ora The Am Show
Wellington has the fittest people in Aotearoa that's cool.
What did national do to improve the treatment of cancer not very much actually .Not a problem for them they would all get private treatment if they had signs of cancer of cancer or any other ailment.
I agree with Doctor Jackson strong central leadership like you say the DHB act as individuals and not a collective they worry about their budgets so they put off buying expensive equipment.
Duncan David doesn't have a magical tool to make changes to OUR Health system happen over night Papatuanuku was not built in a day.
Snow on the beach in down South Island it is cooler in Hawksbay to .This extreme shifting in the weather dosen't go against Global Warming these events confirme Our Scientists predictions of the effects of Human Caused Climate Change.
Lydia rise in the Golfing Papatuanuku helped lift the profile of Wahine golf Papatuanuku wide she lifted a lot of young Wahine golfers as well Kia kaha lydia.
The Greens should not team up with national became they would just stuff them up like they did to the Maori Party
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
The Movie is being released soon for Herbs the Band in Aotearoa
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
Kia Ora Newshub.
Its quite cold here in Eskmount we had a light dusting of Snow this morning.
Its good making that statement about abortion but it will be better when the law is changed.
People are using the Christchurch disaster as a excuses for people in power playing the racist CARD to bolster their public RATINGS with out no though about the people WHO are affected by their BULLSHIT words
Its was not good behavior of a middle aged man who rammed the young guys cars .
Ka kite ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Everyone knows my opinion on Ihumatao.
I agree with Tama Iti kia kaha .
Don't worry Jacinda will find a solution to Ihumatao Whanau.
Abortion should be treated as a health issue it would be a very hard situation to deal with for Wahine when they could have other issues around their pregnancy its their BODYs.
Tama Iti is correct heaps of there whenua was taken by the crown the art work will become very valuable ma te wa.
The largest tukutuku panel in Papatuanuku is being conducted they are Tangata whenua O Aotearoa Tai taiwhiti ka pai
Ka kite ano