What a joke ! No “deliberate” misuse. What it really means – ‘Misuse then ? Well, if you must…..but do remember, this was not my finest hour……’
“In October, she said Mr Key had a “cavalier” approach to the OIA and had shown a “disregard for the law”. Her comments were in relation to Mr Key’s admission that his office sometimes waited 20 days to release information if it was in its political interests. Asked about her comments today, she said they were “not her finest hour.”
That’s a shame. The ‘finest hour’ may come along in the course of the next sinecure.
I am fully expectant that Peter Boshier will be no ones’ poodle.
Another whitewash on the way. And if Departments don’t have the resources to deal with OIA requests, who is it that funds the departments to resource themselves?
Morning Report this morning – 17 and 18 year olds locked down in their cells for 23 out of 24 hours at Serco Mt Eden – Minister of Corrections Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga “declined to comment”.
What the hell is going on ? Are Corrections/Serco actually the Minister of Corrections here ? Peseta Sam the mute titular ?
Oh I get it…….”Responsibility Responsibility Responsibility !”…….National Party style.
That’s old news,
you need to read more foreign media, more often.
For some reason most “international” stuff & herald stories are about 2-3+ days behind the rest of the world.
He said few residents feared coalition airstrikes, although former residents of the city who have fled across the border to Turkey told the Guardian last week of civilian casualties suffered even under carefully targeted bombardment.
While children and elderly people are often startled and disturbed by the sounds of the explosions, activists say the airstrikes tend not to hit civilian areas. Most, however, fear Russian airstrikes as they tend to target civilian neighbourhoods.
Why on erath would he say that if it wasn’t true? You can check out the journo group ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’ for yourselves if you care to smear them, but good luck saying they are ‘fans’ of ISIS or in anyway supporters of them. Video of Russian helicopters dropping dumb bombs on urban areas are also not hard to find, though RT tend to prefer the snazzy pics of jest taking off and cruise missiles. The clusters of 4 heavy bombs smashing into a neighbourhood? not so much airtime on RT for some reason.
There appears to be a lot of opinion in that article, PB.
“Why on erath (earth) would he say that if it wasn’t true?”
Really? I’m gobsmacked that you would even think that.
I have a healthy distrust of the media, mainly because I’ve been working in it for the last 25+ years. (obviously I’m not a journo, my grammer sucks)
Always ask, why am I being told this and who benefits from the outcome.
Russia is going to stay in Syria, Assad will remain in power, Iranian influence in the Middle East will increase, and US/NATO complicity with ISIS and other extremist groups will become increasingly obvious.
Oh great, It’s Captain Know Nothing back with off-topic reckons for the thread.
How did you get on finding an example of a helicopter being shot down by a TOW?
And weren’t you saying just the other day that Putin agrees with you that Assad should go? Yep, you were, but you were just making shit up, coz it’s what you do.
Why would he say that “few residents feared coalition airstrikes”? Or why would he say “Most, however, fear Russian airstrikes…”?
My impression is that nothing quite gels. I mean he also says..
“Britain has a powerful intelligence service and knows where to strike and when, not like the coalition.” (Wide-eyed astonishment at that one from over here)
Who is he?
From the same article Tim Ramadan, the pseudonym of an activist and journalist working clandestinely in the city
No agenda and no line to spin then and…well, what is an activist in the context of a multi faceted war situation?
edit: one fairly reasonable reason for him spinning (if he is) would be if he’s aligned with any of the so-called moderate opposition targeted by Russia but not by ‘the coalition’, yes?
And yes, like much of rebel held Syria they hate Assad, and ISIS.
Which doesn’t make what they are saying ‘not true’, right?
But given what the coalition are doing and demanding, and what the Russians are doing and demanding, what motivation would they have to say what he said.
Why say the new strikes will be pointless in effect, and that the Russian strikes are hitting civilians more often? They want ISIS gone, they really hate ISIS. They are literally risking death doing what they are doing, these activists in Raqqa, some of them have been killed by ISIS.
So if it’s not true that the Russian attacks are more feared by the population than the wetsern attacks why say it?
Does it square with other evidence, like footage of attacks?
I’m not saying that certain claims are either true or not true. And I don’t have any reasonably informed opinion that could be applied to your questions.
Maybe the ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’ site you mention is a reasonable conduit for information – I dunno. What I mean by that is that I haven’t given it more than a cursory glance atm.
My thoughts exactly. With so much misinformation and political points scoring going on, it’s hard to work out what’s actually going on..
But then, that’s the whole idea.
Russia has only one objective in Syria, the preservation of Tartus as it’s only western hemisphere naval base outside of the Crimea. Hey wait a minute, I’m seeing a connection here between russian adventures in the Ukraine and in Syria………
The preservation of their only open water naval base in Europe/Middle East. is their primary strategic goal, everything else, including war crimes and assad’s survival is secondary to this.
Stories in the press that Turkey are delaying Russian traffic through the Bosphorus for “administrative” reasons is an unwelcome power flex by the turks…..
Because he is directly responsible for the death of many hundreds of thousands of people and has no incentive to tell the truth
We live in an age where any media production, be it written word, audio or visual can be ‘created’, and should by default be treated as suspicious, fake or lies
IRONY ALERT: Paul “Kill Them All” Henry gets all serious and
denounces “the mindless rantings of one very nasty piece of work.” Paul Henry, TV3, Thursday 3 December 2015, 7:10 a.m.
hypocriten. 1. a person who claims or pretends to have certain beliefs about what is right but who behaves in a way that disagrees with those beliefs; 2. a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion.
In a supreme act of projection this morning, Paul “Kill Them All” Henry glared at the camera with his special “serious” expression and intoned: “It’s just the mindless rantings of one very nasty piece of work.”
That’s an odd thing to say for someone who just two months ago was ranting about the “political correctness” gone mad of giving a ferry a Māori name…
anyone see this? My understand of the flag wastage was that anyone could either rank as per preference, or rank as little as one.
However here they say….rank all or ‘it won’t count’
Are they now giving out invalid/false information?
From the letter accompanying the voting paper: Instructions: A: Rank the flag designs in the order that you prefer them. You can rank as few or an many as you wish, from 1 to 5. Write 1 in the box under the flag you prefer most. Write 2 in the box under your next preferred flag, if you have one, and so on. Do not write the same number more than once.
No, what they are saying (I think) is that if you want to put your most hated flag ranked last, start with making it #5, but you then have to vote for #1, #2, #3, #4 as well or your vote will be invalid. Another example would be if you wrote #2 and #3 and nothing else, that would be invalid too. Presumably.
It’s still completely stupid advice from Fair Go given that we still don’t do this kind of voting well, but I think it reflects how fucked up the whole thing is when our state broadcaster feels the need to tell people how to vote based on the most hated design.
Thanks Weka – and I agree. It says something about the whole process/project if people need to be told how to express their hatred of designs in a way that does not invalidate their vote.
Apparently that QR code on your ballot paper contains a unique number that starts out tied to your name and is used to make sure no-one votes twice.
That means it is vital you don’t mark any part of that QR code.
If you do, it won’t be logged as a protest, probably just as an unreadable slip of paper.
You’d hope the Electoral Commission makes sure the names are stripped off the QR codes before that list of numbers is used to validate your voting paper, rendering them anonymous.
I have more than hope, I have a strong certainty, but the Electoral Commission is understandably a bit coy about explaining its internal security measures, so that’s the part we need to take on trust.
That’s alright then, because we really trust this government and its computer data competency.
Every voting paper has a secret number on it. If the same name is crossed off the roll more than once the number on the voting paper is opened so that the person can be checked/interviewed to see if he has voted twice. What he voted is immaterial. Could a dishonest person find out what you voted? Possible but you have to trust the integrity of staff. Works OK so far.
I see no reason why the Electoral Commission cannot be trusted to operate the system honestly and fairly. It would be a very risky proposition for the government of the day to try and interfere with a democratically run voting system such as ours. Voters of all stripes would reject them outright.
I’ve been saying on this board for years that the government can track how people vote and now you’re surprised to find that they can?
as for this bit:
You’d hope the Electoral Commission makes sure the names are stripped off the QR codes before that list of numbers is used to validate your voting paper, rendering them anonymous.
The name wouldn’t be in the QR code itself but the QR code will relate back to the name in the database.
That’s alright then, because we really trust this government and its computer data competency.
Actually, the problem is trusting the competency of the private firm that wrote the software.
Cameron and Key use practically interchangeable slurs when cornered by their opponents. It should remove any doubt as to whether Cameron or Key are cold, calculating sociopaths or a loudmouthed bully boys, because they are obviously both.
As do the Lib/Nats in Australia. Its why we have centre-left referred to as “hard Left” whilst they call themselves “centre Right” – it creeps into the MSM in NZ, Aus and GB within a very short time. Look at the how Tony Abbot’s “Death Cult” description of ISIS is now part of their vocab.
I’ve been waiting to hear JFK start talking about “the New Zealand People”. It started in the US and is common in Australia and GB. Another little gem is “the truth is ……… this or that”.
It’s what the hard Right CT do best, and they have their little disciples like Matty Hooten and Paul Henry doing their best to propagate the spin – consciously or not (going forward).
It’s not unlike those in the banking sector – you know – those expert economists.
The sharemarket always goes up or down “on the back of …… “.
(At this point in time) BEWARE THE BULLSHIT! (going forward)
This government sure seems to be getting a reputation for enabling “modern” slavery. I wish the labour party would make more of a fuss instead of letting NZFirst turn it into an anti-immigration issue. After all it is the LABOUR party. I wonder if the police are much involved in looking into this sort of stuff. Do they have a transnational crime expert there and if so what issues is he focusing on instead… Cocaine? Whipping up fear in the Asia-Pacific over ISIS?
Yet another disgraceful, extreme ten minutes from Dame Ann Leslie.
Why is this ghastly old trout accorded the status of “U.K. correspondent”?
RNZ National, Thursday 3 September 2015, 9:50 a.m.
KATHRYN RYAN: Our U.K. correspondent is Dame Ann Leslie and she is in London. Good morning!
DAME ANN LESLIE: Good morning!
KATHRYN RYAN: Crazy old world it is. Your parliament is having an intense debate tonight on whether to commit to bombing Daesh in Syria.
DAME ANN LESLIE: It’s absolutely unbelievable that this debate is taking one whole day. As is well known, Raqaa is the nerve centre of the bloody attacks on Paris. But our planes are obliged by an earlier decision of our parliament to avoid flying over Syrian air space. Now, you may detect a slight political bias in what I say next, but Labour with its new, rather muddled, faintly loopy, hard left leader Jeremy Corbyn…. [she embarks on a rambling denunciation]… I think Cameron WILL win, but it will be nail-biting. I’ve lived long enough to know how unpredictable war is. There are some things we have to deal with, for example Turkey, which has been slightly pro-ISIL. They used to line their tanks up on the border, watching various factions fighting. Um, the thing is really, one of the main problems is Turkey, because they are aligned with Daesh, allowing Daesh’s oil across the border, which has been illegally acquired, to sell on the secret market. Then of course there is the other issue, which is sectarian basically, between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Turkey is making a mess of things, frankly.
KATHRYN RYAN: I’m looking at a comment by William Hague, saying don’t rule out British boots on the ground.
DAME ANN LESLIE:[wearily] Ohhh!
KATHRYN RYAN: Now people are talking about boots on the ground again.
DAME ANN LESLIE: Everybody agrees that this will be a long drawn out conflict. Destroying Daesh won’t work unless there are boots on the ground. The question is WHOSE boots?… I’ve worked a lot in the Middle East and it really is the MOST APPALLING MESS…
KATHRYN RYAN: All right. The question is: does the UK want to be ANYWHERE near it?
DAME ANN LESLIE: Well the thing is, we have been very stupid in the West. We had the idea that if we went into these Godforsaken countries we would be greeted with flowers from the people we had liberated. ….Then you get the appalling business of sectarianism. The Sunnis don’t want the SHIAS involved, and the Shias, especially Iran, don’t want the Sunnis involved…. I feel very depressed by the whole thing.
KATHRYN RYAN: Let’s finish with a festive note. Can festive fairy lights wreck the British Christmas?
DAME ANN LESLIE: Ofcom has said that fairy lights will wreck our traditional family Christmas, because they interfere with wi-fi. ….
Mercifully, the time pips start sounding….
KATHRYN RYAN:[with evident relief] Oh dear! Ten o’clock!
I sent the host of Nine to Noon the following email….
Dear Kathryn,
You allowed your U.K. correspondent Dame Ann Leslie to denounce Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as “rather muddled, faintly loopy, hard left”. That was an extreme and biased comment by any measure, yet you chose not to challenge it, or even to politely ask her to explain why she had used such demeaning language.
Are you not allowed to challenge anything she says? Are you obliged to simply go along with it?
Yours in concern at the standards of public broadcasting,
+100… Dame Ann Leslie is such an obvious right wing Tory toff she is entertaining…she shouldnt be taken seriously…however she shouldnt be allowed blather along unchallenged ….surely Ryan can engage more with her and challenge her monologue occasionally ?
…and why cant we have Ken Livingstone on as a commentator to give the other side?…here he is on Sophie and Co
‘West discredited itself with invasions, able to stop nothing now – ex-mayor of London’
“After Islamic State strikes in the heart of Europe, nations are ramping up their security. Now, the debate rages about whether being secure or being free is the most important. And when jihadists attack, anti-Islamic sentiment gains momentum, with hate crimes threatening to spike out of control. How do you keep heads calm? Is bulk data collection, after all, needed for peace and stability? We pose these questions to a veteran British politician, former mayor of London – Ken Livingstone is on Sophie&Co today.”
She grew up in “the Punjab” dontcha know. She’s ‘very well connected’.
Whilst I admire Kathryn Ryan for much of what she does – she does like to maintain a ‘balanced portfolio’ and maintain an image of fairness and balance.
Challenging bullshit is just not the done thing dontcha know – even amongst those that consider themselves amongst the Kiwi-well-connected-elite (or the Elite Cult).
How else do you explain “The Panel’? (going forward)
Oh ….. btw, I notice The Dame hasn’t been on Dateline London for a very long, long time – perhaps Gav’s not been too kind to her, or his ‘bit of fluff’ doesn’t particularly like her condescension
Mora’s ‘The Panel’ is ghastly…I try never to listen to it!..In fact I find Dame Leslie more congenial ( dare I say it…I find her entertaining like a poncy aunty and I like the way she speaks)
Oh Morissey Darling! What a truly truly monstrous thing to say. Really! That’s horrid – really it is!
Why the Dame has a wealth of life’s experience, and Kathryn has launched a thousand carreers (including a few talking head ‘panelists’ we now hold so very very dear).
How dare you challenge them!
It really is such bad form!
/sarc (as if)
Pharmac have denied terminally ill people with melanoma a promising drug which has benefitted a third to two thirds of people with incurable melanoma. The cost is about $300,000 per person. Australia and the UK fund the drug but not stingy NZ. The cost of the drug would cost the government 30 million per year.
What upsets me the most is that the rich can afford to purchase the drug and a savvy poor person would have to fund raise, (which would require abundant energy).
It must be awful being an oncologist in NZ because of being limited when it comes to prescribing life saving drugs which Pharmac will not fund.
Pharmac, like most other government organisations, could do with a significant funding boost and no political interference (like the Herceptin campaign pledge).
It’s akin to manslaughter, allowing people to die, when they could be helped. Only the super wealthy can afford this drug. You wouldn’t even need to poor to be left to die, if you needed this drug.
There was a young man, just a teenager, with melanoma on telly the other night at yet another fundraiser for this particular drug, Keytruda I think it’s called. He said he has to raise $30K every 3 months. He has a givealittle page and he was at a fundraiser event when he being filmed.
His family and himself work full time on the fundraising. How frightening to be in his shoes, having your life depend on the kindness of strangers, and never knowing if there will be enough money. How do people fare who don’t have a supportive family and don’t have the strength to work out how to get absurd amounts of money out of thin air?
The other name is Pembrolizumab. The bro bit might be the generous people in NZ who donate to try and save a life e.g. the young 22 year old who has a give a little page.
“There is a rapidly emerging consensus that – as we discovered 80 years ago but then forgot – austerity is the wrong response to recession. We are learning that lesson all over again. Even in terms of its own stated objectives, austerity has failed; the supposedly central priority of eliminating the government’s deficit remains a long way from being achieved, while the deficit that really matters – the country’s continuing failure to pay its way – remains unattended to and is getting worse.
In the meantime, poverty and inequality increase, housing is increasingly unaffordable, net investment is virtually zero, the prospect of a revival in manufacturing is non-existent, and an unsustainable consumer boom fuelled by asset inflation underpins our rake’s progress to decline.?
Have to say, I was pretty convinced I was going to spoil my voting paper, but when it comes down to it, I really can’t be bothered even sending the thing in. And I’m a committe voter.
The clearest explanation of the evil of corporate tyranny and the death of democracy I’ve heard so far:
Democracy Sold Out To Greed
The video helps me to bring home that “Western democracy” is a sham, a total lie.
Every Western government and Washington’s Asian vassal states are totally under the control of private corporations and private interest groups. The corporations govern, and they are in the process of institutionalizing their governance with the Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic Partnerships. The purpose of these “partnerships” is to make global corporations higher than the laws of the “sovereign” countries in which they do business.
Anything, whether law, rule, regulation, or moral principle that interferes with corporate profits is outlawed as “a resraint on trade.”
Western civilization is over and done with. Nothing remains except historical achievements that are no longer understood or appreciated.
..where is the NZ Labour Party on opposing this….neolib corporate fascist attempt at takeover of New Zealand democracy and sovereignty?…scarcely a peep!
Hi Comrade Rosie….yes I did see it and I didnt answer because Savenz answered for me…on the reasons why there needs to be a new Labour Mana Party
There are many reasons why the last Election was lost
1.)…Cunliffe was relentlessly attacked by the msm…and not supported by the Labour Party caucus even although he was the grassroots Labour vote….and it would seem that there has been a concerted campaign against him and his supporters on the Left of the Labour Party for some time
( here is what i asked on the Daily Blog)
“Is the ABC faction actually a fifth column?
…I mean looked at it historically, it has been going on at least as long as Shearer
2.) In a stunning move Labour turned against Hone Harawira in the TTT electorate and effectively excluded Left party Mana winning four seats and a Left coalition winning that election…gifting it to Jonkey nactional…Mana was working for the poorest of the poor in New Zealand ….this was unforgivable by the Labour party ….and it does not deserve to be called Labour
( …and it turns out that Lusk was apparently bribing Maori not to vote for Hone Harawira !….Nash has had dealings with Lusk
…”Simon Lusk also claimed on Story he had been instrumental in unseating Mana Party co-leader Hone Harawira in the last election. Unnamed “businessmen” had paid thousands for that, he said. And in conversation with his co-host last Monday, Duncan Garner said money had been paid to get Maori electors to vote in Te Tai Tokerau.
Was political operative Simon Lusk really paying people on behalf of clients to influence an election? Disappointingly, no more was said about this claim.The following day, Duncan Garner posted a statement from Simon Lusk on the websites of TV3’s Story and Radio Live. In it, Simon Lusk said:
Iwi now have extensive databases of members who they can easily mobilise. Assembling a team of 50 or 100 iwi members to get out the vote is straightforward, legal and effective if it is possible to raise some koha.
He added that “if you’re not paying for votes or offering anything in exchange for a vote, or treating,” it is not against the law. But that statement didn’t answer key questions: How much was paid? By whom? And for what purpose? …
…”Duncan Garner also revealed supporters of Labour’s Napier MP Stewart Nash paid Simon Lusk to canvas the option of a new political party…)
Now we have Little’s Labour demoting and shunning Cunliffe and Mahuta yet again….even although Mahuta brought in the Maori seats for Labour and Cunliffe was the Labour grassroots choice for leader ( Little cant even win his own seat, nor ccan Robertson and Adern)
Quite apart from all this, Labour has shown NO leadership in opposing the TPP
So yes I would support another “Labour” Mana Party which is genuinely Labour ( this Labour Party does not deserve the brand name “Labour”…It deserves to be taken off them)
“In a stunning move Labour turned against Hone Harawira in the TTT electorate and effectively excluded Left party Mana winning four seats and a Left coalition winning that election…”
Do you really believe this nonsense Chooky? I feel your heart is in the right place but this is nonsense. I like Hone Harawira very much and believe he is a good person, but he made a very stupid mistake signing up with Kim Dotcom.
He lost a lot of credibility with Māori in Northland because they felt he had sold out – unlike you I actually know many Northland Māori. He lost control of his party. He begged Dotcom not to have the “Moment of Truth” just before the election because Hone is politically astute enough to know that is would be distorted by the media and would lose the left votes, as it inevitably did. I was sitting very close to Hone that night and his unhappiness was obvious.
all Dotcoms fault then?…well Jonkey would certainly agree with you!…but it is a bit simplistic…and Dotcom was up against the corporates too …so whose side are you on?…certainly not Dotcom’s ( is this little Labour policy as well?)
…and I note you have carefully avoided any of the other points
I have been too busy with work to look at the Standard again until now – if I had I would have corrected my last line to “Davis deserved that seat.”
The reason I didn’t deal with your other “points” was that they were too ludicrous to bother with. If you really believe that Lusk had anything to do with Davis winning then you really are very foolish. You are actually doing exactly what Lusk et al want you to do – whether deliberately or through ignorance I have no idea.
If you actually read what I said a bit more carefully you would understand that I am not blaming Dotcom, I am saying when Mana signed up with Dotcom they not only lost a lot of credibility with many of their supporters, but Hone lost control of the party he had co-founded. Sue Bradford could see what would happen but Hone couldn’t.
I have been very impressed with Davis this year – why not look at what people do rather than indulge in ill-informed conspiracy theories.
Hi Chooky. Thanks for the thoughts. Have run out of time to respond in any meaningful way.
Except to say I totally get what you are saying about treatment of Mahuta and DC. I agree. I’m with you on that. I also saw the programme about Simon Lusk, his bribing of Maori voters of TTT and his connection with Nash. But, I’d say ditto to what Karen is saying below. It’s a long bow to draw a connection between Lusk and Kelvin Davis in TTT. Lusk just hated Hone. Fool that Lusk is.
Also, I still don’t think a new party will solve anything, help the left or the people that need left representation.
@ Rosie …i am not saying there is a connection between Davis and Lusk…where did I say that? ( reframing of the issues?)
I am saying Davis and Labour should NOT have stood against Hone Harawira and Mana Party …which were for the poorest of the poor
I am saying it looks as if Lusk paid Maori not to vote for Harawira
I am saying it looks as if there is a connection between Labour’s Nash and Lusk…on a different issue
( It would be very interesting to know exactly what other connections /dealings Lusk has had with New Zealand politicians…and Labour politicians…such connections would be very compromising indeed, I would imagine)
As regards a new Labour Mana Party…well it depends on how much you can stomach from the party which calls itself ‘Labour’ …and it depends on how many people feel there is a need for a new Labour Left (Mana)Party
…certainly there does seem some support for it given the treatment of Cunliffe ( the membership choice) and Mahuta (and the Maori seats)…and Harawira (and Mana)….and the Labour Party leadership non action on TPP
I don’t want to support any status quo Chooky. I’m feeling very uncomfortable /conflicted about being in Labour now. Check out my comments on the “Labour Mayor for Wellington” post if you want to see why I will not be voting for Labour Mayoral candidate Justin Lester.
Theres a shit load of stuff that may or may not happen in the next two years. We might yet be surprised. Holy moly, if David Cunliffe, in some weird twist of alternate reality become leader of the Greens then I’d party vote Green.
I am however, strongly opposed to voting for Labour ticket Justin Lester as Mayor of Wellington.
Cunliffe was born Labour and will die Labour.
He would never ever join another party.
While some Green values overlap or are complimentary to those of Labour the two parties are different.
No no no. Cunliffe is not leaving Labour. All of us should remain and make our best possible contributions to ensuring its values are protected and applied to real lives.
In many ways David Cunliffe is a better fit for the Greens….not least of all because the Greens are to the Left of Labour
( except for Greens idiotic championing of bloody Red Peak corporate flag which i blame on try hard Shaw and that other grinning baby face muggins Gareth Hughes..and a few others who i wont insult)
Just checked the ‘TransTasman’ so called ratings of Politicians.
What a laugh! Act’s noname on top rated highest. Nats good… Labour bad.
Dyson one of the hardest working MPs standing up for her constituents in Redcliffs even though they didn’t support her locally in the elections rated about lowest with the same rating as Nuk Nobody whom she thrashed and has nothing to say about Parata’s attack on the people of his pretend electorate of Port Hills.
Still we can’t expect any real information from a $500+ a year right wing rag started by national MP Hugh Templeton/s brother and bought out by another true blue right winger.
Right up Tracey Watkins alley this nonsense.
I listened to Mark Sainsbury a few times until his panel with the so-called views from the left and right consisted of 2 rightwing commentators. Happened a few times so turned off after that.
The commissioner running the Southern District Health Board will have her term extended under special legislation introduced to Parliament today, Health Minister Jonathan Coleman has announced.
It means the promised return to a democratically elected board next year will not happen…
When the team was appointed in June, Dr Coleman said their term would finish on December 2 next year, shortly after the election of a new board.
I’m not surprised; as this slow motion disaster of an underfunded public health system down south has been a long time disintegrating. Also, it was only yesterday (a year to the day before the commissioner’s term was supposed to expire) that:
Auckland District Health Board’s chief medical officer has been named as the final member of the politically appointed group guiding the Dunedin Hospital redevelopment.
Although called the ”Southern Partnership Group”, four of its five members are in the North Island – three of them in Auckland.
What’s up with Stuff.co’s infuriating new recommended stories drop down menu? Hope they get enough feedback to get rid of it asap or give us a way to disable it permanently.
. . . there’s a bit of tweaking required for New Zealand specific sites and for when new “features” are imposed. The new drop down is to encourage clicks on what is euphemistically called “partner content” but, really, is advertising.
The front page of the November 29, 1947 edition of the New York Times read “[General] Assembly Votes Palestine Partition; Margin Is 33 to 13; Arabs Walk Out; Aranha Hails Work as Session Ends.”
Why were the Arabs angry? Because, for the indigenous Palestinians, the deal was a thoroughly bad one. Palestinians comprised approximately two-thirds of the population, yet were offered just 43 percent of their land in the deal.
“Aranha” refers to Osvaldo Aranha, a Brazilian diplomat. As president of the U.N. General Assembly, Aranha lobbied strongly on behalf of the Zionist movement (a settler colonialist Jewish nationalist political movement that called for the creation of the state of Israel). He delayed the vote on resolution 181 by two days in order to give the U.S. and other pro-Israel countries more time to pressure U.N. member states to vote for the plan. Scholar Fred Khouri writes that, in these two days:
“The United States and Zionists led the lobbying efforts of the pro-partition forces. The delegates, as well as the home governments, of Haiti, Liberia, Ethiopia, China, the Philippines, and Greece were swamped with telegrams, telephone calls, letters, and visitations from many sources, including the White House, congressmen, business corporations, and other fields of endeavor. As a result of these tremendous official and nonofficial pressures, Haiti, Liberia, and the Philippines finally agreed to vote for partition.”
These last-minute changes ensured that resolution 181 would have the two-thirds majority vote needed to pass.
The following is the U.N.’s map of the proposed partition. The blue areas comprising roughly 57 percent of the land were to be allotted to Jews; orange areas were to be allotted to Palestinians. Jerusalem was to be left under the governance of the international community, because of its historical and religious importance for numerous religions and cultures.
The Partition Plan was never implemented, however. The very next day after it was voted on, the 1947-1948 war broke out.
In this war, Zionist militias systematically ethnically cleansed large portions of historic Palestine, sacking hundreds of Palestinian villages and expelling more than 750,000 people — around two-thirds of the indigenous Arab population. Prominent Israeli historian Ilan Pappé notes that, in Israel’s Plan Dalet (also known simply as Plan D), “veteran Zionist leaders” created “a plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.” They dispatched military orders in March 1948, Pappé explains:
“The orders came with a detailed description of the methods to be employed to forcibly evict the people: large-scale intimidation; laying siege to and bombarding villages and population centres; setting fire to homes, properties and goods; expulsion; demolition; and, finally, planting mines among the rubble to prevent any of the expelled inhabitants from returning.”
Plan D “spelled it out clearly and unambiguously: the Palestinians had to go,” writes Pappé. …..
Denouncing Kylie Jenner took up nearly five minutes on The Panel today;
But not even one second of indignation about today’s decision to bomb Syria.
RNZ National, Thursday 3 December 2015, 4:56 p.m.
Jim Mora, Tony Doe, Annah Stretton, Julie Moffett
hypocrisyn. 1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess. 2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude. 3. an act or instance of hypocrisy.
JIM MORA: It is International Disabilities Day, which is a terrible coincidence, given the shootings in San Bernardino. And, ahhh, that has made what Kylie Jenner did, ahhh, a topic of discussion, much discussion on the internet. So Kylie Jenner from the Kardashian clan has angered disabled people by posing in a gold wheelchair for a magazine cover. And she’s got some kind of bleak, she’s aiming for a bleak sort of futuristic look, isn’t she, with her—she looks like a robot, she’s trying to look like a—
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah she does, yeah, yeah.
JIM MORA: And the quote going around the world, seeming to come from her but not actually, she didn’t say this, people are assuming she did, is: “Wow! Being in a wheelchair is so fun and fashionable!” So that is the, that is the quote being aired in, ahh, all the reports on this. …[baffled sigh]…. Would you put one of your models in a wheelchair?
ANNAH STRETTON: Snorts to show what she thinks of Kylie Jenner.
JIM MORA: This is the interesting question here.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah I don’t know why we’re giving this any air time. Ummm, y’know the reality of is it’s just stupid, as perhaps this whole thing is around the Kardashians, but, uh, no, no I wouldn’t put one of my models in a wheelchair. There IS a sensitivity around disability, and you know I would sit very uncomfortably with anything like this, and I just, I think this is just bizarre.
JIM MORA: Seventeen year old Ophelia Brown posted her own image and says “I wanted to show her that being in a wheelchair is not glamorous or fashionable or fun. A wheelchair’s a big part of my life. She seemed to be sitting on it for fun, or to look more edgy and cool, and I felt overwhelmed with annoyance and jealousy that she could just get in and out of a wheelchair.” And you can completely understand this reaction. But uh, errrrrmmm, it, it’s been defended as well. Uh errrr, people are saying, Look, you know, she didn’t necessarily mean anything by it, it’s just a shot of her in a wheel—- How do YOU view it, Tony?
TONY DOE:[lengthy pause] Tut. Yeah, “not necessarily meaning anything by it” is, errrr, it’s like “I was only obeying orders” or something like that isn’t it. I mean, you’re sort of INVOLVED, whether you like it or not, and the overall impression is, um, not good and to be fair, I mean these people, the Kardashians, they must have more P.R. advisers than Heaven knows who, and umm, you’d have thought that one of them might have tapped her on the shoulder and said, Oy, that’s not a very good idea doing that. Y’know, don’t because it’s gonna make, it’s bad for your image for a start, and it’s actually a rather crass and insensitive thing to do, so don’t do it.
JIM MORA: Or is the publicity the, is that what is the most important thing now? As with that—I don’t really wanna talk about the Caitlin Jenner billboard in Auckland, I mean, goodness knows it’s on the front pages of the online newspapers anyway. But, errrr, because not necessarily because it gives it oxygen, but ahhh, because media are so reactive now, but is that part of the point? And is it just gonna get worse and worse, so you can’t ignore people making statements, ‘cos they know it’s all, it’s going to cause outrage, it’s going to be reported.
TONY DOE: Y-y-y-yeaaahhh, it, it, it is a deliberately provocative act, and the idea is to get attention, and Mission Accomplished, isn’t it. You know, I mean, it draws attention to that fashion label. This is the, there was the story in the media today, I think, about a men’s accessories place, with rings, men’s hands on naked women—
JIM MORA: Oh yes, I saw, I saw the headline there.
TONY DOE: Yeah, a very similar sort of a thing, where the man’s hand with all these rings on it is on the back of this woman, um, he’s got clothes on, she hasn’t. People are saying it’s misogynist and various other things but the line of rings has sold out.
ANNAH STRETTON:[Guffaws sardonically] Huh.
JIM MORA: That’s the thing.
ANNAH STRETTON: Reacted to it, yeah.
TONY DOE: So, whatever happened, people wanted the rings, and the fact that all that attention was given to that advert drew people to that website and drew people to that product and they actually liked it when they saw it.
JIM MORA: Yeah, and Annah, you say quite reasonably I dunno why we’re discussing this, but presumably it may have the, y’know it’s supposed to educate people and shame them into silence and have billboards taken down and so on, but it may produce a kind of cacophony of constant rudeness, as people try and get edgier and edgier and edgier. That may well be the result.
TONY DOE:
ANNAH STRETTON: I dunno, we’ve got the billboard and we’ve got the wheelchair and they’re both the Jenners, aren’t they, with the—
JIM MORA: Yeah.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah, um, I think a lot of it, they don’t NEED the publicity, so I don’t understand why they had to go into this space to get it, because there’s a lot of other ways that they could, um, yeah, I, I, I, I dunno, I just think that, y’know, people that are forced in to wheelchairs because of a disability, ummmm….
JIM MORA: Don’t appreciate seeing HER sitting in one.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah. She doesn’t need to DO this. I don’t understand it, I really don’t understand it. And I don’t, obviously you can see that I don’t have a lot of time for the Jenners either, so—
TONY DOE: Ha ha!
JIM MORA: No I got that impression—-
ANNAH STRETTON: Heh heh.
JIM MORA: —-from your general tone.
TONY DOE: Yeah.
ANNAH STRETTON: Ah, heh heh.
As Annah Stretton continued her restrained snickering, the welling sounds of “Carmina Burana” signaled that, mercifully, it was time for them all to stop talking.
Straight after that public show of concern for the disabled, I sent the host the following email….
Dear Jim,
I find you and some of your panelists (like Chris Trotter and Lisa Scott) laughing at the plight of political dissidents to be far more offensive than anything Kylie Jenner has said or done.
New Zealand has reinforced its commitment to combating corruption by ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, says Justice Minister Amy Adams.
The Convention is a legally binding global agreement to address corruption in the private and public spheres.
“While New Zealand already has a strong reputation for having low levels of corruption, we cannot be complacent. We have broadly complied with the Convention for a number of years, but we needed to make a limited number of law changes before we could ratify it,” says Ms Adams.
The necessary changes were made through the Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill, which amended 15 Acts and was recently passed by Parliament.
“The changes made by the Bill, along with our formal ratification of the Convention, mean New Zealand’s ability to combat corruption is now stronger than ever.
Benefits of ratifying the Convention include ensuring our domestic anti-corruption measures remain robust and meet international best practice.
“It’s also a clear demonstration that New Zealand values a fair and corruption-free international trading system.
This is important for maintaining New Zealand’s reputation as a trustworthy trading partner with zero-tolerance for corruption.
“As a member of the Convention, New Zealand will be able to better contribute to global anti-corruption efforts by providing a legal basis for extradition and mutual legal assistance between other member countries when dealing with corruption-related crimes,” says Ms Adams.
New Zealand joins 177 other countries as a State Party to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
The Convention focuses on four key areas: prevention, criminalisation, international cooperation, and recovery of the proceeds of corruption.
The specific amendments made by the Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill to enable ratification of the Convention include:
the creation of new corruption offences related to solicitation and acceptance of bribes by foreign public officials, and trading in influence over public officials
increased penalties for private sector
corruption
clarification that no bribes are tax deductible.
_________________________________
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
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As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Covid-19 is a real threat to older people, but these Central Otago seniors are embracing technology, experiencing no FOMO, and finding new ways to connect and share, finds Jill Herron When the full lockdown began on March 25 it meant the end of going for a swim, spa or to ...
Former editor of the Woman's Weekly, Nicky Pellegrino, bids farewell to the magazine that brought information and fun to generations of New Zealand women. All those stories. Gone. Stories about our politics, our health, our education, our aspirations. Stories about the houses we lived in and the gardens we grew, ...
As small businesses fight for their survival in the Covid-19 lockdown, it seems one of the country’s biggest retail landlords is not keen to share the pain. On the one side, you have Jonathan*. Jonathan runs a small business out of South Auckland’s Sylvia Park - New Zealand’s biggest mall. ...
With no Covid-19 cases and its economy desperate to restart, the Chathams is keen to go fishing again, writes Jim Kayes.It shouldn’t really be a surprise. They are, after all, ahead of New Zealand by 45 minutes.And though they are part of Wellington’s Rongotai electorate, the fiercely ...
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes.Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks.When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By David Robie A rather beautiful Guåhan legend is rather poignant in these stressed pandemic times. It is one about survival and cooperation. In ancient times, goes the story, a giant fish was eating great chunks out of this western Pacific island. The men used muscle ...
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...
Alex Casey speaks to a dream expert about why so many people are suddenly remembering their vivid and often horrible dreams. As the days begin to blur together and the only thing we get between sleeps is unimaginably horrible news and an embarrassing tootle around the block, it’s no surprise ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
Medical centres across the country are condensing services, moving online, and ushering in pandemic plans. Josie Adams assesses what it’s like to access and provide essential medical care under alert level four.On Monday, Sandra Russell woke up before dawn and drove to Milford to get her blood tested. She has ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun, with the second of his Letters to Hone Tūwhare and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions. ...
ANALYSIS:By Haiqing Yu of RMIT University and Michael Keane of Curtin University China has gradually emerged out of its shadow of despair as the epicentre where the coronavirus pandemic started. Now, there is face saving required – as well as agenda-setting in the global power play. China played ...
Tech giant Google has released a giant global data set which shows how different countries are locking down, and which NZ regions are most compliant with its lockdown.A giant set of reports released by Google, created using its anonymised cellphone location data reveals the scale of human behaviour change the ...
Comedian Penny Ashton writes on the necessity of the arts, especially during lockdown.On March 22, everyone’s favourite fiscal bloodhounds, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, sent out a tweet in response to Creative New Zealand’s announcement that it will dedicate an emergency response package to helping New Zealand’s artists, in the ...
Wellington writer Philippa Swan’s new novel TheNight of All Souls is an homage to Pulitzer-winning and all-round fabulous American writer Edith Wharton. Wharton died in 1937 but, Swan writes, she’s very much of the moment. Nobody does social distancing like Wharton did. While Wharton was still comparatively young, she created the ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford.I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...
How do you hold a funeral service with the country in lockdown? Where there’s a will – and a tech-savvy uncle – there’s a way, Erin Kavanagh-Hall discovered.I was floating somewhere in the Cook Strait when I heard my grandfather’s funeral had been cancelled.I should elaborate. It was a Monday, ...
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer.It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south ...
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...
Every day at 1pm New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announces precise figures on the number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the country. He is working on the best information available, and during this week the level of community transmission was put at around ...
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Deery, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, University of Melbourne “Stupid coronavirus!” I heard my six-year-old mumble while talking in her sleep. Earlier that day her swimming and basketball lessons were cancelled, a birthday party postponed, and she had to race with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University “Zoombombing” in case you haven’t heard, is the unsavoury practice of posting distressing comments, pictures or videos after gatecrashing virtual meetings hosted by the videoconferencing app Zoom. With hundreds of millions ...
Analysis - A leading epidemiologist says health authorities 'really have no idea' of the extent of community spread, Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee gets its teeth into what's going on during the lockdown and the horrendous economic imp ...
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersInformation about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 ...
The Finance Minister says struggling companies will be able to put some debt into hibernation, under new legislation unveiled today. Watch the latest government update here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Welcome to the second edition of our lockdown Top 10s. A reminder that this chart has nothing to do with sales or launches or the publishing cycle; these are just books the Unity team love – and this week it’s westerns, full of big skies and long rides and showdowns.AUCKLANDAll ...
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s plan to cover revenue shortfalls through borrowing without cutting low priority spending is immoral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “Businesses and households across the country are meeting financial challenges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin John Brophy, Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, University of Melbourne “Katrina, I had in mind a prayer, but only this came,” Bruce Dawe wrote to his infant daughter, new-born, in intensive care, her life in the balance, declaring as poets must ...
The shock closure of Bauer NZ – and with it all of the country’s current affairs magazines – is a stark reminder of the fragile state of local media, writes Mel Bunce, the author of a book on the subject.It is a dark week for journalism in New Zealand, with ...
Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Rāmere/FridayWe made it to the end of week one e te whānau. It wasn’t that hard! In fact it was… Māori made easy.To end our week of pronunciation practice we’re going to revisit everything we ...
India faces more challenges battling Covid-19 than any other country in the world. With 1.3 billion inhabitants, hundreds of different languages spoken, and an estimated 80% of the workforce daily wage earners currently without jobs, it could be a recipe for disaster.I’ve been living in India for more than three ...
By Sri Krishnamurthi of Pacific Media Watch The Vanuatu government is using the Covid-19 to impose draconian measures and authoritarian rule by end of last month. Wholesale censorship of all Covid-19 related content has been instituted. Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) took the extraordinary step to ...
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...
SkyCity is making 200 staff redundant as part of cost cutting because of the Covid-19 virus. The casino operator said it had no choice but to cut the size of the workforce given that once business resumes it will be at much reduced level. Chief executive Graeme Stephens said it's ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Glikson, Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National University At several points in the history of our planet, increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have caused extreme global warming, prompting the majority of species on Earth to die out. In ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand. Today’s contentMedia Henry Cooke (Stuff): There’s no easy way for Government to save media drowning. But a fast fix is ...
Just after midday a cyclist was killed on a straight road on a clear day, after being hit by a van in North Canterbury. Lucinda Rees from NZ School Speeds is asking for the mandatory cyclist/vulnerable road user passing gap, which is in consultation, ...
By Indra Singh in Suva Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says that if Fijians continue to disregard the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic directives from authorities, a nationwide 24-hour curfew could be imposed. His comments come as Fiji yesterday recorded its two latest coronavirus cases, taking the total to seven. Bainimarama said ...
Open mike 03/12/2015 
Open mike is your post.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...11 hours ago
Redline received this article from the KOE a Marxist party in Greece Our friends in the KOE describe here the mounting crisis in Greece and tensions on the Turkish border. As desperate people flee from their homelands which have been ruined after decades of imperialist wars and interventions the people ...14 hours ago
As the first week of Level Four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was (and was not) allowed under its “rules”. Partly these were driven by some apparently contradictory messages from different authority figures and explanations carried in the media. Partly they reflected a somewhat sketchy legal basis ...16 hours ago
. . April 3: Day 9 of living in lock-down… Another late-start to my work day. Everything is temporarily upended as clients are shuffled around so we can minimise our “bubble” by reducing the number of people we help. One of my colleagues has been removed from his clients; his ...20 hours ago
We must root out the traitors among us! ...1 day ago
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...2 days ago
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...2 days ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...2 days ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...2 days ago
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...3 days ago
46 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Global response of evapotranspiration ratio to climate conditions and watershed characteristics in a changing environment Greenhouse effect: the relative contributions of emission height and total absorption Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Climate change induced a ...4 days ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ... 4 days ago
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...4 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...4 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...6 days ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...1 week ago
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...1 week ago
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...1 week ago
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...2 weeks ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world". Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...2 days ago
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...1 week ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...2 weeks ago
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...2 days ago
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...27 mins ago
Covid-19 is a real threat to older people, but these Central Otago seniors are embracing technology, experiencing no FOMO, and finding new ways to connect and share, finds Jill Herron When the full lockdown began on March 25 it meant the end of going for a swim, spa or to ...42 mins ago
Former editor of the Woman's Weekly, Nicky Pellegrino, bids farewell to the magazine that brought information and fun to generations of New Zealand women. All those stories. Gone. Stories about our politics, our health, our education, our aspirations. Stories about the houses we lived in and the gardens we grew, ...42 mins ago
As small businesses fight for their survival in the Covid-19 lockdown, it seems one of the country’s biggest retail landlords is not keen to share the pain. On the one side, you have Jonathan*. Jonathan runs a small business out of South Auckland’s Sylvia Park - New Zealand’s biggest mall. ...42 mins ago
With no Covid-19 cases and its economy desperate to restart, the Chathams is keen to go fishing again, writes Jim Kayes. It shouldn’t really be a surprise. They are, after all, ahead of New Zealand by 45 minutes. And though they are part of Wellington’s Rongotai electorate, the fiercely ...42 mins ago
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes. Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks. When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...15 hours ago
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY: By David Robie A rather beautiful Guåhan legend is rather poignant in these stressed pandemic times. It is one about survival and cooperation. In ancient times, goes the story, a giant fish was eating great chunks out of this western Pacific island. The men used muscle ...15 hours ago
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...16 hours ago
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Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...1 day ago
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...1 day ago
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...1 day ago
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford. I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...1 day ago
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...1 day ago
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...1 day ago
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Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...2 days ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...2 days ago
Vodafone says its continuing to see significant increases in calls and data on its networks after the first week of level 4 lockdown. ...2 days ago
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...2 days ago
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...2 days ago
SkyCity is making 200 staff redundant as part of cost cutting because of the Covid-19 virus. The casino operator said it had no choice but to cut the size of the workforce given that once business resumes it will be at much reduced level. Chief executive Graeme Stephens said it's ...2 days ago
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11554715
What a joke ! No “deliberate” misuse. What it really means – ‘Misuse then ? Well, if you must…..but do remember, this was not my finest hour……’
“In October, she said Mr Key had a “cavalier” approach to the OIA and had shown a “disregard for the law”. Her comments were in relation to Mr Key’s admission that his office sometimes waited 20 days to release information if it was in its political interests. Asked about her comments today, she said they were “not her finest hour.”
That’s a shame. The ‘finest hour’ may come along in the course of the next sinecure.
I am fully expectant that Peter Boshier will be no ones’ poodle.
Personal responsibility on display again: It’s all the media’s fault.
I see the word “deliberate” has changed its meaning …
Another whitewash on the way. And if Departments don’t have the resources to deal with OIA requests, who is it that funds the departments to resource themselves?
Morning Report this morning – 17 and 18 year olds locked down in their cells for 23 out of 24 hours at Serco Mt Eden – Minister of Corrections Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga “declined to comment”.
What the hell is going on ? Are Corrections/Serco actually the Minister of Corrections here ? Peseta Sam the mute titular ?
Oh I get it…….”Responsibility Responsibility Responsibility !”…….National Party style.
Wtf have the opoosition been on this as Sam is a very weak puppett in this cabal.
@ North (2) neither the minister, nor Corrections will comment on this matter! Not good enough!
Another big fail for NatzKEY!
Obama admits Turkey is responsible for oil, weapons, and extremist smuggling through its borders to IS controlled areas.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/74678756/Russia-says-it-has-proof-Turkey-involved-in-Islamic-State-oil-trade
That’s old news,
you need to read more foreign media, more often.
For some reason most “international” stuff & herald stories are about 2-3+ days behind the rest of the world.
A bit like Farrar then.
Everytime I hear or read his name I think of the penguin from batman..
Here’s a data point:
He said few residents feared coalition airstrikes, although former residents of the city who have fled across the border to Turkey told the Guardian last week of civilian casualties suffered even under carefully targeted bombardment.
While children and elderly people are often startled and disturbed by the sounds of the explosions, activists say the airstrikes tend not to hit civilian areas. Most, however, fear Russian airstrikes as they tend to target civilian neighbourhoods.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/02/airstrikes-routine-people-raqqa-syria-says-activist?CMP=edit_2221
Why on erath would he say that if it wasn’t true? You can check out the journo group ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’ for yourselves if you care to smear them, but good luck saying they are ‘fans’ of ISIS or in anyway supporters of them. Video of Russian helicopters dropping dumb bombs on urban areas are also not hard to find, though RT tend to prefer the snazzy pics of jest taking off and cruise missiles. The clusters of 4 heavy bombs smashing into a neighbourhood? not so much airtime on RT for some reason.
Whenever you post on the issue it’s jest taking off.
Good one. I’ve always cared more about logic than typos myself, but takes all sorts eh.
There appears to be a lot of opinion in that article, PB.
“Why on erath (earth) would he say that if it wasn’t true?”
Really? I’m gobsmacked that you would even think that.
I have a healthy distrust of the media, mainly because I’ve been working in it for the last 25+ years. (obviously I’m not a journo, my grammer sucks)
Always ask, why am I being told this and who benefits from the outcome.
Good. Me too.
So come on, speculate away, what are your answers to your sceptical questions about that piece?
Or do you mean question in the sense of just throwing up your hands and saying ‘oh noes I can’t know anything’.
Seriously, that group’s work can be found online, really easily, you can make judgements, it’s a data point.
Fill your boots, tell me your reckons.
Russia is going to stay in Syria, Assad will remain in power, Iranian influence in the Middle East will increase, and US/NATO complicity with ISIS and other extremist groups will become increasingly obvious.
Oh great, It’s Captain Know Nothing back with off-topic reckons for the thread.
How did you get on finding an example of a helicopter being shot down by a TOW?
And weren’t you saying just the other day that Putin agrees with you that Assad should go? Yep, you were, but you were just making shit up, coz it’s what you do.
Why would he say what?
Why would he say that “few residents feared coalition airstrikes”? Or why would he say “Most, however, fear Russian airstrikes…”?
My impression is that nothing quite gels. I mean he also says..
“Britain has a powerful intelligence service and knows where to strike and when, not like the coalition.” (Wide-eyed astonishment at that one from over here)
Who is he?
From the same article Tim Ramadan, the pseudonym of an activist and journalist working clandestinely in the city
No agenda and no line to spin then and…well, what is an activist in the context of a multi faceted war situation?
edit: one fairly reasonable reason for him spinning (if he is) would be if he’s aligned with any of the so-called moderate opposition targeted by Russia but not by ‘the coalition’, yes?
Like I said, you can check out ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’ for yourself to find out.
Do I wish all the tv stations and wire services were fully operating in IS controlled territory?
Yes.
Is that a resonable expectation?
No.
Shall we discount everything to zero?
If you want, I’ll get the data points I can and make the best of them.
Sorry. I see you replied before my edit.
He doesn’t have to be a supporter of the daesh to be saying those things.
No he wouldn’t.
And yes, like much of rebel held Syria they hate Assad, and ISIS.
Which doesn’t make what they are saying ‘not true’, right?
But given what the coalition are doing and demanding, and what the Russians are doing and demanding, what motivation would they have to say what he said.
Why say the new strikes will be pointless in effect, and that the Russian strikes are hitting civilians more often? They want ISIS gone, they really hate ISIS. They are literally risking death doing what they are doing, these activists in Raqqa, some of them have been killed by ISIS.
So if it’s not true that the Russian attacks are more feared by the population than the wetsern attacks why say it?
Does it square with other evidence, like footage of attacks?
I’m not being rhetorical here.
Actual questions.
I’m not saying that certain claims are either true or not true. And I don’t have any reasonably informed opinion that could be applied to your questions.
Maybe the ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’ site you mention is a reasonable conduit for information – I dunno. What I mean by that is that I haven’t given it more than a cursory glance atm.
“My impression is that nothing quite gels.”
My thoughts exactly. With so much misinformation and political points scoring going on, it’s hard to work out what’s actually going on..
But then, that’s the whole idea.
+1
Russia has only one objective in Syria, the preservation of Tartus as it’s only western hemisphere naval base outside of the Crimea. Hey wait a minute, I’m seeing a connection here between russian adventures in the Ukraine and in Syria………
The preservation of their only open water naval base in Europe/Middle East. is their primary strategic goal, everything else, including war crimes and assad’s survival is secondary to this.
Stories in the press that Turkey are delaying Russian traffic through the Bosphorus for “administrative” reasons is an unwelcome power flex by the turks…..
The Dardanelles are suddenly a global focus point again.
Why on earth would he say that if it wasn’t true?
Because he is directly responsible for the death of many hundreds of thousands of people and has no incentive to tell the truth
We live in an age where any media production, be it written word, audio or visual can be ‘created’, and should by default be treated as suspicious, fake or lies
IRONY ALERT: Paul “Kill Them All” Henry gets all serious and
denounces “the mindless rantings of one very nasty piece of work.”
Paul Henry, TV3, Thursday 3 December 2015, 7:10 a.m.
hypocrite n. 1. a person who claims or pretends to have certain beliefs about what is right but who behaves in a way that disagrees with those beliefs; 2. a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion.
It appears that the malignant spirit of “Sir” Paul Holmes descended on the North Shore Events Centre last night….
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/30256384/perth-wildcat-nate-jawai-allegedly-abused-in-defeat-to-new-zealand/
In a supreme act of projection this morning, Paul “Kill Them All” Henry glared at the camera with his special “serious” expression and intoned: “It’s just the mindless rantings of one very nasty piece of work.”
That’s an odd thing to say for someone who just two months ago was ranting about the “political correctness” gone mad of giving a ferry a Māori name…
More mindless rantings of one very nasty piece of work….
anyone see this? My understand of the flag wastage was that anyone could either rank as per preference, or rank as little as one.
However here they say….rank all or ‘it won’t count’
Are they now giving out invalid/false information?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/can-john-key-find-out-how-i-voted-in-the-flag-referendum
quote:
If there is one flag you hate a lot, give that a five then rank the rest backwards, but make sure you do all the way to one, or again it won’t count.
From the letter accompanying the voting paper: Instructions: A: Rank the flag designs in the order that you prefer them. You can rank as few or an many as you wish, from 1 to 5. Write 1 in the box under the flag you prefer most. Write 2 in the box under your next preferred flag, if you have one, and so on. Do not write the same number more than once.
So we can safely assume than that TVNZ has just misled the public with the statement that I posted above?
It does look like that. Surely we haven’t descended so low that the voting instructions themselves are intended to mislead.
No, what they are saying (I think) is that if you want to put your most hated flag ranked last, start with making it #5, but you then have to vote for #1, #2, #3, #4 as well or your vote will be invalid. Another example would be if you wrote #2 and #3 and nothing else, that would be invalid too. Presumably.
It’s still completely stupid advice from Fair Go given that we still don’t do this kind of voting well, but I think it reflects how fucked up the whole thing is when our state broadcaster feels the need to tell people how to vote based on the most hated design.
Thanks Weka – and I agree. It says something about the whole process/project if people need to be told how to express their hatred of designs in a way that does not invalidate their vote.
Then there’s this,
That’s alright then, because we really trust this government and its computer data competency.
Of course we trust Dear Leaders Government, after all he is the most trusted Dear Leader, most accomplished and such.
Every voting paper has a secret number on it. If the same name is crossed off the roll more than once the number on the voting paper is opened so that the person can be checked/interviewed to see if he has voted twice. What he voted is immaterial. Could a dishonest person find out what you voted? Possible but you have to trust the integrity of staff. Works OK so far.
I see no reason why the Electoral Commission cannot be trusted to operate the system honestly and fairly. It would be a very risky proposition for the government of the day to try and interfere with a democratically run voting system such as ours. Voters of all stripes would reject them outright.
How about WINZ? The Education department? Do we have a BLiP list of all the government departments that have mangled such tech?
LOL
I’ve been saying on this board for years that the government can track how people vote and now you’re surprised to find that they can?
as for this bit:
The name wouldn’t be in the QR code itself but the QR code will relate back to the name in the database.
Actually, the problem is trusting the competency of the private firm that wrote the software.
No, I’m not surprised at that (if it’s happening). I’m surprised at Fair Go saying ‘let’s trust the government’.
The Crosby-Textor playbook is so predictable.
Cameron and Key use practically interchangeable slurs when cornered by their opponents. It should remove any doubt as to whether Cameron or Key are cold, calculating sociopaths or a loudmouthed bully boys, because they are obviously both.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/01/cameron-accuses-corbyn-of-being-terrorist-sympathiser
As do the Lib/Nats in Australia. Its why we have centre-left referred to as “hard Left” whilst they call themselves “centre Right” – it creeps into the MSM in NZ, Aus and GB within a very short time. Look at the how Tony Abbot’s “Death Cult” description of ISIS is now part of their vocab.
I’ve been waiting to hear JFK start talking about “the New Zealand People”. It started in the US and is common in Australia and GB. Another little gem is “the truth is ……… this or that”.
It’s what the hard Right CT do best, and they have their little disciples like Matty Hooten and Paul Henry doing their best to propagate the spin – consciously or not (going forward).
It’s not unlike those in the banking sector – you know – those expert economists.
The sharemarket always goes up or down “on the back of …… “.
(At this point in time) BEWARE THE BULLSHIT! (going forward)
My thoughts too, same style/tactics, dead cat slapped on the table. Pathetic.
This government sure seems to be getting a reputation for enabling “modern” slavery. I wish the labour party would make more of a fuss instead of letting NZFirst turn it into an anti-immigration issue. After all it is the LABOUR party. I wonder if the police are much involved in looking into this sort of stuff. Do they have a transnational crime expert there and if so what issues is he focusing on instead… Cocaine? Whipping up fear in the Asia-Pacific over ISIS?
https://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/peters-immigrant-healthcare-bill-defeated-2015120219
I hate to say it (I mean its Winston) but it sounds like a reasonable idea and I’m not even that fussed about the rebate for the pensioners
Yet another disgraceful, extreme ten minutes from Dame Ann Leslie.
Why is this ghastly old trout accorded the status of “U.K. correspondent”?
RNZ National, Thursday 3 September 2015, 9:50 a.m.
KATHRYN RYAN: Our U.K. correspondent is Dame Ann Leslie and she is in London. Good morning!
DAME ANN LESLIE: Good morning!
KATHRYN RYAN: Crazy old world it is. Your parliament is having an intense debate tonight on whether to commit to bombing Daesh in Syria.
DAME ANN LESLIE: It’s absolutely unbelievable that this debate is taking one whole day. As is well known, Raqaa is the nerve centre of the bloody attacks on Paris. But our planes are obliged by an earlier decision of our parliament to avoid flying over Syrian air space. Now, you may detect a slight political bias in what I say next, but Labour with its new, rather muddled, faintly loopy, hard left leader Jeremy Corbyn…. [she embarks on a rambling denunciation]… I think Cameron WILL win, but it will be nail-biting. I’ve lived long enough to know how unpredictable war is. There are some things we have to deal with, for example Turkey, which has been slightly pro-ISIL. They used to line their tanks up on the border, watching various factions fighting. Um, the thing is really, one of the main problems is Turkey, because they are aligned with Daesh, allowing Daesh’s oil across the border, which has been illegally acquired, to sell on the secret market. Then of course there is the other issue, which is sectarian basically, between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Turkey is making a mess of things, frankly.
KATHRYN RYAN: I’m looking at a comment by William Hague, saying don’t rule out British boots on the ground.
DAME ANN LESLIE: [wearily] Ohhh!
KATHRYN RYAN: Now people are talking about boots on the ground again.
DAME ANN LESLIE: Everybody agrees that this will be a long drawn out conflict. Destroying Daesh won’t work unless there are boots on the ground. The question is WHOSE boots?… I’ve worked a lot in the Middle East and it really is the MOST APPALLING MESS…
KATHRYN RYAN: All right. The question is: does the UK want to be ANYWHERE near it?
DAME ANN LESLIE: Well the thing is, we have been very stupid in the West. We had the idea that if we went into these Godforsaken countries we would be greeted with flowers from the people we had liberated. ….Then you get the appalling business of sectarianism. The Sunnis don’t want the SHIAS involved, and the Shias, especially Iran, don’t want the Sunnis involved…. I feel very depressed by the whole thing.
KATHRYN RYAN: Let’s finish with a festive note. Can festive fairy lights wreck the British Christmas?
DAME ANN LESLIE: Ofcom has said that fairy lights will wreck our traditional family Christmas, because they interfere with wi-fi. ….
Mercifully, the time pips start sounding….
KATHRYN RYAN: [with evident relief] Oh dear! Ten o’clock!
More of Dame Ann Leslie’s wit and wisdom….
I sent the host of Nine to Noon the following email….
Dear Kathryn,
You allowed your U.K. correspondent Dame Ann Leslie to denounce Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as “rather muddled, faintly loopy, hard left”. That was an extreme and biased comment by any measure, yet you chose not to challenge it, or even to politely ask her to explain why she had used such demeaning language.
Are you not allowed to challenge anything she says? Are you obliged to simply go along with it?
Yours in concern at the standards of public broadcasting,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
+100… Dame Ann Leslie is such an obvious right wing Tory toff she is entertaining…she shouldnt be taken seriously…however she shouldnt be allowed blather along unchallenged ….surely Ryan can engage more with her and challenge her monologue occasionally ?
…and why cant we have Ken Livingstone on as a commentator to give the other side?…here he is on Sophie and Co
‘West discredited itself with invasions, able to stop nothing now – ex-mayor of London’
https://www.rt.com/shows/sophieco/323903-jihadists-attack-crime-control/
“After Islamic State strikes in the heart of Europe, nations are ramping up their security. Now, the debate rages about whether being secure or being free is the most important. And when jihadists attack, anti-Islamic sentiment gains momentum, with hate crimes threatening to spike out of control. How do you keep heads calm? Is bulk data collection, after all, needed for peace and stability? We pose these questions to a veteran British politician, former mayor of London – Ken Livingstone is on Sophie&Co today.”
She grew up in “the Punjab” dontcha know. She’s ‘very well connected’.
Whilst I admire Kathryn Ryan for much of what she does – she does like to maintain a ‘balanced portfolio’ and maintain an image of fairness and balance.
Challenging bullshit is just not the done thing dontcha know – even amongst those that consider themselves amongst the Kiwi-well-connected-elite (or the Elite Cult).
How else do you explain “The Panel’? (going forward)
Oh ….. btw, I notice The Dame hasn’t been on Dateline London for a very long, long time – perhaps Gav’s not been too kind to her, or his ‘bit of fluff’ doesn’t particularly like her condescension
Mora’s ‘The Panel’ is ghastly…I try never to listen to it!..In fact I find Dame Leslie more congenial ( dare I say it…I find her entertaining like a poncy aunty and I like the way she speaks)
Did you get a reply to your email Morrissey?
No. She seems impervious to criticism.
Oh Morissey Darling! What a truly truly monstrous thing to say. Really! That’s horrid – really it is!
Why the Dame has a wealth of life’s experience, and Kathryn has launched a thousand carreers (including a few talking head ‘panelists’ we now hold so very very dear).
How dare you challenge them!
It really is such bad form!
/sarc (as if)
Pharmac have denied terminally ill people with melanoma a promising drug which has benefitted a third to two thirds of people with incurable melanoma. The cost is about $300,000 per person. Australia and the UK fund the drug but not stingy NZ. The cost of the drug would cost the government 30 million per year.
What upsets me the most is that the rich can afford to purchase the drug and a savvy poor person would have to fund raise, (which would require abundant energy).
It must be awful being an oncologist in NZ because of being limited when it comes to prescribing life saving drugs which Pharmac will not fund.
Pharmac, like most other government organisations, could do with a significant funding boost and no political interference (like the Herceptin campaign pledge).
It’s akin to manslaughter, allowing people to die, when they could be helped. Only the super wealthy can afford this drug. You wouldn’t even need to poor to be left to die, if you needed this drug.
There was a young man, just a teenager, with melanoma on telly the other night at yet another fundraiser for this particular drug, Keytruda I think it’s called. He said he has to raise $30K every 3 months. He has a givealittle page and he was at a fundraiser event when he being filmed.
His family and himself work full time on the fundraising. How frightening to be in his shoes, having your life depend on the kindness of strangers, and never knowing if there will be enough money. How do people fare who don’t have a supportive family and don’t have the strength to work out how to get absurd amounts of money out of thin air?
This drug is fully funded in Australia.
Keytruda, is that when the National government breaks in and steals anything it can lay its hands on that’s worth something?
sorry, couldn’t resist.
I know! What a name! Your thoughts were my thoughts when I first heard of it. The drug goes by another name but I can’t remember what it is.
The other name is Pembrolizumab. The bro bit might be the generous people in NZ who donate to try and save a life e.g. the young 22 year old who has a give a little page.
Bryan Gould on the money as always. Writing about The UK, but equally applicable here.
http://www.bryangould.com/what-really-matters/
“There is a rapidly emerging consensus that – as we discovered 80 years ago but then forgot – austerity is the wrong response to recession. We are learning that lesson all over again. Even in terms of its own stated objectives, austerity has failed; the supposedly central priority of eliminating the government’s deficit remains a long way from being achieved, while the deficit that really matters – the country’s continuing failure to pay its way – remains unattended to and is getting worse.
In the meantime, poverty and inequality increase, housing is increasingly unaffordable, net investment is virtually zero, the prospect of a revival in manufacturing is non-existent, and an unsustainable consumer boom fuelled by asset inflation underpins our rake’s progress to decline.?
Just on 1,000,000 people have posted their flag ballot papers up till 2 December. About the same as the 2013 referendum at the same number of days.
Have to say, I was pretty convinced I was going to spoil my voting paper, but when it comes down to it, I really can’t be bothered even sending the thing in. And I’m a committe voter.
interesting read on rising sea levels.
maybe someone who runs a country or a city with a lot of habitat on coastal areas wants to have a look at it.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/02/world/The-Marshall-Islands-Are-Disappearing.html?_r=1
The clearest explanation of the evil of corporate tyranny and the death of democracy I’ve heard so far:
Democracy Sold Out To Greed
The video helps me to bring home that “Western democracy” is a sham, a total lie.
Every Western government and Washington’s Asian vassal states are totally under the control of private corporations and private interest groups. The corporations govern, and they are in the process of institutionalizing their governance with the Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic Partnerships. The purpose of these “partnerships” is to make global corporations higher than the laws of the “sovereign” countries in which they do business.
Anything, whether law, rule, regulation, or moral principle that interferes with corporate profits is outlawed as “a resraint on trade.”
Western civilization is over and done with. Nothing remains except historical achievements that are no longer understood or appreciated.
(http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2015/12/01/democracy-sold-out-to-greed/)
+100 Johnm…a MUST WATCH!
..where is the NZ Labour Party on opposing this….neolib corporate fascist attempt at takeover of New Zealand democracy and sovereignty?…scarcely a peep!
…time for a new Labour Mana Party
Comrade Chooky did you see my response and question to you on yesterdays open mike re a new party?
Hi Comrade Rosie….yes I did see it and I didnt answer because Savenz answered for me…on the reasons why there needs to be a new Labour Mana Party
There are many reasons why the last Election was lost
1.)…Cunliffe was relentlessly attacked by the msm…and not supported by the Labour Party caucus even although he was the grassroots Labour vote….and it would seem that there has been a concerted campaign against him and his supporters on the Left of the Labour Party for some time
( here is what i asked on the Daily Blog)
“Is the ABC faction actually a fifth column?
…I mean looked at it historically, it has been going on at least as long as Shearer
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8348590/Dalziel-dropped-from-Labours-top-20
Has the Labour Party been kidnapped?”
– See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/11/30/puppet-on-a-string-has-andrew-little-become-the-plaything-of-labours-dominant-factions/#sthash.jayVFy3W.dpuf )
2.) In a stunning move Labour turned against Hone Harawira in the TTT electorate and effectively excluded Left party Mana winning four seats and a Left coalition winning that election…gifting it to Jonkey nactional…Mana was working for the poorest of the poor in New Zealand ….this was unforgivable by the Labour party ….and it does not deserve to be called Labour
( …and it turns out that Lusk was apparently bribing Maori not to vote for Hone Harawira !….Nash has had dealings with Lusk
‘Dirty Politics players back in the frame’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/201779410/dirty-politics-players-back-in-the-frame
…”Simon Lusk also claimed on Story he had been instrumental in unseating Mana Party co-leader Hone Harawira in the last election. Unnamed “businessmen” had paid thousands for that, he said. And in conversation with his co-host last Monday, Duncan Garner said money had been paid to get Maori electors to vote in Te Tai Tokerau.
Was political operative Simon Lusk really paying people on behalf of clients to influence an election? Disappointingly, no more was said about this claim.The following day, Duncan Garner posted a statement from Simon Lusk on the websites of TV3’s Story and Radio Live. In it, Simon Lusk said:
Iwi now have extensive databases of members who they can easily mobilise. Assembling a team of 50 or 100 iwi members to get out the vote is straightforward, legal and effective if it is possible to raise some koha.
He added that “if you’re not paying for votes or offering anything in exchange for a vote, or treating,” it is not against the law. But that statement didn’t answer key questions: How much was paid? By whom? And for what purpose? …
…”Duncan Garner also revealed supporters of Labour’s Napier MP Stewart Nash paid Simon Lusk to canvas the option of a new political party…)
Now we have Little’s Labour demoting and shunning Cunliffe and Mahuta yet again….even although Mahuta brought in the Maori seats for Labour and Cunliffe was the Labour grassroots choice for leader ( Little cant even win his own seat, nor ccan Robertson and Adern)
Quite apart from all this, Labour has shown NO leadership in opposing the TPP
So yes I would support another “Labour” Mana Party which is genuinely Labour ( this Labour Party does not deserve the brand name “Labour”…It deserves to be taken off them)
“In a stunning move Labour turned against Hone Harawira in the TTT electorate and effectively excluded Left party Mana winning four seats and a Left coalition winning that election…”
Do you really believe this nonsense Chooky? I feel your heart is in the right place but this is nonsense. I like Hone Harawira very much and believe he is a good person, but he made a very stupid mistake signing up with Kim Dotcom.
He lost a lot of credibility with Māori in Northland because they felt he had sold out – unlike you I actually know many Northland Māori. He lost control of his party. He begged Dotcom not to have the “Moment of Truth” just before the election because Hone is politically astute enough to know that is would be distorted by the media and would lose the left votes, as it inevitably did. I was sitting very close to Hone that night and his unhappiness was obvious.
Mana actually deserved that seat.
all Dotcoms fault then?…well Jonkey would certainly agree with you!…but it is a bit simplistic…and Dotcom was up against the corporates too …so whose side are you on?…certainly not Dotcom’s ( is this little Labour policy as well?)
…and I note you have carefully avoided any of the other points
I have been too busy with work to look at the Standard again until now – if I had I would have corrected my last line to “Davis deserved that seat.”
The reason I didn’t deal with your other “points” was that they were too ludicrous to bother with. If you really believe that Lusk had anything to do with Davis winning then you really are very foolish. You are actually doing exactly what Lusk et al want you to do – whether deliberately or through ignorance I have no idea.
If you actually read what I said a bit more carefully you would understand that I am not blaming Dotcom, I am saying when Mana signed up with Dotcom they not only lost a lot of credibility with many of their supporters, but Hone lost control of the party he had co-founded. Sue Bradford could see what would happen but Hone couldn’t.
I have been very impressed with Davis this year – why not look at what people do rather than indulge in ill-informed conspiracy theories.
National HQ cheered the most loudly when Davis beat Harawira.
Hi Chooky. Thanks for the thoughts. Have run out of time to respond in any meaningful way.
Except to say I totally get what you are saying about treatment of Mahuta and DC. I agree. I’m with you on that. I also saw the programme about Simon Lusk, his bribing of Maori voters of TTT and his connection with Nash. But, I’d say ditto to what Karen is saying below. It’s a long bow to draw a connection between Lusk and Kelvin Davis in TTT. Lusk just hated Hone. Fool that Lusk is.
Also, I still don’t think a new party will solve anything, help the left or the people that need left representation.
@ Rosie …i am not saying there is a connection between Davis and Lusk…where did I say that? ( reframing of the issues?)
I am saying Davis and Labour should NOT have stood against Hone Harawira and Mana Party …which were for the poorest of the poor
I am saying it looks as if Lusk paid Maori not to vote for Harawira
I am saying it looks as if there is a connection between Labour’s Nash and Lusk…on a different issue
( It would be very interesting to know exactly what other connections /dealings Lusk has had with New Zealand politicians…and Labour politicians…such connections would be very compromising indeed, I would imagine)
As regards a new Labour Mana Party…well it depends on how much you can stomach from the party which calls itself ‘Labour’ …and it depends on how many people feel there is a need for a new Labour Left (Mana)Party
…certainly there does seem some support for it given the treatment of Cunliffe ( the membership choice) and Mahuta (and the Maori seats)…and Harawira (and Mana)….and the Labour Party leadership non action on TPP
You want to support the status quo…others dont
I don’t want to support any status quo Chooky. I’m feeling very uncomfortable /conflicted about being in Labour now. Check out my comments on the “Labour Mayor for Wellington” post if you want to see why I will not be voting for Labour Mayoral candidate Justin Lester.
Theres a shit load of stuff that may or may not happen in the next two years. We might yet be surprised. Holy moly, if David Cunliffe, in some weird twist of alternate reality become leader of the Greens then I’d party vote Green.
I am however, strongly opposed to voting for Labour ticket Justin Lester as Mayor of Wellington.
+100 Rosie…yes if he were to become leader of the Greens…I too would vote Green
Cunliffe was born Labour and will die Labour.
He would never ever join another party.
While some Green values overlap or are complimentary to those of Labour the two parties are different.
No no no. Cunliffe is not leaving Labour. All of us should remain and make our best possible contributions to ensuring its values are protected and applied to real lives.
well that is the problem with the Labour Party…”was born Labour and will die Labour”…even when Labour is no longer Labour and turns fascist
(John Pilger has some trenchant things to say about the British Labour Party
https://www.rt.com/shows/going-underground/323420-paris-isis-daesh-uk/ )
In many ways David Cunliffe is a better fit for the Greens….not least of all because the Greens are to the Left of Labour
( except for Greens idiotic championing of bloody Red Peak corporate flag which i blame on try hard Shaw and that other grinning baby face muggins Gareth Hughes..and a few others who i wont insult)
🙄
+1
Must listen.
Just checked the ‘TransTasman’ so called ratings of Politicians.
What a laugh! Act’s noname on top rated highest. Nats good… Labour bad.
Dyson one of the hardest working MPs standing up for her constituents in Redcliffs even though they didn’t support her locally in the elections rated about lowest with the same rating as Nuk Nobody whom she thrashed and has nothing to say about Parata’s attack on the people of his pretend electorate of Port Hills.
Still we can’t expect any real information from a $500+ a year right wing rag started by national MP Hugh Templeton/s brother and bought out by another true blue right winger.
Right up Tracey Watkins alley this nonsense.
Old news I know but really really glad that the bitter and graceless right-wing stooge Sean Plunkett has been given his marching orders.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/74697011/mark-sainsbury-replaces-sean-plunket-at-radio-live
Good luck to Mark Sainsbury – at least he has a soul.
+100 Muttonbird …Plunkett did his best to roll David Cunlifffe
They need a differentiator from the rabid rightwing shock jocks and sainsbury has good recognition to boot. Still a race to the bottom though.
I listened to Mark Sainsbury a few times until his panel with the so-called views from the left and right consisted of 2 rightwing commentators. Happened a few times so turned off after that.
Tories have gone ECan on the SDHB:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/365644/commissioner-stay-sdhb
I’m not surprised; as this slow motion disaster of an underfunded public health system down south has been a long time disintegrating. Also, it was only yesterday (a year to the day before the commissioner’s term was supposed to expire) that:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/365445/criticism-over-city-hospital-role
Predictable, appoint your cronies and control the message.
What’s up with Stuff.co’s infuriating new recommended stories drop down menu? Hope they get enough feedback to get rid of it asap or give us a way to disable it permanently.
‘
I’ll just leave these here . . .
http://adblock-pro.en.softonic.com/
https://www.ghostery.com/
. . . there’s a bit of tweaking required for New Zealand specific sites and for when new “features” are imposed. The new drop down is to encourage clicks on what is euphemistically called “partner content” but, really, is advertising.
Cheers BLiP will check out.
Drop down menu has disappeared today. Maybe too many complaints.
The U.N. voted to partition Palestine 68 years ago, in
an unfair plan made even worse by Israel’s ethnic cleansing
Palestinians were 2/3rds of the population but offered 43% of land. Then, Israel ethnically cleansed it & took more
by BEN NORTON, Salon, Tuesday Dec. 1, 2015
68 years ago yesterday, the United Nations voted to partition Palestine, with General Assembly Resolution 181.
http://media.salon.com/2015/11/nyt-partition-plan.png
The front page of the November 29, 1947 edition of the New York Times read “[General] Assembly Votes Palestine Partition; Margin Is 33 to 13; Arabs Walk Out; Aranha Hails Work as Session Ends.”
Why were the Arabs angry? Because, for the indigenous Palestinians, the deal was a thoroughly bad one. Palestinians comprised approximately two-thirds of the population, yet were offered just 43 percent of their land in the deal.
“Aranha” refers to Osvaldo Aranha, a Brazilian diplomat. As president of the U.N. General Assembly, Aranha lobbied strongly on behalf of the Zionist movement (a settler colonialist Jewish nationalist political movement that called for the creation of the state of Israel). He delayed the vote on resolution 181 by two days in order to give the U.S. and other pro-Israel countries more time to pressure U.N. member states to vote for the plan. Scholar Fred Khouri writes that, in these two days:
“The United States and Zionists led the lobbying efforts of the pro-partition forces. The delegates, as well as the home governments, of Haiti, Liberia, Ethiopia, China, the Philippines, and Greece were swamped with telegrams, telephone calls, letters, and visitations from many sources, including the White House, congressmen, business corporations, and other fields of endeavor. As a result of these tremendous official and nonofficial pressures, Haiti, Liberia, and the Philippines finally agreed to vote for partition.”
These last-minute changes ensured that resolution 181 would have the two-thirds majority vote needed to pass.
The following is the U.N.’s map of the proposed partition. The blue areas comprising roughly 57 percent of the land were to be allotted to Jews; orange areas were to be allotted to Palestinians. Jerusalem was to be left under the governance of the international community, because of its historical and religious importance for numerous religions and cultures.
http://media.salon.com/2015/11/partition-plan-un-map-small.jpg
The Partition Plan was never implemented, however. The very next day after it was voted on, the 1947-1948 war broke out.
In this war, Zionist militias systematically ethnically cleansed large portions of historic Palestine, sacking hundreds of Palestinian villages and expelling more than 750,000 people — around two-thirds of the indigenous Arab population. Prominent Israeli historian Ilan Pappé notes that, in Israel’s Plan Dalet (also known simply as Plan D), “veteran Zionist leaders” created “a plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.” They dispatched military orders in March 1948, Pappé explains:
“The orders came with a detailed description of the methods to be employed to forcibly evict the people: large-scale intimidation; laying siege to and bombarding villages and population centres; setting fire to homes, properties and goods; expulsion; demolition; and, finally, planting mines among the rubble to prevent any of the expelled inhabitants from returning.”
Plan D “spelled it out clearly and unambiguously: the Palestinians had to go,” writes Pappé. …..
Read more….
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/30/u_n_voted_to_partition_palestine_68_years_ago_in_an_unfair_plan_made_even_worse_by_israels_ethnic_cleansing/
https://syria360.wordpress.com/globalist-agenda/
Nothing happens in a vacuum
+100 Morrissey…thanks for reminding us…crimes against the Palestinians and crimes against humanity
Denouncing Kylie Jenner took up nearly five minutes on The Panel today;
But not even one second of indignation about today’s decision to bomb Syria.
RNZ National, Thursday 3 December 2015, 4:56 p.m.
Jim Mora, Tony Doe, Annah Stretton, Julie Moffett
hypocrisy n. 1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess. 2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude. 3. an act or instance of hypocrisy.
JIM MORA: It is International Disabilities Day, which is a terrible coincidence, given the shootings in San Bernardino. And, ahhh, that has made what Kylie Jenner did, ahhh, a topic of discussion, much discussion on the internet. So Kylie Jenner from the Kardashian clan has angered disabled people by posing in a gold wheelchair for a magazine cover. And she’s got some kind of bleak, she’s aiming for a bleak sort of futuristic look, isn’t she, with her—she looks like a robot, she’s trying to look like a—
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah she does, yeah, yeah.
JIM MORA: And the quote going around the world, seeming to come from her but not actually, she didn’t say this, people are assuming she did, is: “Wow! Being in a wheelchair is so fun and fashionable!” So that is the, that is the quote being aired in, ahh, all the reports on this. …[baffled sigh]…. Would you put one of your models in a wheelchair?
ANNAH STRETTON: Snorts to show what she thinks of Kylie Jenner.
JIM MORA: This is the interesting question here.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah I don’t know why we’re giving this any air time. Ummm, y’know the reality of is it’s just stupid, as perhaps this whole thing is around the Kardashians, but, uh, no, no I wouldn’t put one of my models in a wheelchair. There IS a sensitivity around disability, and you know I would sit very uncomfortably with anything like this, and I just, I think this is just bizarre.
JIM MORA: Seventeen year old Ophelia Brown posted her own image and says “I wanted to show her that being in a wheelchair is not glamorous or fashionable or fun. A wheelchair’s a big part of my life. She seemed to be sitting on it for fun, or to look more edgy and cool, and I felt overwhelmed with annoyance and jealousy that she could just get in and out of a wheelchair.” And you can completely understand this reaction. But uh, errrrrmmm, it, it’s been defended as well. Uh errrr, people are saying, Look, you know, she didn’t necessarily mean anything by it, it’s just a shot of her in a wheel—- How do YOU view it, Tony?
TONY DOE: [lengthy pause] Tut. Yeah, “not necessarily meaning anything by it” is, errrr, it’s like “I was only obeying orders” or something like that isn’t it. I mean, you’re sort of INVOLVED, whether you like it or not, and the overall impression is, um, not good and to be fair, I mean these people, the Kardashians, they must have more P.R. advisers than Heaven knows who, and umm, you’d have thought that one of them might have tapped her on the shoulder and said, Oy, that’s not a very good idea doing that. Y’know, don’t because it’s gonna make, it’s bad for your image for a start, and it’s actually a rather crass and insensitive thing to do, so don’t do it.
JIM MORA: Or is the publicity the, is that what is the most important thing now? As with that—I don’t really wanna talk about the Caitlin Jenner billboard in Auckland, I mean, goodness knows it’s on the front pages of the online newspapers anyway. But, errrr, because not necessarily because it gives it oxygen, but ahhh, because media are so reactive now, but is that part of the point? And is it just gonna get worse and worse, so you can’t ignore people making statements, ‘cos they know it’s all, it’s going to cause outrage, it’s going to be reported.
TONY DOE: Y-y-y-yeaaahhh, it, it, it is a deliberately provocative act, and the idea is to get attention, and Mission Accomplished, isn’t it. You know, I mean, it draws attention to that fashion label. This is the, there was the story in the media today, I think, about a men’s accessories place, with rings, men’s hands on naked women—
JIM MORA: Oh yes, I saw, I saw the headline there.
TONY DOE: Yeah, a very similar sort of a thing, where the man’s hand with all these rings on it is on the back of this woman, um, he’s got clothes on, she hasn’t. People are saying it’s misogynist and various other things but the line of rings has sold out.
ANNAH STRETTON: [Guffaws sardonically] Huh.
JIM MORA: That’s the thing.
ANNAH STRETTON: Reacted to it, yeah.
TONY DOE: So, whatever happened, people wanted the rings, and the fact that all that attention was given to that advert drew people to that website and drew people to that product and they actually liked it when they saw it.
JIM MORA: Yeah, and Annah, you say quite reasonably I dunno why we’re discussing this, but presumably it may have the, y’know it’s supposed to educate people and shame them into silence and have billboards taken down and so on, but it may produce a kind of cacophony of constant rudeness, as people try and get edgier and edgier and edgier. That may well be the result.
TONY DOE:
ANNAH STRETTON: I dunno, we’ve got the billboard and we’ve got the wheelchair and they’re both the Jenners, aren’t they, with the—
JIM MORA: Yeah.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah, um, I think a lot of it, they don’t NEED the publicity, so I don’t understand why they had to go into this space to get it, because there’s a lot of other ways that they could, um, yeah, I, I, I, I dunno, I just think that, y’know, people that are forced in to wheelchairs because of a disability, ummmm….
JIM MORA: Don’t appreciate seeing HER sitting in one.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah. She doesn’t need to DO this. I don’t understand it, I really don’t understand it. And I don’t, obviously you can see that I don’t have a lot of time for the Jenners either, so—
TONY DOE: Ha ha!
JIM MORA: No I got that impression—-
ANNAH STRETTON: Heh heh.
JIM MORA: —-from your general tone.
TONY DOE: Yeah.
ANNAH STRETTON: Ah, heh heh.
As Annah Stretton continued her restrained snickering, the welling sounds of “Carmina Burana” signaled that, mercifully, it was time for them all to stop talking.
Straight after that public show of concern for the disabled, I sent the host the following email….
Dear Jim,
I find you and some of your panelists (like Chris Trotter and Lisa Scott) laughing at the plight of political dissidents to be far more offensive than anything Kylie Jenner has said or done.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
At LONG last.
New Zealand FINALLY ratifies the UN Convention Against Corruption.
‘Whistle-blowing’ works?
________________________________
Amy Adams 2 DECEMBER, 2015
NZ ratifies UN Convention Against Corruption
New Zealand has reinforced its commitment to combating corruption by ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, says Justice Minister Amy Adams.
The Convention is a legally binding global agreement to address corruption in the private and public spheres.
“While New Zealand already has a strong reputation for having low levels of corruption, we cannot be complacent. We have broadly complied with the Convention for a number of years, but we needed to make a limited number of law changes before we could ratify it,” says Ms Adams.
The necessary changes were made through the Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill, which amended 15 Acts and was recently passed by Parliament.
“The changes made by the Bill, along with our formal ratification of the Convention, mean New Zealand’s ability to combat corruption is now stronger than ever.
Benefits of ratifying the Convention include ensuring our domestic anti-corruption measures remain robust and meet international best practice.
“It’s also a clear demonstration that New Zealand values a fair and corruption-free international trading system.
This is important for maintaining New Zealand’s reputation as a trustworthy trading partner with zero-tolerance for corruption.
“As a member of the Convention, New Zealand will be able to better contribute to global anti-corruption efforts by providing a legal basis for extradition and mutual legal assistance between other member countries when dealing with corruption-related crimes,” says Ms Adams.
New Zealand joins 177 other countries as a State Party to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
The Convention focuses on four key areas: prevention, criminalisation, international cooperation, and recovery of the proceeds of corruption.
The specific amendments made by the Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill to enable ratification of the Convention include:
the creation of new corruption offences related to solicitation and acceptance of bribes by foreign public officials, and trading in influence over public officials
increased penalties for private sector
corruption
clarification that no bribes are tax deductible.
_________________________________
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
What a joke. Kinda rich isn’t it when the Key National government is the most corrupt government this country has ever had.
<a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1512/S00052/another-26m-for-more-saudi-sheep-barbaric.htm