Paul, did you hear Rachel Stewart on Mora’s chat show yesterday? It was her first guest appearance on the Panel, and she spoke clearly and without any blather about the destruction of the environment being wrought by Dirty Dairy.
Interestingly, right at the end of the show, as Mora thanked his guests in the normal fashion, he seemed quite put out: she had walked away without waiting for pleasantries. I think she was upset by his crass and ignorant comments that technology was going to save us, and therefore her worries about pollution were unnecessary.
It will be intriguing to see if she is invited back on.
Gawd sounds horrendous eh.
Well I’m a dairy farmer so already the hairs on Pauls neck are standing on end, relax Paul.
I did watch this emotive stuff 4min through 10ish.
1st point On video,
Farmers require a constant supply of pregnant cows, this is achieved by repeatedly rapeing a cow on a rape rack.
Holy smoke, sounds terrible.
Reality on my farm is, we closely look out for “bulling” cows, this means we are looking for a group of cows hanging out together who are obviously sexually active (riding each other), the next day they are artificially inseminated, which is a 30secound encounter with the technician, no rape rack involved, whatever that is.
Or if they are late ovulating they will meet the bull.
2nd point on video
Baby’s taken away so we can steal mothers milk.
True calves are taken away almost immediately, we let new calves have one feed off mother cow.
However the reason for this is not so we can steal the calfs milk, the cow will produce enough milk for 20 calves.
Most cows but not all, will not call out or miss there calves at all, most wonder what the hell just happened (birth) and get on with eating grass.
3rd point on video, cows bond intensely with calves.
Not in my experience, cows are more interested in feeding/grazing than there own calf. Might not suit your world view, but it’s true.
4th point on video
Cows are regarded as spent at 4 or 5 years old
Not true a cow is regarded at her prime at 6 years old and is likely to be in the herd up to 12 years old
5th point on video
Cows are culled when they are pregnant,
In most cases not true a pregnant cow is valuable, and would not be culled.
6th point on video
Cows are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones
Not true in NZ, hormones to increase milk production are banned totally in NZ, antibiotics are used sparingly for cows that are suffering an injury or illness.
Please this anti farming vegan extremism is not true and not fair.
Have a great evening from the Naki
Hey mate, I’ve been vegan for more than 30 years and am fit and active. Take your preconceptions and shove them into the orifice you’re currently talking out of.
Take a more conciliatory approach, Sanctuary. At the low cost of just spending the rest of your life closely monitoring your food intake to ensure that you get sufficient nutrition to maintain your health, you could become the moral superior of most people on the planet and lecture them from that lofty perch. How can you resist?
I’m sure much can be done in the modern kitchen to ameliorate the boring tryanny of pulses and vegetables. But just as trying to camouflage a red bus in a paddock by putting some green branches on it would simply result in what looked like a camouflaged red bus, the basic beast remains, observable by all those disconsolate “guests” at vegan cafes as they lugubriously munch on their lentil porridge “enlivened” by curry powder and some rather glum cranberries. Still, I would imagine the cereals would positively dance, the green leafy things would twinkle like stars on frosty night with crunch, compared to the dire conversation of an earnest, fervent, engaged, concerned, and monumentally boring vegan host.
I wonder if any vegans voted for trump – can’t imagine it. I bet statistically most of the brainboxes that voted for him ate much meat, copious flesh, lovely blood and offal. I might see if any studies have been made…
I suspect there’re two major dietary schools amongst his voters:
those people who eat only processed foods and are surprised that “mince” comes from living furry animals; and
cannibals who enjoy fava beans and a nice chianti.
Robet Guyton
I have a scheme you might like. We are having a book reading over a month of E F Schumacher Small is Beautiful then we are going to have a post and discuss the best and worst bits and have a thinkfest, I hope. We are starting on Sunday 12th and will put up a post with more details and different ways to obtain the book simply.
Interested? Your brain ticks over pretty fast. And there is time over the month to get through it without bursting a foofoo valve. So what do you say?
Can you reply to this comment and let me know.
I hear on RNZ that US commentators expect Trump’s paternal attitude towards the poor, struggling pharmaceutical companies to cost countries like NZ a lot more than the deal that would have been included in the TPPA (which would already have put pressure on Pharmac). What a victory for all those who argued voting for the bully boy was the only way to stop the deal(which it wasn’t) & it would be worth it (which it won’t)!
no credible TPPA opponent in NZ that I am aware of ever advocated voting for Trump
it is a right wing meme doing the rounds that any position you hold that may coincide with all or part of one of Trumps means you are thereby a Trump supporter
I’m not sure CV ever explicitly said people should vote for Trump.
CV just obsessively slandered Trump’s opponents and incessantly praised trump’s intelligence and abilities bigly. But he was too slimy to actually endorse voting for trump.
“Actually plenty of people on this site made just that argument, CV being the most prominent/repetitive/enthusiastic.”
+1 Even at the level of Tr*mp being the lesser of evils compared to Clinton. And yes there were enthusiastic supporters of Tr*mp who also opposed the TPPA. I have also talked to people in real life who oppose the TPPA and who would have voted Tr*mp if they were US voters. Like those on TS, they are people that would otherwise vote on the left or for Peters.
Actually plenty of people on this site made just that argument, CV being the most prominent/repetitive/enthusiastic.
Well, if there were “plenty” then name them and link to their comments advocating a vote for Trump on the basis of his position on the TPPA (or, indeed, on any basis whatsoever). I’d be surprised if you come up with any more than 2 or 3 Lefties.
Even CV explicitly qualified his support … with a particular emphasis on averting WWIII with Russia and Hillary’s murderous foreign adventures (and an acknowledgement that Trump’s domestic policies would be less than pleasant).
Sure you’re not confusing principled criticism of Clinton’s abysmal record with explicit support for Trump ?
Or are you one of those dishonest little Clintonista McCarthyites who cheerfully conflate those two things ? (while, at the same time, claiming to be “liberal” and “progressive”).
red-blooded
Life is just too complicated complex and constantly changing for you to understand.
It certainly is hard for you when you have just made up your mind to have to alter it to meet differing circumstances. Why don’t you give up and let other people do the worrying.
Looking forward to a reply (on NBR – subscriber only) from Gareth Morgan to my following question:
“Gareth – do you and your Opportunities Party support transparency in the spending of public monies on private consultants and contractors (at both local and central government level)?
Do you agree that the following information on awarded contracts should be made available for public scrutiny?
* The unique contract number.
* The name of the consultant or contractor.
* A brief description of the scope of the contract.
* The contract start and finish dates.
* The exact dollar value of every contract, including those sub-contracted.
* How the contract was awarded – by direct appointment or public tender.
Kind regards
Penny Bright
‘Fair’, fiery and ferociously Independent future MP for Mt Albert 🙂 “
Lol at Flavell here: “He’ll have to resign from positions! That’s really hard! He couldn’t possibly do that!”
Desperately trying to make it seem like Jackson can’t run for parliament.
Yes a stupid flippant comment from WJ.
As for Labour……Willie always watches to see which side his bread is buttered (Brown or White bread) ….. Example, he’s against a lot of Natz policies, but happy to have Shonkey around to his place for a BBQ.
Yeah, but I expect for lesser offences he’d just give her the bash.
He had some pretty awesome contributions to rape culture following the Roastbusters case, as well. From what I remember he and Tamihere got sacked from Radio Live after that one, in which their considered opinion was that boys will be boys and girls only have themselves to blame if they get drunk at parties.
You obviously realise that if they were to put up an idiot, rather than some intelligent, humane, rational, sensible person, there would be no difference in the voting. He/she/it would win.
Hi ianmac and marty mars
This idea came to me as we have to think hard about ways to go for the future, first the election and beyond. We could spark new ideas and old ones reworked with some new perspectives gained from a reading group where we all read the same book and had a great post on it at the end. The suggestion is a month to read the first book which would be E F Schumacher Small is Beautiful.
Would you both like to be in and get the first book group going? I have been talking about it, getting some good feedback and am now looking for a core group of committed people to ensure that we get enough good thinking. I have asked a few regular commenters who could be interested and put this blurb below about it. Could you let me know by replying to this comment today. Thanks.
You always bring good political ideas and vision to the problems facing us.
We need new approaches to get through this maze we wander in. I had the idea that new ideas and thoughts could spring from studying books on the important subjects relating to our politics. Could you find the time to be in this – over a month first reading and noting about E F Schumaker and his Small is Beautiful and then having a great discussion on a Sunday post at end of month? It would be great if you could be in. Could you reply to this comment today if poss. Thanks.
I am writing similarly to other regular commenters who I feel would be interested, but of course it is a matter of time available. Regards.
What do we know about the McGuinness Institute? that did a survey relating to social engineering that National is interested in?
Mentioned on Radionz this morning I think when they did a peice on the Three Mayors – Far North (National John Carter), Rotorua (Labour Steve Chadwick) and – can’t remember. They are going to sort out their pockets of social problems from cradle to grave, babes to grandparents. I hope in a caring and co-operative way with a community leader in charge to co-ordinate. Sort of like these unaccountable czars that get appointed in neo Lib society.
Could be good, but being given authority to look at every aspect of life. Sounds too top-down to me.
You can find out about the McGuinness Institute by googling it, greywarshark.
It sounds like its full of heavyweight intellectuals all with good intentions providing a great many reports on essential subjects like poverty, public policy etc.
But what results from all those reports and workshops they undertake ?
I’ve just had a quick look at the McGuiness website, greywarshark – and I’m thinking like you – a bit too top-down to the bottom, and perhaps also a bit unrealistic.
For instance, a workshop on poverty in the Far North had a comment about how local business couldn’t compete with BIG business rolling into town. But absolutely no sign that Big business would have been wooing, and been welcomed, by the local council to the detriment of the local start-up enterprises such as CBEC which developed over 20 years – with local people – a business of waste management, only to have the whole lot transferred to incoming Big business by the Far North Council a few years ago.
No wonder people leave their towns when their councils remove their livelihoods.
An interesting, if naive, comment from the summary of that report –
When big businesses arrived in provincial towns without a local mandate, some local independent businesses could not compete and were forced to shut down. Money spent at these big businesses has simply left town, leaving behind empty high streets. Both Kaitaia and Kaikohe have recently seen waning populations…..
Exactly Jenny – when you’ve got a report being brooded on then you’ve got something hatching. Or so everyone expects. Only everyone’s eggs are addled if
they assume that. Thanks for info. When thinking of something else on here it pays to ask while one remembers and someone will know. And if that goes on the post then everyone knows. So that’s an advantage of asking one of the gurus? here. Collectively the site is a near-complete guru anyway.
And I think, why not get universities who study up that sort of thing to do it? Trouble might be, they might come up with the wrong sort of statistics. So, best idea is shut down the Humanities and let the private sector find out the necessary information to match the planned policies (one of which is to do nothing at all.)
greywarshark – the McGuinness Institute was set up by Mark and Wendy McGuinness (Willis Bond & Co.) who are property speculators whose projects are significantly financed by ACC and the Superannuation Fund. You might want to draw your own conclusions.
Houthi rebels from Yemen attacked a Saudi frigate; White House spokesman Sean Spicer falsely claimed that this was Iranian forces attacking a US Naval ship and thus an act of war; no one from the White House press corps corrected him or followed up.
The White House Press corps wanted to know what being put “on notice” entailed, and Spicer responded by claiming that Iran’s government took actions against a U.S. naval vessel, which would be an act of war. “I think General Flynn was really clear yesterday that Iran has violated the Joint Resolution that Iran’s additional hostile actions that it took against our navy vessel are ones that we are very clear are not going to sit by and take,” he said.
Pentagon Spokesman Christopher Sherwood confirmed to The Intercept that the attack was in fact conducted against a Saudi warship, and that the Pentagon suspects Houthi rebels. “It was a Saudi ship – it was actually a frigate” said Sherwood. “It was [conducted by] suspected Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen.”
Meet Gina Haspel, new deputy director of CIA, who ran the agency's first black site in Thailand where detainees were tortured. Background pic.twitter.com/XhAWZJXpXq— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) February 2, 2017
New Deputy CIA Director was officer who carried out order by Jose Rodriguez to destroy torture tapes https://t.co/qyDAtXdcGK— Mark Mazzetti (@MarkMazzettiNYT) February 2, 2017
I wondered if you would have time to be in the book reading that is being set up and starting on Sunday 12 February, all going well. A month to read and note stuff to comment on in a discussion on a special Sunday post. Starting off with E F Schumacher Small is Beautiful. Could get some interesting ideas to look at from today’s viewpoint. Would you indicate on reply to this today. Thanks
This is the blurb explaining it in general.
You always bring good political ideas and a breadth of vision to the problems facing us. We need new approaches to get through this maze we wander in. I had the idea that new ideas and thoughts could spring from studying books on the important subjects relating to our politics.
Could you find the time to be in this – over a month first reading and noting about E F Schumaker and his Small is Beautiful: Economics as if people mattered – and then there will be a big discussion on a Sunday post at end of month? It would be great if you could be in. Could you reply to this comment today if poss.
I am writing similarly to other regular commenters who I feel would be interested, but of course it is a matter of time available. Regards.
It was a 2008/9 hacked version of a plug in. It didn’t survive a wordpress upgrade last year(?). Either the newer version of the plug in to sphinx needs hacking (bad idea – I have tried) or I need to write something maintainable on top of sphinx.
Awaiting time to do it. Between work and their frequent demands to go offshore, and the rest of my life, I haven’t found the required block of free time.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture.
Quoted from Neil Postman’s book ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ in an article published in the Guardian by his son, Andrew.
That Huxley stuff, reminds me of a Walter Benjamin quote that came into my twitter feed this morning. I had a brief discussion about Benjamin and the Frankfurt School of Marxists a few days ago.
Benjamin said that, underlying cultural activities (entertainment, art, movies, shopping arcade signages) was capitalism and material relationships (who owned property etc).
He called the cultural expressions (art, popular culture) “aesthetics”. He talked about the aestheticisation of politics. ie. use of propaganda by the Third Reich where popular culture, art etc were used to influence the masses.
Throughout the 2nd half of the twentieth century we got an increase in the aestheticisation of politics: ie the use of marketing techniques to manipulate voters. Trump, reality TV celebrity, become president, is the latest stop on this journey.
It’s basically about diverting people from the underlying power structure where those at the top of the property ownership hierarchy retain their power. Meanwhile, it’s all cultural distractions for the masses. But also, it allows people to express themselves through art (social media these days?), etc, but doesn’t allow them to change the property relationship of capitalism.
The growing proletarianization of modern man and the increasing formation of masses are two aspects of the same process. Fascism attempts to organize the newly created proletarian masses without affecting the property structure which the masses strive to eliminate. Fascism sees its salvation in giving these masses not their right, but instead a chance to express themselves. The masses have a right to change property relations; Fascism seeks to give them an expression while preserving property. The logical result of Fascism is the introduction of aesthetics into political life.
NB: Benjamin was a German Jew who tried to escape the Third Reich to Spain. When he believed he was going to be captured and returned to Germany, he killed himself.
Thanks Bill for recalling us to Orwell and Huxley.
My notable memory is that Huxley wrote to Orwell after `1984′ I think, not Animal Farm, and said it conveyed the looming shadow of autocratic politics and control well, but in Huxley’s opinion it would be the continuing quest for efficiency that would dehumanise and strip us of our spirit and potential.
“Who can be appalled when the coin of the realm in public discourse is not experience, thoughtfulness or diplomacy but the ability to amuse – no matter how maddening or revolting the amusement?”
It has been thusly for a couple of hundred years. The writer should sit back and reflect on the histories of political movements. They are run a different way now, and it’s not a bad thing.
The stratification of different kinds of thinking from scholars and specialists, to television commentariat, to water-cooler and twitter chatter, seems to be the same as ever to me.
You could also argue however far less pessimistically for the power of the relational networks that are only now possible. People complain about how Twitter surges and distorts public opinion – but as we can see even with Trump, we quickly get inured to different levels of outrage. The outrage instigators peak, burn out, fade away, like a 1990s boy band.
The outrage instigators also get held to account far faster – usually on the same media. (The same old limits of what mass protest can do in realpolitik terms still apply however, even if they are more diverse).
We do see the newer communicative technologies forming relational networks of shared interest and political activism as never before. Sure, old-style parties are dying, and the old-style centralised town hall of single civic dialogue is pretty much dead. But what has taken its place is a revolution in message distribution and connection.
Sooner or later Critical Theory will catch up with the fact that we are beyond oligopolies of opinion from newspapers and television, and we are also well past the historical conditions for fascism. This era needs newer, fresher theorising.
I’ve been hearing about this great Habermasian democratic space of new digital technologies, at least since the 1980s. But the corporate take over of digital technologies has increased. Ditto,the technologies of invasive surveillance.
Sure we get some counter-resistance.
But, in the last decades we have been delivered a deterioration in democratic political processes; an increase of all pervasive neoliberal values and politics; Tony Blair; the Bushes; John Key; David Cameron; Donald Trump; Theresa May; rise in the alt-right; increased wealth and income gaps between the top and bottom deciles; increased homelessness; wars; civilian “collateral damage”; widespread refugee displacements; etc, etc.
And all the time we get first hand knowledge of it via digital technologies.
Don’t think this great democratisation through new digital technologies has actually been happening. Just more celebrity culture, circuses, and digital technology diversions.
Time for some on the ground collaborative engagement; a focus political direction, and ways to provide an alternative to the technologies of distraction.
“Sooner or later Critical Theory will catch up with the fact that we are beyond oligopolies of opinion from newspapers and television, and we are also well past the historical conditions for fascism. This era needs newer, fresher theorising.”
Dear Sam Mahon, we would love to see your sculpture in Nelson, September is a wonderful time of year funnily enough it could coincide nicely with Nickoffs Street Corner evening meetings, which he likes to do during election time.
THIS IS SOOOO GOOD… love ART, if it creates a talking point, then it’s art, no matter if it offends or flatters the person viewing it. 😀
“Winston Peters betrayed Maori – here’s the proof. The questions are (1) Why does he refuse to even answer questions on these facts? and (2) Why don’t Maori leaders call him out on his betrayal?”
One is, how will this go down with Māori? It’s a front on attack, and is basically a Pākehā man telling Māori what to do about another Māori. I don’t know what connections if any Morgan has within Māoridom, or where he gets his advice from on Māori issues, so I’ll be interested to see what the response is.
Two, the video itself is smart and well thought through, and if taken separately from Morgan or TOP is a pretty interesting history of Peters’ politics around Māori and ethnicity in NZ. It’s easy to forget how radical he is, because he’s all grin, right?
Three, he’s obviously timing this for Waitangi Weekend, but I’m not quite seeing the strategy. Do NZF get party votes from Māori that TOP wants?
Four, I care. Both because TOP could end up being highly influential in this election, and because he’s addressing Māori and treaty issues strongly. I also think that Peters is a huge problem politically for NZ so am not unhappy with someone calling him on his integrity.
Recently Morgan said something else controversial. On RNZ Morgan pretty much said it was basically calculated to get attention and start a conversation.
I suspect Morgan is aiming to take a leaf from Trump’s campaign. Get attention by stirring up some race-based controversy.
I guess, but I’m still trying to figure out how attacking Peters over his position on Māori is going to get TOP votes. I mean, I think what he says about Peters is useful, and I’m certainly in favour of Peters being called on those things, but I doubt he’s going after the white liberal greenie vote with this move. Not so sure about Morgan’s framing it as a challenge to Māori. Which votes is he after? NZF’s? Māori votes, from where? etc
If it’s just noise to raise his profile, that’s a different thing.
The Republican-led House of Representatives has voted to overturn an Obama-era regulation preventing people with severe mental illnesses from buying guns.
The vote on Thursday (local time) was 235-180 – mostly along party lines.
Under the Obama administration’s rule, people who receive disability benefits and have severe mental disorders would be reported by the Social Security Administration to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
This database is used to determine eligibility for buying a firearm.
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Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Renowned musician, advocate, and proud born and raised daughter of Tauranga, Ria Hall, is announcing her candidacy for Mayor of Tauranga and Pāpāmoa Ward for the upcoming election on July 20th. ...
The new Aotearoa histories curriculum is rich with potential. There’s still work to be done, but the education minister’s criticisms about ‘balance’ miss the mark, argues primary school teacher Jessie Moss. In 2015, Ōtorohanga College students presented to parliament a petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for a ...
For too long our so-called national bird has maintained its stranglehold on the economy of regional New Zealand. Thanks to the fast track legislation, we will have our revenge. Theories abound on what ails New Zealand’s economy. National leader Chris Luxon has posited that we’re negative, wet, whiny, and inward-looking; ...
If building one of Auckland’s possible waterfront stadiums was funded privately, it would need to hold a sold-out Ed Sherran concert every weekday for 25 years. That’s Rob Hamlin’s finding – he’s a senior marketing lecturer at the University of Otago. “It’s not going to happen; forget about it,” he ...
Comment: The debate over the future relationship between news and social media is bringing us closer to a long-overdue reckoning. Social media isn’t trying to kill journalism, because social media has never really cared about journalism. Social media is resolutely in the attention business. News propels some attention — perhaps ...
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For the past 12 years, Georgia-Rose Brown has balanced on the brink of making an Olympic Games – but always landed gracefully on the wrong side. Reaching the Olympics is a dream the gymnast has harboured since she was a six-year-old; a dream that would dwindle every four years, yet ...
Late one afternoon in March 1860 a man in a thin green velveteen jacket and a wide-awake hat arrived on foot at a sheep station named Glenmark, about 65 kilometres north of Christchurch. The man was in his mid-fifties but he looked older. Several people who met him that day ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
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Dairy farmers claim that recent criticisms are unfair and that they love their animals.
Watch this video from 4:30 to 10:30 and decide for yourself whether dairy farmers really care for animals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrlfkxvJNj0
[link fix – weka]
Paul, did you hear Rachel Stewart on Mora’s chat show yesterday? It was her first guest appearance on the Panel, and she spoke clearly and without any blather about the destruction of the environment being wrought by Dirty Dairy.
Interestingly, right at the end of the show, as Mora thanked his guests in the normal fashion, he seemed quite put out: she had walked away without waiting for pleasantries. I think she was upset by his crass and ignorant comments that technology was going to save us, and therefore her worries about pollution were unnecessary.
It will be intriguing to see if she is invited back on.
Gawd sounds horrendous eh.
Well I’m a dairy farmer so already the hairs on Pauls neck are standing on end, relax Paul.
I did watch this emotive stuff 4min through 10ish.
1st point On video,
Farmers require a constant supply of pregnant cows, this is achieved by repeatedly rapeing a cow on a rape rack.
Holy smoke, sounds terrible.
Reality on my farm is, we closely look out for “bulling” cows, this means we are looking for a group of cows hanging out together who are obviously sexually active (riding each other), the next day they are artificially inseminated, which is a 30secound encounter with the technician, no rape rack involved, whatever that is.
Or if they are late ovulating they will meet the bull.
2nd point on video
Baby’s taken away so we can steal mothers milk.
True calves are taken away almost immediately, we let new calves have one feed off mother cow.
However the reason for this is not so we can steal the calfs milk, the cow will produce enough milk for 20 calves.
Most cows but not all, will not call out or miss there calves at all, most wonder what the hell just happened (birth) and get on with eating grass.
3rd point on video, cows bond intensely with calves.
Not in my experience, cows are more interested in feeding/grazing than there own calf. Might not suit your world view, but it’s true.
4th point on video
Cows are regarded as spent at 4 or 5 years old
Not true a cow is regarded at her prime at 6 years old and is likely to be in the herd up to 12 years old
5th point on video
Cows are culled when they are pregnant,
In most cases not true a pregnant cow is valuable, and would not be culled.
6th point on video
Cows are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones
Not true in NZ, hormones to increase milk production are banned totally in NZ, antibiotics are used sparingly for cows that are suffering an injury or illness.
Please this anti farming vegan extremism is not true and not fair.
Have a great evening from the Naki
Since when did teh Standard suddenly get infested by enthusiastic, pasty looking and probably anaemic people who tire easily?
Hey mate, I’ve been vegan for more than 30 years and am fit and active. Take your preconceptions and shove them into the orifice you’re currently talking out of.
If only the fish were so easy.
Lean a bit closer, Sanctuary; I can smell the death on your breath.
Well, that got erotic pretty quickly…
hopefully this is not needed
http://sayitwithbeef.com/
Trump just needs a nap, ok.
Take a more conciliatory approach, Sanctuary. At the low cost of just spending the rest of your life closely monitoring your food intake to ensure that you get sufficient nutrition to maintain your health, you could become the moral superior of most people on the planet and lecture them from that lofty perch. How can you resist?
I’m sure much can be done in the modern kitchen to ameliorate the boring tryanny of pulses and vegetables. But just as trying to camouflage a red bus in a paddock by putting some green branches on it would simply result in what looked like a camouflaged red bus, the basic beast remains, observable by all those disconsolate “guests” at vegan cafes as they lugubriously munch on their lentil porridge “enlivened” by curry powder and some rather glum cranberries. Still, I would imagine the cereals would positively dance, the green leafy things would twinkle like stars on frosty night with crunch, compared to the dire conversation of an earnest, fervent, engaged, concerned, and monumentally boring vegan host.
I wonder if any vegans voted for trump – can’t imagine it. I bet statistically most of the brainboxes that voted for him ate much meat, copious flesh, lovely blood and offal. I might see if any studies have been made…
I suspect there’re two major dietary schools amongst his voters:
those people who eat only processed foods and are surprised that “mince” comes from living furry animals; and
cannibals who enjoy fava beans and a nice chianti.
I suspect there would be a very large group among Trump voters who only eat organic free range meat.
Otherwise known as “hunters”
lol
not if the EPA gets whacked – even wildlife will be basted in pesticides and carcinogens #funnycoztrue
hunters and greenies joining forces.
Cheese Whizz is a dietary staple over there, so fava beans and mince are probably too fancy.
Cranberries, glum ???
U jest, shorely.
Robet Guyton
I have a scheme you might like. We are having a book reading over a month of E F Schumacher Small is Beautiful then we are going to have a post and discuss the best and worst bits and have a thinkfest, I hope. We are starting on Sunday 12th and will put up a post with more details and different ways to obtain the book simply.
Interested? Your brain ticks over pretty fast. And there is time over the month to get through it without bursting a foofoo valve. So what do you say?
Can you reply to this comment and let me know.
I know, right???? #sadcranberries #damnyouvegans
I hear on RNZ that US commentators expect Trump’s paternal attitude towards the poor, struggling pharmaceutical companies to cost countries like NZ a lot more than the deal that would have been included in the TPPA (which would already have put pressure on Pharmac). What a victory for all those who argued voting for the bully boy was the only way to stop the deal(which it wasn’t) & it would be worth it (which it won’t)!
no credible TPPA opponent in NZ that I am aware of ever advocated voting for Trump
it is a right wing meme doing the rounds that any position you hold that may coincide with all or part of one of Trumps means you are thereby a Trump supporter
Actually plenty of people on this site made just that argument, CV being the most prominent/repetitive/enthusiastic.
nonononononononono
I’m not sure CV ever explicitly said people should vote for Trump.
CV just obsessively slandered Trump’s opponents and incessantly praised trump’s intelligence and abilities bigly. But he was too slimy to actually endorse voting for trump.
“Actually plenty of people on this site made just that argument, CV being the most prominent/repetitive/enthusiastic.”
+1 Even at the level of Tr*mp being the lesser of evils compared to Clinton. And yes there were enthusiastic supporters of Tr*mp who also opposed the TPPA. I have also talked to people in real life who oppose the TPPA and who would have voted Tr*mp if they were US voters. Like those on TS, they are people that would otherwise vote on the left or for Peters.
Well, if there were “plenty” then name them and link to their comments advocating a vote for Trump on the basis of his position on the TPPA (or, indeed, on any basis whatsoever). I’d be surprised if you come up with any more than 2 or 3 Lefties.
Even CV explicitly qualified his support … with a particular emphasis on averting WWIII with Russia and Hillary’s murderous foreign adventures (and an acknowledgement that Trump’s domestic policies would be less than pleasant).
Sure you’re not confusing principled criticism of Clinton’s abysmal record with explicit support for Trump ?
Or are you one of those dishonest little Clintonista McCarthyites who cheerfully conflate those two things ? (while, at the same time, claiming to be “liberal” and “progressive”).
Theres always the option of not accepting any deal offered.
strangely that doesn’t appear to be an option for the current lot…
red-blooded
Life is just too complicated complex and constantly changing for you to understand.
It certainly is hard for you when you have just made up your mind to have to alter it to meet differing circumstances. Why don’t you give up and let other people do the worrying.
Looking forward to a reply (on NBR – subscriber only) from Gareth Morgan to my following question:
“Gareth – do you and your Opportunities Party support transparency in the spending of public monies on private consultants and contractors (at both local and central government level)?
Do you agree that the following information on awarded contracts should be made available for public scrutiny?
* The unique contract number.
* The name of the consultant or contractor.
* A brief description of the scope of the contract.
* The contract start and finish dates.
* The exact dollar value of every contract, including those sub-contracted.
* How the contract was awarded – by direct appointment or public tender.
Kind regards
Penny Bright
‘Fair’, fiery and ferociously Independent future MP for Mt Albert 🙂 “
One can hope this will happen. As the Dakota pipe line is a bad joke.
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/latest-news/seattle-puts-major-us-bank-on-notice-it-may-lose-3-billion-over-dakota-pipeline
Follow the money, and in this case you can’t completely. Who funded the trump inauguration?
https://www.publicintegrity.org/2017/01/31/20651/donald-trumps-inauguration-fueled-tobacco-oil-and-drug-company-money
It would appear we have to wait till Sunday to get the truth from Willie Jackson.
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/conflicts-interest-may-arise-if-willie-jackson-stands-labour
Good luck with that
Lol at Flavell here: “He’ll have to resign from positions! That’s really hard! He couldn’t possibly do that!”
Desperately trying to make it seem like Jackson can’t run for parliament.
Yeah that was what I was thinking too. Bit of desperation from Flavell.
Except of course, Flavell and/or the rest of the Māori Party want/ed Jackson running for parliament for their party…. soooo…. yeah, nah.
He wants to go to heaven,
But he doesn’t want to die.
Ad sometimes you are a bad bad man, but it’s worth the giggles 🙂
Might be of interest to all the Trumpeters, It appears he is keeping up the good work started by Mr Obama.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/02/trump-approved-yemen-raid-five-days-after-inauguration
The Labour Party needs Willie Jackson like it needs a hole in the head
One day on the Willie and J.T. show, RadioLive, about seven years ago….
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-08062013/#comment-645516
Like it needed Shane jones…..
Yes a stupid flippant comment from WJ.
As for Labour……Willie always watches to see which side his bread is buttered (Brown or White bread) ….. Example, he’s against a lot of Natz policies, but happy to have Shonkey around to his place for a BBQ.
Yeah, but I expect for lesser offences he’d just give her the bash.
He had some pretty awesome contributions to rape culture following the Roastbusters case, as well. From what I remember he and Tamihere got sacked from Radio Live after that one, in which their considered opinion was that boys will be boys and girls only have themselves to blame if they get drunk at parties.
Indeed, Milt. If you and I can remember these incidents, it’s easy to imagine how the Whaleoil-run National Party would use them.
Can you select this idiot, National. Please.
Whanganui barrister Harete Hipango is seeking the National Party nomination to become its next Whanganui electorate candidate.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503426&objectid=11793256
What’s her stance on knife killing?
Pay her and she’ll tell you herself.
You obviously realise that if they were to put up an idiot, rather than some intelligent, humane, rational, sensible person, there would be no difference in the voting. He/she/it would win.
Does anyone know what happened to Dim-Post? It was at dim-post.wordpress.com, but has apparently been marked private
Ed-The explanation I got was that Danyl was taking a time out so his site is in neutral. He will return – I hope.
Thanks. I don’t always agree with him, but he is always worth reading.
science geekery
https://qz.com/296941/interactive-graphic-every-active-satellite-orbiting-earth/
so many of the wee buggers and that was as at a year or so ago
Staggering marty!
Hi ianmac and marty mars
This idea came to me as we have to think hard about ways to go for the future, first the election and beyond. We could spark new ideas and old ones reworked with some new perspectives gained from a reading group where we all read the same book and had a great post on it at the end. The suggestion is a month to read the first book which would be E F Schumacher Small is Beautiful.
Would you both like to be in and get the first book group going? I have been talking about it, getting some good feedback and am now looking for a core group of committed people to ensure that we get enough good thinking. I have asked a few regular commenters who could be interested and put this blurb below about it. Could you let me know by replying to this comment today. Thanks.
You always bring good political ideas and vision to the problems facing us.
We need new approaches to get through this maze we wander in. I had the idea that new ideas and thoughts could spring from studying books on the important subjects relating to our politics. Could you find the time to be in this – over a month first reading and noting about E F Schumaker and his Small is Beautiful and then having a great discussion on a Sunday post at end of month? It would be great if you could be in. Could you reply to this comment today if poss. Thanks.
I am writing similarly to other regular commenters who I feel would be interested, but of course it is a matter of time available. Regards.
What do we know about the McGuinness Institute? that did a survey relating to social engineering that National is interested in?
Mentioned on Radionz this morning I think when they did a peice on the Three Mayors – Far North (National John Carter), Rotorua (Labour Steve Chadwick) and – can’t remember. They are going to sort out their pockets of social problems from cradle to grave, babes to grandparents. I hope in a caring and co-operative way with a community leader in charge to co-ordinate. Sort of like these unaccountable czars that get appointed in neo Lib society.
Could be good, but being given authority to look at every aspect of life. Sounds too top-down to me.
You can find out about the McGuinness Institute by googling it, greywarshark.
It sounds like its full of heavyweight intellectuals all with good intentions providing a great many reports on essential subjects like poverty, public policy etc.
But what results from all those reports and workshops they undertake ?
I’ve just had a quick look at the McGuiness website, greywarshark – and I’m thinking like you – a bit too top-down to the bottom, and perhaps also a bit unrealistic.
For instance, a workshop on poverty in the Far North had a comment about how local business couldn’t compete with BIG business rolling into town. But absolutely no sign that Big business would have been wooing, and been welcomed, by the local council to the detriment of the local start-up enterprises such as CBEC which developed over 20 years – with local people – a business of waste management, only to have the whole lot transferred to incoming Big business by the Far North Council a few years ago.
No wonder people leave their towns when their councils remove their livelihoods.
An interesting, if naive, comment from the summary of that report –
When big businesses arrived in provincial towns without a local mandate, some local independent businesses could not compete and were forced to shut down. Money spent at these big businesses has simply left town, leaving behind empty high streets. Both Kaitaia and Kaikohe have recently seen waning populations…..
http://www.mcguinnessinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/20170202-TPNZ-Far-North-Discussion-paper.pdf
Exactly Jenny – when you’ve got a report being brooded on then you’ve got something hatching. Or so everyone expects. Only everyone’s eggs are addled if
they assume that. Thanks for info. When thinking of something else on here it pays to ask while one remembers and someone will know. And if that goes on the post then everyone knows. So that’s an advantage of asking one of the gurus? here. Collectively the site is a near-complete guru anyway.
And I think, why not get universities who study up that sort of thing to do it? Trouble might be, they might come up with the wrong sort of statistics. So, best idea is shut down the Humanities and let the private sector find out the necessary information to match the planned policies (one of which is to do nothing at all.)
greywarshark – the McGuinness Institute was set up by Mark and Wendy McGuinness (Willis Bond & Co.) who are property speculators whose projects are significantly financed by ACC and the Superannuation Fund. You might want to draw your own conclusions.
aom
Thanks. I take your point and what I had e.s.p about.
aom – that clarifies it !! thanks.
Spoiling for a fight?.
Houthi rebels from Yemen attacked a Saudi frigate; White House spokesman Sean Spicer falsely claimed that this was Iranian forces attacking a US Naval ship and thus an act of war; no one from the White House press corps corrected him or followed up.
http://boingboing.net/2017/02/02/sean-spicer-claims-that-houthi.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident
Back in business.
Hi joe90
I wondered if you would have time to be in the book reading that is being set up and starting on Sunday 12 February, all going well. A month to read and note stuff to comment on in a discussion on a special Sunday post. Starting off with E F Schumacher Small is Beautiful. Could get some interesting ideas to look at from today’s viewpoint. Would you indicate on reply to this today. Thanks
This is the blurb explaining it in general.
You always bring good political ideas and a breadth of vision to the problems facing us. We need new approaches to get through this maze we wander in. I had the idea that new ideas and thoughts could spring from studying books on the important subjects relating to our politics.
Could you find the time to be in this – over a month first reading and noting about E F Schumaker and his Small is Beautiful: Economics as if people mattered – and then there will be a big discussion on a Sunday post at end of month? It would be great if you could be in. Could you reply to this comment today if poss.
I am writing similarly to other regular commenters who I feel would be interested, but of course it is a matter of time available. Regards.
Has the search function that used to live on The Standard disappeared? Or is it just me
I hear a voice. But I see…I see nothing. Spooky.
It was a 2008/9 hacked version of a plug in. It didn’t survive a wordpress upgrade last year(?). Either the newer version of the plug in to sphinx needs hacking (bad idea – I have tried) or I need to write something maintainable on top of sphinx.
Awaiting time to do it. Between work and their frequent demands to go offshore, and the rest of my life, I haven’t found the required block of free time.
Cheers Lynn
I use google’s advanced by site search. You get better control over key words, and the results are better too.
Quoted from Neil Postman’s book ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ in an article published in the Guardian by his son, Andrew.
Well worth the read.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/02/amusing-ourselves-to-death-neil-postman-trump-orwell-huxley
That Huxley stuff, reminds me of a Walter Benjamin quote that came into my twitter feed this morning. I had a brief discussion about Benjamin and the Frankfurt School of Marxists a few days ago.
Benjamin said that, underlying cultural activities (entertainment, art, movies, shopping arcade signages) was capitalism and material relationships (who owned property etc).
He called the cultural expressions (art, popular culture) “aesthetics”. He talked about the aestheticisation of politics. ie. use of propaganda by the Third Reich where popular culture, art etc were used to influence the masses.
Throughout the 2nd half of the twentieth century we got an increase in the aestheticisation of politics: ie the use of marketing techniques to manipulate voters. Trump, reality TV celebrity, become president, is the latest stop on this journey.
Today’s Benjamin tweet:
It’s basically about diverting people from the underlying power structure where those at the top of the property ownership hierarchy retain their power. Meanwhile, it’s all cultural distractions for the masses. But also, it allows people to express themselves through art (social media these days?), etc, but doesn’t allow them to change the property relationship of capitalism.
The tweeted quoted is from Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
NB: Benjamin was a German Jew who tried to escape the Third Reich to Spain. When he believed he was going to be captured and returned to Germany, he killed himself.
Thanks Bill for recalling us to Orwell and Huxley.
My notable memory is that Huxley wrote to Orwell after `1984′ I think, not Animal Farm, and said it conveyed the looming shadow of autocratic politics and control well, but in Huxley’s opinion it would be the continuing quest for efficiency that would dehumanise and strip us of our spirit and potential.
From the article:
“Who can be appalled when the coin of the realm in public discourse is not experience, thoughtfulness or diplomacy but the ability to amuse – no matter how maddening or revolting the amusement?”
It has been thusly for a couple of hundred years. The writer should sit back and reflect on the histories of political movements. They are run a different way now, and it’s not a bad thing.
The stratification of different kinds of thinking from scholars and specialists, to television commentariat, to water-cooler and twitter chatter, seems to be the same as ever to me.
You could also argue however far less pessimistically for the power of the relational networks that are only now possible. People complain about how Twitter surges and distorts public opinion – but as we can see even with Trump, we quickly get inured to different levels of outrage. The outrage instigators peak, burn out, fade away, like a 1990s boy band.
The outrage instigators also get held to account far faster – usually on the same media. (The same old limits of what mass protest can do in realpolitik terms still apply however, even if they are more diverse).
We do see the newer communicative technologies forming relational networks of shared interest and political activism as never before. Sure, old-style parties are dying, and the old-style centralised town hall of single civic dialogue is pretty much dead. But what has taken its place is a revolution in message distribution and connection.
Sooner or later Critical Theory will catch up with the fact that we are beyond oligopolies of opinion from newspapers and television, and we are also well past the historical conditions for fascism. This era needs newer, fresher theorising.
I’ve been hearing about this great Habermasian democratic space of new digital technologies, at least since the 1980s. But the corporate take over of digital technologies has increased. Ditto,the technologies of invasive surveillance.
Sure we get some counter-resistance.
But, in the last decades we have been delivered a deterioration in democratic political processes; an increase of all pervasive neoliberal values and politics; Tony Blair; the Bushes; John Key; David Cameron; Donald Trump; Theresa May; rise in the alt-right; increased wealth and income gaps between the top and bottom deciles; increased homelessness; wars; civilian “collateral damage”; widespread refugee displacements; etc, etc.
And all the time we get first hand knowledge of it via digital technologies.
Don’t think this great democratisation through new digital technologies has actually been happening. Just more celebrity culture, circuses, and digital technology diversions.
Time for some on the ground collaborative engagement; a focus political direction, and ways to provide an alternative to the technologies of distraction.
“Sooner or later Critical Theory will catch up with the fact that we are beyond oligopolies of opinion from newspapers and television, and we are also well past the historical conditions for fascism. This era needs newer, fresher theorising.”
Last i checked critical theorists were regularly appearing here, https://mobile.twitter.com/realpeerreview?lang=en
Is that the kind of fresh new thinking we need to be on the lookout for?
Artist and activist Sam Mahon is raising funds to make a giant sculpture of Environment Minister Nick Smith doing a poo.
Oh yeah… and check it out.. it’s a talking point that’s for sure
Dear Sam Mahon, we would love to see your sculpture in Nelson, September is a wonderful time of year funnily enough it could coincide nicely with Nickoffs Street Corner evening meetings, which he likes to do during election time.
THIS IS SOOOO GOOD… love ART, if it creates a talking point, then it’s art, no matter if it offends or flatters the person viewing it. 😀
I’d suggest a poopier-mache of dessicated cowshit and epoxy as the contruction media…
I like his style and a I like how it revolves too!
Wow!
http://live.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Trump-warns-Israel-Stop-announcing-new-settlements-480446
Trump Tells Israel to Hold Off on Building New Settlements
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/world/middleeast/iran-missile-test-trump.html?_r=0
Inside a month every leader will have learned to discount shouty-ranty thing into proper scale.
He’s crying wolf on such a broad field it may as well be to the moon.
Titles of video says it all, but wait for the guy at the end. Truly classic. 4:37 min video.
“Winston Peters betrayed Maori – here’s the proof. The questions are (1) Why does he refuse to even answer questions on these facts? and (2) Why don’t Maori leaders call him out on his betrayal?”
Just now, on facebook…from Gareth Morgan.
Why Gareth?? Who cares?
It gets Gareth some much-needed publicity, Siobhan – that’s the main thing he’s after.
https://www.facebook.com/garethmorgannz/videos/1390155431026291/
Just having a look at context.
Wow. Ok, a few thoughts.
One is, how will this go down with Māori? It’s a front on attack, and is basically a Pākehā man telling Māori what to do about another Māori. I don’t know what connections if any Morgan has within Māoridom, or where he gets his advice from on Māori issues, so I’ll be interested to see what the response is.
Two, the video itself is smart and well thought through, and if taken separately from Morgan or TOP is a pretty interesting history of Peters’ politics around Māori and ethnicity in NZ. It’s easy to forget how radical he is, because he’s all grin, right?
Three, he’s obviously timing this for Waitangi Weekend, but I’m not quite seeing the strategy. Do NZF get party votes from Māori that TOP wants?
Four, I care. Both because TOP could end up being highly influential in this election, and because he’s addressing Māori and treaty issues strongly. I also think that Peters is a huge problem politically for NZ so am not unhappy with someone calling him on his integrity.
Recently Morgan said something else controversial. On RNZ Morgan pretty much said it was basically calculated to get attention and start a conversation.
I suspect Morgan is aiming to take a leaf from Trump’s campaign. Get attention by stirring up some race-based controversy.
Attention from the media?
Well, if it’s on facebook, then maybe attention from both mainstream media and social media, I guess?
Ultimately, Morgan uses social media, plus mainstream media. The aim is surely to get attention of voters.
I guess, but I’m still trying to figure out how attacking Peters over his position on Māori is going to get TOP votes. I mean, I think what he says about Peters is useful, and I’m certainly in favour of Peters being called on those things, but I doubt he’s going after the white liberal greenie vote with this move. Not so sure about Morgan’s framing it as a challenge to Māori. Which votes is he after? NZF’s? Māori votes, from where? etc
If it’s just noise to raise his profile, that’s a different thing.
I suspect he’s after any votes not committed to the bigger parties. And yes, to create noise and get some attention in the lead up to Waitangi Day
The Republican-led House of Representatives has voted to overturn an Obama-era regulation preventing people with severe mental illnesses from buying guns.
The vote on Thursday (local time) was 235-180 – mostly along party lines.
Under the Obama administration’s rule, people who receive disability benefits and have severe mental disorders would be reported by the Social Security Administration to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
This database is used to determine eligibility for buying a firearm.
However it was strongly opposed by both the Republican Party and the National Rifle Association.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2017/02/republicans-allow-severely-mentally-ill-to-buy-guns.html
It looks like any regulations the last administration passed are on the way out no matter how sensible they were.
Hillary will be at fault.
Or will they blame Bernie?
Wadaya reckon about this CV ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11794343