Open mike 03/10/2014

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:45 am, October 3rd, 2014 - 156 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

openmike Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

156 comments on “Open mike 03/10/2014 ”

Comments are now closed

music4menz 1

3 October 2014 at 8:01 am

First post for me on The Standard, but am surprised that Tim Barnett has been able to censor what is and what isn’t posted on this site. Is this an indication of what we are going to see in the future? Not sure that I am comfortable with such suppression of free speech.
- Zorr 1.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 8:34 am
  
  How is it suppression of free speech?
  
  He probably asked nicely and lprent responded by respecting the request. Sounds pretty reasonable all round to me.
- mickysavage 1.2
  
  3 October 2014 at 8:36 am
  
  It was a polite request and lprent decided to take it down. There was no censorship involved.
  - Cancerman 1.2.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 8:40 am
    
    And everyone complains Slater/Farrer are puppets of the National Party. Just more effective puppets it seems.
    - boldsirbrian 1.2.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 8:52 am
      
      @ Cancerman (1.2.1)
      
      The concern with Slater and Farrar was that they were working in a clandestine way, receiving privileged information, probably often illegally, attacking other people and politicians.
      
      What the Standard has done is in no way comparable. A request was made to remove information. Lprent has clearly (very clearly) detailed both that request, and his acceptance. If others want to be titillated by a regretted action that has been apologised for, then they are free to use Google or Slater and Farrar.
      
      It’s not really a case of puppets. Those trying to seize the action as yet another example of “Gotcha” politics, are better described as muppets.
      - mickysavage 1.2.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 8:54 am
        
        Agreed. Strange to equate the unpublishing of a post with the smearing of innocent people using beehive sourced information.
        
        Cancerman 1.2.1.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 8:58 am
        
        Well the action quite clearly shows influence by the Labour Party over this blog that can not be denied. So who to say that information isn’t past and attacks aren’t made. We just take your word for it I assume?
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        3 October 2014 at 9:07 am
        
        His word, and the result of the official investigations that are no doubt warranted and you’ll be presenting evidence to. No? No police complaint? Nothing for the SFO to worry about?
        
        Careful, comrades, Beverley Wakem’s about to kick the door down.
        
        Tom Jackson …
        
        3 October 2014 at 10:36 am
        
        If we asked you to stop being an asshole, and you agreed because you thought it was a reasonable request, would that be censorship or influence?
        
        lprent appears to have decided that Barnett made a reasonable request. His autonomy and the autonomy of this blog is in no way compromised by that.
        
        adam …
        
        4 October 2014 at 12:24 am
        
        So being civil and responding positively to a request Cancerman now means that the standard is a labour party blog and involved in dirty politics?
        
        Do you read Cancerman, can you read? I mean what’s my politics – ask any labour person my position?
        
        Have you read anyone else here and their opinions – Oh lets say Karol or Phillip Ure.
        
        How about Iprent himself? Labour party hack you think?
        
        Odd, what an odd comment you have made cancerman – it seem to me to reek of desperation. Of an individual who does not like or struggles with polite or civilised society. Or you’re a person who is feeling a little gun shy about voting for a government actively involved in the perversion of politics, morality and the decent society.
        
        How can it be that a polite request, made to a reasonably fair minded individual, is somehow turned into a grand conspiracy?
        
        Is politeness, now nothing more than something else the right can attack the left on?
    - One Anonymous Bloke 1.2.1.2
      
      3 October 2014 at 9:03 am
      
      Yes, that’s what everyone complains about, isn’t it. No? What’s that you say? In Greymouth?
      
      Now I remember, it isn’t that the National Party has puppets, it’s the things it uses them for that are currently under investigation by at least three independent agencies including the SIS, Ombudsman and Police.
      
      On balance, I think putting the post up in the first place was a mistake: it’s easy to get caught up in the moment, do we really want politicians families to be fair game?
      
      Politics being war by other means I think it’s worth recalling how we treat soldiers who shoot civilians.
      
      PS: yes, yes, I know, we give them medals and a lecture tour, I was speaking hypothetically.
  - Mike 1.2.2
    
    3 October 2014 at 6:43 pm
    
    Polite request…Yeah Right!
- Oh Ho 1.3
  
  3 October 2014 at 9:01 am
  
  You need to remember that Labour was led into the last election by a Statesman. The type of message that was censored is not befitting for a Statesman led party. Please understand that censorship is for your own good
- One Anonymous Bloke 1.4
  
  3 October 2014 at 9:25 am
  
  Music4menz, censorship is when an official agency rules that the publication of certain material is illegal.
  
  No such edict is in force or even enforceable, Open Mike being what it is. No information is suppressed, being in the public domain elsewhere.
  
  In any case, speech at The Standard isn’t “free” – it costs money to host the site and we inhabitants are subject to its rules and our modern Robespierre, Lprent.
  - alwyn 1.4.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 10:25 am
    
    You do remember what happened to Robespierre don’t you?
    Presided over the Reign of Terror and was then deposed and guillotined.
    Surely there is a better comparison? I see him as Christopher Robin, presiding over the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood.
    - Puckish Rogue 1.4.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 4:06 pm
      
      I see him more as Kermit the frog presiding over a bunch of …think I’ll leave that bit out, not sure what his sense of humour is like at the moment 🙂
- Murray Olsen 1.5
  
  4 October 2014 at 12:05 am
  
  Where have all the Kactus Kate posts on Whalespew gone? Who censored them and suppressed her free speech?
phillip ure 2

3 October 2014 at 8:23 am

“..If You Stop Eating Beef – But Still Eat a Lot of Dairy – You Won’t Help Climate Change..

..A new study may have you rethinking your eating habits..”

(cont..)

http://www.alternet.org/food/eating-less-meat-more-dairy-climate-change
- The Lone Haranguer 2.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 9:55 am
  
  ..A new study may have you rethinking your eating habits..”
  
  Or not 🙂
  
  Phillip, I cant see that happening at my house anytime in the near or even long distant future.
  
  Im still trying to reconcile the local YMCA gym advertising how bad plastic water bottles are, while they have large vending machines full of the stuff in the front foyer.
  
  And Im not sure if me driving to the gym each day is kosher either. 🙂
  - phillip ure 2.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 3:52 pm
    
    @ tlh..
    
    i crack up at the auto-eroticists who drive their bike-laden s.u.v.’s to ponsonby..
    
    ..park up..unload their expensive-toys..
    
    and make their lycra-clad way up and down ‘p’-road…
- weka 2.2
  
  3 October 2014 at 9:56 am
  
  Likewise, eating industrial grains and beans courtesy of Monsanto doesn’t help with AGW either.
  
  It’s not what you eat, it’s how it’s grown that makes the difference.
  - cricko 2.2.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 12:02 pm
    
    Get with the programme weka.
    
    AGW was dropped ages ago, it’s, “climate change” these days.
    
    That’s because the globe is not warming and anyone who has heard of stuff
    like, say, the ice ages for e.g. cannot deny that the climate does change.
    
    People are not sucked into AGW any more.
    Much easier to spook the sheeple with just ‘climate change.’
    
    Do you recall Miss Clark scoffing accross the parliament at the, “Climate change
    deniers.”
    
    This is just as effective in shutting down your opponents as labelling them racists or homophobes and so on.
    - lprent 2.2.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 1:01 pm
      
      You have just reminded me that I need to start writing some more posts on climate change. In particular the probable time line and effects of the rapid melting of the WAIS that the drilling over the last few years revealed.
      
      Thank you… Your ignorant stupidity was inspiring
      - karol 2.2.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 4:28 pm
        
        On climate change: I saw this on Al Jazeera this morning. Thousands of walrus’s corwding on to the shore on Alaska’s coast. usually they seek ice covered places to go ashore, but that is becoming harder for them to find.
        
        The Guardian report on it:
        
        Pacific walrus that can’t find sea ice for resting in Arctic waters are coming ashore in record numbers on a beach in north-west Alaska.
        
        An estimated 35,000 walrus were photographed on Saturday about five miles north of Point Lay, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
        […]
        In recent years, sea ice has receded north beyond shallow continental shelf waters and into Arctic Ocean water, where depths exceed two miles and walrus cannot dive to the bottom.
        
        The World Wildlife Fund said walrus had also been gathering in large groups on the Russian side of the Chukchi Sea.
        
        “It’s another remarkable sign of the dramatic environmental conditions changing as the result of sea ice loss,” said Margaret Williams, managing director of the group’s Arctic program.
        
        “The walruses are telling us what the polar bears have told us and what many indigenous people have told us in the high Arctic, and that is that the Arctic environment is changing extremely rapidly and it is time for the rest of the world to take notice and also to take action to address the root causes of climate change.”
      - cricko 2.2.1.1.2
        
        3 October 2014 at 4:53 pm
        
        Iprent…,
        
        I guess from your post above that you dissagree with me about AGW and climate change.
        
        Thats fine, but why do you need attack me personally ?
        
        Do you find that tactic lends some weight to your opinion ?
        
        Use of childish invective like calling me ignorant and stupid reveals more about your character than anything else.
        
        McFlock 2.2.1.1.2.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 4:58 pm
        
        When someone is insensible to logic, one might as well call them the moron that they are.
        
        It won’t change their opinions or undeserved sense of mental adequacy, but it can be fun.
        
        dv 2.2.1.1.2.2
        
        3 October 2014 at 5:02 pm
        
        I thought Lpent was gentle with you crick
        
        cricko …
        
        3 October 2014 at 5:33 pm
        
        Jeez, looks like I’ve innocently upset a few very thin skins here.
        
        Why do these types personally attack everyone they dissagree with and
        call them names. (Kind of childish way to discuss an issue isn’t it?)
        
        Perhaps any one of you could explain the difference between AGW and
        climate change ?
        
        That is a simple question.
        
        Now I would not call ‘McFlock’, ‘dv’, or even ‘Iprent’ ignorant or stupid so let
        us see if any one of them could prove it and answer that one simple
        question.
        
        By the way. I would have no difficulty to explain the difference and will do
        so for you if none of you are capable.
        
        dv …
        
        3 October 2014 at 5:42 pm
        
        ‘Much easier to spook the sheeple with just ‘climate change.’
        
        ‘This is just as effective in shutting down your opponents as labelling them racists or homophobes and so on.
        
        OH I am sorry those comments were meant as intelligent discussion about a serous issue.
        
        McFlock …
        
        3 October 2014 at 6:12 pm
        
        The fact that you are asking a question to which you claim to already know the answer demonstrates that you are not interested in a genuine discussion.
        
        So I could talk about how AGW is a type of CC, but really you don’t give a shit. Because you’re a moron.
        
        BTW, I don’t personally attack everyone I disagree with. Just fucking morons whose egos write cheques that their braincell can’t cash.
        
        cricko …
        
        3 October 2014 at 6:59 pm
        
        Hi McFlock,
        
        You are right, I do know the answer to that question.
        
        The reason that I asked it was to see if you or dv or Iprent knew the
        answer.
        
        So, according to you, I don’t give a shit, I’m a fucking moron, and a bit of extra abuse regarding my ego and braincell thrown in for extra emphasis.
        
        Charming, You seem to be a real prince.
        
        PS. I’ve never ever personally abused anyone on this blog.
        I did suggest to weka that the term anthropogenic global warming had
        been replaced by climate change and got abused by you and abused and threatened by Iprent for my trouble.
        
        Can any of you answer the question or not ?
        
        Draco T Bastard …
        
        3 October 2014 at 7:35 pm
        
        You are right, I do know the answer to that question.
        
        No you don’t. That’s obvious from ignorant comments and I’m not going to bother to try and enlighten you as it’s obvious that you’ll continue denying reality because it goes against your beliefs.
        
        McFlock …
        
        3 October 2014 at 9:39 pm
        
        I never said you knew the answer to your question.
        
        If you think treating everybody like fucking morons (by making idiot statements and wanking with passive-aggressive questions that you believe you know the answer to) gives you the moral or intellectual advantage over someone honest enough to point out precisely why you are a fucking idiot and which specific comments you wrote demonstrate that you are patently uninterested in good-faith discussion of an issue, then your compass is broken.
        
        lprent …
        
        3 October 2014 at 9:49 pm
        
        Perhaps any one of you could explain the difference between AGW and
        climate change ?
        
        If you want an answer to simple questions, then why don’t you try wikipedia.
        
        Start here AGW
        
        What you should be looking at is timescales. Most background climate change is done on long time scales.
        
        For instance with the houndreds of millions of years ofcontinental drift of Antarctica into the southern polar region from the Cretaceous to the Quaternary that lead to the formation of the southern polar icecap and the circumAntarticia ocean and atmospheric currents that keep it as a fridge for the globe. Or the Milankovitch orbital cycles that operate over 10s-100s or thousands of years and which appear to be closely related to Quarternary glaciation cycles.
        
        But these are all pretty long cycles. There are shorter climate change events related to plume events from the earths radioactive core causing larger sustained volcanic events (like the Deccan traps).
        
        Similarly short unsustained volcanic events around subduction zones causing ash triggered climate changes, which rarely persist for more than teeny numbers of years – typically 3-4 years.
        
        Of the various very short-term (decades) and long term (hundreds of millions of years) solar cycles.
        
        But AGW refers to climate change that is both short-term and sustained which is highly abnormal in the geological record and typically associated with large diebacks in the biotic parts of the climate system (large meteorite impacts mostly).
        
        For instance the slow cooling of the northern hemisphere in the initial industrial era due to dust (approx 1850-1950) that cause regional effects.
        
        But in less than 150 years we have seen some marked changes in the whole earth’s heat balance that are on the scale of the interglacial changes (they’re warming the entire earth’s oceans) but are happening in a fraction of the usual geological process times. These are (>95% confidence) attributed to changes in the composition of the earth’s atmosphere with the human introduction of greenhouse gases.
        
        So having given you this extremely basic primer for a moron, could you please look down the links and get your useless brain aware of geological timescales. Then it might be worth training you to up to primary school level.
        
        cricko …
        
        3 October 2014 at 10:39 pm
        
        Now, far be it from me to resort to the same level of nasty personal abuse and threats that i have copped from Iprent and others on this site today so…
        
        excuse me if I ask……
        
        Did Tim Barnet OK your 9.49 effort yet Iprent ?
        
        You may have to withdraw it if Tim doesn’t like it.
        
        You still can’t resist calling me a ‘moron’ and referring to my ‘useless brain’
        
        You just can’t help yourself can you.
        
        Quite sad.
        
        McFlock …
        
        3 October 2014 at 10:59 pm
        
        What’s sad is that you keep coming back to make moronic statements and snide innuendo.
        
        weka …
        
        3 October 2014 at 11:14 pm
        
        Cricko: Thats fine, but why do you need attack me personally ? and PS. I’ve never ever personally abused anyone on this blog.
        
        Cricko’s subsequent personal attacks on others:
        
        Thinned skinned
        
        Childish
        
        Sad
        
        Beholden to a Labour party puppet master
        
        etc.
        
        cricko …
        
        4 October 2014 at 12:01 am
        
        I gotta go,
        G’nite all.
        I leave it to all readers of the above to make up their own minds.
        
        PS I do give Iprent a tick for not banning me forever from this site in spite of his threat.
        Onya Iprent 4 that.
        
        Just because he is not able to debate the issue without resorting to personal invective does not mean that he may not have a cogent point. Duh! What !
        
        Thing is, based on the above exchanges…….
        What is his point ?
        The question was always quite simple.
        He will be seeking wise counsel from Tim Barnet for some guidence.
        
        We await a decision from Tim.
        
        infused …
        
        4 October 2014 at 4:00 am
        
        We’re not the ones being muzzled by Labour. Good being their lapdog eh? Sure your brain can get around that.
        
        lprent 2.2.1.1.2.3
        
        3 October 2014 at 5:12 pm
        
        Nope it just expresses what I think about you. It was quite pointed abuse
        
        That you are quite stupid and and obviously quite ignorant on earth sciences is to me perfectly obvious. No more and no less.
        
        I even thanked you for reminding me that I have a role in helping to educate those unfortunates who don’t understand the science. When I read your comment I could the weight of unfulfilled duty from my earth science degree calling to me to clear the weight of your ignorance.
        
        BTW: I’d suggest you read the policy on the site about what is permissible and expected before I get around to doing a moderating sweep. My moderating personality tends to get irritated about people telling other people how they should behave on this site. That is the moderators job.
        
        cricko …
        
        3 October 2014 at 9:30 pm
        
        Hi Draco T Bastard, hope you are having a nice evening.
        
        So, you too jump on the personal abuse wagon and accuse me of ignorance.
        
        And, in your mind I am denying reality . How so ?
        
        Are all the correspondents on this site incapable of discussion ?
        
        I suggested that the term AGW had been superseeded by the term climate change.
        Is that wrong ?
        
        Look at the vituperate reaction that has provoked on this blogsite.
        It’s staggering.
        
        You join in with glee and tell me what I think and that you wont bother to reply to what you think I think. Jeez.
        So why post anything ?
        Why waste your time.
        
        Do you know the answer to the question ?
        
        Are you able to address the question without resorting to childish personal abuse simply because I had the temerity to pose it ?
        
        Here is your chance to show you have something about you.
        
        You have the Open mike. Go for it.
        
        lprent …
        
        3 October 2014 at 9:54 pm
        
        That is because we have seen far too many idiots like yourself coming through who haven’t bothered to examine the evidence. Instead you seem to think that your close examination of your pubic hairs whilst wanking is as important as being less self-indulgent and bothering to learn enough to make intelligent conversation.
        
        Are you getting the point yet? We have heard all this before from other morons. You appear to be both stupid and ignorant. It simply isn’t worth the effort of explaining how and why you are.
        
        Please check out my primer that I carefully wrote and linked for you. Then ask some intelligent questions rather than sending the blood to the wrong organ.
        
        cricko …
        
        4 October 2014 at 12:24 am
        
        One last observation.
        
        Read your risible effort @ 9,54 again.
        
        You cite.
        
        “idiots like you”
        “other morons”
        “examinine your pubic hairs” and
        “wanking”
        “You appear stupid and ignorant”
        ” It simply is not worth the effort explaining”
        
        and yet you can’t help explaining.
        
        Then you call for “intelligent questions”
        
        Just silly.
        
        Maybe a huge intellect like, say, Drako T Bastard
        can explain your point for you.
        
        Go Drako………………eh!
        
        McFlock …
        
        4 October 2014 at 12:41 am
        
        You cite.
        
        [proceeds to list half a dozen examples of personal opinion, not a single example of citation to be seen]
        
        I love it when idiots try to fake intelligence by using words bigger than they are. And then accuse others of being silly.
        
        cricko …
        
        4 October 2014 at 12:54 am
        
        Who needs Drako when you have McFlock ?
        
        See 12.41 am
        
        Gee, McFlock great post, you can really sting. Not.
        
        What was that old saying about comming unarmed to a battle of wits ?
        
        I had great fun tonight,
        hope you did too.
        (and guess what. I did not need to resort to personal invective once to do you like a dogs dinner.)
        
        Calling names….call me an idiot….that the best you have ?
        That your argument ?
        
        Pathetic.
        
        McFlock …
        
        4 October 2014 at 1:00 am
        
        The best I have? Nah.
        But the unadorned truth is sufficient.
        
        Btw, you might want to avoid pwned statements. Even if they are performance-art tributes to the great Surrealists.
  - phillip ure 2.2.2
    
    3 October 2014 at 1:59 pm
    
    “..It’s not what you eat, it’s how it’s grown that makes the difference..”
    
    bullshit..!..complete and utter self-defending/justifying bullshit..
    
    ..did you even read the link..?
    
    ..another ‘green’ totally relaxed about both animal-exploitation/cruelty..
    
    ..and the burning of the planet..
    
    ..just so they can chew on animal-flesh and/or bye-products…
    
    ..can’t interfere with that..!
    
    ..their ‘green’ doesn’t go quite as far as that..
    
    ..i wonder just how..in their own minds..
    
    ..they can consider themselves ‘green’ in any way..
    
    ..animal-eating-green:..the walking-oxymoron..
Saarbo 3

3 October 2014 at 8:33 am

I was listening to the Kathryn Ryan interview with Robbie Deans yesterday, Ive always been a Dean’s fan since the 80’s when he competed with Alan Hewson (who couldn’t tackle to save himself).

Deans reckoned that the critics affect the family/partners the hardest because they have no control, which brought me back to Karen Price’s enlightening tweets on the internal workings of the Labour Party.

But is David Cunliffe the Robbie Deans of NZ politics. Steve Tew (ABD perhaps) is to Robbie Deans what the ABC’s are to David Cunliffe.

Just a thought.
Not a PS Staffer 4

3 October 2014 at 8:40 am

Naughty Colonial Viper!
Upsetting Clare Curran! Butter wouldn’t melt on her mouth.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/318024/curran-alleges-dirty-politics#comment-63063

Will Tim Barnett haul her in for a bollicking for washing clean linen in public?
This abuse of Twitter by the leading light of Robertson’s team will bring the party into disrepute.
- weka 4.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:05 am
  
  Good to see someone standing up and doing something, thanks CV.
  
  ”This is dirty tricks and dirty politics in Dunedin South,” she told the Otago Daily Times this week.
  
  Ok, so now ‘dirty politics’ is any time a political opponent opposes you in ways you disapprove of? Thanks Clare, we really needed a career politician on the left to render the concept of Dirty Politics that much less relevant 🙄
  - Puckish Rogue 4.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 10:10 am
    
    Not wanting to stae the obvious but its things like this that reinforce the notion that Labour are nowhere near ready to lead the country
    
    You’d think an MP would realise that
  - Chooky 4.1.2
    
    3 October 2014 at 2:19 pm
    
    +100 weka
  - Murray Olsen 4.1.3
    
    4 October 2014 at 12:49 am
    
    Every time I have seen anything from Curran, she has been shooting Labour in the foot. When we actually have an investigative journalist who actually has uncovered real dirty politics, and NAct has tried to change the definition away from their organised filth, why is a Labour MP giving credibility to the NAct story?
    
    Go get her CV. Time for a team that cares about more than their seats in parliament.
- Anne 4.2
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:28 am
  
  Aha… thanks NaPSS. Guyon Espinor mentioned it this morning.
  
  Clare Curran has yet another “moaning, whining, public tanty”.
  
  There’s a clear pattern developing here. The moaners and attackers bellowing to the media are former ABCers. What does it mean? Is someone coordinating them, or are they merely copying the ‘Dirty Politics’ meme – that is, accuse those who you attack… of doing the attacking!
  - karol 4.2.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 10:31 am
    
    Giving it back double.
  - Bill Drees 4.2.2
    
    3 October 2014 at 10:54 am
    
    We should all write to the Gen Sec asking that she gets some form of “counselling”. Perhaps she should be asked to pay Tat’s Labour membership fees for the next ten years?
- Bill 4.3
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:31 am
  
  As a well intentioned Labour Party member with a history of effective community activism…yup…get in touch and count me as ‘in’ Tat. Cheers.
  - left for dead 4.3.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 11:01 am
    
    Ditto.
    - Colonial Viper 4.3.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 1:26 pm
      
      Will do.
      - Roflcopter 4.3.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 2:17 pm
        
        Good luck CV, always a struggle swimming against the Curran
      - Not a PS Staffer 4.3.1.1.2
        
        3 October 2014 at 2:59 pm
        
        Poor Clare is getting a trouncing on-line at the OTD (Otago Daily times).
        http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/318024/curran-alleges-dirty-politics#comment-63063
        
        I wonder if she is calling on the Editor of the OTD to practice the same type of leadership that she exercised when in control (with Grant R) of the Red Alert?
        
        There is a very sexy picture of Tat there also. A real vote catching photo!
        
        greywarbler 4.3.1.1.2.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 3:12 pm
        
        @ Not a PS Staffer
        That’s interesting. Oh good new people joining up to the Party. Ooh the Party in Dunedin didn’t know if they really wanted them. Joining up like that theywould presumably have also been able to vote for the leader. Tat Loo definitely has a good head for strategy and policy. Not one to stay sitting on the whoopee cushion, though he might play a trick with it on one of the other sitting MPs.
travellerev 5

3 October 2014 at 9:00 am

I hope that some of you will enjoy this awesome lecture from John Perkins about the secret history of American Empire. John Perkins wrote “Confessions of an economic hitman” and in this lecture given at the Marlboro College in 2009 he tells his student audience about the history of the World Bank and the IMF and how they perform their “Duties”. It is part of my series about the Washington consensus and how John Key and ex-World Bank second in command Graeme Wheeler fit into the system and also how it connects with the policies put into place here in New Zealand.

The Washington Consensus, A Backgrounder And Yes, It Is Being Implemented In New Zealand Right Now http://wp.me/p638n-4w8
- thatguynz 5.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:57 am
  
  +1 Ev
boldsirbrian 6

3 October 2014 at 9:09 am

Lets be honest. The Robertson and Cunliffe debate is simply personality politics. Call it for what it is, and vote accordingly.

It’s really nothing to do with “left” and “centrist” and “core values” and “neo-liberal” and “traitorous”. And I can confidently assert this, because the debate is all about these labels and not about policy substance.
- anker 6.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 9:22 am
  
  6@ boldsirbrian………….
  
  I am not sure there is anything simple about the situation Labour is currently finding itself in in terms of Labour’s caucus.
  
  Likely there is a component of “personality politics.
  
  What I have been reminded of is how powerful the phenomena of “group think” is. How people feel uncomfortable when they don’t concur with the dominant opinion that a group appears to hold.
  
  And given the issues that some in the Labour caucus are so vocal about I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t what is going on around DC.
  
  A personal anecdote to illustrate. Some twenty years ago or so I was the leader of a smallish team in a work place of 30. I had to select a small group of colleagues to attend a conference. We travelled to the conference and all bar one of them bunked off virtually for the whole event. I expressed my displeasure to one on the plane going home. When I next went into work (I was part time) out of the staff of 30 (ish) only two people spoke to me.
  
  They then sabotage everything I tried to do. It was a very unpleasant experience. Fortunately I left and when on to a much, much better job and career wise I have never looked back.
  
  I hope people on this site will forgive me for a personal anecdote, but I can’t help beut wonder (and it is only speculation) that a similar thing hasn’t happened to DC.
  - boldsirbrian 6.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 9:43 am
    
    .
    @anker (6.1)
    
    I am not sure there is anything simple about the situation Labour is currently finding itself in in terms of Labour’s caucus.
    
    and ……. What I have been reminded of is how powerful the phenomena of “group think” is
    
    Yes. Great post; Relevant anecdote
    
    However, looking at the above quotes together ………
    
    Labour Caucus. It’s easy to throw stones there
    Bloggers at the Standard. It’s harder to self reflect here
    - weka 6.1.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 10:07 am
      
      “It’s really nothing to do with “left” and “centrist” and “core values” and “neo-liberal” and “traitorous”. And I can confidently assert this, because the debate is all about these labels and not about policy substance.”
      
      Do you mean the debate here? Because there was been lots around left vs neoliberal. Or do you mean between DC and GR?
      
      It’s unfortunate that most of the MSM seem focussed on the invidivuals rather than what this represents in terms of left and neoliberal.
      
      I guess the time is coming for DC to stand up and declare where he really intends to head (if he wins). Second chance won’t become a third one. Make or break time.
- anker 6.2
  
  3 October 2014 at 9:22 am
  
  6@ boldsirbrian………….
  
  I am not sure there is anything simple about the situation Labour is currently finding itself in in terms of Labour’s caucus.
  
  Likely there is a component of “personality politics.
  
  What I have been reminded of is how powerful the phenomena of “group think” is. How people feel uncomfortable when they don’t concur with the dominant opinion that a group appears to hold.
  
  And given the issues that some in the Labour caucus are so vocal about I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t what is going on around DC.
  
  A personal anecdote to illustrate. Some twenty years ago or so I was the leader of a smallish team in a work place of 30. I had to select a small group of colleagues to attend a conference. We travelled to the conference and all bar one of them bunked off virtually for the whole event. I expressed my displeasure to one on the plane going home. When I next went into work (I was part time) out of the staff of 30 (ish) only two people spoke to me.
  
  They then sabotaged everything I tried to do. It was a very unpleasant experience. Fortunately I left and went on to a much, much better job and career wise I have never looked back.
  
  I hope people on this site will forgive me for a personal anecdote, but I can’t help beut wonder (and it is only speculation) that a similar thing hasn’t happened to DC.
  
  I have always been aware of how “group think” operates and I speak up and resist it everytime I get a sniff of it.
  - Jim 6.2.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 10:28 am
    
    I think that most are buying into a presidential like system as promoted by the main stream media. David Cunliffe did in my opinion do a reasonable job during the election campaign, as would have any of the other candidates for labour leadership in the last few years. There does how ever seem to be a disconnect between the labour party hierarchy and the caucus. Before we deal with the more important issues of party structures and personnel, this leadership issue needs to be resolved to get the media to change focus.
    - boldsirbrian 6.2.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 11:30 am
      
      @ Jim (6.2.1)
      
      That’s a really good point Jim.
      
      Why do political parties (and I’m talking all of them here) buy into the “Presidential” system that suits the MSM?
      
      For some parties there is no alternative (WinstonFirst, DunneFirst, ActFirst and ConservyLoons). Another Party (DirtyJohn) has one orator who outshines everybody else in the caucus, and they gain advantage in keeping the less able away from public scrutiny.
      
      But Labour , could, if it so chose, set it’s own path during an election. Refuse to make the Leader the sole spokesperson. Refuse to participate in Leader’s debates, if these are the only Air time available (They actually told us nothing, apart from the fact that Cunliffe is a very good debater, and Key is lovable or hateable depending on your political views.)
      
      Bring out, and emphasise the team. Less convenient for MSM, but make that their problem. Bring out the Shadow Minister of Health to talk health issues, Education to talk Education issues, and the Finance spokesperson to provide the “gotcha” details on Fringe Benefit Tax. Show the Leader of the Party as exactly that …..somebody who can lead a competent team. Rather than someone simply selected as the best debater.
      
      I suggest that this may work well for either Cunliffe or Robertson, or actually any other leader.
      
      It’s an idea anyway?
- phillip ure 6.3
  
  3 October 2014 at 9:54 am
  
  you are wrong brave-brian..
  
  ..it is entirely about the battle for the direction of the labour party..
  
  ..does it..under robertson..continue to cling to the neo-liberal policies of the last 30 yrs..
  
  ..or does it..under cunnliffe..
  
  ..embrace progressive-polices focusing on poverty-busting etc..
  
  ..the personality stuff is just a distraction..
  
  ..and the right/corporate-media know what a crossroads this is..
  
  ..(hence their vicious-firestorm of a hate-campaign against cunnlife..
  
  ..they are terrified of the idea of a real labour party..
  
  ..one shed of its’ neo-liberal aberrations..)
  
  ..and they also know what they want..
  
  ..and that is robertson..and neo-lib..
  
  ..and just that fact should be enough to disqualify robertson..
  
  ..(and i have figured out why a joke like nash is there..he is there to make robertson look less neo-lib than he is..)
  - boldsirbrian 6.3.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 11:12 am
    
    .
    @ phillip ure (6.3)
    
    Thank you for your post, for you provide an excellent example of what the debate is unfortunately about. And which leaves me to conclude it’s not really of substance and more about the personalities of the contenders.
    
    I’ll look further into your statements. Full of emotion, but basically a lot of hot air. I assume, suspect, you’ve got some ideas of substance lurking underneath, but until Labour activists start articulating what those are, instead of throwing around labels, the movement is doomed to not achieve what is possible.
    
    ~~~~
    
    ..it is entirely about the battle for the direction of the labour party.. ..does it..under robertson..continue to cling to the neo-liberal policies of the last 30 yrs..
    ..or does it..under cunnliffe…embrace progressive-polices focusing on poverty-busting etc..
    
    “clinging to” emotive bullshit
    “neo-liberal policies of the last 30 years” meaningless claptrap, needing substance
    “embrace progressive policies” emotive bullshit
    “focussing on poverty-busting” Wow. The nearest we have come to something of substance. But still absolutely no details. No evidence of what your hero has done, or said he will do, that your villain will not also do.
    
    I personally think that inequality and doing something about poverty are issues that are of the highest priority. The very highest. But if anybody is trying to persuade me that one candidate is better than another on the basis of one being good (“embraces progressive”) and not bad (“clinging to neo-liberal”) I’d suggest a course in Sales 101. It’s not that your answer is necessarily wrong. It’s just the justification that is absent. Totally missing in action.
    
    ~~~~
    
    ..the personality stuff is just a distraction…….and the right/corporate-media know what a crossroads this is………(hence their vicious-firestorm of a hate-campaign against cunnlife………they are terrified of the idea of a real labour party……
    ..one shed of its’ neo-liberal aberrations..)………and they also know what they want………and that is robertson..and neo-lib……….and just that fact should be enough to disqualify robertson..
    
    Please just read this again, and again, and again. It’s absolute nonsense. At it’s very best, it’s drivel. It’s easier to say nothing with blank lines. It’s like a TV advertisement for hair shampoo. Trying to convey something?? by repetition. But repetition of a pile of crap, simply makes a bigger pile.
    
    If these are reasons why you have a hero, and the other one is a villain, I suggest you change shampoos. Or preferably work at a shampoo factory for a week, to get the real detail on the ingredients in each shampoo.
    
    ~~~~
    
    ….(and i have figured out why a joke like nash is there..he is there to make robertson look less neo-lib than he is..)
    
    When two people sit around, and have a common understanding of a problem, it’s ok to chew the fat, and say what you think. But all I understand from this statement (and I understand it well) is that you dislike Nash (intently). And that gets us where, precisely? Is this meant to be another argument that your hero should be elected, and your villain not be elected? I don’t think so.
    - anker 6.3.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 12:21 pm
      
      Re my earlier comment about group think and the “personality issues”. I think this is (ie. group think) probably a factor, but just one factor.
      
      I think the other issues are, Who will best represent the party? Who is geniune and capable about reversing policies that have hurt so many NZders, particularly Labour constitutiuants? Rogernomics or call it what you will has been so damaging for so many in NZ. My vote will go to someone who I believe has the will, the determination and knowledge to reverse this.
      
      At the leadership campaign meeting I went to last year when the candidates were asked what they would like to be known for, DC that was what he wanted to be known for, i.e reversing Rogernomics.
      - boldsirbrian 6.3.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 1:22 pm
        
        @anker (6.3.1.1)
        
        Thoughtful comment.
        
        Another significant issue is of course “Who will best achieve election success for the Party?” (Although your “Who will best represent the Party?” possibly covers this.)
        
        My concern is that the leader may represent the party’s objectives very well, but his (or her) personal characteristics may turn voters off. I’m not thinking homosexuality here as much as perceptions of sincerity, drive, arrogance, empathy etc. These are all valid concerns along with the issues that you have raised.
        
        And I appreciate your reference to policies.
        
        A reference to a NZ Herald article, by Dita de Boni, has already been made – Time for Labour to embrace the left
        
        Dita starts off with frustrating references to “progressive” values. (Everybody in the Labour Party probably has a reasonable understanding of the term, in their own heads at least. The label may even mean the same thing to most in the Party, but possibly not. But outside the Party in Voter-land, it probably means little.)
        
        But then Dita immediately redeems herself, and actually starts specifying what progressive means. She picks issues such as “free basic education, a fairer tax system, protecting our ecosystem, better workers and human rights, and a strong health system that does not discriminate between rich and poor”
        
        These are the things that will appeal to potential voters. They are not detailed policies, but they are a clear vision… She promotes a path: “In following the path of defining a set of core values and sticking with them even when the prevailing conservative chorus is decrying them” She gives good specific advice on how to work with other parties who have specific policies in common.
        
        Good stuff. Worth reading the full article.
        
        phillip ure 6.3.1.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 2:21 pm
        
        shit..!..bold-brian..
        
        ..apologies for not presenting a full poverty-busting poverty-program..
        
        ..but hey..!..a financial transaction tax on the banksters wd be a good start..
        
        ..to get that poverty-busting (’emotive’ i know..but there you go..!..)..to get that underway..
        
        …heard of that..?
        
        ..can i suggest you google ‘neo-liberal-‘…?..(that may help enlighten you there..)
        
        ..’shampoo-references pass me by..
        
        ..i am part of the shampoo-free movement..
        
        ..haven’t piled that muck on my hair for years..
        
        (and yes..thick/luxuriant/shiny enough to make dunne turn green with envy..)
        
        ..and seeing as you ask..
        
        ..and aide from nash being such good buddy/buddies with the denizens of the far-right..as in slater/lusk etc..
        
        ..(you quite relaxed about that..?..)
        
        ..there is the small fact that he is currently walking around trying to peddle the bullshit that he won the seat of napier because of his all-round skills..
        
        ..(going so fucken far as to offer to show other labour candidates ‘how’..(!)..)
        
        ..whereas the facts of the matter are that nash got no more votes in ’14 than he did in ’11..
        
        ..and the only reason he won napier..
        
        ..is because garth mcvicar stood for the conservatives..
        
        ..and hived over 4,500 votes from the national candidate..
        
        ..had he not done that..nash wd have lost..
        
        ..so yes..that he seems to be basing everything ‘good’ about him on what is a pile of stinking/steaming bullshit..
        
        ..i will yell out alarms about him..
        
        ..and point out what a joke he is..
        
        boldsirbrian …
        
        3 October 2014 at 3:28 pm
        
        @ phillip ure (6.3.1.1.1.1)
        
        shit..!..bold-brian..
        
        Would Mr. Botany (B.) be more politically correct?
        
        ~~~
        
        ..apologies for not presenting a full poverty-busting poverty-program…..
        ..but hey..!..a financial transaction tax on the banksters wd be a good start..
        ..to get that poverty-busting (‘emotive’ i know..but there you go..!..)..to get that underway..…heard of that..?..
        
        I did not claim that “poverty-busting” was emotive. In fact I singled what you wrote there as the best part of your whole post. Seems like we (may) share a common vision of what we think has to be achieved?
        
        ~~~~
        
        ..and the only reason he (Nash) won napier….is because garth mcvicar stood for the conservatives….and hived over 4,500 votes from the national candidate….had he not done that..nash wd have lost….
        
        Yes.
        
        Cheers,
        Mr. Botany (B.)
yeshe 7

3 October 2014 at 9:16 am

More lies from Key and Joyce around their Convention Centre deal… bet their own blind trusts are filled with Sky City shares … even Herald allows it to seem suspect as a hotel “slips” on to land for convention centre only …

The public purse ripped off by sale of TVNZ land for peanuts below commercial value; lovingly sponsored by Key and Joyce .. now the truth outs .. and it seems Joyce lied in the House as well … ho hum, just another day at the office …

Corrupt crims, all of them.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11335925
Rosie 8

3 October 2014 at 9:18 am

A light at the end of the tunnel?

(Apologies if this has already been discussed) From yesterday’s Gordon Campbell article on Scoop:

“…………the chances of the TPP countries pulling a deal together in the next three years are slim. One chronic reason being, the Obama administration has no authority to conclude this deal even if member countries could agree on the content – which they don’t. The US currently lacks the Trade Promotion Authority for Obama to clinch the terms of the deal.”

http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2014/10/01/gordon-campbell-on-the-last-rites-for-the-tpp/

So if the TPP is really on it’s last legs as the article suggests, we do at least have three years grace at best, with our pro TPP government sidelined perhaps?
- Chooky 8.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:12 am
  
  yes great news Rosie!…i heard it the other day on the radio i think…and was relieved at the reprieve…but you can never rule them out pulling something out of the hat at any moment when you least expect it
  - boldsirbrian 8.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 12:43 pm
    
    @ Chooky (8.1)
    
    I agree. Great news. (with your reservations).
    Almost what I feared most from this Government.
    
    The TPPA almost seemed to be the price “we” are being asked to pay, simply to permit another photo opportunity for Dirty John on the golf course.
- Lanthanide 8.2
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:45 am
  
  It’s been on the rocks for at least the last 2 years. That hasn’t stopped various countries and governments from parroting on that they’re working towards the agreement, though.
  
  Basically it just seems like a waste of taxpayer funds and an excuse to go on overseas trips.
  - Rosie 8.2.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 11:23 am
    
    I have heard such comment previously Lanthanide but was reluctant to focus too much energy on it, for the reason Chooky gives above:
    
    “but you can never rule them out pulling something out of the hat at any moment when you least expect it”.
    
    All those overseas trips you mention had to be justified so perhaps governments put on a brave fake face in an effort to avoid embarrassment. These are the cowboys of the wild new frontier of global corporate control, taking it further than ever before, they’ve got a reputation to protect. Just a thought.
    - Kiwiri 8.2.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 12:45 pm
      
      Lots of airpoints and hotel reward points accummulated for those overseas jetsetting negotiations can now be used to take the family on holiday. Nice job if you can get it.
      - travellerev 8.2.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 1:18 pm
        
        Wow, people really believe it’s off the table? 🙄
        
        Chooky 8.2.1.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 2:24 pm
        
        so what is their next move in your opinion?…is this just a pretend “off the table”…while they regroup covertly and present us all with a fait accompli ?
        
        Kiwiri 8.2.1.1.1.2
        
        3 October 2014 at 2:25 pm
        
        TPP won’t go away, and the accummulation of airports and hotel reward points won’t end.
        
        TPP will keep coming back, again and again. And it must be opposed again and again. It was being pushed at us as the MAI more than ten years ago. Now, we are battling against the TPP and it won’t stop coming at us more strongly, with another acronym change if that is what it takes to try to dupe people again.
        
        Rosie 8.2.1.1.1.3
        
        3 October 2014 at 3:41 pm
        
        travellerev. There’s really no need for the rolly eyes. Truth is, I don’t really know what to “believe”.
        
        I don’t think anyone can relax until it’s well and truly buried. I think if it does go then as Kiwiri suggests, it’s will come back again and again – just in a different format. I’m sure the global corporate powers have many masks and disguises for their intentions.
Whateva next? 9

3 October 2014 at 9:25 am

People can say what they like, just not under the banner of a Labour supporting site.
Reactionary posts are not supporting Labour, if anything they support National by dividing people……very convenient for National that the left do feel free to have robust debates, when done on Twitter or blogs too easy to misconstrue, escalate by MSM and cause fractures.
For people to suggest this is supression is worrying, almost looking for another battle, rather than focussing on issues that matter?
- boldsirbrian 9.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:07 am
  
  @ Whateva next? (9)
  
  If a “Labour Supporting Site” is simply an extension of the official Labour Party site, it becomes simply a propaganda site. That’s fine, but contributions would quickly dry up
  
  Robust debates are, or should be, the life blood of all political parties. The benefits far outweigh the possible concerns that others may misconstrue from such discussions. This is politics after all: Those on the other side of every fence are only too keen to misconstrue.
  
  Ideas are born of robust debate. The strength of this site, that I quickly discovered, is the relative tolerance to such robustness (I’ve been labelled a troll on a couple of occasions here; a badge I’ll wear with pride, as it seems to me the unsupported labelling was more a reflection of the accuser than anything else)
  
  The discussions here have substance …. and a common vision with intelligent disagreement can only be respected.
  
  If you want to reflect on alternatives, have a quick look at the drivel that takes place in the discussions on kiwiblog. Lots and lots of comments, but childish substance. Even Farrar is desperately trying to get more intelligent discussion by promoting extra “assistance” and saying that he will accept guest posts from those who disagree with him. (It will never work for Farrar, unless he actually relinquishes most of his personal power, and adopts a format more similar to the Standard)
  - whateva next? 9.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 2:26 pm
    
    “Ideas are born of robust debate” absobloodyluetely, in an environment that seeks to generate growth and meetings of minds, which social media is not, especially in a tribal climate generated and supported by a right wing MSM
    - boldsirbrian 9.1.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 2:49 pm
      
      @ whateva next? (9.1.1)
      
      Lots of truth there. But social media is here, and to stay. I envisage that as time goes on, social media will become more mature and effective, as people learn what works best and what doesn’t.
      
      Social media does provide an environment where there is “robust” discussion (One or three of my posts have been very blunt). Far more “robust” than in a face to face meeting would ever generate. I can see both advantages and disadvantages with that. It also allows for the participation of many more people with ideas
      
      I wasn’t too sure about your comment on social media debate being influenced by a right wing MSM. The discussion here is very different than MSM news and opinion, and seems to have formed it’s own style reasonably independently?
philj 10

3 October 2014 at 9:46 am

xox
I used to give credibility to Dr Bryce Edwards blog but he seems to have lost his ‘ balance’ the closer he gets to the MSM. Funny that. Do others at TS feel the same?
- phillip ure 10.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 9:59 am
  
  in my time of observing edwards-the-younger he has said one thing only that made sense..
  
  ..he said that labour policy was national-lite..
  
  ..and that labour need to move more left..
  
  ..most of the time he is a craven apologist for the status quo..
  
  ..and one whose ambition to be a talking-head on media is palpable..
  
  ..it almost throbs…that ambition,.
- Puckish Rogue 10.2
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:08 am
  
  Translation: Hes written something I don’t agree with
- Paul 10.3
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:52 am
  
  Yes he’s changed.
  The job at the Herald has had an effect.
greywarbler 11

3 October 2014 at 10:10 am

On the trail of active businesses keeping the NZ economy going and what sector, there is an Insight on Sunday on Radionz with Wallace Chapman on the thoroughbred industry. I heard a trailer this morning and I think they feel neglected, not taken seriously and they employ 33,000 people. Let’s hear it for the gee gees!
Sunday 5/10 at 8.12 a.m. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight

The heady days when horse racing was king, are gone.
People are discovering new ways to spent their entertainment dollar and the thoroughbred industry is now having to share the gambling pie with others like lotto and the casinos.
Racing, along with greyhounds and trotting, still manages turnover nearing two billion dollars and contributes to about one percent of the country’s gross domestic product, but many in the industry say it is getting harder to make a living.

Radio New Zealand’s Waikato reporter, Andrew McRae talks to all parts of the thoroughbred racing industry from trainers and owners, through to the breeders and jockeys about how it can try to keep pace with its competitors.

I tried to get some stats on employment in dairying but it’s hard to find for a newbie. There are more details from the dairy companies on cows, opportunities finance, yield of milk and money. Simple employment does not rate highly.

Some of the pdfs don’t convert to my old Firefox very well. There are all sorts of symbols in the headings.

Stats NZ is like following a will of the whisp. Every time I got into an area which I think could answer the simple? question of the annual count of employment in the dairy industry. I was directed to some program that would provide it if I pressed this button and spent 10 minutes reading about it.

And of course there is the proviso of how they changed the employment count in 2003 to give a broad brush over all employment presumably.
Until 2003, statistics used full-time equivalent (FTE) persons engaged as the business-size measure. From 2003 onwards, FTE was replaced by employee count (EC). Business demography statistics showing EC are available for 2000 onwards.
I think this means in reality, in use, that they can then count someone doing 1 paid hour per week in employment statistics, but that will require probably an hour’s study on how to use their tables and find definitions.

An interesting statistic from Min for Primary Industries: New Zealand dairy production has risen 77 percent over the past 20 years … Sources: Statistics New Zealand, DairyNZ, Fonterra Co-operative Group, and MPI. … The parties to the Accord agreed to work together to achieve clean healthy …
Puckish Rogue 12

3 October 2014 at 10:36 am

http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/opinion/10573887/Left-rendered-irrelevant

– A good, thought-provoking piece
- BM 12.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:58 am
  
  I agree with everything he write.
  
  The left is completely out of touch with middle NZ and there’s nothing any party on the left can do to remedy that.
  
  The problems are far too systemic.
  - Puckish Rogue 12.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 11:49 am
    
    I suspect the problem has more to do with employment and earnings. When you look at the Labour MPs most of them would struggle to earn 70k a year let alone what an MP makes
    
    So these MPs are making more money then they ever have before so its only natural that they want to protect the money because they know when they leave they won’t have the same power, unfluence or pay packet
    
    I mean would T. Mallard or C. Curran get paid in the private market anything like they’re getting now?
    - BM 12.1.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 12:21 pm
      
      I see the main issue with the left is that they’re creating policies that appeal to the party members not the public.
      
      Great if you want to be a niche party, not so good if you want to be a major party.
      
      I agree with you about the labour Mps, which is why they’re so hard to pry off the trough, politics is as good as it gets so they’re not going anywhere without a fight.
      - Kiwiri 12.1.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 12:32 pm
        
        they’re creating policies that appeal to the party members not the public
        
        hahaha. try again. your framing there is misleading, mischievous as well as malicious.
        
        let’s see what those policies are that appeal to party members not the public? abandoning the call for GST to be removed from fresh fruit and vegetables? increasing the super age?
      - Puckish Rogue 12.1.1.1.2
        
        3 October 2014 at 12:41 pm
        
        I wonder if maybe the answer is to dro the pay down to 70K for MPs and 150K for the PM
        
        Take the money out of it and you’ll get people doing it for and staying in longer for the right reasons…maybe
        
        Kiwiri 12.1.1.1.2.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 2:27 pm
        
        Or give them the kind of National golden parachutes to kamikaze their parliamentary careers.
        
        Puckish Rogue …
        
        3 October 2014 at 2:31 pm
        
        Who in all seriousness would take on on Labours dead wood? Goff maybe but thats about it
    - Murray Olsen 12.1.1.2
      
      4 October 2014 at 1:33 am
      
      How much would Paula Bennett be able to earn? She’s pretty much as useless as Mallard or Curran, as are plenty of other Tories. The only way any of them make heaps is when they’re appointed to bullshit positions as a political reward.
- phillip ure 12.2
  
  3 October 2014 at 2:25 pm
  
  warning..!.it is far-right foamer..du fresne…
Pat O'Dea 13

3 October 2014 at 10:56 am

‘

“Dear Matafele Peinem, we won’t let you down”

Just in

In a victory for local residents opposed to the mine and Auckland Coal Action, The proposed excavation of the Mangatangi coal mine by Glen Coal ltd. just south of the city, at Mangatawhiri has been put on indefinite hold.
- blue leopard 13.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 12:35 pm
  
  Excellent to hear some good news, thanks Pat.
Paul 14

3 October 2014 at 10:57 am

Dita de Boni
‘Time for Labour to embrace the left.

Instead of trying to appeal to ‘middle New Zealand’, the party should proudly stand by progressive values…….
I am convinced that the Labour party of today has the same problem. And the advice from well-wishers and nefarious right-wing commentators alike – to “appeal to middle New Zealanders” – is, I believe, misguided.
The fact of the matter is that “middle New Zealand” currently prefers John Key. They want tax cuts, they want a prime minister they could have a beer with. God alone knows why, but their ideal female politician is Judith Collins, Hekia Parata and Maggie Barry (the “Hyacinth Bucket” model).
And they don’t care that dirty politics seeps out of every pore of the current administration.
So be it. Labour, at present, cannot sway these people and is not in good enough shape to take on the right-wing smear machine. But to my mind, it doesn’t have to – right now. It needs to reclaim and reaffirm that it stands for genuine left-wing values and ignore the critics – critics that are often non-voters, or non-Labour voters, egged on by opponents.’

Read the rest.
A great article.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11335076
- Tautoko Viper 14.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 12:19 pm
  
  Dita has absolutely nailed it.
- phillip ure 14.2
  
  3 October 2014 at 2:27 pm
  
  @ paul..
  
  ..”Maggie Barry (the “Hyacinth Bucket” model)..”
  
  (heh..!..)
- Murray Olsen 14.3
  
  4 October 2014 at 2:16 am
  
  John Key is the type of person I least like having a beer with. He would insist on being the centre of attention and make puerile wisecracks. He’s the sort of guy who would have been better off not drinking in a public bar when they had heavy glass jugs. Something has changed drastically with middle NZ, and I don’t like it. Some people say that social attitudes have changed for the better, but when you see the Rawshark emails and chats, you realise that for a lot of movers and shakers on the right, this is only lip service.
Pat O'Dea 15

3 October 2014 at 11:05 am

This is what victory looks like

http://aucklandcoalaction.org/
greywarbler 16

3 October 2014 at 1:09 pm

AN ALERT – Lecture coming up 15 October Auckland.
Wednesday 15 October, 6.30pm
Maidment Theatre
Alfred Street
The University of Auckland
The Maidment Bar will open from 5.30pm

The 2014 Bruce Jesson Lecture
Mike Joy – Paradise Squandered; New Zealand’s Environmental Asset Stripping

New Zealand’s lakes, rivers and most of our groundwater are in a critical state. Decades of misguided regulation and a free-for-all on diffuse pollution have encouraged agricultural intensification and driven our increasing reliance on imported feed and fertiliser.
The inevitable consequences have been devastating environmental impacts as well as increasing economic and biosecurity risks.
The solutions are many but require a paradigm shift; a move away from dependence on imported feed and fertiliser to keeping nutrients on farm and adding value to products, and strong leadership to move away from short-term thinking that accepts the massive ecological debt we are running up.

Mike Joy MSc(Hons), PhD in Ecology is a Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Environmental Science at the Ecology Group-Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North. He has received a number of awards, including the Ecology in Action award from the New Zealand Ecological Society; an Old Blue award from the Royal Forest and Bird protection Society; Environmental New Zealander of the Year from North and South magazine and the Manawatu Evening Standard Person of the Year.
Presented by Politics and International Relations and the Bruce Jesson Foundation
Wednesday 15 October, 6.30pm
Maidment Theatre
Alfred Street
The University of Auckland
The Maidm
- Chooky 16.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 2:27 pm
  
  thanks greywarbler
Te Reo Putake 17

3 October 2014 at 2:28 pm

ACT: another one bites the dust.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10576531/ACTs-Jamie-Whyte-quits-as-leader
- Puckish Rogue 17.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 2:32 pm
  
  Yep ACT got a poor result and the leader quits and doesn’t try to run again…theres a lesson there somewhere
  - Te Reo Putake 17.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 2:40 pm
    
    Cool. In your world, 0.7% and being forced onto welfare is merely a “bad” result.
    - Puckish Rogue 17.1.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 2:44 pm
      
      Its better then 10% and no MPs in government (and none in nearly 25 years since being formed)
      - Te Reo Putake 17.1.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 2:53 pm
        
        Um, 10% gets you 12 or so MP’s. But that’s not going to be an issue for National’s Epsom franchise cum charity outreach program anytime soon 🙂
        
        edit ; I see what you did there! Colour me green with envy at your sly wit.
        
        Puckish Rogue 17.1.1.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 2:58 pm
        
        Except that ACTs currently in power and has been in power previously whereas the Greens have never been in power, in fact they’re the only party that’ve never had an mp in government
        
        Fact is the Greens are nothing less then a disapointment
- Rosie 17.2
  
  3 October 2014 at 3:55 pm
  
  Wow. Rimmer will now get an extra $155,700 as party leader, seeing as he has taken over. (Based on 2011 figures)
  
  http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2011/0410/latest/DLM4148103.html
  
  Both him and Dunne were reported as being over the $500K mark on Campbell live once all their perks and bonus salaries were added up. Nice work if you can get it. Over a million dollars for one party that polled 0.22% and one that polled 0.7%.
  - Puckish Rogue 17.2.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 4:04 pm
    
    You can get it, you just need enough people to think your party is worth voting for
    - Draco T Bastard 17.2.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 4:17 pm
      
      In the case of Act and UF neither party got enough votes because no one thought that they were worth voting for but they still got it.
      - Puckish Rogue 17.2.1.1.1
        
        3 October 2014 at 4:20 pm
        
        I’d say the Greens could learn something from them but I think they prefer to be martyrs rather then try to ackshully get something done for their voters
Puckish Rogue 18

3 October 2014 at 2:47 pm

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/10576464/R-D-grants-stupid-taxpayer-subsidies-Sam-Morgan

– Morgan reiterated that profitable companies did not need grants, and if a company was not profitable, it had no prospect of paying tax.

But he then confessed his companies Xero, Sonar6 and Outsmart had also received grants.

“Maybe I should just shut-up.,” he tweeted.

“Seems like this grant lark is actually awesome for me.”

Or don’t accept the grants instead?
- Draco T Bastard 18.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 4:02 pm
  
  Or we could just be far more open about the fact that private success comes only with government subsidies.
  - Puckish Rogue 18.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 4:09 pm
    
    He just seems like an ungreatful prat and as loopy as his old man…
Mark 19

3 October 2014 at 2:56 pm

Chris Trotter’s latest missive stopped me in my tracks. I felt like I could have written the article from start to finish. ( If I could write)
A brilliant summary of how people like me still haven’t forgiven or forgotten.

http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/
- Puckish Rogue 19.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 3:31 pm
  
  Trotters perceptive
- Draco T Bastard 19.2
  
  3 October 2014 at 4:03 pm
  
  Actual link
boldsirbrian 20

3 October 2014 at 3:44 pm

I wonder where Jason Ede and Cathy Odgers are? Have they eloped? Are they helping out at Whaleoil? Or the new “moderators” at kiwiblog? I hope their disappearance is not creating any sort of holdup on the inquiries that have started.

Mr. Botany (B.)
McFlock 21

3 October 2014 at 5:05 pm

lol Jamie Whyte’s resigned.

I would say “good riddance”, but he was active for such a short time and had such little effect that nobody will really notice.
- Te Reo Putake 21.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 5:57 pm
  
  Yep, despite his strong appeal to the incest demographic, it turned out not to be all Whyte on the night.
  - adam 21.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 11:47 pm
    
    +1 Te Reo Putake. Ouch, now my side hurts.
weka 22

3 October 2014 at 6:17 pm

Fuck Russel Norman (I say that as a long time GP member and voter). “Crazies”? Really?

“I mean we had enough trouble with John Key standing up every day telling all his nonsense about us and on the other had we had to deal with these crazies. Having them on the radio and tv all the time talking their nonsense, it was like ‘Oh god,’ it did make it incredibly difficult to change the Government at that point because a lot of people who might have voted for Labour went ‘Oh god, if a vote for Labour means a vote for Dotcom and Harre, I’m not going to do that,'” he says

http://www.waateanews.com/waateanews?story_id=ODAwNg%3D%3D
- Chooky 22.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 11:39 pm
  
  i think the Greens lost votes in the last week because it was said by a television reporter ( rightly or wrongly) that Norman was making overtures and was seeking a coalition with Nactional !
  
  …Unconscionable!…people were confused and shocked…it seemed like an opportunistic betrayal by the Greens who were signalling Labour would not win in their opinion ,so they were ready to do deals with the Nactional which represents BIG BUSINESS and is the biggest violator of the environment!
  - Clemgeopin 22.1.1
    
    4 October 2014 at 12:26 am
    
    +1
    Good comment Chooky. Sometimes I think we the ordinary people here have a more honest and clearer view of things than some of these stupid ego driven smart arse dumb political ‘leaders’.
- Murray Olsen 22.2
  
  4 October 2014 at 2:28 am
  
  +1
  You can take the boy out of Brisbane, but you can’t take Brisbane out of the boy. I have to wonder how much his growing up in a white supremacist monoculture made him unable to understand Maori at all. I can’t think why else he would call them crazies, especially when they have a similar political alignment to his party.
  
  I also think he can go and fuck himself, and Metiria should speak for the Greens. I was going off Norman anyway, with all his talk of fiscal responsibility.
Draco T Bastard 23

3 October 2014 at 7:25 pm

Advice from Starbucks veteran:

But unless I am checking a new store off my list, I would not go there for the coffee.

And this guy would know after having:

travelled over 150,000 miles visiting 11,733 coffee shops and spending over $100,000.
- Chooky 23.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 11:30 pm
  
  lol…Starbucks is disgusting
  - McFlock 23.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 11:38 pm
    
    the one in dunedin gave away free coffees when it opened.
    It lost a bunch of prospective customers that way.
    - Chooky 23.1.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 11:48 pm
      
      lol….unfortunately for Starbucks New Zealanders have gotten used to good coffee….only young teenagers and Americans like Starbucks
      
      my friend took me to Palm Beach and I was shocked to find only a Starbucks coffee shop….i refused to drink the coffee she bought me ….but bought her a cake with green icing …she refused to eat her cake….she reckoned the cakes were made from ingredients in rocketry (she looked up the listed ingredients of Starbucks cakes on her laptop and pronounced they were also used in rocket fuel or some such)….ONLY IN USA!
Clemgeopin 24

3 October 2014 at 8:11 pm

Just received via email:

PRIME TIME WITH SEAN PLUNKET
TONIGHT AT 10 30

With speculation mounting that he will contest Labour’s leadership, Napier MP STUART NASH will go one on one with Sean Plunket tonight.

PLEASE NOTE — TONIGHT’S SHOW WILL BE AT THE LATER TIME OF 10 30.

And we’re surrendering. Tonight we have pundits! BILL RALSTON and BRIAN EDWARDS to take an informed but light hearted look back at the campaign.
(And yes, we know Brian is a friend of David Cunliffe and a long time Labour advisor and supporter and we also know that Bill worked on the National campaign. That’s why we invited them!)
- Paul 24.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 8:26 pm
  
  If Nash leads the Labour Party, it will have officially become a neoliberal party.
  - adam 24.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 11:41 pm
    
    What makes you think it is not at present?
    - Paul 24.1.1.1
      
      4 October 2014 at 12:21 am
      
      Fair point.
    - Clemgeopin 24.1.1.2
      
      4 October 2014 at 12:38 am
      
      It most definitely is not!
      Just take a look at their policies. Which of these do you honestly think are ‘neo liberal’ policies?
      
      *100,000 new, affordable homes
      *Free healthcare to under 13s, pregnant women and over 65s
      *Raising the minimum wage to $16.25
      *Ensure every rental is warm and dry
      *Everything paid for, plus we’re in surplus
      *Ensure all Kiwis under 20 are in work, education or training
      *Best Start for Kiwi kids
      *Reduce unemployment to 4% in our first term
      *Lower class sizes
      *Extend paid paternal leave to 26 weeks
      *Ensure that all our rivers and lakes are clean
      *Lowering power bills
      *Convert the dole to apprenticeships
      *Protecting our land from speculators
      *Christchurch recovery policy
      *Capital gains tax excluding family home
      *Increase tax to 36c/$ for incomes above $150,000
      * investments to upgrade regional economies and create jobs
      *Auckland and Christchurch city Rail Link
      *Public Service Television Station
      *Ban shark finning , animal testing of cosmetics, synthetic highs.
      * New ministry for children
      *Restore Adult and community education
      *Kiwi assure insurance
      *Marine reserves
      *Abolition of secondary tax
      *Inquiry into wages and collective bargaining
      *Review of spy laws.
AmaKiwi 25

3 October 2014 at 10:06 pm

Bryce Edwards confirms my suspicions: Like Labour, The Greens had a disastrous election result (along with Maori, Mana, and Internet parties).

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11336457

I think it is time the Left recognized we need a single Left party. It will require a huge amount of compromise on policies and organization. Can we do it or do we individually prefer to remain in the political wilderness?
- weka 25.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:19 pm
  
  why bother with MMP then? A single left party would homogenise left wing politics and disenfranchise more people. It might win Labour the govt, but what would be the point?
  - AmaKiwi 25.1.1
    
    3 October 2014 at 10:40 pm
    
    Because the Right is doing it and burying us.
    
    What a different election it would have been if instead of just National there was a farmers party, a small business party, and a real estate developers party.
    - weka 25.1.1.1
      
      3 October 2014 at 10:57 pm
      
      with one monolithic left wing party we’d have a left version of National, locking NZ into a centrist/rightist govt long term. So again, what would be the point? Power at all costs?
      
      Here’s another idea. How about Labour try being a left wing party and seeing if the non-vote comes out again. We’re running out of time though, because not voting will become a hard habit to break.
boldsirbrian 26

3 October 2014 at 10:24 pm

Today’s Leunig.

Seems appropriate with Australia entering the war in Syria and Iraq, and John Key trying to work out how we can get involved.

Leunig – Today’s Recipe: Cult Pie
- AmaKiwi 26.1
  
  3 October 2014 at 10:44 pm
  
  The rich countries like these kinds of wars: defense companies get richer as expensive ordinance gets blown up. But no troops on the ground to come home in coffins.
  
  Sorry, Key. We are cannon fodder so if you send our SAS, send body bags, too.
Penny Bright 27

3 October 2014 at 11:13 pm

Hi folks!

Seen this?

FRIDAY, OCT 3, 2014 10:25 AM NZDT
The great charter school rip-off: Finally, the truth catches up to education “reform” phonies
Fraud, financial mismanagement, lousy results: Reports highlight awful charter schools and people are catching on

JEFF BRYANT

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/02/the_great_charter_school_rip_off_finally_the_truth_catches_up_to_education_reform_

______________________________________________________________________________________

Penny Bright

Comments are now closed

Articles RSS

Comments
Opinions

2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #4
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 17, 2021 through Sat, Jan 23, 2021 Editor's Choice 12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate change Authors explore scientific, economic, and political avenues for climate action ...
Skeptical Science
24 hours ago

Twelve Forgotten Principles of Public Health
This discussion is from a Twitter thread by Martin Kulldorff on 20 December 2020. He is a Professor at Harvard Medical School specialising in disease surveillance methods, infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety. His Twitter handle is @MartinKulldorff #1 Public health is about all health outcomes, not just a single ...
RedlineBy Admin
2 days ago

Analysis: The climate papers most featured in the media in 2020
This article, guest authored by Robert Sweeney was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Jan 13, 2021. The first part of the article is reposted below in. Click here to access the complete original article and comments posted on Carbon Brief. Last year was meant to be very ...
Skeptical Science
2 days ago

How is the Economy Doing?
The Treasury forecasts suggest the economy is doing better than expected after the Covid Shock. John Kenneth Galbraith was wont to say that economic forecasting was designed to make astrology look good. Unfair, but it raises the question of the purpose of economic forecasts. Certainly the public may treat them ...
PunditBy Brian Easton
3 days ago

COVID-19 vaccines and community immunity (transmission)
Q: Will the COVID-19 vaccines prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and bring about community immunity (aka herd immunity)? A: Jury not in yet but vaccines do not have to be perfect to thwart the spread of infection. While vaccines induce protection against illness, they do not always stop actual ...
SciBlogsBy Helen Petousis Harris
3 days ago

Biden’s Choice
Joe Biden seems to be everything that Donald Trump was not – decent, straightforward, considerate of others, mindful of his responsibilities – but none of that means that he has an easy path ahead of him. The pandemic still rages, American standing in the world is grievously low, and the ...
Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
3 days ago

Four years of the Aotearoa NZ Science Journalism Fund
Keana Virmani From healthcare robots to data privacy, to sea level rise and Antarctica under the ice: in the four years since its establishment, the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund has supported over 30 projects. Rebecca Priestley, receiving the PM Science Communication Prize (Photo by Mark Tantrum) Associate Professor ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
3 days ago

Places to go, people to be
Nothing more from me today - I'm off to Wellington, to participate in the city's annual roleplaying convention (which has also eaten my time for the whole week, limiting blogging despite there being interesting things happening). Normal bloggage will resume Tuesday. ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
3 days ago

Banned
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons came into force today, making the development, possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal in international law. Every nuclear-armed state is now a criminal regime. The corporations and scientists who design, build and maintain their illegal weapons are now ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
3 days ago

NZ Politics Daily: 22 January 2021
Housing Luke Malpass (Stuff): Labour announces that it will make more housing announcements this year Zane Small and Conor Whitten (Newshub): Backlash over Labour’s public housing ‘re-announcement’ prompts firm defence from Jacinda Ardern Chris Trotter: The Economic consequences of Mr Hickey Miriam Bell (Stuff): More public housing won’t ‘fix’ the housing crisis Yvette McCullough (RNZ): Jacinda Ardern’s government facing continued criticism over its ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
3 days ago

The Economic Consequences Of Mr Hickey.
"Come The Revolution!" The key objective of Bernard Hickey’s revolutionary solution to the housing crisis is a 50 percent reduction in the price of the average family home. This will be achieved by the introduction of Capital Gains, Land, and Wealth taxes, and by the opening up of currently RMA-protected ...
Bowalley Road
3 days ago

Should tech giants control the public square?
by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...
RedlineBy Daphna
3 days ago

What Biden and Democatic Senate can do on climate in their first 100 days
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...
Skeptical Science
3 days ago

The Adventures of Annalax: Volume XVI
Session thirty-three was highly abbreviated, via having to move house in a short space of time. Oh well. The party decided to ignore the tree-monster and continue the attack on the Giant Troll. Tarsin – flying on a giant summoned bat – dumped some high-grade oil over the ...
A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
4 days ago

Relief
Last night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
4 days ago

Joe Biden inauguration: The pendulum has swung, but how far?
Watching today’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States’ 46th president, there’s not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...
PunditBy Tim Watkin
4 days ago

NZ Politics Daily: 21 January 2021
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Greens say house prices need to fall Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Green Party will continue to push for wealth tax, blast Govt for ‘not doing enough’ about housing crisis Anna Whyte (1News): ‘Government is not doing enough’ – Greens, National call for action amid soaring public housing need, high house prices Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Govt can’t, and won’t, ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
4 days ago

Skeptical Science New Research for Week #3, 2021
Weather reporting turns into climate recording Leading a quartet of researchers, Chunlüe Zhou produces a tour de force of improved and more productive data exploitation in the paper A New Approach to Homogenize Global Subdaily Radiosonde Temperature Data from 1958 to 2018. Due to operational constraints, characteristics and the limited objectives of the ...
Skeptical Science
5 days ago

Why Do So Many Astronomy Discoveries Fail to Live Up to the Hype?
Dan Falk Britons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
5 days ago

Book Review: Unlocking the World of Autism
Sara Luterman Growing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
5 days ago

NZ Politics Daily: 20 January 2021
Housing Henry Cooke (Stuff): Public housing waitlist grows by 1000 in two months to new record high as high rents hit the poor Jason Walls (Herald): The Crown spent $16.5 million in four years on motels for emergency accommodation Sophie Trigger (Herald): Affordable Wellington flats offered through council initiative Melissa Nightingale (Herald): Shipping container for rent at $390/wk: Council to inspect ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
5 days ago

Breathing Life into the Corpse Flower
Doug Johnson The alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
5 days ago

Gillett et al. (2021) global warming attribution study
The Human vs. Natural Contributions to Global Warming chart on the Skeptical Science Graphics Page has been updated to include the study discussed below A new study published in Nature Climate Change, Gillett et al. (2021), is the latest in a long line of 'detection and attribution' studies published over the past 20-plus years ...
Skeptical Science
5 days ago

JEEM
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
SciBlogsBy Eric Crampton
6 days ago

The cold supply chain can’t reach everywhere – that’s a big problem for equitable COVID-19 vac...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts Amherst To mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
6 days ago

Vaccines are cheap
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
SciBlogsBy Eric Crampton
6 days ago

Irish Marxist looks at postmodern transgender identity politics and ideology
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
RedlineBy Admin
6 days ago

2020: The History That Was – Part 2
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
6 days ago

NZ Politics Daily: 19 January 2021
Parliament, government, and extremism Chris Trotter (Interest): Trump’s surprisingly large army of New Zealand supporters Jason Walls (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won’t say if she’s backing Chris Liddell for OECD’s top job Dave Armstrong (Stuff): Familiar titles with a new twist Peter McKenzie (Spinoff): The progressive fault lines facing New Zealand in 2021 and beyond Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): How ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
6 days ago

What the Blood Supply Shows About Covid-19’s Spread
Nathaniel Scharping In March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
6 days ago

Coronavirus: few vaccines prevent infection – here’s why that’s not a problem
Sarah L Caddy, University of Cambridge Vaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
7 days ago

Climate Change: Ending coal in Portugal
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
7 days ago

Trump's Surprisingly Large Army Of New Zealand Supporters.
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
Bowalley Road
7 days ago

Aristocracy of Pull continues
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
SciBlogsBy Eric Crampton
7 days ago

The Plan B implosion – what Brazil teaches us about the herd immunity hogwash
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
SciBlogsBy Siouxsie Wiles
7 days ago

NZ Politics Daily: 18 January 2021
Housing Bernard Hickey (Stuff): The ‘brutal’ catch-22 politics of trying to move to affordable housing Bernard Hickey: Why work when you can just own houses? Miriam Bell (Stuff): Consents are up, but will that help with NZ’s stubborn housing shortage? Miriam Bell (Stuff): New house listings have surged so far this year – but it’s not enough Miriam Bell (Stuff): House ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
7 days ago

2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #3
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021 Editor's Choice NASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to help Photo by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Skeptical Science
1 week ago

The frail elderly and COVID vaccines – should we be concerned?
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
SciBlogsBy Helen Petousis Harris
1 week ago

Guest post: How to ‘fairly’ share emissions from goods traded around the world
This article, guest authored by Dr Michael Jakob, Dr Hauke Ward & Dr Jan C Stecke, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Jan 4, 2021. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Photo by Kingsley Jebaraj on Unsplash Each year, close ...
Skeptical Science
1 week ago

How good is the AstraZeneca vaccine looking? Look at the data, not news headlines
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
SciBlogsBy Helen Petousis Harris
1 week ago

Opening Pandora’s American Box
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
PunditBy Brian Easton
1 week ago

100 Days 4 Action
School Strike 4 Climate is holding a "100 Days 4 Action" rally outside Parliament on the 26th: The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “We ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

A Big Science Publisher Is Going Open Access. But at What Cost?
Grigori Guitchounts In November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
1 week ago

Early next step: Add risk management to National Climate Assessment
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
Skeptical Science
1 week ago

NZ Politics Daily: 15 January 2021
Tiwai Point Smelter deal Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Aluminium smelter deal – who caved? Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Power play: Meridian Energy reaches deal with Rio Tinto over Tiwai Point Smelter No Right Turn: Paying the BluffGeld Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Tiwai Point negotiations continuing despite breakthrough on smelter RNZ: Locals ‘absolutely thrilled’ about Tiwai Point’s revival Evan Harding (Stuff): Tiwai aluminium smelter to stay open until ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
1 week ago

Will New Zealand’s Body-Politic Be Snatched By Trumpism?
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
Bowalley Road
1 week ago

Thoughts on the Amazon LOTR TV Series Synopsis
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
1 week ago

Hat tips to history
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
PunditBy Tim Watkin
1 week ago

Ideology as an organising principle.
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
2 weeks ago

Paying the BluffGeld
So, Rio Tinto has supposedly reached a deal with Meridian and Contact to give them cheaper electricity prices and keep the Tiwai Point smelter open. Down south, they're celebrating. But the rest of us shouldn't be. I've argued before that the best thing this foreign polluter can do is close. ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 weeks ago

Impeached again
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 weeks ago

Dire wolves went extinct 13,000 years ago but thanks to new genetic analysis their true story can no...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Thanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
2 weeks ago

NZ Politics Daily: 14 January 2021
Twitter suspension of NZ accounts Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Twitter’s suspension of New Zealand-based right-wing accounts ‘an overreaction’ – Simon Bridges Alex Braae (Spinoff): NZ right-wingers caught up in global purge of Twitter accounts No Right Turn: The Twitter Purge Marc Daalder (Newsroom): NZ far-right Twitter accounts suspended Jason Walls (Herald): Twitter crackdown reaches NZ: Hundreds of NZ right-wing users kicked off Twitter ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
2 weeks ago

Skeptical Science New Research for Week #2, 2021
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Skeptical Science
2 weeks ago

The Mob Rules Society: Reckoning between an Idea versus the Reality of America as chickens came home...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
exhALANtBy exhalantblog
2 weeks ago

The Twitter Purge
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 weeks ago

They’re everywhere: New study finds polyester fibres throughout the Arctic Ocean
Peter S. Ross, University of British Columbia The Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
2 weeks ago

Time to tackle the housing crisis!
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
Closing the GapBy Tracey Sharp
2 weeks ago

Cleansing the Twitters
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
SciBlogsBy Eric Crampton
2 weeks ago

NZ Politics Daily: 13 January 2021
Covid Nick Wilson & Michael Baker (The Conversation): With COVID-19 mutating and surging, NZ urgently needs to tighten border controls Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Government’s latest Covid measures described as both too strong and too weak RNZ: Covid-19: Ban on UK flights should be considered – Professor Nick Wilson Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Covid-19 testing numbers plummet, worrying experts Phillip Hill & Brian ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
2 weeks ago

Liam Hehir: Do as I say – the ongoing risks of covid hypocrisy
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
2 weeks ago

How we work: Getting input from scientists
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Skeptical Science
2 weeks ago

One way of fixing it
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 weeks ago

Reviewing the horrid global 2020 wildfire season
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
Skeptical Science
2 weeks ago

NZ Politics Daily: 12 January 2021
Covid, vaccine, and border Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Government accused of being ‘too relaxed’ over new Covid strains Herald: Judith Collins on urging Govt to accelerate rollout of vaccine Jason Walls (Herald): Government being lobbied to accelerate the Covid vaccine rollout ‘before it’s too late’ Shannon Redstall (Newshub): Coronavirus: Judith Collins calls for vaccine roll-out ‘now’, or consider closing the borders Newsroom: Lockdown expected ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
2 weeks ago

Seeds of Doubt
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here. Tess Tuxford Ko te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
SciBlogsBy Guest Author
2 weeks ago

2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #02
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessment Look for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Skeptical Science
2 weeks ago

NZ Politics Daily: 11 January 2021
US politics and NZ Chris Keall (Herald): NZ Privacy Commissioner critical of Facebook and Twitter’s decision to ban Trump Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): NZ privacy commissioner says social media bans on Trump ‘arbitrary and cynical’ RNZ: PM should not ‘tiptoe’ around Trump’s culpability – professor Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): US riots: NZ Trump aide Chris Liddell staying on to ‘lead successful transition’ ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
2 weeks ago

The Trump Insurrection: Primal Urges And Transgressive Images.
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past. THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
Bowalley Road
2 weeks ago

To Impeach Or Not?
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
2 weeks ago

Evening On The Land (For The United States of America)
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
Bowalley Road
2 weeks ago

2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #2
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021 Editor's Choice After the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
Skeptical Science
2 weeks ago

Guest post: How human activity threatens the world’s carbon-rich peatlands
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
Skeptical Science
2 weeks ago

Taxonomies of mass political violence.
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
2 weeks ago

A cracked window
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
SciBlogsBy Marcus Wilson
2 weeks ago

Older posts

Grainne Moss’ resignation welcome, it must pave way for Māori leadership at OT
The Green Party welcomes the resignation of Grainne Moss as Chief Executive of Oranga Tamariki. ...
Greens
3 days ago

More public houses where they’re needed most
Labour is building thousands of new state houses as part of our work to ensure every Kiwi has a warm, dry place to call home. ...
Labour Blog
4 days ago

Worsening housing crisis must prompt action
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
Greens
5 days ago

Celebrating the Entry Into Force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Supporting disabled people to stay connected
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Voluntary saliva testing offered to quarantine workers from Monday
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Next steps in firearms buy-back
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Jobs for Nature projects target iconic ecosystems
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

New Public Housing Plan announced
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Prime Minister congratulates President Joe Biden on his inauguration
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Jobs for Nature funding will create training and employment opportunities
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 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Pre-departure testing extended to all passengers to New Zealand
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 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Bay Cadets learn skills to protect environment
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 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
7 days ago

Cook Islanders to resume travel to New Zealand
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 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Supporting communities and landowners to grow employment opportunities
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, ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 weeks ago

Border exception for some returning international tertiary students
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 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 weeks ago

Tiwai deal gives time for managed transition
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 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 weeks ago

New member for APEC Business Advisory Council
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 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 weeks ago

Govt’s careful economic management recognised
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 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 weeks ago

Additional actions to keep COVID-19 out of NZ
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 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 weeks ago

19 projects will clean up and protect waterways
$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 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 weeks ago

New Zealand Government acknowledges 175th anniversary of Battle of Ruapekapeka
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 ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 weeks ago

While you were away…
Business & Investing: A quickfire overview of markets here and overseas since Christmas, Plus F&P Healthcare surges again ...
Newsroom
1 hour ago

A Pākehā among Māori: The strange case of Roderick Finlayson
We begin a week-long examination of Roderick Finlayson – author of a posthumous collection of stories about Māori – with a biographical portrait by Bill Pearson Roderick Finlayson was born in 1904 in Devonport, the only son of John Finlayson and Mary Cargo. John Finlayson was a bank clerk who ...
Newsroom
1 hour ago

Luna Rossa: a red moon waning?
The darlings of the 2000 America's Cup challengers, Luna Rossa, must quickly find their groove - or disappoint a nation who desperately need something to celebrate. Exactly 21 years ago, a boat named Luna Rossa – the red moon – set two nations alight. Three million Italians – most of them ...
Newsroom
2 hours ago

Where is she now? Jenny McDonald
One of hockey's most prolific goal scorers, former NZ captain Jenny McDonald remembers the disappointment of the 1980 Olympics boycott, the thrill of playing for the World XI and the battle to move from grass to turf Twenty kilometres south-west of Whangarei sits the tiny township of Maungakaramea. It’s where one of ...
Newsroom
2 hours ago

Trees are our great weapons against climate change. But what if they stop soaking?
A new study suggests that trees’ ability to soak up carbon could expire. Mirjam Guesgen explains.Trees have long been held as the saviour for climate change. Plant enough trees and we might be able to balance out some of that carbon-emmitting flying or driving. But a new scientific study says ...
The SpinoffBy Mirjam Guesgen
2 hours ago

NZ’s biggest house price surge? Kawerau. Here’s what it means for the town
As house prices escalate rapidly around the country, Kawerau saw them more than double, the biggest nationwide increase over the decade. Alex Braae goes to the Bay of Plenty town to find out what impact it is having on renters. The headline figure was stark. Data from realestate.co.nz showed that over ...
The SpinoffBy Alex Braae
2 hours ago

A long-winded case for the super-boring stocks
What is to be done in a world where property is hyped and interest rates near zero? You could do worse than a Very Dull Infrastructure Stock. ...
Newsroom
2 hours ago

Four things bosses must do about vehicles this year
Branded petrol and diesel fleets will soon identify any business leader not bold enough to drive the necessary change in their business. ...
Newsroom
2 hours ago

Returnee tests positive for Covid-19 in community
A recent returnee has tested positive for Covid-19 after testing negative twice during her 14 days in managed isolation, Marc Daalder reports There is little information available about a new community case of Covid-19 identified by testing today - other than she is in Whangarei and used the Covid app ...
Newsroom
15 hours ago

Curtailing Consultation And Diminishing Democracy Are Major Concerns
by Andi Cockroft Chairman Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of NZ An Otago Daily Times report (23 January) that nearly two-thirds of Dunedin residents think public consultation is lacking at the Dunedin City Council, according to the latest ...
Scoop politics
15 hours ago

Objective Must Be To Avoid Another Lockdown
“If today’s probable case of Covid-19 in Northland turns out to be community transmission the Government’s overarching objective must be avoiding another lockdown,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The best news would be that this is a false alarm, ...
Scoop politics
17 hours ago

Lockout Threat: Lifewise Homecare Support Workers Won’t Give Up
E tū Lifewise homecare members have been taking strike and picket action since December 2020 for basic improvements in their working conditions. Members are asking for increased sick and bereavement leave, a collective agreement, and more guaranteed ...
Scoop politics
17 hours ago

Live updates, January 24: Probable new community case of Covid-19 in Northland
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 24. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz1.15pm: Suspected community case in NorthlandHealth officials are investigating a suspected community case of Covid-19 in Northland, related to someone who was recently released from managed isolation and quarantine, the NZ Herald is reporting.A spokesperson for Covid-19 response ...
The SpinoffBy Stewart Sowman-Lund
18 hours ago

Is there too much Drag Race?
We’re only a few weeks into the year, and already there are two new seasons of Drag Race. Are we in danger of reaching peak Drag Race? In the first month of this year, there’s been more RuPaul’s Drag Race than ever. The 13th season of the flagship US version debuted ...
The SpinoffBy Sam Brooks
22 hours ago

The broken promises that led to Brexit Britain
In her first years of adulthood, Jai Breitnauer found herself living in a bold and hopeful nation. More than two decades on, she laments on how the Britain we know now came to be.Apparently, fish off the coast of the United Kingdom are happier because they’re British. This is what ...
The SpinoffBy Jai Breitnauer
22 hours ago

A poem for .. Bassett, Brash & Hide
Dunedin writer Victor Billot resumes his weekly odes to New Zealanders in the news. This week: the blogging firm of Michael Bassett, Don Brash and Rodney Hide Three Men in a Boat It sounds like a conveyancing firm in Levin. It sounds like TV funny guys who’ll ...
Newsroom
1 day ago

The mystery of the holy relics buried in a steel box beneath a Christchurch basilica
Under a thick layer of concrete at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch is a metal box likely containing hundreds of holy relics – a historical treasure trove set to be uncovered after 50 years of near total obscurity.As the earth shook and buildings crumbled, a statue of ...
The SpinoffBy Oliver Lewis
1 day ago

In praise of bananas, the greatest fruit of them all
Bananas are unequivocally the best fruit in the world, and there’s nothing you can say to change my mind, writes Alice Webb-Liddall.I was about 15 when I realised that halftime banana cake wasn’t a tradition outside of my family. On the day of an All Blacks game a banana cake ...
The SpinoffBy Alice Webb-Liddall
1 day ago

On the Rag: How sexism in design impacts our everyday lives
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as On the Rag looks at how the world around us has been built by men, for men. First published December 7, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members ...
The SpinoffBy On the Rag
1 day ago

Google goes nuclear, threatening to pull the plug on its search engine in Australia
At an antagonistic hearing yesterday, the internet giant laid out the ‘worst case scenario’. And Facebook is also considering an ‘amputation’. Hal Crawford was watching.Google is poised to hit self-destruct in Australia according to a fractious Senate hearing into an unprecedented law that will force digital giants to pay money ...
The SpinoffBy Hal Crawford
2 days ago

Twyford has something to celebrate, but the hard yards were put in on disarmament long before he was...
It’s great to hear Phil Twyford celebrating a success. Not a personal ministerial success, it’s fair to say, but a success nevertheless related to arms control. The arms on which Twyford is focused, it should be noted, will make quite a mess if they are triggered. They tend to be ...
Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
2 days ago

Reviewing the Dawn Raid movie, and our lost youth
Duncan Greive and Leonie Hayden were young hip hop heads and music journalists during the era captured in a new documentary about the rise and fall of South Auckland hip hop label Dawn Raid. Here they discuss the film and their memories (what’s left of them) of that time. Warning: contains ...
The SpinoffBy Leonie Hayden and and Duncan Greive
2 days ago

Five big ticket items that New Zealanders are going crazy over
Houses might be the most popular and inflated purchases in New Zealand, but there are plenty of other products that are seeing soaring demand and prices over the past few months. Here’s a list of what New Zealanders are spending their money on with international travel out of the picture.Used ...
The SpinoffBy Michael Andrew
2 days ago

Short story: Pātea Pools, by Airana Ngarewa
"The young boy leaps, the muscles in his thighs tensing and twisting as he lifts from the handrail": the noble art of bombing, by Pātea writer Airana Ngarewa A beautifully muscled boy is posted on the side of a pool, his feet fixed to the top of a pair of ...
Newsroom
2 days ago

The rise and fall of New Zealand’s largest water park
How Waiwera Hot Pools went from New Zealand’s most visited water park to dereliction and decay. Many who grew up in Auckland likely have fond memories of Waiwera Hot Pools. Like me, they remember summer days spent racing down the slides and playing in the naturally hot pools. But how did ...
The SpinoffBy Louise Fisher
2 days ago

Taxpayers' $500k for meth treatment goes up in smoke
A government contract for a P rehab programme was canned after half a million dollars of taxpayer money was given out. Aaron Smale investigates. The Ministry of Health spent over half a million dollars on a P Rehab contract before pulling the pin because there were no results or progress reports. ...
Newsroom
2 days ago

A game of epidemic proportions
Kia Koropp and her husband John Daubeny have been cruising the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean over the past decade with their two children onboard their 50ft yacht, Atea. Starting in 2011 from Auckland, New Zealand, they have sailed more than 64,000 kilometres and just completed their longest ...
Newsroom
2 days ago

Please stop ruining summer and turn off that godforsaken music
We are drowning out the natural world with synthetic sounds, and it’s getting worse, writes Michelle Langstone.It used to be quiet once. Remember that? Remember the hush that settled over the cities like the silence that comes down in a snowstorm? It’s less than a year since Aotearoa first locked ...
The SpinoffBy Michelle Langstone
2 days ago

On the Rag: It’s time to stop being a boob about boobs
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden in the latest episode of On the Rag as they examine the topic of boobs from every possible angle. First published November 16, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
The SpinoffBy On the Rag
2 days ago

NZ offers to be 'honest broker' in nuclear disarmament
Seventy-five years after the US detonated the first nuclear tests in the Pacific, New Zealand pledges its support to Joe Biden's first tentative step towards disarmament. Today, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons comes into effect, making it illegal for New Zealand and the 50 other ...
Newsroom
2 days ago

Self-entitled prima donnas or do they have a point? Why Australian Open tennis players find hard loc...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Terry, Professor of Psychology, University of Southern Queensland The challenge of bringing the world’s best tennis players and support staff, about 1,200 people in all, from COVID-ravaged parts of the world to our almost pandemic-free shores was always going to be ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

Level-crossing removals: a case study in why major projects must also be investments in health
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoffrey Browne, Research Fellow in International Urban Development, University of Melbourne The Victorian government has committed to removing 75 road/rail level crossings across Melbourne by 2025. That’s the fastest rate of removal in the city’s history. The scale of the investment — ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

Vital Signs: Biden’s economic centrism isn’t exciting, but right for these divisive times
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

The viral ‘Wellerman’ sea shanty is also a window into the remarkable cross-cultural whaling his...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Stevens, Lecturer in History, University of Waikato In a year of surprises, one of the more pleasant was the recent runaway viral popularity of 19th century sea shanties on TikTok. A collaborative global response to pandemic isolation, it saw singers and ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

The brutal truth: There are votes to be won in a broken housing market
MPs are conflicted on rising housing prices, and will never do anything to cause them to drop. ...
Newsroom
3 days ago

Exit Of Moss Vital First Step In The Sequence Of Transformation
The sudden departure of Graine Moss from her Chief Executive role at Oranga Tamariki is a vital first step in a sequence of changes that must take place at the Ministry according to a group of wahine Māori leaders. Dame Naida Glavish, Dame Tariana Turia, ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

The Friday Poem: Her uncle’s eye by Jenny Powell
A new poem from Dunedin poet Jenny Powell.Her uncle’s eyeShe introduced us to her uncle’s eye floating in a jar.Lost in an accident, he hadn’t wanted to lose it again. He left it to her in his will.We must have looked shocked. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I turn him to ...
The SpinoffBy Jenny Powell
3 days ago

After CEO exit, the big question for Oranga Tamariki: reform it or scrap it and start again?
The chief executive of Oranga Tamariki is quitting, leaving behind an agency she’s admitted suffers from structural racism. Justin Giovannetti looks at the future of Oranga Tamariki.Grainne Moss’s tenure as head of Oranga Tamariki has been untenable since November when the government’s senior Māori minister wouldn’t express any confidence in ...
The SpinoffBy Justin Giovannetti
3 days ago

Four Indigenous composers and a piano from colonial times — making passionate, layered, honest mus...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sainsbury, Senior Lecturer Composition, Australian National University Despite having different cultural backgrounds and experiences — Indigenous composers with an Indigenous mentor, and a pianist descended from Anglo-colonial history — it is nevertheless possible to create a project that can serve as ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

Why the COVID-19 variants are so dangerous and how to stop them spreading
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Applied Mathematics, University of Canterbury With new, more infectious variants of COVID-19 detected around the world, and at New Zealand’s border, the risk of further level 3 or 4 lockdowns is increased if those viruses get into the ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

Racing 2-year-old horses is lucrative, but is it worth the risks?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Hogg, Lecturer in Psychology, Charles Sturt University Horse racing is an ethical hotbed in Australia. The Melbourne Cup alone has seen seven horses die after racing since 2013, and animal cruelty protesters have become a common feature at carnivals. The latest ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

Did everyone spontaneously applaud Amanda Palmer in a Havelock North café? A Spinoff investigation
Right now, our most fiery national debate is over whether New Zealanders were nice to the singer Amanda Palmer in a café. Desperate to restore peace in our nation, Hayden Donnell went in search of the truth.Joe Biden had barely finished calling for unity when Amanda Palmer posted a tweet ...
The SpinoffBy Hayden Donnell
3 days ago

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending January 22
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut (Pushkin Press, $37)Maths, cyanide, suicide, gardening; ye ...
The SpinoffBy The Spinoff Review of Books
3 days ago

The archetypal explorer: Estère on transforming into a pelican
Wellington artist Estère isn’t just breaking boundaries, she’s dissecting them. Maddi Rowe spoke to her about her new album, Archetypes.“That’s the story of pelicans, they’ll stab themselves in the heart to feed their young.”Despite the somewhat dark subject matter, Estère Dalton’s eyes sparkle with fascination. We’ve met to discuss Archetypes, ...
The SpinoffBy Maddi Rowe
3 days ago

Why Do Cyclists Ride In The Middle Of The Road?
Cycling advocates are welcoming new advice from the Transport Agency on safe cycling. "Cyclists hate it when drivers pass too close. That's scary and dangerous," said Patrick Morgan from Cycling Action Network. "So it's encouraging to see ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

The nuclear weapons ban treaty is groundbreaking, even if the nuclear powers haven’t signed
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tilman Ruff, Honorary Principal Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne Today, many around the world will celebrate the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to enter into force in 50 years. The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

PSA Welcomes Appointment Of Chief Executive For Public Service Pay Equity
The Public Service Association welcomes the creation of a Chief Executive role to lead the public service’s pay equity work, and the appointment of Grainne Moss to this position. "Unions and public service employers are currently working ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

Cost Of Living Rising For Poorest Households
The Council of Trade Unions is warning that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures out today illustrate that the cost of living is increasing disproportionately for those on lower incomes; resulting in the poor getting poorer. CTU Economist Craig ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

Who polices the police: Trash Facebook comments edition
Why are there so many offensive comments on the New Zealand Police Facebook page and are they breaking the law? Janaye Henry investigates. New Zealand Police Facebook pages – there are a number of them, for different regional police districts around the country – are an interesting place to spend ...
The SpinoffBy Janaye Henry
3 days ago

Understanding investing, part two: How to plan
Our guide to stopping procrastinating and actually (finally) getting on top of investing. Because there’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you don’t know a single thing about it.In part one, we covered some of the basic things you need to know about investing – why do it? ...
The SpinoffBy Jihee Junn
3 days ago

Comment On Resignation Of Grainne Moss
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft acknowledges the huge effort and commitment of departing Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive Grainne Moss and says her decision to resign today was principled. “The issues facing Oranga Tamariki are beyond individual ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Covid-19: Italy and Brazil – Three Perspectives
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. With Covid19, Italy shows the classic European pattern, with its early outbreak, substantial recovery thanks to lockdowns and other public health measures, and resurgence thanks to complacency ...
Evening ReportBy Keith Rankin
3 days ago

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – January 22 2021
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Today’s content Housing Luke Malpass (Stuff): Labour announces that it will make more housing announcements this year Zane Small and Conor Whitten (Newshub): Backlash over Labour’s public housing ‘re-announcement’ prompts firm defence from Jacinda ...
Evening ReportBy Bryce Edwards
3 days ago

An Indigenous ‘Voice’ must be enshrined in our Constitution. Here’s why
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW This year has already seen significant progress in the government’s commitment to establish a body – a “Voice” – that would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say when the government ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

Rodeo Cowboy Convicted And Fined For Ill Treatment Of Animals
Northland farmer Derek Robinson was sentenced earlier today by the District Court in Whangarei for two offences of ill-treating animals at rodeo events. Mr Robinson was found guilty in November last year, following a defended hearing. The charges ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

Oranga Tamariki chief executive resigns
Under fire Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will resign, effective February 28, Marc Daalder reports After four and a half years at the helm of child protection agency Oranga Tamariki, chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will be leaving the position at the end of ...
Newsroom
3 days ago

Man Sentenced For Child Sexual Abuse Material
The Department of Internal Affairs and New Zealand Police acknowledge the sentencing of 36-year-old Aaron Joseph Hutton on charges relating to the possession of child sexual exploitation material, and entering into a dealing involving the sexual exploitation ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

Ngā Tāngata Microfinance Calls For Tougher Penalties For Pyramid Scheme Promoters
Ngā Tāngata Microfinance (NTM) is calling for tougher penalties for those caught promoting pyramid schemes. Such business models are illegal under the Fair Trading Act 1986. This call comes after the Commerce Commission issued a ‘stop now’ notice ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

Kiwi Women Given The Chance To Be British High Commissioner For A Day
British High Commissioner to New Zealand Laura Clarke is calling on young women aged 17 to 25 to apply for the annual ‘Be British High Commissioner for the Day’ competition. The winner will have the opportunity to become an ‘honorary High Commissioner’, ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

Māori Party Welcome Resignation Of Grainne Moss
The Māori Party is welcoming the resignation of Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss after sustained pressure from leading figures within the Māori Party. This resignation is the result of the continued strong pressure of the Māori Party ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

The Dunedin district fostering the next generation of startups
In a historic corner of Dunedin, startup culture is thriving. Catherine McGregor visited the city’s Warehouse Precinct to meet the people driving the movement. When Jason and Kate Lindsey bought the four storey building now known as Petridish, it was an absolute wreck. Once home to a thriving hat and textiles ...
The SpinoffBy Catherine McGregor
3 days ago

The Fold: Stuff owner Sinead Boucher on how she bought the company for $1
Summer reissue: The Fold’s very first guest is back to tell Duncan Greive how she pulled off the media deal of the year.The chaotic couple of weeks which finally saw the end of the Stuff-NZME saga were riveting and strange, replete with stock exchange announcements, legal challenges and finally the ...
The SpinoffBy Duncan Greive
3 days ago

Chris Liddell – yes, he worked for Trump, and he risked his job by recognising the need for a smoo...
Chris Liddell has dropped his candidacy to become director-general of the Paris-based OECD. Without support from the Ardern government and vilified in the media as somehow being involved in the encouragement by Donald Trump of the Washington riots, he plainly saw he had little chance of crowning his stellar career ...
Point of OrderBy tutere44
3 days ago

Who are the men looking for love on The Bachelorette NZ?
Tara Ward hands out her first impression roses as she dives deep into the sea of single men vying to win The Bachelorette NZ’s heart. While the world burns in a searing fireball of unpredictability, we can take comfort in the fact that some things never change. The heart still yearns, ...
The SpinoffBy Tara Ward
3 days ago

Waihopai Spy Base Protest, Saturday January 30th, 10.30 A.m.
People from all around New Zealand will be converging on the super-secret Waihopai satellite interception spybase, in Marlborough, on Saturday January 30th. ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

Rātana leader urges followers to break away from Labour
The chairman of the Rātana Church executive has called for the return of its own political party, rather than continuing to align with Labour. ...
Radio NZ – political
3 days ago

Stronger business investment – by farmers, too – is essential for NZ’s post-Covid recovery
In its Thursday editorial the NZ Herald speaks an important truth: “Investment important to stay on track”. This won’t have startled its more literate readers but in its text it notes the strong result in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, which prompted Westpac to raise its forecast for dairy ...
Point of OrderBy tutere44
3 days ago

Why are Japan’s leaders clinging to their Olympic hopes? Their political fortunes depend on it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Craig Mark, Professor, Faculty of International Studies, Kyoritsu Women’s University With the spread of COVID-19 steadily worsening in Japan since the onset of winter — daily records for infections and deaths continue to be broken — the fate of the Tokyo Summer ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

4 of our greatest achievements in vaccine science (that led to COVID vaccines)
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Taylor, Early Career Research Leader, Emerging Viruses, Inflammation and Therapeutics Group, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University All eyes are on COVID-19 vaccines, with Australia’s first expected to be approved for use shortly. But their development in record time, without compromising ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

Labour Government: Prioritising The Interests Of Middle-Class Landlords Over Struggling Working Clas...
Yesterday’s government announcement on new state housing is a pathetic response to the biggest housing crisis in New Zealand since the 1940s. At a time when the country needs an industrial-scale state house building programme, the government ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

Wetlands have saved Australia $27 billion in storm damage over the past five decades
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Obadiah Mulder, PhD Candidate in Computational Biology, University of Southern California Australia is in the midst of tropical cyclone season. As we write, a cyclone is forming off Western Australia’s Pilbara coast, and earlier in the week Queenslanders were bracing for a ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

Back to school: how to help your teen get enough sleep
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynette Vernon, School of Education – VC Research Fellow, Edith Cowan University When the holidays end, barring a fresh outbreak of COVID-19, teenagers across Australia will head back to school. Some will bounce out of bed well before the alarm goes off, ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

Biden’s economic centrism isn’t exciting, but right for these divisive times
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

The rise and rise of Aldi: two decades that changed supermarket shopping in Australia
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology Twenty years ago, on January 25 2001, a virtually unknown German supermarket chain quietly opened its first stores in Australia. The two stores – one in Sydney’s inner-west suburb of ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago

The subtle sophistication of Bluey’s soundtrack helped propel it to stardom
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney Bluey is easily the most successful Australian television show of the last decade. A record-breaking success for its local broadcaster the ABC, as well as production partners BBC Studios and Screen Australia, ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 days ago