There is nothing people like Hosking would like more than for Green MPs to be hobbled and ineffective in order to avoid bogus and shabby accusations of hypocrisy.
Couldn’t agree more with Mike on this one. I’m sure when Lucy Lawless protested against Shell in New Plymouth she burnt up a fair bit of fuel driving there. Or did she ride her bike ?
Be James.
Get up bright and early and read Hoskings column.
Think to yourself, those lefties on the Standard will be interested to hear this!
Post up the link (First!) and wait for the excited responses.
What’s this? These lefties don’t like this rightwing opinion?! And then someone insults you? This really is the living end! Who could have guessed such terrible behaviour would come from the caring left.
You let them know you see it and that it obviously this means they can’t discuss a point. The point you posted.
Did you do it to get this reaction?
Who cares, you pwned them.
You smile knowing that you’ve started your day off well.
I’m fairly sure Hosking won’t acknowledge global warming until his fabulous house is on fire and his face resembles a melted candle. Actually, with all the hair product he uses, it’ll probably just explode showering anyone nearby in blood and bone fragments.
Yes, a real green party like Sustainable New Zealand would bundle up all their emissions and put them on a rocket to mars. Only if the business case stacked up of course.
To follow his views makes you a puppet of a muppet.
And truth be told, he doesn’t give a shit what he’s saying he just lubes up on whale oil and delivers his daily bukkake theatre to the masses. No kissing, takes the money from the bedside and leaves.
I can’t think of a more sad, disheveled person then Mike Hoskins to whinge about other peoples travel. This man, who essentially still lives in the late 90.s the last time he was young (if ever he was ) , who travels by maserati in a country with notoriously bad roads, and a 100 km speed limit is not fit to read the morals to anyone.
Not on marriage, not on child raising, not on affording children and certainly not on environmentally friendly travel.
He is slowly but surely turning into that old coot that shakes his limp fist at the sky and yells at kids to stay of the lawn.
Just goes to show that you can have a good live and still be the most miserable fuck there is.
i just cant understand why he puts so much effort into emulating the people he despises. holey jeans was grunge last century i think . Maybe he thinks will make him hip.
Does it really matter what James Shaw says or does? He is so irrelevant…needs a woman to tell him what to say or do. Openly supports benefit fraud and use of the “C” word in front of children. He lost all credibility a long time ago. Needs to step aside and let Chloe take over as sole leader.
Mind you …..I think Winston likes toying with him so he probably likes having him there.
I’m no fan of Hosking. I think Larry Williams is ok though. But James Shaw needs a spine for a shiver to run down.
IMO Chloe is clearly the future of the Green Party and the sooner she is promoted the better.
I believe Simon Bridges is learning from Muhammed Ali with his ‘rope a dope’ ploy. It is defined as “a strategy to appear weak to convince an opponent to attack and fall into a trap.”
Well, he’s succeeding with the first part of the strategy.
Well, sheesh. I cruised past TS on my usual am perambulation and thought whoah!!! All those comment so early…must be something really, really earthshatteringly important.
Meanwhile…seriously dodgy shit going on up at Richpricksville.
Boundary pegs???? Hah! We scoff at such restrictions…
I miss felix. And thank r0b for dropping by now and then.
But Rosemary’s story about the millionaire and the commons is educational. How to appear to be concerned about the rules, but watch that they don’t get the inkling of implicit agreement to the plans of the squatter when you think you are making a small concession. Note the comment from the Environment Court Judge. I think we need the process tightened up. These wealthy types are running rings around us.
“To protect that native planting from users of the Wildlife Refuge, including those employing motorised vehicles, a standard rural post and batten fence was installed. This was agreed with and supported by DOC. That standard farm fence sits within the edge of the planting and is now largely hidden within it.”
HOW THE FENCE GOT THERE
Among the many resource consents the developers applied for was for the earthworks and water required to turn a sandy pine forest into a grassed golf course.
Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith noted in his ruling several resource consent applications had been made: “The piecemeal approach of the applicant seems to be designed to avoid making an application which requires notification, and therefore the prospect of the entire consent being subject to scrutiny.”
Among the conditions in the decision was requirement, subject to agreement with DoC, for a fence to be placed on the northern boundary of the property and for a 60m-wide strip of planting to be a corridor between a wetland and the beach.
The ruling said the planting could take place on either side of the boundary.
Initially the discussion between Tara Iti Holdings and a community liaison group discussed whether a fence could be used to control predators, said Rogan. As a representative of the Fairy Tern Charitable Trust, she was keen the endangered fairy tern in the reserve would get as much protection as possible.
“The plan we jointly agreed with the developers was for an ordinary fence, but the lower parts of it would have a kind of a mesh that would corral predators to certain places where you put traps and would stop them getting to the wildlife refuge.”
The fence built to stop people walking over planted and weeded areas. There are no signs on the fence indicating it’s not a boundary, or suggesting people don’t walk in the area.
Photo:
The fence built to stop people walking over planted and weeded areas. There are no signs on the fence indicating it’s not a boundary, or suggesting people don’t walk in the area.
According to Rogan and others at the meeting there was talk about the placement of the fence, and the possibility of the fence deviating from the actual boundary line due to topography. Its final placement came as a shock.
“If it was just a little bit of a wave here and there, sure. You would obviously put a fence in the best position but it’s quite a long way inside the wildlife refuge.”
Rogan is also disappointed at the lack of the predator mesh on the bottom half of the fence.
Was Ed any more of a ‘loss leader’ than James @1 ?
Many of Ed’s viewpoints seemed progressive (to me), and they posted links of interest (to me.)
In time, perhaps I’ll come to recognise James’ redeeming features, although tbh there’s probably about as much chance of that as there is that I’ll understand why Ed attracted so much ridicule left and right.
Thanks Sacha, I had to Google ‘sockpuppet'(eers). Assumed that it was a simple term of abuse used by the usual suspects, so had never bothered to pursue it further, but now I see I was wrong. Would love to know the back story, but maybe too much like “washing your dirty linen in public”?
Fair enough – my impression was that often Ed’s heart was in the right place (not sure the same can be said for James, who seems mostly to be out to cause as much ‘damage’ as possible).
Sometimes Ed presented views on climate change and other topics they were ‘passionate’ about in stark terms, more starkly for sure than climate change being (in Ardern’s words) “my generation’s nuclear-free moment“.
Maybe Ed’s extreme points of view do more harm than good in the cause to slow the global warming juggernaut. With any luck history will be the judge of that.
I think we should be very concerned about climate change.
Scientists are now telling us we’ve 12 years left.
Shouldn’t we all be passionate about that?
Indeed, is there an issue more important?
Ed is an authoritarian pure and simple. It was not just CC that he held such views about. That doesn’t put his heart in the right place, it makes him an arsehole.
Strongly support your view that authoritarians are (generally) arseholes. But (for your own safety) softly softly, aye – there may be some closet authoritarians reading.
Ed regularly swamped post with his pronouncements. It’s not his soapbox. But he tended to want to dominate it. And put up short sharp comments too often, when it is meant to be a place of discussion. And was pushing out NZ stuff with foreign muck. I treasure TS for a place to discuss mostly, NZ muck and pass on some high points that are positive when I see them. I don’t want somebody taking over the whole discussion and filling up people’s brains and time with what he has decided will rule. It ain’t democratic. You just get left with a tic. I am surprised other people haven’t noticed his pushy ways.
“Wanting to have people sent to labour camps because they deny climate change is not progressive.”
It’s ironic how easy the centre-left labels anyone they don’t like hearing from as a “fascist” and then do their utmost to make sure those people are silenced.
Can you not access George Galloway yourself Milly? It doesn’t pay to be too dependent on others – the spirit of enquiry can take a person away into that place where you don’t know what you don’t know. There are more bits of info than there are galaxies in space. Fascinating, have a dig and pass on the link and tell us about it.
The commentator I miss most from those of the past is Lanthanide. His comments were always worth reading and you could always hold a civil debate with him.
Did he just give up in the end as the debate became ever more polarized or was he banned?
Lanthanide never came back after getting a one week ban that I thought was OTT. It was in the midst of a mod-fight and the temperature was pretty raised…
For addressing the content of my post, and offering a perfectly acceptable potential solution ….in the absence of any action from local or central government.
Typical that these rich foreign pricks are still coming in in droves’ to tread all over our “natural environment’ as I in 1993 saw the same thing from Atlantic beach in Virginia to the Florida cost line as i drove south.
The whole coastline has virtually been fenced to keep others out now!!!!!
So Tangata whenua; – you had better guard the coastline here, as the yanks are coming with their roughshod rules on taking over sensitive coastal areas. .
Interesting the timing of your post and this today, with public land being lost to protect the privacy of Ric Kayne, an American Billionaires house.
“Go for a stroll in the reserve and it’s unlikely you’ll realise you could get within eyeballing distance of a bathing billionaire. A sturdy, eight-string fence built by Tara Iti Holdings, extends – in places – up to 90m into the public reserve.”
Also the ability of planners to circumnavigate “the system”
“Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith noted in his ruling several resource consent applications had been made: “The piecemeal approach of the applicant seems to be designed to avoid making an application which requires notification, and therefore the prospect of the entire consent being subject to scrutiny.” https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/110998405/us-billionaire-ric-kayne-builds-fence-on-mangawhai-wildlife-reserve
Rosemary put that link up at 3 before we wandered off about Ed, and I replied up there so have put the same thing you have done Herodotus. I didn’t know you were down here.
Outstanding to see such comprehensive thought entertained by (local) government bodies.
It annoys that all the community groups are based in facebook. A lot of people wont go to them including me. It is a lazy cheap ass way to make a website and feeds into a highly corrupt tax-dodging business.
Yeah. FB is like oil to me in some regards: we’ve become dependant on a thing that is bad for us. The attraction of both is not lost on me. The problems with both clearly apparent.
Like oil, we need to wean ourselves off FB. An artificial social construct posing as (and replacing) real community. It’s not the model so much as the management. TS works, FB is corporate, not community, it is a poser. Divide into groups, polarise, manipulate, sell…. what a shitty place to hold a community meeting, or any meeting really.
The insidious nature of it made my skin crawl. talk about a thing in a pm, get a targeted ad or political meme… arrrrgh!
This bullshit aobut facebook seriously ist getting tired.
You can use facebook, you can put up as much or as little information you want, you can give as much or as little informaiton you want, and that is that.
It is a tool. If you use a W. T. Bleeple as your name it will be accepted, if you give no information i.e. birth day, town etc it will be accepted, yo udon’t have to read stuff you don’t like, you don’t have to like stuff you dont’ like . Etc etc etc.
essentially it is a tool. Use it for your purposes and ignore the rest.
Thanks for the confirmation FB is a tool. A tool of corporate design.
Congressional hearings… nothing to see here.
FB had nothing to do with Trump, and besides, hasn’t he improved the world anyway.
This BS where people wont support huge corporations all because they’re inhuman assholes is getting tired. Especially picking on poor tax dodging billionaire sack of shit corporations.
Shill? seriously?
A hammer is always only a hammer. No matter if you use it for a nail or to bash someones head in. The tool is simply that a tool.
Facebook is a tool. For people to connect. For people like me that have a lof of friends oversees to chat. For people with small businesses to sell their wares. For people who live away from family to easily update etc.
It is a tool for these guys here, Community Fruit Harvesting – a local non profit that collects surplus fruit and makes it into Jams, Cordial, Fruit leather etc that then gets distributed among NZ Food banks, schools, old folks homes etc. It is a tool for Community Fruit n Vegetable stands -local stands on private grounds for people to drop of surplus from their gardens and jams/chutneys, seedlings, tins of food for those that don’t have enough – Motto, leave what you can, take what you need.
It is a tool for gardeners to meet, discuss growing of produce, advice new comers, swap seeds, share recipes etc – NZ Veggie Growers.
I know, nefarious businesses all of them and I am happily shilling for these guys, each and everyone of them.
Short it is a tool, and it is up to you as to how much you use it, how you use it, how much information you give or not, it is not the demon personified, no more then is Apply, Samsung, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and the likes.
I mean, personally i prefer Carrier Pigeons, i am however being told that it was not a viable way of connecting in our days.
Actually Facebook is apparently all you say Sabine and when I get it
sorted and know how to work it well I am sure I will find it useful.
But it keeps wanting to get my photo, my details etc. very annoying. And in the absence of getting information it puts up things picked up from my family. Most of the profile is false but I didn’t put that up. Don’t believe everything you read on Fbook. But because it is up and in public if people like one’s employer saw stuff on it they might think it had been put up deliberately to deceive.
Don’t diss carrier pigeons will you. They may be the in thing at the end of the day.
There are plenty of free online tools that allow you to communicate with others, including blogging sites that can be customised with a fairly cheap domain name.
The problem is not the availability of alternatives, it is just that many are familiar with Facebook and go with the tool they know.
I loved that Jacinda said she wanted to hear from people about the tax payers working group who weren’t Herald columnists…………………….Yes, yes yes. We’ve heard from Barry, Heather and Mikey to name but a few. Why their opinions are elevated to being worthy of publication is beyond me.
The fish wraps front page with two articles one on Bennett with a photo that looks like it was taken at a Tupperware party being “happy, healthy and proud” the other on Bridges being a “dirty little street fighter” posing with his family. Then an attack on the Greens co leader by the Hosk. No wonder Nationals little poodles get exited.
I really wasn’t complaining about you by the way.
It was Cleangreen being inconsistent in his complaining.
Personally I think that people get far to precious about the word. It doesn’t imply complete inclusion of the whole population.
q. Employers cry out for more staff. Why? It’s the market, the employees would rather work in oz than here. Why? Well neolibs are lazy and stupid, coz they won’t stop big govt interference in the market. Seems your average employee would rather get paid more, also pay less income taxand pay a CGT in OZ. Seems the media can’t explain that to kiwis, that the reasons for high OZ Bank profits out of NZ, the risk premium on interest, the low productivity, the sad selling of companies early so we don’t grow more medium to big companies that shrinks the stock market offerings… …the list is extensive. 0% CGT means kiwi employees pay higher income taxes to fund employer CGT contrabutions, whereas Oz employers do. So kiwi employers are advantaged against their competitors and are carried by their employees. Now you’d think that given how many employees their are compared to owners, you’d expect the masses to be kick up holy dirt, but no.
Yet strangely there is a way to rectify matters, employers could offer employees a share in the business. In fact, govt should legally force all business to provide 10% of their company shareholding to their employees. No need for a CGT. Balance the books.
Repetitive trolling by James. Predictable. If change can’t happen to assist the flow of intelligent, probing, quality discussion on this blog, then its value to thinking and preparedness for our future is compromised. At present change is happening fast outside in the world and keeping up with it difficult.
The tenets that TS was set up on seem to allow and even enable timewasters like James to come here. It results in that people argue on behalf of their presence them because they are amusing, they put up something worthwhile, they try to argue their points; these attitudes are so laid-back last century stuff.
Spare a fellow feeling for sloths – like all of us they are under threat from change and depredation. In NZ we should be able to understand them, our traits being so close to theirs. But we don’t want to look at us, rather the US, Venezuela; or the menu showing the troubled Country du Jour gets wise opinionated know-alls on their case. It is so sad that wise people are wasting away here when international calls should be made begging them to come and bring their Dr Strangelove superior intellects to assist.
Here, an opinionated person on NZ from past Labour is Phil Quin. I can’t work out whether he is mired in past century thinking and trying to roast Labour for where they have failed, or is looking at the NZ situation objectively and just stating the facts. His latest piece points out that local government can’t keep up with infrastructure from growth, and rates are rising fast. Who ya gonna call, ghostbusters? Or call out the Labour Coalition?
He goes on to quote Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta fom a recent Cabinet paper, that rates are rising faster than inflation with the greatest likely to occur in the next three years. The Minister refers to “optimal services and achieving good outcomes”. But isn’t that BAU for NZ at present, no surprise. He sounds as if he is waiting for the Financial Tooth Fairy to collect its austerity teeth and leave a gold coin under our pillow. The Labour Coalition as a magical be-ing.
“For former prisoner Awatea Mita, the Electoral Strengthening Democracy member’s bill is a welcome addition to the political debate, and any change can not come soon enough.
Not being able to participate in shaping a better future for herself and her family was humiliating and dehumanising, she said.”
How was it not dehumanising and humiliating for being convicted and sentanced for committing a crime? Was the future better shaped for herself and family by conducting the act of committing a crime?
She is a former prisoner. The object should be to include all people in a society that acts in a fair way from cradle to grave. We don’t have that and some people have to make tremendous adjustments trying to cope in this situation.
There are people in prison who would be better dealt with in other ways, there are people outside prison who should be in there even for short periods, and there are people outside who haven’t been caught yet who deserve a good prison sentence. So life isn’t black and white as your simple-minded questions imply
indi-anna.
That would be no Gobby. They cost 100k per year to keep the bastards.
It’s funny how these poor wee petals feel hurt but don’t give a fat rats arse about their victims.
Naki man
What do you do for the victims? And what do you do for the criminals to help turn their ideas and get a moral outlook on life so they feel empathy for others in society. Oh they are all just bastards says thoughtful Naki man.
Always easy to blame someone else.
“He was such a nice person, just got mixed up with the wrong crowd”
I wonder if Graeme Burton is a nice guy? I guess society failed him. And that Bell bloke?
I wonder about Jimmy. When did he learn to be such a sadsack? Always thinking of the worst case scenario -so fearful that he thinks the worst will happen whever he lets his guard down, and got so unhappy and scared that he couldn’t leave his house. /sarc
The majority of prisoners
Fetal alcohol syndrome, Neurological disorders, drug addiction, below average intelligence, State foster care, illiterate, etc.
Sounds like early help, would have avoided a lot of crime occurring.
Unless you want to continually increase the number of “crime university graduates, after the harm is done?
That is the sad part. People in the know have stated that early help in a child’s life can make all the difference. But the government is so uninterested either in the kids or the future costs to the country that they just turn away from providing the help and paying the lesser costs now. After all it is a mental uplift for the wealthy to have people to moan about and feel superior to.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sian_Elias#The_Blameless_Babes_speech
“n July 2009 Elias caused controversy with her remarks in the annual Shirley Smith address, organised by the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Law Society’s Women-in-Law committee. The annual lecture is given in honour of noted criminal defence lawyer, Shirley Smith. The speech was entitled “Blameless Babes” after a quote from Smith, who wrote “[providing] a prison at the bottom of the cliff is not a solution”.
My guess is most people in prison never voted prior to going to prison .
So one would think that getting them enrolled and voting and teaching them about their civic duty would be part of the rehabilitation.
Making them feel they have a voice might just help .
But na your type would rather just hate and punish a??
Since Jeremy Corbyn first ran for the Labour leadership in the summer of 2015, the party has faced an unrelenting witch hunt targeting the left and Palestine solidarity activists.
The NCC* functions as the party’s internal trial court, sending accused members charge sheets and legalistic bundles of documents. But it is a highly politicized body.
Up until September, it was still controlled by Maggie Cosin, a member of Labour’s right wing once described as the party’s “witchfinder general.”
The new chair, Anna Dyer, has promised to bring change, after a pro-Corbyn majority was elected to the NCC at the Labour Party conference in September.
* National Constitutional Committee, or NCC, Labour’s disciplinary body.
I looked further on the site and came up weith this interesting summary of an apparently implacable Corbyn hater, Joan Ryan. This from 20 February 2019. Lawmaker Joan Ryan quit Labour on Tuesday, citing party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s supposed “demonization and delegitimization” of Israel.
Ryan is the leading member of Parliament in Labour Friends of Israel – an Israeli embassy front group.
She notoriously fabricated a charge of anti-Semitism against Labour member Jean Fitzpatrick at the UK opposition party’s 2016 annual conference.
Labour Friends of Israel was defiant on Tuesday night, insisting that Ryan would “remain in her position as our parliamentary chair” despite her departure from the Labour Party.
In her resignation statement, Ryan claimed Corbyn is responsible for a “culture of anti-Jewish racism and hatred for Israel” and a government led by him “would be an existential threat” to the Jewish community.
With friends like this in the same Party, who needs enemies? Incidentally I think I saw that the Friends of Israel are getting behind the Independents from Brexit.
On the same blog.
I have talked about water a bit. How to drought and flood proof landscapes using earthworks and swale systems. I have presented evidence for the drought proofing ability of such systems but until now have not seen a ‘100 year flood’ hit one.
And if you watch the one about Greening the Desert – it’s not just about trees.
This is providing humans with gardens in the driest conditions, and it shows how we all could utilise this clever management. Water is for conserving, not for giving away to $-balls for them to get money from so they can afford a seat on a rocket to space or a harem of poor young women for pleasure.
Too much money is bad for us apparently – it doesn’t turn us into comfortable, better, generous people. I’d settle for reliable enough with a bit extra for funsies.
By itself, it won’t matter if the Senate votes that there’s no emergency. Because it needs the satsuma stubbyfingers to sign it, but he’ll just veto it. And there’s not enough votes in either the senate or the house for a veto over-ride.
Where it will make a big difference is in the courts. The Constitution gives the power of the purse entirely to Congress. So if a majority of both the House and the Senate votes to say no to spending money on a wall, that should hold a lot of weight in any argument the prez is illegally violating the constitution by trying to spend on something that Congress has explicitly told him “no”.
Trump’s tactic of reallocating from a variety of DoD workstreams should protect him from Congress investigating Federal law budgetary breaches, so long as he doesnt cut too hard against the Antideficiency Act.
Its his best funding shot.
But then comes detailed design and procurement. Coupla years.
Big picture to keep in mind through all this is Don of the Deadbrains doesn’t actually care about a wall, he just wants to keep his wallnuts onside. A long drawn out fight is just as good for that as actually building anything. Maybe better.
The Warehouse is New Zealand’s Walmart.
It has destroyed small businesses in the country in the 1990s and 2000s.
It has ruined small towns.
It replaced good jobs with McJobs.
It uses kids to get free labour.
It brought in tonnes of plastic low quality from overseas.
If Tindall has run a sustainable business, I could sell you a bridge….
I disagree. I just think we should be a bit more honest about the societal cost of big box retail.
And I don’t think the owners should be honoured for the damage they did.
I read a book – can’t remember what’s it called now- about this couple from the Bay of Plenty, who had their business destroyed by the Red Sheds.
The more I read about them, the more they sound like Walmart.
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Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
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Hosking starts the day off well regarding the hypocrisy of James “air miles” Shaw
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12209121
I agree, Green MPs should only be allowed to travel by lime scooter or not at all.
There is nothing people like Hosking would like more than for Green MPs to be hobbled and ineffective in order to avoid bogus and shabby accusations of hypocrisy.
Couldn’t agree more with Mike on this one. I’m sure when Lucy Lawless protested against Shell in New Plymouth she burnt up a fair bit of fuel driving there. Or did she ride her bike ?
What do you call a Green who’s not hugging a tree at that very moment? A hypocritical eco-socialist.
They only hug trees when there is a TV camera there.
Zen. When a Green hugs a tree and there’s no camera to bear witness to it, does it make a sound?
I don’t think that’s true – I can think of a Green transport spokesperson who goes out of their way to minimize their carbon footprint.
I wonder how the new ‘stainable party’s gonna cope with this one Baz?
left forward;
The Sustainable New Zealand Party was on the AM show today saying we need sustainable policies.
But Vernon Tava of ‘sustainable NZ never spoke a word about sustainable transport?????
Why didn’t he talk about rail as being the best ‘low emissions’ transport for slowing climate change??
Does he only support the trucking of freight around NZ, and does this represent “sustainable” policy?????
The Koch Brothers and big oil will love him for this.
Rail uses five to eight times LESS oil than trucks USE, to move each tonne each kilometre.
Now that would be a sustainable policy = to use rail.
Wake up ‘ex Green Party member’ – Vernon Tava of ‘sustainable NZ’ !!!!!
Green party is strong on rail, so why aren’t you also Vernon?
I am a NZ First voter and they have the best rail policy now.
Funny how political Parties change ‘hats’ isn’t it?i
Because he had other topics to cover other than your obsession on trains.
What’s your obsession James? It seems to be to disagree and sneer at any change a leftie may wish to discuss.
Oh, that’s just one of our James‘ ‘obsessions’.
“The Sustainable New Zealand Party”
is not even registered yet.
You and Horeskin on the same page on this are you Boozza? Reading from the same script? On message?
Good point, maybe I should change my name, I have been on the piss since 7.00 am this morning
But that’s Shell’s doing Boozza. No Shell, no protest.
Broomstick, actually.
Burn her? CO2 CO2 CO2 ….
“…Hosking starts the day off well…”
Oxymoron from a moron.
An Oxymoronmoron may well be a new word to describe trolls like James.
Ahh first insult of the day from the caring left.
The petty bullying is pathetic.
Hosking has a good point here.
I agree, again, James. You started OM so well today.
Wah wah wah! Quick, someone call James a wambulance, someone insulted him and his hero the Hosk, and he ain’t standing for it!
Just pointing out your behaviour this morning. Own it.
But I notice you do this when you are unable to discuss a point.
Zen. What is the sound of James discussing a point?
Oxymoron. James discussing a point.
Moron. James.
Try not to overuse ‘moron’ when replying to James – he owns that word.
Be James.
Get up bright and early and read Hoskings column.
Think to yourself, those lefties on the Standard will be interested to hear this!
Post up the link (First!) and wait for the excited responses.
What’s this? These lefties don’t like this rightwing opinion?! And then someone insults you? This really is the living end! Who could have guessed such terrible behaviour would come from the caring left.
You let them know you see it and that it obviously this means they can’t discuss a point. The point you posted.
Did you do it to get this reaction?
Who cares, you pwned them.
You smile knowing that you’ve started your day off well.
Hosking is a right wing parrot.
Who had an original thought, once, maybe in his life.
See the similarity, James?
Note: to self, exercise restraint and don’t call him a lying ignorant arsehole.
Ahh – First insult of the day from the non-caring Natz.
‘Except, of course, it isn’t, hasn’t and most likely probably won’t be.’
Hosk wisdom on global warming.
I’m fairly sure Hosking won’t acknowledge global warming until his fabulous house is on fire and his face resembles a melted candle. Actually, with all the hair product he uses, it’ll probably just explode showering anyone nearby in blood and bone fragments.
Wensleydale; – yes I think Hosking’s has been captured by the Koch Brothers and big oil; – as other right wingers here also have been.
Maybe Koch and their anti-climate change ‘disciples’ of oil will huddle in their own
‘elite survival bunkers in New Zealand’ and elsewhere soon?
Panicked Elite Buying Bomb-Proof Luxury Survival Bunkers to Escape Civil Unrest, Disasters
http://robinwestenra.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-elite-building-survival-bunkers-in.html
Yes, a real green party like Sustainable New Zealand would bundle up all their emissions and put them on a rocket to mars. Only if the business case stacked up of course.
I’m sure the Good James will leap on board the first available solar powered airliner with alacrity jimbo.
Hosking is an unmitigated **** for cash.
To follow his views makes you a puppet of a muppet.
And truth be told, he doesn’t give a shit what he’s saying he just lubes up on whale oil and delivers his daily bukkake theatre to the masses. No kissing, takes the money from the bedside and leaves.
[Edited for sweariness. TRP]
WeTheBleeple -I agree entirely.
Thse “muppets are just trolls.” Useless time wasted talking sense to them.
Why?
Oh is Hoskins getting his marching orders from the US?
Cause there they just attached AOC for ‘traveling by UBer’! Gasp, shock, clutches pearls, faints!
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1102021054363586561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1102021054363586561&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2019%2F3%2F3%2F1839039%2F-AOC-fires-back-at-report-that-Uber-usage-makes-her-a-hypocrite-says-she-s-living-in-the-world
I can’t think of a more sad, disheveled person then Mike Hoskins to whinge about other peoples travel. This man, who essentially still lives in the late 90.s the last time he was young (if ever he was ) , who travels by maserati in a country with notoriously bad roads, and a 100 km speed limit is not fit to read the morals to anyone.
Not on marriage, not on child raising, not on affording children and certainly not on environmentally friendly travel.
He is slowly but surely turning into that old coot that shakes his limp fist at the sky and yells at kids to stay of the lawn.
Just goes to show that you can have a good live and still be the most miserable fuck there is.
i just cant understand why he puts so much effort into emulating the people he despises. holey jeans was grunge last century i think . Maybe he thinks will make him hip.
Does it really matter what James Shaw says or does? He is so irrelevant…needs a woman to tell him what to say or do. Openly supports benefit fraud and use of the “C” word in front of children. He lost all credibility a long time ago. Needs to step aside and let Chloe take over as sole leader.
Mind you …..I think Winston likes toying with him so he probably likes having him there.
Are you more or less credirelevantible than Horeskin jimbo?
I’m no fan of Hosking. I think Larry Williams is ok though. But James Shaw needs a spine for a shiver to run down.
IMO Chloe is clearly the future of the Green Party and the sooner she is promoted the better.
The parrots attack.
poorly aimed guano
Dead Parrots Society.
needs a women to tell him what to do and say?
Oh boy. Is that like Simon, never daring to go out without Paula Benefits?
He’s just protecting her, being a dirty streetfighter and all. Such soft hands.
Espiner had Bridges on the ropes..
Bridges is on the ropes so often these days, he may as well just stay there and try to make it look as nonchalant as possible.
Wensleydale, lol lol ha ha!! Good one.. Simon, slightly punch drunk… in the wrong division??
I believe Simon Bridges is learning from Muhammed Ali with his ‘rope a dope’ ploy. It is defined as “a strategy to appear weak to convince an opponent to attack and fall into a trap.”
Well, he’s succeeding with the first part of the strategy.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
Haha – excellent mac.
Well, sheesh. I cruised past TS on my usual am perambulation and thought whoah!!! All those comment so early…must be something really, really earthshatteringly important.
Meanwhile…seriously dodgy shit going on up at Richpricksville.
Boundary pegs???? Hah! We scoff at such restrictions…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/110998405/us-billionaire-ric-kayne-builds-fence-on-mangawhai-wildlife-reserve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG6UllZwj9c
SSDD
Sadly the UK Labour Party has been hi jacked by Tom Watson and his motley crew.
Another motley crew derails the Standard daily.
I miss Bill and Ed.
Instead we have rwnjs dictating the tenor of this blog.
Er, you are Ed, Jinx. Did you forget which sockpuppet you were using this morning?
Oh dear what a fail lol
Suffering from a Mozzy bite perhaps ?
Sad to have this jinx tongue in cheek playing the system and with that pathetic mix of bluster and self-pity.
Thank you Jinx, another fine commentator has joined this blog.
And yes we all miss Ed.
We really don’t.
Ad you may not!!!!- but do miss Ed.
Please don’t use ‘we’ !!!!
As that assumes I am part of your ‘we and I am not..
Another royal ‘we’ from Ad.
I miss Bill where is the cantankerous old Scot? Is he OK?
I miss felix. And thank r0b for dropping by now and then.
But Rosemary’s story about the millionaire and the commons is educational. How to appear to be concerned about the rules, but watch that they don’t get the inkling of implicit agreement to the plans of the squatter when you think you are making a small concession. Note the comment from the Environment Court Judge. I think we need the process tightened up. These wealthy types are running rings around us.
“To protect that native planting from users of the Wildlife Refuge, including those employing motorised vehicles, a standard rural post and batten fence was installed. This was agreed with and supported by DOC. That standard farm fence sits within the edge of the planting and is now largely hidden within it.”
HOW THE FENCE GOT THERE
Among the many resource consents the developers applied for was for the earthworks and water required to turn a sandy pine forest into a grassed golf course.
Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith noted in his ruling several resource consent applications had been made: “The piecemeal approach of the applicant seems to be designed to avoid making an application which requires notification, and therefore the prospect of the entire consent being subject to scrutiny.”
Among the conditions in the decision was requirement, subject to agreement with DoC, for a fence to be placed on the northern boundary of the property and for a 60m-wide strip of planting to be a corridor between a wetland and the beach.
The ruling said the planting could take place on either side of the boundary.
Initially the discussion between Tara Iti Holdings and a community liaison group discussed whether a fence could be used to control predators, said Rogan. As a representative of the Fairy Tern Charitable Trust, she was keen the endangered fairy tern in the reserve would get as much protection as possible.
“The plan we jointly agreed with the developers was for an ordinary fence, but the lower parts of it would have a kind of a mesh that would corral predators to certain places where you put traps and would stop them getting to the wildlife refuge.”
The fence built to stop people walking over planted and weeded areas. There are no signs on the fence indicating it’s not a boundary, or suggesting people don’t walk in the area.
Photo:
The fence built to stop people walking over planted and weeded areas. There are no signs on the fence indicating it’s not a boundary, or suggesting people don’t walk in the area.
According to Rogan and others at the meeting there was talk about the placement of the fence, and the possibility of the fence deviating from the actual boundary line due to topography. Its final placement came as a shock.
“If it was just a little bit of a wave here and there, sure. You would obviously put a fence in the best position but it’s quite a long way inside the wildlife refuge.”
Rogan is also disappointed at the lack of the predator mesh on the bottom half of the fence.
The chap should have to take the fence down, now.
The radical socialist left and ecological activists are being silenced on this site.
Ed me old mate your back as Jinx Horrah daily entertainment returns
And yes we all miss Ed.
I guess like in the sense that i “miss” the wart i had on my thumb when a child.
Was Ed any more of a ‘loss leader’ than James @1 ?
Many of Ed’s viewpoints seemed progressive (to me), and they posted links of interest (to me.)
In time, perhaps I’ll come to recognise James’ redeeming features, although tbh there’s probably about as much chance of that as there is that I’ll understand why Ed attracted so much ridicule left and right.
Never much love for sockpuppeteers (save for some mutual admiration prehaps).
Prehaps, prehaps (sic)…
Thanks Sacha, I had to Google ‘sockpuppet'(eers). Assumed that it was a simple term of abuse used by the usual suspects, so had never bothered to pursue it further, but now I see I was wrong. Would love to know the back story, but maybe too much like “washing your dirty linen in public”?
Wanting to have people sent to labour camps because they deny climate change is not progressive.
Fair enough – my impression was that often Ed’s heart was in the right place (not sure the same can be said for James, who seems mostly to be out to cause as much ‘damage’ as possible).
Sometimes Ed presented views on climate change and other topics they were ‘passionate’ about in stark terms, more starkly for sure than climate change being (in Ardern’s words) “my generation’s nuclear-free moment“.
Maybe Ed’s extreme points of view do more harm than good in the cause to slow the global warming juggernaut. With any luck history will be the judge of that.
I think we should be very concerned about climate change.
Scientists are now telling us we’ve 12 years left.
Shouldn’t we all be passionate about that?
Indeed, is there an issue more important?
There is no issue important enough to warrant labour camps for thought crimes.
Ed is an authoritarian pure and simple. It was not just CC that he held such views about. That doesn’t put his heart in the right place, it makes him an arsehole.
Strongly support your view that authoritarians are (generally) arseholes. But (for your own safety) softly softly, aye – there may be some closet authoritarians reading.
Ed regularly swamped post with his pronouncements. It’s not his soapbox. But he tended to want to dominate it. And put up short sharp comments too often, when it is meant to be a place of discussion. And was pushing out NZ stuff with foreign muck. I treasure TS for a place to discuss mostly, NZ muck and pass on some high points that are positive when I see them. I don’t want somebody taking over the whole discussion and filling up people’s brains and time with what he has decided will rule. It ain’t democratic. You just get left with a tic. I am surprised other people haven’t noticed his pushy ways.
“Wanting to have people sent to labour camps because they deny climate change is not progressive.”
It’s ironic how easy the centre-left labels anyone they don’t like hearing from as a “fascist” and then do their utmost to make sure those people are silenced.
I haven’t labelled him fascist. I’ve just said what he said.
So ironic you saying this given how many times Ed called me a Neoliberal.
At least you continue to connect us to George Galloway and other brave, independent spokespeople from the left.
Thanks Maui.
Can you not access George Galloway yourself Milly? It doesn’t pay to be too dependent on others – the spirit of enquiry can take a person away into that place where you don’t know what you don’t know. There are more bits of info than there are galaxies in space. Fascinating, have a dig and pass on the link and tell us about it.
Will do, greywarshark !
Also as a cat loving country Ed also introduces us to other cat lovers in the Uk
Cats, you say? George Galloway nails it …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8crwU7CB_A
Even a broken watch is right twice a day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfh-YY465HA
We all miss us. The missus misses us. We are miserable missing the missus missing us. It gives us misty eyes and near misses.
Nailed it?
The commentator I miss most from those of the past is Lanthanide. His comments were always worth reading and you could always hold a civil debate with him.
Did he just give up in the end as the debate became ever more polarized or was he banned?
No ban that I’m aware of. People do come and go (you wanna see the authors list!).
Lanthanide never came back after getting a one week ban that I thought was OTT. It was in the midst of a mod-fight and the temperature was pretty raised…
We can hope for tidal inundation in some cases…
Thank you WTB.
For addressing the content of my post, and offering a perfectly acceptable potential solution ….in the absence of any action from local or central government.
SSDD
We could just eat Kayne, although I’m sure he would taste smug – which would leave your tongue with that furry feeling.
Shades of Mr pulp and paper repaying all our tax payer subsidies, by out lawyering the Waiheke council, over access to a public road.
Rosemary,
Typical that these rich foreign pricks are still coming in in droves’ to tread all over our “natural environment’ as I in 1993 saw the same thing from Atlantic beach in Virginia to the Florida cost line as i drove south.
The whole coastline has virtually been fenced to keep others out now!!!!!
So Tangata whenua; – you had better guard the coastline here, as the yanks are coming with their roughshod rules on taking over sensitive coastal areas. .
I’ve had personal experience of that.
Never been stopped from going on Maori land, you just have to ask.
Same with most Kiwi farmers.
However I’ve had dogs set on us, using a public beach below the HWL, by the German owner.
And had an officious representative of a rich yank trying to tell me i couldn’t land on their beach. Despite there being a public ROW, to said beach.
Interesting the timing of your post and this today, with public land being lost to protect the privacy of Ric Kayne, an American Billionaires house.
“Go for a stroll in the reserve and it’s unlikely you’ll realise you could get within eyeballing distance of a bathing billionaire. A sturdy, eight-string fence built by Tara Iti Holdings, extends – in places – up to 90m into the public reserve.”
Also the ability of planners to circumnavigate “the system”
“Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith noted in his ruling several resource consent applications had been made: “The piecemeal approach of the applicant seems to be designed to avoid making an application which requires notification, and therefore the prospect of the entire consent being subject to scrutiny.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/110998405/us-billionaire-ric-kayne-builds-fence-on-mangawhai-wildlife-reserve
He sure didn’t sneak it past you Rosemary. Thank you for that. Do we comment to the Mangawhai Council/ Eugene/ others??
Rosemary put that link up at 3 before we wandered off about Ed, and I replied up there so have put the same thing you have done Herodotus. I didn’t know you were down here.
Nandor Tanzcos wrote about climate change and the political response from Whakatane.
https://nandor.net.nz/2019/03/03/responding-to-climate-change-in-whakatane/
Outstanding to see such comprehensive thought entertained by (local) government bodies.
It annoys that all the community groups are based in facebook. A lot of people wont go to them including me. It is a lazy cheap ass way to make a website and feeds into a highly corrupt tax-dodging business.
Unfortunately, they have to be on Facebook to reach people.
Not all community groups can afford a website, advertising it, and hosting fees.
Yeah. FB is like oil to me in some regards: we’ve become dependant on a thing that is bad for us. The attraction of both is not lost on me. The problems with both clearly apparent.
Like oil, we need to wean ourselves off FB. An artificial social construct posing as (and replacing) real community. It’s not the model so much as the management. TS works, FB is corporate, not community, it is a poser. Divide into groups, polarise, manipulate, sell…. what a shitty place to hold a community meeting, or any meeting really.
The insidious nature of it made my skin crawl. talk about a thing in a pm, get a targeted ad or political meme… arrrrgh!
Not a fan, one might say.
This bullshit aobut facebook seriously ist getting tired.
You can use facebook, you can put up as much or as little information you want, you can give as much or as little informaiton you want, and that is that.
It is a tool. If you use a W. T. Bleeple as your name it will be accepted, if you give no information i.e. birth day, town etc it will be accepted, yo udon’t have to read stuff you don’t like, you don’t have to like stuff you dont’ like . Etc etc etc.
essentially it is a tool. Use it for your purposes and ignore the rest.
Thanks for the confirmation FB is a tool. A tool of corporate design.
Congressional hearings… nothing to see here.
FB had nothing to do with Trump, and besides, hasn’t he improved the world anyway.
This BS where people wont support huge corporations all because they’re inhuman assholes is getting tired. Especially picking on poor tax dodging billionaire sack of shit corporations.
Fuck FB and everything they stand for.
Shill.
Shill? seriously?
A hammer is always only a hammer. No matter if you use it for a nail or to bash someones head in. The tool is simply that a tool.
Facebook is a tool. For people to connect. For people like me that have a lof of friends oversees to chat. For people with small businesses to sell their wares. For people who live away from family to easily update etc.
It is a tool for these guys here, Community Fruit Harvesting – a local non profit that collects surplus fruit and makes it into Jams, Cordial, Fruit leather etc that then gets distributed among NZ Food banks, schools, old folks homes etc. It is a tool for Community Fruit n Vegetable stands -local stands on private grounds for people to drop of surplus from their gardens and jams/chutneys, seedlings, tins of food for those that don’t have enough – Motto, leave what you can, take what you need.
It is a tool for gardeners to meet, discuss growing of produce, advice new comers, swap seeds, share recipes etc – NZ Veggie Growers.
I know, nefarious businesses all of them and I am happily shilling for these guys, each and everyone of them.
Short it is a tool, and it is up to you as to how much you use it, how you use it, how much information you give or not, it is not the demon personified, no more then is Apply, Samsung, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and the likes.
I mean, personally i prefer Carrier Pigeons, i am however being told that it was not a viable way of connecting in our days.
Actually Facebook is apparently all you say Sabine and when I get it
sorted and know how to work it well I am sure I will find it useful.
But it keeps wanting to get my photo, my details etc. very annoying. And in the absence of getting information it puts up things picked up from my family. Most of the profile is false but I didn’t put that up. Don’t believe everything you read on Fbook. But because it is up and in public if people like one’s employer saw stuff on it they might think it had been put up deliberately to deceive.
Don’t diss carrier pigeons will you. They may be the in thing at the end of the day.
There are plenty of free online tools that allow you to communicate with others, including blogging sites that can be customised with a fairly cheap domain name.
The problem is not the availability of alternatives, it is just that many are familiar with Facebook and go with the tool they know.
Pretty mean of Frontbum Tamihere to accuse Gfoffoloffle of only just discovering he’d like to be mayor. Is he willing to sell his soul for the job?
Question. Why does John Tamihere have to be such a dick?
He’s afflicted by Gareth Morgan Syndrome?
I don’t think he has to be. I think he just enjoys it.
Some of the comments about Mike Hosking are a tad unfair. I saw his headline which said “full of hot air.”
It’s clearly his field of expertise, for goodness sake, leave the man alone!
Ha, ha ha Peter.
I loved that Jacinda said she wanted to hear from people about the tax payers working group who weren’t Herald columnists…………………….Yes, yes yes. We’ve heard from Barry, Heather and Mikey to name but a few. Why their opinions are elevated to being worthy of publication is beyond me.
The fish wraps front page with two articles one on Bennett with a photo that looks like it was taken at a Tupperware party being “happy, healthy and proud” the other on Bridges being a “dirty little street fighter” posing with his family. Then an attack on the Greens co leader by the Hosk. No wonder Nationals little poodles get exited.
While we are being nice to each other, i think it will be useful, to remind everyone about dishonest debating tactics.
Usually used by those whose argument is weak.
Like Hosking quoted above.
Needling. Repetition and False equivalence, spring to mind
http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html
Robert – Thanks for the link to Nandor’s blogspot.
I may contribute to it now also. It has a “old green Party feel” of ‘common sense’ about it as NZ First has.
So Nandor may do well here.
KJT.
Hoskings is an agent of the elitists; – nothing more.
Except he probably has more support from “mainstream” NZers than many Politicians claiming to speak for them.
No. We think he is an arse.
KJT Ageed 100%.
I suppose I should simply quote back to you your own reply to Ad at 3.1.2.1.
“‘KJT’ you may not!!!!- but do miss ‘Hoskings’
Please don’t use ‘we’ !!!!
As that assumes I am part of your ‘we and I am not..
Or is it different when everybody is assumed to agree with you?
Congratulations.
I should have added quotes around the “we” to make it even clearer what Gosman was doing.
However, many people, i talk to, think Hoskings is an arse. Even the ones that often agree with him.
I really wasn’t complaining about you by the way.
It was Cleangreen being inconsistent in his complaining.
Personally I think that people get far to precious about the word. It doesn’t imply complete inclusion of the whole population.
The 25000 who signed the petition did not like Mike H at all.
q. Employers cry out for more staff. Why? It’s the market, the employees would rather work in oz than here. Why? Well neolibs are lazy and stupid, coz they won’t stop big govt interference in the market. Seems your average employee would rather get paid more, also pay less income taxand pay a CGT in OZ. Seems the media can’t explain that to kiwis, that the reasons for high OZ Bank profits out of NZ, the risk premium on interest, the low productivity, the sad selling of companies early so we don’t grow more medium to big companies that shrinks the stock market offerings… …the list is extensive. 0% CGT means kiwi employees pay higher income taxes to fund employer CGT contrabutions, whereas Oz employers do. So kiwi employers are advantaged against their competitors and are carried by their employees. Now you’d think that given how many employees their are compared to owners, you’d expect the masses to be kick up holy dirt, but no.
Yet strangely there is a way to rectify matters, employers could offer employees a share in the business. In fact, govt should legally force all business to provide 10% of their company shareholding to their employees. No need for a CGT. Balance the books.
Repetitive trolling by James. Predictable. If change can’t happen to assist the flow of intelligent, probing, quality discussion on this blog, then its value to thinking and preparedness for our future is compromised. At present change is happening fast outside in the world and keeping up with it difficult.
The tenets that TS was set up on seem to allow and even enable timewasters like James to come here. It results in that people argue on behalf of their presence them because they are amusing, they put up something worthwhile, they try to argue their points; these attitudes are so laid-back last century stuff.
Spare a fellow feeling for sloths – like all of us they are under threat from change and depredation. In NZ we should be able to understand them, our traits being so close to theirs. But we don’t want to look at us, rather the US, Venezuela; or the menu showing the troubled Country du Jour gets wise opinionated know-alls on their case. It is so sad that wise people are wasting away here when international calls should be made begging them to come and bring their Dr Strangelove superior intellects to assist.
Here, an opinionated person on NZ from past Labour is Phil Quin. I can’t work out whether he is mired in past century thinking and trying to roast Labour for where they have failed, or is looking at the NZ situation objectively and just stating the facts. His latest piece points out that local government can’t keep up with infrastructure from growth, and rates are rising fast. Who ya gonna call, ghostbusters? Or call out the Labour Coalition?
In the absence of bold reforms that empower communities and overcome this financial crunch, councils will be forced to pursue yet more cost-cutting and corporatisation – as we’re seeing with water reforms.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-body-elections/110954401/undemocratic-and-uneconomic-local-government-is-in-a-bind
He goes on to quote Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta fom a recent Cabinet paper, that rates are rising faster than inflation with the greatest likely to occur in the next three years. The Minister refers to “optimal services and achieving good outcomes”. But isn’t that BAU for NZ at present, no surprise. He sounds as if he is waiting for the Financial Tooth Fairy to collect its austerity teeth and leave a gold coin under our pillow. The Labour Coalition as a magical be-ing.
This is a piece he wrote at the time of the last elections. Is he pro-Labour or contra? Is he objective, or inclined to put his boot in if National would like that?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/97185921/phil-quinn-inside-the-nationallabour-chasm
It is understandable that the time has come for taking a close look at the government’s performance analysing and assessing it. This on 1 March from Radionz Peter Wilson asks questions. There doesn’t appear to be audio – just text for you to read.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/383714/the-week-in-politics-transforming-nz-easier-said-than-done-the-government-is-finding-out
I hope that the Labour Coalition will have good answers and explanations about their progress and difficulties.
At least the Labour Greens NZ First parties are doing something. They haven’t wasted money on a flag a saudi or irrigation schemes.
Zen. If James leaves a comment in the middle of The Standard and nobody would read it and comment on it, would it make a sound?
“For former prisoner Awatea Mita, the Electoral Strengthening Democracy member’s bill is a welcome addition to the political debate, and any change can not come soon enough.
Not being able to participate in shaping a better future for herself and her family was humiliating and dehumanising, she said.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/110934374/greens-want-prisoners-voting-ban-overturned-to-strengthen-democracy
How was it not dehumanising and humiliating for being convicted and sentanced for committing a crime? Was the future better shaped for herself and family by conducting the act of committing a crime?
indinana do prisoners still pay taxes?
She is a former prisoner. The object should be to include all people in a society that acts in a fair way from cradle to grave. We don’t have that and some people have to make tremendous adjustments trying to cope in this situation.
There are people in prison who would be better dealt with in other ways, there are people outside prison who should be in there even for short periods, and there are people outside who haven’t been caught yet who deserve a good prison sentence. So life isn’t black and white as your simple-minded questions imply
indi-anna.
That would be no Gobby. They cost 100k per year to keep the bastards.
It’s funny how these poor wee petals feel hurt but don’t give a fat rats arse about their victims.
You mean they don’t buy stuff Nastiman? How about the ones on parole? Are they exempt from income tax if they’re working?
I assumed that you meant people who are locked up when you said prisoners,
not the few that are working just before being released.
Naki man
What do you do for the victims? And what do you do for the criminals to help turn their ideas and get a moral outlook on life so they feel empathy for others in society. Oh they are all just bastards says thoughtful Naki man.
If you look at the background of the majority of prisoners, it is society that failed them. In the first instance.
https://youtu.be/q5hjiV7u8XQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9jXnZS3ouU
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6ad4MH7fMLs
Always easy to blame someone else.
“He was such a nice person, just got mixed up with the wrong crowd”
I wonder if Graeme Burton is a nice guy? I guess society failed him. And that Bell bloke?
I wonder about Jimmy. When did he learn to be such a sadsack? Always thinking of the worst case scenario -so fearful that he thinks the worst will happen whever he lets his guard down, and got so unhappy and scared that he couldn’t leave his house. /sarc
The majority of prisoners
Fetal alcohol syndrome, Neurological disorders, drug addiction, below average intelligence, State foster care, illiterate, etc.
Sounds like early help, would have avoided a lot of crime occurring.
Unless you want to continually increase the number of “crime university graduates, after the harm is done?
That is the sad part. People in the know have stated that early help in a child’s life can make all the difference. But the government is so uninterested either in the kids or the future costs to the country that they just turn away from providing the help and paying the lesser costs now. After all it is a mental uplift for the wealthy to have people to moan about and feel superior to.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/columnists/nikki-gemmell/celia-lashlie-what-boys-want-more-than-anything-is-the-eyes-of-their-fathers-upon-them/news-story/0360fcf96fe6a9ac51efde54138e5118
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sian_Elias#The_Blameless_Babes_speech
“n July 2009 Elias caused controversy with her remarks in the annual Shirley Smith address, organised by the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Law Society’s Women-in-Law committee. The annual lecture is given in honour of noted criminal defence lawyer, Shirley Smith. The speech was entitled “Blameless Babes” after a quote from Smith, who wrote “[providing] a prison at the bottom of the cliff is not a solution”.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/02/netherlands-prisons-now-homes-for-refugees/
Why do we persist with imprisoning so many, when it is obviously not working?
My guess is most people in prison never voted prior to going to prison .
So one would think that getting them enrolled and voting and teaching them about their civic duty would be part of the rehabilitation.
Making them feel they have a voice might just help .
But na your type would rather just hate and punish a??
bwagon, that is an extremely good point.
God Bless Jackie Walker
Looked up Jackie Walker – might be a large part of the constant cry of anti-semitism around Corbyn.
Here’s something about it.
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/labour-expulsion-hearing-set-anti-zionist-jackie-walker
“I’m so pleased to have a date for my hearing,” Walker told The Electronic Intifada.
“Whatever the outcome, it’s been amazing to be part of an anti-racist, anti-Zionist left that has refused to be silenced by what has been the worst political witch hunt of our generation.”
Since Jeremy Corbyn first ran for the Labour leadership in the summer of 2015, the party has faced an unrelenting witch hunt targeting the left and Palestine solidarity activists.
The NCC* functions as the party’s internal trial court, sending accused members charge sheets and legalistic bundles of documents. But it is a highly politicized body.
Up until September, it was still controlled by Maggie Cosin, a member of Labour’s right wing once described as the party’s “witchfinder general.”
The new chair, Anna Dyer, has promised to bring change, after a pro-Corbyn majority was elected to the NCC at the Labour Party conference in September.
* National Constitutional Committee, or NCC, Labour’s disciplinary body.
I looked further on the site and came up weith this interesting summary of an apparently implacable Corbyn hater, Joan Ryan. This from 20 February 2019.
Lawmaker Joan Ryan quit Labour on Tuesday, citing party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s supposed “demonization and delegitimization” of Israel.
Ryan is the leading member of Parliament in Labour Friends of Israel – an Israeli embassy front group.
She notoriously fabricated a charge of anti-Semitism against Labour member Jean Fitzpatrick at the UK opposition party’s 2016 annual conference.
Labour Friends of Israel was defiant on Tuesday night, insisting that Ryan would “remain in her position as our parliamentary chair” despite her departure from the Labour Party.
In her resignation statement, Ryan claimed Corbyn is responsible for a “culture of anti-Jewish racism and hatred for Israel” and a government led by him “would be an existential threat” to the Jewish community.
Ryan has been a leading voice in the manufactured “Labour anti-Semitism” smear campaign over the last few years.
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/joan-ryan-mp-who-fabricated-anti-semitism-quits-labour
With friends like this in the same Party, who needs enemies? Incidentally I think I saw that the Friends of Israel are getting behind the Independents from Brexit.
On the same blog.
I have talked about water a bit. How to drought and flood proof landscapes using earthworks and swale systems. I have presented evidence for the drought proofing ability of such systems but until now have not seen a ‘100 year flood’ hit one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gytyQS6cyjA
Sweet as.
Great WtB. That Geoff Lawton is good.
And if you watch the one about Greening the Desert – it’s not just about trees.
This is providing humans with gardens in the driest conditions, and it shows how we all could utilise this clever management. Water is for conserving, not for giving away to $-balls for them to get money from so they can afford a seat on a rocket to space or a harem of poor young women for pleasure.
Too much money is bad for us apparently – it doesn’t turn us into comfortable, better, generous people. I’d settle for reliable enough with a bit extra for funsies.
It appears there’s now 4 Repug senators ready to vote against Donny Diaper’s wall emergency tantrum.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/03/senate-emergency-declaration-rand-paul.html?via=homepage_recirc_recent
By itself, it won’t matter if the Senate votes that there’s no emergency. Because it needs the satsuma stubbyfingers to sign it, but he’ll just veto it. And there’s not enough votes in either the senate or the house for a veto over-ride.
Where it will make a big difference is in the courts. The Constitution gives the power of the purse entirely to Congress. So if a majority of both the House and the Senate votes to say no to spending money on a wall, that should hold a lot of weight in any argument the prez is illegally violating the constitution by trying to spend on something that Congress has explicitly told him “no”.
Trump’s tactic of reallocating from a variety of DoD workstreams should protect him from Congress investigating Federal law budgetary breaches, so long as he doesnt cut too hard against the Antideficiency Act.
Its his best funding shot.
But then comes detailed design and procurement. Coupla years.
Big picture to keep in mind through all this is Don of the Deadbrains doesn’t actually care about a wall, he just wants to keep his wallnuts onside. A long drawn out fight is just as good for that as actually building anything. Maybe better.
Wallnut base will shrink as each commentator – like Coulter – sees through its gaming.
2020 not even a wheelbarrow moving: I cant see base growth in that.
He needs a fresh source of hate.
I can see test Rugby going the way of test Cricket if the US broadcasters pick up on the growing superiority of the US Sevens Rugby team:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12209181
Only five years ago were mortified if we lost to Fiji in a Sevens final.
Now we lose to the US in a semi-final, more often than not. We don’t even get to the finals as much, let alone win.
Mark Taylor spent five years with IS.
One of his regrets? Not being able to afford a Yazidi slave.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/383879/new-zealand-jihadist-mark-taylor-captured-in-syria-and-jailed-in-kurdish-prison
I believe there are positions going to help clear rats from the Auckland Islands.
He can enslave and behead as many rats as he likes, as well as doing good for New Zealand and the world.
I guess society failed him in the first instance too
Society failed you, they must have run out of empathy shots when you came along.
Big Read: Miners ready to re-enter Pike River mine to try … – NZ Herald
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12208132
Any Red Dwarf fans out there.? And Timothy Spall? Found this wee clip. Good.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qIkXfxyB-8
Just throwing it into the mix for the fans.
BREAKING….
Just heard via the wireless that ‘the ship’ is resigning from the board of the China Construction Bank.
I think she should resign her title of dame as well.
A few other knights and dames should have their titles removed.
Talley.
Key.
English.
Jones.
Birch.
Tindall.
L’Estrange Corbet.
Graham.
Hill.
Quite the roll of honour, isn’t it?
nah
Just repeal all titles and replace them with letters after the name. It’ll piss ’em all right off.
Great idea.
I think Tindall is the odd one out in that list. He is part of a Sustainable Businesses group I think, doing something fo NZ.
The Warehouse is New Zealand’s Walmart.
It has destroyed small businesses in the country in the 1990s and 2000s.
It has ruined small towns.
It replaced good jobs with McJobs.
It uses kids to get free labour.
It brought in tonnes of plastic low quality from overseas.
If Tindall has run a sustainable business, I could sell you a bridge….
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/08/06/the-warehouse-where-shareholders-get-a-bargain/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3517713
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3505998
https://www.planning.org.nz/Attachment?Action=Download&Attachment_id=3160
Tried for treason he should be. Sent to a camp hahmmm.
I disagree. I just think we should be a bit more honest about the societal cost of big box retail.
And I don’t think the owners should be honoured for the damage they did.
Tried by the people’s court he will be.
I don’t believe Tindall should be on that list. Reason???
OH I see……….. Child labour NO!!
Plastic Yes!! The rest… “think big” you know….it was the fashion. He has seen the light.
I read a book – can’t remember what’s it called now- about this couple from the Bay of Plenty, who had their business destroyed by the Red Sheds.
The more I read about them, the more they sound like Walmart.
Does that mean it’s going to go bust in two weeks?
Someone needs to check her pockets. Never saw anyone so like Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, of whom it was said:
“Many of his silver spoons mysteriously disappeared and were never accounted for.”
🙂
Scientists of NZ – stars for gazing at and learning from:
On Innovation in NZ –
http://www.press.auckland.ac.nz/en/browse-books/all-books/books-2013/Get-off-the-Grass-Kickstarting-New-Zealands-Innovation-Economy.html
Sir Paul Callaghan and Professor Shaun Hendy 2013 (Sir Paul died in 2012)
What we should be doing instead of low cost retailing (at least the Warehouse is NZ owned I think.)