Sure, there is plenty of debate about whether the levels being treated as requiring remediation are right or not, but BM’s basic point is entirely valid – it doesn’t get there by itself.
& then they bill you $30,000+ for the test! Add it up, 600 houses tested, 200 ‘infected’, is that $20,000,000 for the testing? 600 x 30,000 equals 20,000,000? Jeebus, someone is making a pretty penny out of misery.
Yep and that’s all that National need to know to consider it a success. Their actions have nothing to do with the health and well being of the country but are solely for the further enrichment of their rich mates.
HNZ making money from Meth testing – now thats a silly assertion.
Seriously Gangnam Style, so you think that HNZ went to the tenant and said “Hey lady. hey dude, theres traces of Meth in your house so can you kindly flick $30,000 from one of your term deposits to cover it?
And the tenants said “sure, we have so many term deposits that I will break one today and fix you up.”
Get real.
What actually happens is that HNZ gets no money, and then wastes a further chunk of money setting lawyers onto the ex tenant who has no money.
And then HNZ have to fix or demolish the house, and lose more money.
No independent oversight into the tests, real estate agents performing the tests, using the same swab over the whole house to get the result, same chemicals used in some cleaning solvents & fly spray, plus the desired need from HNZ to get people out of their houses. The amount of money involved is obscene & does not smell right, it’s basically “blank cheque policy”, I thought righties were against that kind of thing? Ecept when it’s punish the poor, then there is an endless money flow.
“plus the desired need from HNZ to get people out of their houses.”
That’s the one that interests me. Is there a clear chain of command coming from the people that want houses vacated and sold? Or is it that it’s just now entrenched in the culture of HNZ that houses are assets to be realised, so this is the shit they do as a matter of course? Not so much intentionally (we’ll get rid of tenants and sell the houses), but the idea being that the housing stock is more important than the people.
HNZ making money from Meth testing – now thats a silly assertion.
That wasn’t the assertion. It was pretty obvious that HNZ was spending lots of money resulting in profiteers making lots of money. This means that everything you said was a lie.
Congratulations to Venezuela’s Socialist rulers. They have now reached the stage of forced labour to combat the food shortages that their rule has brought about.
Congratulations to the US and their band of EU comrades – as declared many years ago, they have defeated Afghanistan and Iraq and ended the war on terror.
A war that nobody even knew existed, (the main terrorists from 9/11 were from Saudi, the West’s BFF in the region). Go figure!
Well-placed sources in the Government say the Land Information survey on foreign buyers was delayed while Ministers re-wrote the survey questions, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.
“I’m told the survey was delayed by Cabinet while Ministers – including Steven Joyce –interfered with the way the questions were framed.
“This is pure political manipulation and it has all the hallmarks of a Steven Joyce special.
“It would have been so easy to simply ask home buyers if they were citizens or residents. But instead the Government produced a convoluted set of questions that made nine months of data collection effectively useless.
“National has got itself into another housing fiasco by deliberately designing a survey to muddy the water and confuse the public debate about the impact of foreign buyers in the real estate market.
Then the entire National Party caucus needs to be placed in jail now. We simply cannot allow this level of corruption.
The thinking of the more Machiavellian liars and deceivers is essentially egotistical and focused on their wants and needs. They tend to think that they are entitled to do whatever is in their interests, regardless of the consequences on others. When caught out, they often shrug off the lies they use to cover-up what they have done, with the excuse that “everybody lies”. This argument assumes that all lies are the same; and if all lies are the same and everybody lies, then effectively this argument implies that the truth doesn’t matter.
The problem Draco, if this is true, that Steven Joyce has manipulated survey questions to suit his own needs, to paint a rosier picture of foreign investment in property, then nothing will happen.
For eight years, after fiasco, after false reporting, after denial of scientific fact and academic reasoning, after questionable to put it mildly, corrupt to put it more succinctly “deals” such as the Saudi sheep farm, the granting of millions of $$$ of “Pacific aid money” to a wealthy National Party donor, after turning a blind eye to the families of the victims of Pike River mine, after walking away from hurting Cantabrians, after pulling funding from essential health services such as Women’s refuge, after introducing cruel sanctions to suffering vulnerable beneficiaries whose children pay the price, after our PM not only getting away with but being supported in his physical and psychological assault of a woman – and all of this in front of an international media to watches on in horror (Remember “Il Cretino!!! The Italian papers cried)……….
Nothing will happen.
I’m sorry to be pessimistic. It’s why I no longer comment as much as I used to. All ideas come to nothing – or at least they are stewing and building while our country is on hold, hopefully the latter.
Watch and wait and we will see that nothing will come of this, like everything before it.
S. Most readers will be familiar with your approach: Act all innocent about a topic you are fully aware of, bait the reader by asking a question and then go into an attack on the reader whilst defending the indefensible.
Couldn’t agree more Rosie. Don’t worry about being pessimistic , it’s perfectly logical with the way things are being run in this world. It’s a bloody uphill battle when the majority of our dumbed down population are actively coerced to accept that…. war is peace…..freedom is slavery …. ignorance is strength.
What I’ve found particularly disturbing lately is joining faceblab for the first time, and seeing just how disconnected from NZ’s and the world’s current state of affairs some folks are. It’s like there is a concrete wall between them and the most basic knowledge about the seriousness of our socio-political problems. Maybe they like it this way. I don’t know.
Listening to Nick Smith avoiding the simple question was rather amusing. He thinks we are all stupid and don’t know the difference between a tax resident and an actual resident. My parents are tax residents only because they have a savings account here (and they pay tax on it) so they will not need to bring cash with them when they come to visit. Still doesn’t turn them into a NZ resident.
I don’t know what the questions are but how difficult can it be to ask ‘are you holding a: a. Student visa b. Temporary work visa c. NZ permanent resident d. None of the above’
He was also saying many got it wrong or didn’t answer at all! Well then, get back to them and demand an answer.
On Tuesday Richard Hanna, a three-term Republican became the first Republican in Congress to say he will vote for Hillary Clinton.
Referring to Trumps attacks on the Khan parents..Hanna asked, “Where do we draw the line? I thought it would have been when he alleged that U.S. Sen. John McCain was not a war hero because he was caught,”. . . ..
I believe Trump evaded joining the armed forces because of a foot defect but when questioned later couldn’t remember which foot.
I believe Trump evaded joining the armed forces because of a foot defect but when questioned later couldn’t remember which foot.
He’s lost track of his lies.
For many years, Mr. Trump, 70, has also asserted that it was “ultimately” the luck of a high draft lottery number — rather than the medical deferment — that kept him out of the war.
Continue reading the main story
But his Selective Service records, obtained from the National Archives, suggest otherwise. Mr. Trump had been medically exempted for more than a year when the draft lottery began in December 1969, well before he received what he has described as his “phenomenal” draft number.
Because of his medical exemption, his lottery number would have been irrelevant, said Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, who has worked for the agency for three decades.
[..]
In a 2011 television interview, Mr. Trump described watching the draft lottery as a college student and learning then that he would not be drafted.
“I’ll never forget; that was an amazing period of time in my life,” he said in the interview, on Fox 5 New York. “I was going to the Wharton School of Finance, and I was watching as they did the draft numbers, and I got a very, very high number.”
But Mr. Trump had graduated from Wharton 18 months before the lottery — the first in the United States in 27 years — was held.
Oh dear. Trump has got a memory that is just as defective as poor old Kris Faafoi. I’m sure people recall his remarkable ability to remember things that happened when he was only a few months old.
Trump remembers things before they happened. Still what can one expect. They are both politicians.
Its just like getting people to understand that they and the time in their life is of the same value as the time of the persons life next to them.
20 hrs from my life is 20 hrs from my life.
20hrs from your life is 20 hrs from your life
20hrs from the coffee ladies life is 20 hrs from the coffee ladies life.
20 hrs from the guy who cleans toilets life is 20 hrs from the guy who cleans toilets life.
20hrs is 20 hrs
Once we strip away the false value system and understand that money is in many ways a false value system then we can start to build a world that enables people to live their life in the best way possible. One where we make the best use of technology to enable them to do so……
Consider that our current system is – you have to work in order to earn tokens (money) so that you can pay to survive. That’s what our system is.
Consider that the majority will not have enough to retire.
Consider that taking into account getting ready for work and travelling to and from work most people spend 60 – 70 hrs per week on work related activities. Over a lifetime that’s 60 or 70 hrs per week x 48 weeks per year (taking out 4 weeks for holidays – consider that in ours system too out of 52 weeks in a year you get to have 4 of those where you don’t have to work. WOW 4 weeks!!!!! Thankyou so much for my 4 weeks out of 52 where I don’t have to work). Lets say you live to 80 but like most people you can’t afford to retire so you spend 60 years doing that and we wont even factor in things like relationship break ups or losing your job and the fact that if those things happen to you then shit gets a lot harder for you or anyone else in that position.
Right so you have 60 hrs x 48 weeks x 60 years
So in the current system you are going to have to work 172,800 hrs of your life so that you can pay to live on this planet.
If you like we can add school onto that too. With school you get about 11 weeks off per year and you spend say an 1.5 hrs getting ready, travelling to and from school but lets just make it 2hrs in case you get homework.
Your at school from 9 – 3.30 so that’s 6.5 hrs per day plus 2hrs or 42.5 hrs per week.
So 42.5 hrs x (52 weeks – 11 weeks you get off is 39 weeks) x lets say 13 years for school
So 13 x 42.5 x 39 = 21 547.5hrs
Then lets add in sleep cause athough its nice you’re not really living you’re at best having a cool dream so if you life for 80 years lets say 8rs sleep (cause that’s what you’re supposed to get
Which is 8 hrs x 365 days of the year x 80 years = 233,600 hours sleeping.
So to recap
Work 172,800 hrs
School 21 547.5hrs
Sleep 233,600 hours
Total 427,947.5 hrs of your life doing those activities
In a life of 80 years your total hours on the planet is 700,800hrs
Minus 427,947.5 hrs
Then out of 700,800rs you get a grand total of 272,852.5 hrs to actually experience and live the life you want to…….
But that doesn’t take into account cooking cleaning and all the other stuff you have to do to live
So 272,852.5 hrs – cleaning cooking going to the supermarket etc. etc. to live the life you want to live…….
If you have enough money…..
But that’s ok because at least your worth more than the coffee lady and the toilet cleaner right?
Or we could have a system where we use IT to enable the human experience here on this planet by ensuring that everyone has a smartphone and/or tablet and can connect to product hubs and service hubs (which already exist) and you could maybe need to work
Then we still have sleep 233,600hrs
We still have school (but without the homework because who really wants homework!!!???). 16,477.5hrs
Work say 20 hrs per week for say 20 years of your life and be able to work from home in many cases or at least not have the levels of peak hour traffic we have now and you could work (including an 1.5 hours travel time and getting ready) 26,400 hrs
So then the equation becomes 276,477.5hrs of your life spent working sleeping or at school (and 233,600 hrs is spent sleeping)
Out of your 700,800hrs of life.
Leaving you to 424,322.5 hrs of your life where you can experience and do whatever you want to do…….
And in this world with technology as an enabler, money no longer has to be a barrier to overcome.
But you do have to give up the notion that the hours of your life are more valuable that the lady who makes your coffee or the guy who cleans your toilets…..
if your wondering wtf at the above.
its basically that by changing the system and using technology in far better ways you could get 17 years of your life back that 99% of people wont get with the current system.
what worries me Scott is your saying it took 12 minutes to read what coffeeconnoiseur wrote …………… and unlike porn you probably don’t even understand it.
Good on you for spending the hour and a half to type your reply though ……
He took bribes from a firm and gave preference in contracts to that firm in return.
Is there any possibility that the firm offering the bribes and taking the bribe-induced contracts is guilty of wrong-doing and can also be brought before a court?
Stephen James Borlase, who had run private contractor Projenz, faces eight charges of bribing George and Noone and four of doctoring the number of hours claimed to have been worked in invoices to Council.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, “Auckland Transport boss pleads guilty to corruption charges”.
The reason there is no public transport in Auckland is that there is a toxic corrupt and incompetent culture in AT supported by the toxic culture from the Super City of fiefdoms at the council.
My guess is that they got a small fish, in a very large pond of corruption.
The types of decisions AT loves making… thanks for destroying our city AT!
Auckland transport is planning to build a massive road in South Auckland that would destroy hundreds of our homes, cut a swathe through communities and destroy irreplaceable native bush known as ‘Grahams Bush.’ Auckland Transport wants to build this road to improve traffic congestion and make roads for yet to be built houses – at the cost of existing houses and communities!
But The Tree Council has lodged an appeal with the Environment Court against the decision by Auckland Transport to accept the Notices of Requirement recommended by Commissioners on behalf of the consent authority for the Redoubt Road-Mill Road corridor upgrade. Now they need your help: http://bit.ly/1y7VQoJ
Looks like Corbyn might not be such a shoe-in in the UK if 25% of his 25Gbp supporters are banned. On the bright side – Labour will keep their money thank you very much.
Isn’t the question on leader really about who might stand the best chance of helping the party to win an election?
The current Labour MPs are in a good position to judge who helps their electoral chances, and are motivated by self-interest to do so. By contrast the membership may enjoy having a leader who says things they like to hear, but that is hardly going to help reach out to the middle voters who decide elections. Preaching to the converted can only get you so far.
Labour have the same problem here with Little, and the selection method that put him in his job.
Except polling suggests that the Leaders favoured by the Blairite/Brownite sections of the PLP have proven no more popular (and often demonstrably less popular) with both Labour voters and voters in general than Corbyn. Whether it be Eagle and Smith this year or Cooper and Kendal last year.
Corbyn has certainly received some very poor personal ratings from voters over the last year – it’s just that the PLP plotters’ candidates are held in even lower regard.
Hmm Shamubeel is the same economist that has told Kiwis for the last 10 years that there was going to be a housing crash each year, renting was a better investment than owning your own home (as homes in Auckland increased $1000 per week) and that immigration has nothing to do with the property boom.
Yep, have to go with Little on this one, there is not going to be any affordable houses for Kiwis with the unitary plan, the affordable options were deleted, they are designed for new arrivals as the new migrants, as they don’t like old Kiwi villas and bungalows and want new apartments and McMansions and gardens are not popular as clearly a waste of space that you can cram some more people into.
Gotta give the punters what they want!
Lucky the council planners have left a few streets free of intensification for the prominent New Zealand rich listers, so they don’t have to have their leafy large waterfront sites, decimated.
I mean with supply and demand – has anyone looked at how many people in the world there are to buy our houses? We allow anyone to buy here from Russia, to the middle east to the EU.
Thanks for the supply and demand lesson Shamubeel. sarc.
“Lianjia, which has more than 6000 branches in over 25 cities in China, will co-list Ray White’s New Zealand and Australian and properties in Mandarin on its websites.
The exposure to Lianjia’s audience – about 260 million Chinese buyers – will provide Ray White with the leverage into China and, more importantly, fulfil the organisation’s strategy of becoming more diverse and a brand that is more attractive to the Chinese community. …”
That NZ real estate companies are now direct marketing to cheap Chinese money makes me think there will never be a soft correction in NZ housing.
No matter what happens with the continuation of stagnant wages, a slower economy, further job losses, interest rate rises, there will always be direct marketing by the likes of Ray White to cheap Chinese money, and those people will delight in picking at the bones of of New Zealand society.
More and more New Zealanders want to live in smaller houses and apartments, especially in the younger and older age groups. People want to live within walking or cycling distance of the places that they travel to most often. Most people are happy with mixed-use development, putting homes close to offices, shops, parks, schools and public transport routes.
So, giving the people what they want is the complete opposite of what you think that they want.
Read how a recent Democratic House Rep’s net worth has gone up by millions in the last 6 years
While we have often heard that members of Congress, who are not only exempt from insider trading oversight, are also ardent daytraders we had never seen it in action.
Until now.
The following publicly filed monthly Periodic Transaction Report by Democrat Congresswoman, Judy Chu, shows us just how pervasive daytrading is not only for algos, but for those who supposedly are paid to serve their constituents. What is interesting is the size of the trades – between $1,000 and $15,000 each, this is not some novice, penny pincher; what is even more interesting are the underlying securities of choice: volatile, and levered, calls and puts on not only the S&P500, but also on some of the most volatile securities out there, such as the VIX.
Good. Fucking NIMBYs opposing everything except their own activities.
… the proposal drew the ire of nearby neighbours, who said property prices, quality of life and even, possibly, health would be negatively affected by the installations.
I guess we should be grateful they at least put the word “possibly” in there – if it was cellphone towers the health-destroying woo would pretty much be taken for granted.
Mr Pickford, whose Pryde Rd property would be about 800m from the turbines, said he had “had a gutsful”.
That’s one motherfucker of a wind turbine, if it can be “intrusive and visually dominant” over a property 800 meters away. Are we building them the size of Auckland’s Sky Tower now?
I was just looking at that as well. The change on the weekend was to shift it from not working due to a problem with the fragment part of the cache not working. So I shifted it to using jQuery to fetch it,
It is odd. Had a query this morning about it still not appearing. First time I looked at it this evening it didn’t show. Now it is showing.
As Draco says @13.1 maybe after I have left a comment.
I’ll have a look at it ‘soonish’. But since I haven’t left work yet, soonish may be the weekend.
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike because it has nothing to do with trade. Banned for 4 weeks for simple diversion trolling. I’m trying to make myself the most disliked moderator by trolls and the most beloved by anyone who has ascended above your grunting level. BTW: How am I doing in this popularity contest? You can answer in 4 weeks. ]
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Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Care is at the centre of Auckland Zoo’s mandate, and it’s clear to see when you witness the staff doing their day-to-day jobs up close. Leonie Hayden went behind the scenes to talk to two people who would do anything for the animals they look after. “We were having this ...
The Game Animal Council (GAC) is applying its expertise in the use of firearms for hunting to work alongside Police, other agencies and stakeholder groups to improve the compliance provisions for hunters and other firearms users. The GAC has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Verica Rupar, Professor, Auckland University of Technology “The lie outlasts the liar,” writes historian Timothy Snyder, referring to outgoing president Donald Trump and his contribution to the “post-truth” era in the US. Indeed, the mass rejection of reason that erupted in a ...
The internet ain’t what it used to be, thanks to privacy issues, data leaks, censorship and hate speech. But a group of New Zealanders are working on a way to give power back to the people. A flood of headlines over the last week made it clear: the internet has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Brooks, Scientia Professor of Evolutionary Ecology; Academic Lead of UNSW’s Grand Challenges Program, UNSW The views of women and men can differ on important gendered issues such as abortion, gender equity and government spending priorities. Surprisingly, however, average differences in sex ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer S. Hunt, Lecturer in National Security, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Every four years on January 20, the US exercises a key tenant of democratic government: the peaceful transfer of power. This year, the scene looks a bit ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle In Australia and around the world, research is showing changes in body weight, cooking, eating and drinking patterns associated with COVID lockdowns. Some changes have been positive, such as people cooking ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hao Tan, Associate professor, University of Newcastle Australian coal exports to China plummeted last year. While this is due in part to recent trade tensions between Australia and China, our research suggests coal plant closures are a bigger threat to Australia’s export ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Asha Bowen, Head, Skin Health, Telethon Kids Institute A year ago, in late January 2020, Australia reported its first cases of COVID-19. Since then, we have seen almost 29,000 confirmed cases and 909 deaths. As cases climbed in Australian cities in 2020, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin Davis, Emeritus Professor of Finance, University of Melbourne Political pressure forced the federal government in 2017 – when Scott Morrison was treasurer – to call the royal commission into misconduct in the banking, superannuation and financial services sector. Commissioner Kenneth Hayne ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Ellis, Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Newcastle, University of Newcastle The Rise and Fall of Saint George is a story about place, belonging and community that taps into universal tensions of identity and faith in multicultural societies. Playing for ...
An in-depth analysis of media coverage of the euthanasia and cannabis referendums has found that while both sides of the euthanasia referendum were given reasonably fair and balanced coverage, the YES position in the cannabis debate received a heavily ...
*This article was originally published on RNZ and is republished with permission Auckland has no plans to hand over the ownership of it assets under the government's planned water reforms, with Auckland Mayor Phil Goff saying his top priority is to ensure it stacks up for the city. Despite ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as they find out exactly what we’re voting on in the cannabis referendum, and discover how legalising weed is a women’s issue.First published August 4, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
A principal analyst for the Climate Change Commission says more needs to be done to reduce agricultural emissions or the country will miss its methane targets. ...
New Zealand needs to be bold in making developers enhance the environment - not just limit its degradation, writes Stephen Knight-Lenihan All human activity should help restore the natural world. This is a concept that may resonate following the upheavals of 2020 and one which is beginning to appear in law. Imagine ...
Derek Challis, son of the legendary author Robin Hyde, died last Thursday. Michelle Leggott pays tribute He opens a suitcase and there they are, the precious manuscript notebooks written by his poet mother Iris Wilkinson aka Robin Hyde. We are in Dunedin for a Hyde conference. Yes, says Derek Arden ...
Former New Zealand gymnast Katya Nosova is now a champion bodybuilder, who was prepared to spend Christmas alone in quarantine to compete in the 'Olympics' of her sport. Katya Nosova was willing to do everything she could to pose on the world stage in her third Ms Olympia. Despite a ...
Concerts and some sports look likely to be on the move in Auckland after a big win for Eden Park – and politicians and officials may now want to win the public some control over the independent stadium. The advent of big concerts at Eden Park will, in all likelihood, mean ...
Despite promises of improvement, questions remain about colonoscopy services in Otago and Southland.David Williams reports The apology, when it came, was fulsome. “On behalf of the Southern DHB, I offer a sincere apology for lapses and inadequacies in colonoscopy services over the past several years,” district health board chair ...
The issues political editor Justin Giovannetti will be keeping an eye on in 2021 (that have nothing to do with Covid-19).New Zealand will be busy in 2021. The border will remain closed to nearly all travellers and Covid-19 will continue to lead the news, but the country has a packed ...
A former case manager says that his experience working with beneficiaries suggests claims of a ‘complete shift’ in the service’s approach are laughable.A former Work and Income case manager who now works with beneficiaries engaging with the service has spoken out on a “toxic” culture which he says denies beneficiaries ...
ACC Minister Carmel Sepuloni must confirm whether the Government supports ACC’s apparent policy to make payouts for illegal overstayers , says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . Union spokesman Jordan Williams says, “Since when was it ACC policy to ...
By RNZ News An independent panel says Chinese officials could have applied public health measures more forcefully in January to curb the initial covid-19 outbreak, and criticised the World Health Organisation (WHO) for not declaring an international emergency until 30 January. The experts reviewing the global handling of the pandemic, ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Fiji’s NGO Coalition on Human Rights has called for stronger accountability and commitment to human rights at home in response to the country taking the world stage as the head of a UN body. The UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) elected Fiji’s ambassador Nazhat Shameem as ...
Danyl McLauchlan reviews Stuart Ritchie’s Science Fictions, which outlines the staggering systemic flaws in the funding and publication of scientific papers. Back in August of 2006 a number of New Zealand scientists were caught up in a media controversy about whether Māori had a genetic predisposition towards violent crime. It kicked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert G. Patman, Professor of International Relations, University of Otago America is currently experiencing its worst political and constitutional crisis since the civil war when the very survival of Abraham Lincoln’s government “of, by and for the people” was at stake. On ...
Manaaki Rangatahi report that young people experiencing homelessness are being further traumatized within the emergency accommodation where they have sought safety. Often these environments are unsafe, and unsuitable for young people to live in, and rangatahi ...
Can you figure out which of the above is the real Jacinda Ardern? Probably! But one day, that might not be true.There are many reasons to believe the internet shouldn’t exist. Social media empires exerting, intentionally or not, their control over sovereign governments. Baby Shark. Your aunt on Facebook.It pains ...
The Point of Order Ministers on a Mission Monitor has flickered only fleetingly for much of the month. More than once, the minister to trigger it has been David Parker, who set it off again yesterday with an announcement that shows how he has been spending our money. He welcomed ...
Ban Bomb Day event at the New Brighton Pier, 9am, on January 22nd, 2021 January 22nd, 2021, marks the first day the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) Enters into Force and becomes international law. Aotearoa NZ is one of the ...
Why are New Zealand’s 2 Minute Noodles called 3 Minute Noodles in the UK? It’s a puzzle that has taken hold of Dylan Reeve and refuses to let go.I’m a child of the 80s and 90s. I watched a lot of TV and was a big fan of aggressively marketed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonatan A Lassa, Senior Lecturer, Humanitarian Emergency and Disaster Management, College of Indigenous Futures, Arts and Society, Charles Darwin University News of storms battering parts of Queensland and the threat posed by Cyclone Kimi reminded me of a recent experience I’d had. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that the use of force to effect the arrest of a wanted offender in Auckland was justified and proportionate to the risk he posed. A man, who was well known to Police, was wanted by Police for an aggravated ...
A distinctly colonial institution, banking has long ignored te ao Māori. Teaho Pihama believes investment in tikanga Māori at Kiwibank can have significant, positive outcomes for Māori.In early 90s Tāmaki Makaurau, when Teahooterangi (Teaho) Pihama was growing up riding his bike around the streets of Kingsland until the streetlights came ...
Donald Trump’s awful presidency expires at midday on Wednesday [US time] when Air Force One will have deposited him in Florida. He retreats to his Mar-a-Lago resort and Joseph R Biden Junior takes command of the White House. Trump’s has been an unpleasant presidency, brought about largely by his own ...
The New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) has elected its National President for 2021. The election took place last Friday at an NZUSA Special General Meeting (SGM) in Wellington. Andrew Lessells, 22, was elected to serve as the National ...
Think twice before you accept that surprise school reunion invite, writes Chris Schulz.It started with a Facebook notification. A school reunion was being organised. It sounded fun, with a fancy dress party set to be held in the city where I grew up, Whanganui. I hadn’t seen some of my ...
Unlike the US, there is very little NZ precedent for politicians to issue discretionary pardons – creating a challenge for those like Prof Sean Davison who might have a humanitarian claim to mercy. ...
Schools have told the Education Review Office that some children lost 10 weeks of learning in last year's lockdowns, but the overall impact of the pandemic is still unclear. In a report based on surveys of thousand of students, teachers and principals during and after last year's national and Auckland ...
The government seems to still be in holiday mode when in the past two weeks alone we have had six homicides, countless firearms incidents, and police needing to arm themselves against gangs almost every second day," says Sensible Sentencing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Crawford, Associate Professor in Construction and Environmental Assessment, University of Melbourne Over the past few years, Australians have embraced online food delivery services such as UberEats, Deliveroo and Menulog. But home-delivered food comes with a climate cost, and single-use packaging is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland When the coronavirus pandemic hit Australia in March 2020, the Morrison government took bold and imaginative action. The most notable examples were its income support programs – JobKeeper, paying a A$750 weekly ...
Ocean Ute, which arrived at Port Taranaki yesterday, is the second live export ship to arrive in New Zealand this year. Taranaki Animal Rights Group has two demonstrations planned for today. A protest at midday and a vigil at 6.30pm tonight . The number ...
The Department of Corrections is well within its rights to refuse Jared Savage’s “Gangland” book from being read by inmates and it is outrageous that resources and time are now potentially going to be wasted in court about it, says Sensible ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Cowling, Associate Professor – Information & Communication Technology (ICT), CQUniversity Australia We’ve probably all been there. We buy some new smart gadget and when we plug it in for the first time it requires an update to work. So we end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Vice-chancellor’s fellow, La Trobe University The new trade minister, Dan Tehan, has been handed one of the Morrison government’s most demanding roles. Despite a lot of chest-thumping in government circles about the need to stand up to “Chinese bullying”, Tehan’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Weinstein, Professorial Research Fellow, University of Adelaide There’s no question the rising rate of unemployment is one of the worst consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of Australians seeking work is heading towards 10%, almost double the pre-pandemic Australian average ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Munro, Professor, Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University Research during the first phase of remote teaching in Victoria reported some students found the workload “too high”, missed interactions with peers, felt their thinking ability was impaired, and reported a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Keating, Visiting Fellow, College of Business & Economics, Australian National University It is tempting to think the Australian government’s decision to spend big – bigger than ever before, an unprecedented 33% of GDP this financial year according to the budget update ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Maguire-Rosier, Honorary Associate, Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, School of Literature, Art, and Media, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sydney Review: Humans 2.0, directed by Yaron Lifschitz, Circa at Sydney Festival The black circular stage is lit ...
Summer reissue: Greens MP Chlöe Swarbrick joins Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire to pick over the remains of election night in a special Sunday edition of Gone By Lunchtime.First published October 18, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded ...
Summer reissue: Our feminist webseries On the Rag returns to dissect representation in the media and who is still being left behind when you turn on the telly. First published July 22, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members ...
Applaud the social media silencing of Donald Trump if you must, but be careful what you wish for, writes Matt Bartlett of the University of Auckland. The sighs of relief from all around the world were almost palpable when Donald Trump’s Twitter account was permanently banned this month. Twitter, Facebook, ...
Matteo Di Maio investigates what MPs have been filling their heads with over the summer holidays What have our lords and masters been reading on the beach during the summer holidays? What books have filled their heads, given them ideas, expanded their horizons? Eight prominent politicians have revealed their choice ...
From white-collar crims to famous rappers, President Trump is to issue about 100 pardons on his final full day in office, buying protection from incriminating revelations. ...
Are the continent’s coronavirus statistics as good as they appear? Felix Geiringer looks at the numbers, and why whether they reflect the reality matters. Living in Africa during Covid times, one of the questions I am asked most often is this: how has Africa done so well?At the start of September, ...
With new strains of Covid-19 bearing down on our shores, Pattrick Smellie of BusinessDesk looks at the challenges 2021 has in store, and what can be done to prepare.In the three weeks that New Zealanders have been at the beach and ignoring Covid tracer app sign-ins, the threat of Covid-19 ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised the Indonesian government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo for its weak health response to covid-19 which has brought Indonesia to its knees since March 2020, reports CNN Indonesia. The assessment is based on Indonesia’s poor rates of testing and tracing ...
By The National in Port Moresby An expatriate who tested positive for the covid-19 coronavirus last week has been admitted to a private hospital in the Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby, an official has confirmed. Pacific International Hospital (PIH) chief executive officer Colonel Sandeep Shaligram toldThe National the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Bartlett, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle Reports of about 30 deaths among elderly nursing home residents who received the Pfizer vaccine have made international headlines. With Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) expected to approve the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Culum Brown, Professor, Macquarie University How do gills work? Tully, aged 7 Great question, Tully! Animals on land breathe air, which is made up of different gasses. Oxygen is one of these gases, and is made by plants (hug ...
Dairy prices increased by 3.9% across the board at the latest Fonterra global auction. The lift followed rises of 1.3% and 4.3% in the December auctions which took dairy prices to their highest level in 11 months, defying those analysts who believed Covid-19 had disrupted dairy markets. In the latest ...
America's Cup team American Magic has spoken publicly after their boat Patriot capsized when on its way to their first win of the Challenger Selection Series yesterday. Patriot dramatically capsized yesterday, becoming temporarily airborne before crashing back into the water and tipping. The boat, helmed by New Zealander Dean Barker, could not be ...
It’s a seemingly age old question: why do Auckland’s beaches become unswimmable after every single downpour? Stewart Sowman-Lund investigates.Ah, the beach. A staple of the New Zealand summer. Unless, of course, you’re based in Auckland and it’s raining. The start of 2021 has been a lot like every other New ...
We have opened a book, among members of the Point of Order team, on how long it will be before the PM offers to sort out the land dispute at Wellington’s Shelly Bay and (to win the double) how much the settlement will cost taxpayers. Just a few weeks ago ...
Breakfast TV news is back for 2021, and Tara Ward got up early to watch. “Thank god it’s almost Christmas,” John Campbell said during the opening minutes of Breakfast’s premiere episode of the year. “2021’s been rough so far. I’m buggered”. We’re all buggered, to be fair, but I’m worried that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Pearson, Professor of Journalism and Social Media, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Griffith University The blame for the recent assault on the US Capitol and President Donald Trump’s broader dismantling of democratic institutions and norms can be ...
Such an admirable leader.
Owen Jones meets Jeremy Corbyn again.
Parallels for NZ Paul?
Hardly, very bland, career politician it’s the medias fault, missing millions will save me , same script different country
HNZ knows its meth test are not fit for purpose, but will still evict tenants, in fact it will increase testing. Wankers, complete & utter wankers.
Don’t smoke meth or let other people smoke meth in your state house, problem solved.
If you can’t do that, go live on the street.
Grow a brain mate, think a bit harder, the tests are proven to be flawed, just as much meth are on your banknotes in your wallet.
Sure, there is plenty of debate about whether the levels being treated as requiring remediation are right or not, but BM’s basic point is entirely valid – it doesn’t get there by itself.
I would place as much faith in your problem solving ability as I would Nek Minut Smith.
or HNZ could insist on proper testing guidelines that actually mean something
christ BM – use your brain for a damn change – stop sticking up for scammers
& then they bill you $30,000+ for the test! Add it up, 600 houses tested, 200 ‘infected’, is that $20,000,000 for the testing? 600 x 30,000 equals 20,000,000? Jeebus, someone is making a pretty penny out of misery.
Yep and that’s all that National need to know to consider it a success. Their actions have nothing to do with the health and well being of the country but are solely for the further enrichment of their rich mates.
HNZ making money from Meth testing – now thats a silly assertion.
Seriously Gangnam Style, so you think that HNZ went to the tenant and said “Hey lady. hey dude, theres traces of Meth in your house so can you kindly flick $30,000 from one of your term deposits to cover it?
And the tenants said “sure, we have so many term deposits that I will break one today and fix you up.”
Get real.
What actually happens is that HNZ gets no money, and then wastes a further chunk of money setting lawyers onto the ex tenant who has no money.
And then HNZ have to fix or demolish the house, and lose more money.
“And then HNZ have to fix or demolish the house, and lose more money.”
If every p contaminated place in the country had to be fixed or replaced i would bet that every motel and hotel in the country will need work.
No independent oversight into the tests, real estate agents performing the tests, using the same swab over the whole house to get the result, same chemicals used in some cleaning solvents & fly spray, plus the desired need from HNZ to get people out of their houses. The amount of money involved is obscene & does not smell right, it’s basically “blank cheque policy”, I thought righties were against that kind of thing? Ecept when it’s punish the poor, then there is an endless money flow.
“plus the desired need from HNZ to get people out of their houses.”
That’s the one that interests me. Is there a clear chain of command coming from the people that want houses vacated and sold? Or is it that it’s just now entrenched in the culture of HNZ that houses are assets to be realised, so this is the shit they do as a matter of course? Not so much intentionally (we’ll get rid of tenants and sell the houses), but the idea being that the housing stock is more important than the people.
“HNZ making money from Meth testing – now thats a silly assertion.”
i dont think that assertion was ever made – reads to me like GS is pointing the finger at the testing industry
That wasn’t the assertion. It was pretty obvious that HNZ was spending lots of money resulting in profiteers making lots of money. This means that everything you said was a lie.
Where is all the meth coming from??? What happened to JK’s war on P?
Bit the dust like all his ideas that could be helpful to society.
Congratulations to Venezuela’s Socialist rulers. They have now reached the stage of forced labour to combat the food shortages that their rule has brought about.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/07/venezuela-new-regime-effectively-amounts-to-forced-labour/
I guess many of them would starve if Venezuela had a more “free market” economy. Would that be preferable?
Congratulations to Somalia’s free market Libertarian government. The civil war is now in its thirtieth year.
Congratulations to communist China, propping up western ‘free market’ countries, party time!
Congratulations to the social democracies in Europe and Scandinavia, demonstrating how false Gosman’s premise is, and it’s the only one he’s got 😆
Congratulations to New Zealand whose rock-star economy is dependent on immigration and an out of control property boom.
Congratulations to the US and their band of EU comrades – as declared many years ago, they have defeated Afghanistan and Iraq and ended the war on terror.
A war that nobody even knew existed, (the main terrorists from 9/11 were from Saudi, the West’s BFF in the region). Go figure!
Congratulations to Gosman – wannabe Ahmadinejad of the Key kleptocracy.
What a brilliant “Congratulations” thread there. It must be a ‘device’ with a special name or something.
Was about to add some Cliff Richards……..
If this is true:
Then the entire National Party caucus needs to be placed in jail now. We simply cannot allow this level of corruption.
EDIT:
Categories of Lies – White Lies, Grey Lies, and Black Lies
Describes National to a ‘T’.
The problem Draco, if this is true, that Steven Joyce has manipulated survey questions to suit his own needs, to paint a rosier picture of foreign investment in property, then nothing will happen.
For eight years, after fiasco, after false reporting, after denial of scientific fact and academic reasoning, after questionable to put it mildly, corrupt to put it more succinctly “deals” such as the Saudi sheep farm, the granting of millions of $$$ of “Pacific aid money” to a wealthy National Party donor, after turning a blind eye to the families of the victims of Pike River mine, after walking away from hurting Cantabrians, after pulling funding from essential health services such as Women’s refuge, after introducing cruel sanctions to suffering vulnerable beneficiaries whose children pay the price, after our PM not only getting away with but being supported in his physical and psychological assault of a woman – and all of this in front of an international media to watches on in horror (Remember “Il Cretino!!! The Italian papers cried)……….
Nothing will happen.
I’m sorry to be pessimistic. It’s why I no longer comment as much as I used to. All ideas come to nothing – or at least they are stewing and building while our country is on hold, hopefully the latter.
Watch and wait and we will see that nothing will come of this, like everything before it.
“the granting of millions of $$$ of “Pacific aid money” to a wealthy National Party donor”
I must have missed this. Who is this person you are referring to?
S. Most readers will be familiar with your approach: Act all innocent about a topic you are fully aware of, bait the reader by asking a question and then go into an attack on the reader whilst defending the indefensible.
You know perfectly well who I’m talking about.
looking for another sugar daddy?
😀
Couldn’t agree more Rosie. Don’t worry about being pessimistic , it’s perfectly logical with the way things are being run in this world. It’s a bloody uphill battle when the majority of our dumbed down population are actively coerced to accept that…. war is peace…..freedom is slavery …. ignorance is strength.
What I’ve found particularly disturbing lately is joining faceblab for the first time, and seeing just how disconnected from NZ’s and the world’s current state of affairs some folks are. It’s like there is a concrete wall between them and the most basic knowledge about the seriousness of our socio-political problems. Maybe they like it this way. I don’t know.
It’s been an eye opener for sure.
Good to read you again Rosie !
Kia ora North 🙂
Listening to Nick Smith avoiding the simple question was rather amusing. He thinks we are all stupid and don’t know the difference between a tax resident and an actual resident. My parents are tax residents only because they have a savings account here (and they pay tax on it) so they will not need to bring cash with them when they come to visit. Still doesn’t turn them into a NZ resident.
I don’t know what the questions are but how difficult can it be to ask ‘are you holding a: a. Student visa b. Temporary work visa c. NZ permanent resident d. None of the above’
He was also saying many got it wrong or didn’t answer at all! Well then, get back to them and demand an answer.
There is hope….
On Tuesday Richard Hanna, a three-term Republican became the first Republican in Congress to say he will vote for Hillary Clinton.
Referring to Trumps attacks on the Khan parents..Hanna asked, “Where do we draw the line? I thought it would have been when he alleged that U.S. Sen. John McCain was not a war hero because he was caught,”. . . ..
I believe Trump evaded joining the armed forces because of a foot defect but when questioned later couldn’t remember which foot.
Disney couldn’t write this script.
” couldn’t remember which foot.”
The one that’s always in his mouth would be my guess.
Ha! No it was just one foot, not two.
He’s lost track of his lies.
For many years, Mr. Trump, 70, has also asserted that it was “ultimately” the luck of a high draft lottery number — rather than the medical deferment — that kept him out of the war.
Continue reading the main story
But his Selective Service records, obtained from the National Archives, suggest otherwise. Mr. Trump had been medically exempted for more than a year when the draft lottery began in December 1969, well before he received what he has described as his “phenomenal” draft number.
Because of his medical exemption, his lottery number would have been irrelevant, said Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, who has worked for the agency for three decades.
[..]
In a 2011 television interview, Mr. Trump described watching the draft lottery as a college student and learning then that he would not be drafted.
“I’ll never forget; that was an amazing period of time in my life,” he said in the interview, on Fox 5 New York. “I was going to the Wharton School of Finance, and I was watching as they did the draft numbers, and I got a very, very high number.”
But Mr. Trump had graduated from Wharton 18 months before the lottery — the first in the United States in 27 years — was held.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html?_r=2
Oh dear. Trump has got a memory that is just as defective as poor old Kris Faafoi. I’m sure people recall his remarkable ability to remember things that happened when he was only a few months old.
Trump remembers things before they happened. Still what can one expect. They are both politicians.
Aww, alwyn has a Labour done did it too moment….
/
what Labour did it in the States too?
damn that party is coming around.
Actually, it’s more that he’s got a memory just Like John Keys – it changes in relation to what he thinks is in his best interests.
Otherwise known as lying.
Brill’ !
Maybe alwyn is suffering from Keyzheimers disease …………. it’s like Alzheimer ……. but allows the infected person to choose what they forget.
Its just like getting people to understand that they and the time in their life is of the same value as the time of the persons life next to them.
20 hrs from my life is 20 hrs from my life.
20hrs from your life is 20 hrs from your life
20hrs from the coffee ladies life is 20 hrs from the coffee ladies life.
20 hrs from the guy who cleans toilets life is 20 hrs from the guy who cleans toilets life.
20hrs is 20 hrs
Once we strip away the false value system and understand that money is in many ways a false value system then we can start to build a world that enables people to live their life in the best way possible. One where we make the best use of technology to enable them to do so……
Consider that our current system is – you have to work in order to earn tokens (money) so that you can pay to survive. That’s what our system is.
Consider that the majority will not have enough to retire.
Consider that taking into account getting ready for work and travelling to and from work most people spend 60 – 70 hrs per week on work related activities. Over a lifetime that’s 60 or 70 hrs per week x 48 weeks per year (taking out 4 weeks for holidays – consider that in ours system too out of 52 weeks in a year you get to have 4 of those where you don’t have to work. WOW 4 weeks!!!!! Thankyou so much for my 4 weeks out of 52 where I don’t have to work). Lets say you live to 80 but like most people you can’t afford to retire so you spend 60 years doing that and we wont even factor in things like relationship break ups or losing your job and the fact that if those things happen to you then shit gets a lot harder for you or anyone else in that position.
Right so you have 60 hrs x 48 weeks x 60 years
So in the current system you are going to have to work 172,800 hrs of your life so that you can pay to live on this planet.
If you like we can add school onto that too. With school you get about 11 weeks off per year and you spend say an 1.5 hrs getting ready, travelling to and from school but lets just make it 2hrs in case you get homework.
Your at school from 9 – 3.30 so that’s 6.5 hrs per day plus 2hrs or 42.5 hrs per week.
So 42.5 hrs x (52 weeks – 11 weeks you get off is 39 weeks) x lets say 13 years for school
So 13 x 42.5 x 39 = 21 547.5hrs
Then lets add in sleep cause athough its nice you’re not really living you’re at best having a cool dream so if you life for 80 years lets say 8rs sleep (cause that’s what you’re supposed to get
Which is 8 hrs x 365 days of the year x 80 years = 233,600 hours sleeping.
So to recap
Work 172,800 hrs
School 21 547.5hrs
Sleep 233,600 hours
Total 427,947.5 hrs of your life doing those activities
In a life of 80 years your total hours on the planet is 700,800hrs
Minus 427,947.5 hrs
Then out of 700,800rs you get a grand total of 272,852.5 hrs to actually experience and live the life you want to…….
But that doesn’t take into account cooking cleaning and all the other stuff you have to do to live
So 272,852.5 hrs – cleaning cooking going to the supermarket etc. etc. to live the life you want to live…….
If you have enough money…..
But that’s ok because at least your worth more than the coffee lady and the toilet cleaner right?
Or we could have a system where we use IT to enable the human experience here on this planet by ensuring that everyone has a smartphone and/or tablet and can connect to product hubs and service hubs (which already exist) and you could maybe need to work
Then we still have sleep 233,600hrs
We still have school (but without the homework because who really wants homework!!!???). 16,477.5hrs
Work say 20 hrs per week for say 20 years of your life and be able to work from home in many cases or at least not have the levels of peak hour traffic we have now and you could work (including an 1.5 hours travel time and getting ready) 26,400 hrs
So then the equation becomes 276,477.5hrs of your life spent working sleeping or at school (and 233,600 hrs is spent sleeping)
Out of your 700,800hrs of life.
Leaving you to 424,322.5 hrs of your life where you can experience and do whatever you want to do…….
And in this world with technology as an enabler, money no longer has to be a barrier to overcome.
But you do have to give up the notion that the hours of your life are more valuable that the lady who makes your coffee or the guy who cleans your toilets…..
if your wondering wtf at the above.
its basically that by changing the system and using technology in far better ways you could get 17 years of your life back that 99% of people wont get with the current system.
What worries me is that I just spent 0.2 hours reading that. This is 0.2 hours I’m never getting back.
what worries me Scott is your saying it took 12 minutes to read what coffeeconnoiseur wrote …………… and unlike porn you probably don’t even understand it.
Good on you for spending the hour and a half to type your reply though ……
Someone gets it!
Radio news and the Herald (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11686368) both say today that an employee of a public authority has pleaded guilty to charges of taking bribes.
He took bribes from a firm and gave preference in contracts to that firm in return.
Is there any possibility that the firm offering the bribes and taking the bribe-induced contracts is guilty of wrong-doing and can also be brought before a court?
Yup.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, “Auckland Transport boss pleads guilty to corruption charges”.
The reason there is no public transport in Auckland is that there is a toxic corrupt and incompetent culture in AT supported by the toxic culture from the Super City of fiefdoms at the council.
My guess is that they got a small fish, in a very large pond of corruption.
The types of decisions AT loves making… thanks for destroying our city AT!
Auckland transport is planning to build a massive road in South Auckland that would destroy hundreds of our homes, cut a swathe through communities and destroy irreplaceable native bush known as ‘Grahams Bush.’ Auckland Transport wants to build this road to improve traffic congestion and make roads for yet to be built houses – at the cost of existing houses and communities!
But The Tree Council has lodged an appeal with the Environment Court against the decision by Auckland Transport to accept the Notices of Requirement recommended by Commissioners on behalf of the consent authority for the Redoubt Road-Mill Road corridor upgrade. Now they need your help: http://bit.ly/1y7VQoJ
yep Grahams Bush has been fighting for a while now.
Small potatoes here, but maybe the main course will be even tastier.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11686355
A tax-evading tradie has been banned from practising because of his tax-evasion practices. Now for the big cheeses in the tax evasion menu. Yum!
Looks like Corbyn might not be such a shoe-in in the UK if 25% of his 25Gbp supporters are banned. On the bright side – Labour will keep their money thank you very much.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/02/labour-leadership-jeremy-corbyn-quarter-supporters-barred-voting
Isn’t the question on leader really about who might stand the best chance of helping the party to win an election?
The current Labour MPs are in a good position to judge who helps their electoral chances, and are motivated by self-interest to do so. By contrast the membership may enjoy having a leader who says things they like to hear, but that is hardly going to help reach out to the middle voters who decide elections. Preaching to the converted can only get you so far.
Labour have the same problem here with Little, and the selection method that put him in his job.
Except polling suggests that the Leaders favoured by the Blairite/Brownite sections of the PLP have proven no more popular (and often demonstrably less popular) with both Labour voters and voters in general than Corbyn. Whether it be Eagle and Smith this year or Cooper and Kendal last year.
Corbyn has certainly received some very poor personal ratings from voters over the last year – it’s just that the PLP plotters’ candidates are held in even lower regard.
Shamubeel Calls Bullshit #2: on Andrew Little’s problem with the Unitary Plan
http://thespinoff.co.nz/auckland-2016/01-08-2016/shamubeel-calls-bullshit-andrew-littles-affordable-housing-complaint/
Hmm Shamubeel is the same economist that has told Kiwis for the last 10 years that there was going to be a housing crash each year, renting was a better investment than owning your own home (as homes in Auckland increased $1000 per week) and that immigration has nothing to do with the property boom.
Yep, have to go with Little on this one, there is not going to be any affordable houses for Kiwis with the unitary plan, the affordable options were deleted, they are designed for new arrivals as the new migrants, as they don’t like old Kiwi villas and bungalows and want new apartments and McMansions and gardens are not popular as clearly a waste of space that you can cram some more people into.
Gotta give the punters what they want!
Lucky the council planners have left a few streets free of intensification for the prominent New Zealand rich listers, so they don’t have to have their leafy large waterfront sites, decimated.
I mean with supply and demand – has anyone looked at how many people in the world there are to buy our houses? We allow anyone to buy here from Russia, to the middle east to the EU.
Thanks for the supply and demand lesson Shamubeel. sarc.
“Lianjia, which has more than 6000 branches in over 25 cities in China, will co-list Ray White’s New Zealand and Australian and properties in Mandarin on its websites.
The exposure to Lianjia’s audience – about 260 million Chinese buyers – will provide Ray White with the leverage into China and, more importantly, fulfil the organisation’s strategy of becoming more diverse and a brand that is more attractive to the Chinese community. …”
That NZ real estate companies are now direct marketing to cheap Chinese money makes me think there will never be a soft correction in NZ housing.
No matter what happens with the continuation of stagnant wages, a slower economy, further job losses, interest rate rises, there will always be direct marketing by the likes of Ray White to cheap Chinese money, and those people will delight in picking at the bones of of New Zealand society.
+ 100% save nz.
Exclusive: The Greens unveil new urban design policy
So, giving the people what they want is the complete opposite of what you think that they want.
Read how a recent Democratic House Rep’s net worth has gone up by millions in the last 6 years
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-02/something-strange-emerges-when-looking-congresswomans-daytrading-records
Hillary was years ahead of that curve
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Rodham_cattle_futures_controversy
Dunedin’s Blueskin Bay wind farm set to appeal to the Environment Court:
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/wind-farm-appeal-opponent-leaving
Good. Fucking NIMBYs opposing everything except their own activities.
… the proposal drew the ire of nearby neighbours, who said property prices, quality of life and even, possibly, health would be negatively affected by the installations.
I guess we should be grateful they at least put the word “possibly” in there – if it was cellphone towers the health-destroying woo would pretty much be taken for granted.
Mr Pickford, whose Pryde Rd property would be about 800m from the turbines, said he had “had a gutsful”.
That’s one motherfucker of a wind turbine, if it can be “intrusive and visually dominant” over a property 800 meters away. Are we building them the size of Auckland’s Sky Tower now?
” Are we building them the size of Auckland’s Sky Tower now?”
At Blueskin Bay the answer is no. They will be less than125 metres high to the tip of the blade. Sky Tower is, I think about 220 metres.
On the other hand it won’t be very long before the largest towers will be greater in height than that. The highest I am aware of at the moment are planned to be 200 metres high. That is a bloody big tower.
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/09/15/hartlepool-highest-wind-turbine-scheme-proposed/
@lprent
Is the ‘Replied’ function still disabled? Not been working for me since the week-end.
The ‘Replies’ tab is working for me but not until after I’ve commented.
I was just looking at that as well. The change on the weekend was to shift it from not working due to a problem with the fragment part of the cache not working. So I shifted it to using jQuery to fetch it,
It is odd. Had a query this morning about it still not appearing. First time I looked at it this evening it didn’t show. Now it is showing.
As Draco says @13.1 maybe after I have left a comment.
I’ll have a look at it ‘soonish’. But since I haven’t left work yet, soonish may be the weekend.
Thanks lprent. No hurry.
Yeah, it’s after you leave a comment that it starts working.
Works after commenting, but stops again if I close / open browser.
JK still the most popular PM in NZ History?
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike because it has nothing to do with trade. Banned for 4 weeks for simple diversion trolling. I’m trying to make myself the most disliked moderator by trolls and the most beloved by anyone who has ascended above your grunting level. BTW: How am I doing in this popularity contest? You can answer in 4 weeks. ]