Open mike 04/03/2025
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https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360600851/frances-prime-minister-tears-trumps-attack-zelenskyy-staggering-show-brutality
Excellent show of spirit from the French,
trumps attempted theft of Ukraines minerals is akin to pinching the wallet of an assault victim while they try defend themselves.
Donald, the same, with much more justification, can be said of Netanyahu!
looks like the Trump is setting up zelensky for a wee exercise in regime change. That would do a good job of upsetting the european union.
They're going murder Zelenskyy.
US President Donald Trump stepped up his threats against Volodymyr Zelensky Monday after a blow-up row in the Oval Office, suggesting the Ukrainian leader "won't be around very long" without a ceasefire deal with Russia.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-not-put-zelensky-171737440.html
U.S.-instigated regime change—the 2014 coup against the elected government—is what caused all of these unfortunate events, as well as the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians.
https://x.com/ricwe123/status/1895742688689033616
The history of it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yanukovych
Wikipedia.
As trustworthy as your ADL link earlier.
That facts seem to be a problem for your narrative is not my problem.
"Facts." You haven't got a clue. And I'd bet that you didn't read that Wikipedia thing you cited.
It ends when someone has nothing to say, except to claim to be the one who knows.
.
The problem with Wikipedia articles is that they are mostly compiled from previously published news articles .Newspapers and magazines which are largely western centric.We don't seem to have much exposure to the interpretations and analysis from non western sources.No doubt this is because we in the west are infallible,, pure of purpose, the others just peddle in blatant propaganda …sarc
For instance the WIKI article on the Russo Ukraine war is predominantly made up of citations derived from western sources , The Kyiv Post, CBS, der Spiegel, Interfax Ukraine BBC,Encyclopedia Brittanica online ,Radio Free Europe etc .All singing from the same song sheet .Yes , I want to hear all that , but I want also to hear the other side's voice
Wikipedia is not going to give me that.
A balanced approach would include maybe Tass at the least
Folks, it’s not Appeasement that the Donald is practising, it’s Alignment!
The US and Russia are, by James O’Brian’s reckonings, now aligned! Which is so much worse!
Imagine if Chamberlain had returned from Munich in 1938 and said, not ‘Peace in our time,’ but “Adolf and I now think alike on Europe.”
O’Brian expresses the incredulity and disgust I, and I suspect, so many many others felt, at the wretched performance in the Oval Office the other day! 16 mins long.
Trump, Vance, Putin, Netanyahu….that is a dinner party I don't want to attend.
The Guardian reported yesterday that Trump's polling is tanking. Roll- on the mid terms.
I'm predicting those mid-terms won't matter a fartful.
Could be gerrymandering, voter suppression and/or intimidation, spurious disqualifications of candidates, dismissal of any anti-Trump result as "fake" – or even outright suspension of the elections for "security" reasons. Whatever, they simply won't get held in any meaningful sense, or allowed to generate a result which diminishes the Trump gang's hold on power.
Aye..!…
..a mid-term debacle will trigger widespread protests ..which trump could use as a reason to declare martial law..
…and to suspend elections…
..backed by his compliant military/supreme court…
(..any american constitutional experts present who can confirm this is an option trump has..?
..a 'card' he has to play..)
Agree, millions were purged from rolls this last US election on spurious grounds, even long time voters, voter suppression was harsh in some states too. The mid terms even ten years ago would have been a chance to sit Trump on his arse, but after Jan 6 and the MAGAs behaviour since makes it more doubtful.
They cannot gerrymander much more. They did purge rolls in 2024 so people had to re-enroll.
The (House 2024) SAFE Act (will go Senate this year now the GOP has a majority) requires require birth certificate ID to match the name on their photo ID (state drivers license/state ID in lieu of having a licence). Or to provide a marriage certificate to show a change of name.
The current moves are a takeover of election oversight (to make it partisan) and US Post (address verification etc – to run it down).
The Grauniad? Now there's a trustworthy source. Not.
https://www.medialens.org/2021/two-centuries-of-the-imperialist-warmongering-hate-filled-guardian/
https://www.medialens.org/2021/shocking-omissions-capitalisms-conscience-200-years-of-the-guardian-john-pilger-and-jonathan-cook-respond/
I know it's not the Graun of old….very pro Starmer.
But in this case they were quoting a presumably reliable polling company.
And to its credit it does publish articles by Owen Jones and John Harris that are highly critical of the UK Labour government.
I know it's not the Graun of old….
Sadly, it's very much the Graun of old. For a short time, however, it was the decent paper that some people still, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, still believe it is. The Guardian was one of the mainstream outlets that, just over a decade ago, published the world-shaking revelations, by Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, of massive U.S. crimes against not only other countries, but against its own citizens. In addition to the renowned Assange, it employed Glenn Greenwald, without question the brightest and most respected journalist in the United States. The British and U.S. establishment was momentarily taken aback, suffering the indignity of having some of its most unpleasant operatives being made to look foolish; aficionados of evil people getting their comeuppance still relish Greenwald's dispatch of Baroness Pauline Neville Jones live on the BBC in October 2013…
However, the British establishment rallied, and it soon exacted a brutal revenge: it orchestrated, using as its weapons the harried and fearful Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny and the corporate media, absurd and completely discredited sexual allegations against Julian Assange, which set in train years of persecution, turning Assange into the punchline for a million dismally unfunny jokes and wild allegations, one of which was recycled by someone on this forum a few days ago. The Guardian, along with the BBC, was the principal purveyor of this stream of filth; they imparted respectability to the scurrilous tabloid-level lies concocted by the propaganda units of British intelligence. Guardian writers like James Ball and Marina Warner ridiculed Assange relentlessly, and wrote jokes about his suffering. The Guardian campaign against him didn't stop at mirthless ridicule and character assassination: Luke Harding lied that Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort visited Assange in his place of diplomatic refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in 2016.
So, unfortunately, my friend, that brief moment of journalistic excellence at the paper is a memory only.
very pro Starmer.
Very anti-Corbyn. Again in concert with the state broadcaster, the Guardian was the principal weapon in the Israeli regime's campaign of lies and paranoid fantasy against Corbyn.
But in this case they were quoting a presumably reliable polling company.
And to its credit it does publish articles by Owen Jones and John Harris that are highly critical of the UK Labour government.
I agree with you. But it must not be forgotten that, for all his recent excellent work, Jones was one of the most pitiless repeaters of the absurd "anti-Semitism" fantasies that ruined the Labour Party in 2019.
The problem is, that the only sources you regard as trustworthy, are the ones that many of us regard as highly biased – and anything but neutral.
It makes it very difficult to debate anything – as there is apparently no middle ground – but rather the scorched earth of mutual intolerance.
So…which media publications would you suggest those reading the guardian should also read..?
..to achieve this 'balance' you seek..?
(..and there is ‘balance’…and then there is invasion (Putin)..and mafia-standover (trump..
..eh..?..)
I have no suggestions of reading material.
Just commenting that Morrissey appears to regard any sources which counter their narrative as being untrustworthy.
Trump was advocating detente with Russia in his 2016 campaigne. So his present stance should come as no surprise.
Detente is very different from alignment!
An unwillingness to spend money on a particular cause does not indicate an "alignment". The fact that that decision could help Putin is circumstantial.
A circumstance Putin is delighted with – but, hey, nothing to see here!
Where are we heading? Monitored and surveilled. Everywhere ?
Suspicious persons? Who exactly defines that? And run by private companies? Ah well, nothing to hide etc…..
Who watches these watchers? Thank fuck there are some.
Not like some Police would ever misuse it..(to say nothing about a Govt)
And yea..the Surveilled Society. Was creeping…now becoming insidious.
I have been Aware (of this and many other erosions of our NZ Society) for many years. Pays to be….
Except the NZ road death toll for 2024 was below 300 for the first time since 2014.
Great if we all drove well, but if we're going to get our death rate under 250 a year, we need mass network surveillance, tickets, arrests, court appearances, and loss of licence minimum.
We should extend it to jaywalkers too…!
There are pedestrian crossings .!
..make them use them…!
..even more 'mass-surveillance'…!
..it's the only answer .!
..eh..?
I probably don't need to tell you then of the multiple injuries and deaths caused by people on scooters and bikes.
Just in Auckland last year, there were 3 million cycle movements, recorded across 24 sites, which is an increase of 2% from 2023.
Don't hesitate to give wellington Council the benefit of your footpath and cycleway wisdom.
And 'mass surveillance' will solve those two-wheels issues too..?
..pray tell how…?
..cameras everywhere..?
Yes. Cameras, charges, Court hearings, and fines. New regulations better enforced.
Suck it up cupcake.
Safety to life and limb is more important than your feelings.
Heh…!..'cupcake'….
Would you self-describe as an old school left authoritarian…?
Your urgent urgings for 'mass surveillance' certainly smack of that…
And yr thoughts on the lowered speed limits explaining the lowered deaths on the road…?
Nothing to see there…?
You seem to be assuming that lowered speed limits, in the absence of any form of monitoring, would result in lower deaths.
Manifestly untrue. In the absence of enforcement, speed limits are routinely ignored.
We see this every year, when the police enforce speed limits more closely over the holiday period. The number of enforcement notices rises.
Without enforcement – both laws and limits are pointless.
Not true..I drive a formerly 100 k rural road on outskirts of Auckland….
100 used to be the speed I and others drove at…
..since the 80 drop…that is the speed we now drive at..
..it also makes for a much safer/more pleasant driving experience…
I am actually dreading going up again…and it returning to race-track status..
..and re 'enforcement': there is one fixed/signposted radar …and I have seen cops running speed trap once ..in all this time…
So really… pretty much everything you said/claimed…
..is incorrect…eh..?
(..just your 'opinion'..?..no facts/evidence to support that 'opinion'..?..)
And there is zero speed limit enforcement (either implicit or overt) on this road?
Clearly there is – since you comment that you've seen this happening. Not to mention that you aren't posted there 24/7, so you have no idea what happens when you're not present.
If people think that they'll get fines, etc for speeding, they reduce their speed, so they are inside the limit.
Yes, of course, my opinion.
Oh, evidence supporting my opinion….
Of course, those who don't care about speed limits (23% of people in the last MoT survey I could find) – presumably won't care if the limit is 80 or 100 – they'll just travel at whatever speed they want to.
https://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Report/Speed-survey-results-2015-v2.pdf
So 77% of people will pay attention to a posted speed limit (if there is some possibility of enforcement).
We don't have any evidence of the number of people who will pay attention to a posted speed limit, if there is no possibility of enforcement.
Perhaps you'd like to find some evidence to support your opinion….
My evidence is my experiences…no I am not there 24 hrs…and of course some people will speed..
..I would just note that I have been surprised at how that lower speed seems to be accepted by most…
I don’t have vehicles trying to overtake me on my regular use of this road..
I've forgotten….what is it you are arguing…with your 'opinion'….
(I will see yr 'opinion'…and raise you with an anecdotal)
Yeah, anecdata is all you've got.
Guess my opinion, supported by actual evidence is worth more.
If you’ve forgotten the points being discussed, you should feel free to read the thread again….
Meh…!
How eloquent…..
You mean, caused TO people on scooters and bikes, of course.
Could the lower road death rate have anything to do with lower speed limits?
Nah..!
.that's far too logical/rational..!
It mst be'cos of 'mass surveillance'…!
And look..!…what everyone isn't facing up to…
..is that people break the law all the time..in their own homes ..and they get away with it..!
..we need 'mass surveillance' everywhere .!
OIly if the speed limits are enforced, which requires that nasty 'surveillance state'
I read recently on the Guardian I think, that blanket lower speeds in built up areas in the UK has resulted in fewer insurance claims and subsequently lower premiums. Motor insurance is mandatory there.
No the lower speed limits are only in a few select areas, not necessarily in high accident areas.
Check out our road toll back in the late 70’s through the 80’s, with a population of about 3m our road toll was about 600 to 800 per year.
They were in for too short a time before being reversed. It's possible, but now we'll probably never know.
The road toll on the Blenheim-Nelson SH6 makes your point, ianmac. Between 2007-2017 19 deaths and 90 injuries. Since then, far fewer especially since the road speed lowered in 2020.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/127315811/zero-deaths-following-speed-lowering-on-blenheim-to-nelson-highway?rm=a
lol. Troll on.
Mostly, we should keep the road speed reductions put in place by the last government.
[image resized – Incognito]
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360600922/luxon-school-lunches-make-marmite-sandwich
Yep, it's just so simple in his sorted universe.
The state wouldn't need to if the state ensured that everybody could earn enough to adequately feed their children. Like paying not a minimum wage but a living wage!
Aye..!
I would add extending working for families to all families..
..and fuck luxon..!
..the nerve of him blaming parents trapped in poverty..
..for the outcomes of/from that poverty…
It's always the poor's fault for being poor.
The recent salvation army report has one in four nz children suffering from food poverty..
…they don't have enough food…what does luxon not get about that…?
..and does he feel no responsibility to put that right…?
(..the stats for pacific island are almost unbelievably bad .
…one in two pacific island children are experiencing food poverty…!..)
..and all of this in a rich country…that lives off exporting food to the rest of the world..
..and one whose political leader blames those suffering food poverty…for that misery ..
..and who clearly plans to do nothing about it…
…who just doesn't care…
..about all of that child poverty/families suffering..
..that he has the power to fix…
[Please be more careful next time when typing your user name, thanks – Incognito]
Mod note
Quite – if it's not the State's responsibility to feed children, then it must be the State's responsibility to ensure that parents/guardians have both the income and the time to do so.
The State cannot have no responsibilities in this area, because if there is no right to food then there is no right to life, which would be a violation of the Bill of Rights. But it does make clear the foundational ideology of the Right – that essentially, the only rights you have are what you can earn for yourself (or your children) in a labour market that is largely controlled by other people.
LOL
Luxon: "If they don't like what's put into the school lunches, maybe they should make a marmite sandwich and add a piece of fruit"
Hipkins: "But that's what was in the school lunches before you meddled with them"
Well, then Hipkins should be delighted with a reversion to the status quo ante.
A couple of sarnies and an apple would enable the current budget to be cut by at least 2/3. /sarc/
Somehow, I don't think that either Hipkins or Labour would be delighted with your characterization of the previous school lunch programme.
Some school principals are expressing concern that the NZQA requires literacy and numeracy NCEA tests to be done online.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/543511/new-ncea-tests-failing-students-in-low-income-schools-principals 03.03.25 John Gerritsen
"Principals from schools in the country's poorest communities united to call for an end to new NCEA reading, writing and maths tests. They warn the online tests will create a generation of school-leavers with no qualifications and most will be Māori or Pacific.
After two rounds of reading, writing and maths tests last year, the failure rate for teens from low-income schools was through the roof.
More than half failed the reading and writing tests and nearly three-quarters failed the numeracy test.
None of those students can get an NCEA qualification until they pass the tests or complete up to 20 extra credits in literacy and numeracy – an option that is available only until the end of 2027.
Simon Craggs from Papakura High School said 50 principals from schools with an equity index number of 500 or greater – indicating their students face many socio-economic barriers to learning – wanted it to stop.
"We believe that there's an equity crisis approaching in education, or is already here actually. If you look at the results from 2024 you'll see that the results particularly at level 1 for students in the lowest socio-economic band have dropped off a cliff," he said.
He said the fall in achievement was due to the literacy and numeracy requirements and the schools wanted an end to the online tests.
They also wanted the alternative 20-credit option for meeting the literacy and numeracy requirement to become permanent instead of ending in December 2027, and they want it to count toward the 60 credits students' need for an NCEA certificate……
Craggs said literacy and numeracy standards needed to improve, but the online tests were the worst possible way of enforcing it….
Mākoura College principal Simon Fuller …..said the schools were facing a 70 percent failure rate once the common assessment activities or CAAs became the only route to achieving the literacy and numeracy requirements.
"Our NCEA results are really good but that's not due to the CAAs, that's due to the alternative pathway, which I believe is just as a robust as a CAA….
Fuller said teenagers had not had the benefit of the latest changes to literacy teaching in primary schools and the online tests were not a fair test of their abilities.
"It's not that they can't necessarily read, write and do maths, they just can't do it in that form of exam…."
Jim Hay-Mackenzie from Flaxmere College said students who the school assessed as having the necessary level of literacy and numeracy still failed the online tests.
"The issue…is the way it's being assessed, which is through the online test of reading and writing and numeracy. Many of our students aren't very good at tests and exams, and our data's shown that students that have met the requirements through our testing have not been able to handle the pressure of a 60-minute test," he said.
Hay-Mackenzie said many of the school's students …would do better with hard copy, paper-based tests.
He said he would prefer a literacy and numeracy assessment via a portfolio of work, but failing that, a hard-copy test…".
Rather than acknowledge the concerns expressed by the principals about online tests, ACT's Laura McClure makes insulting comments about their motives for wanting alternative ways that students can acquire NCEA.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/543585/act-accuses-principals-of-lowering-expectations-after-call-to-scrap-new-ncea-tests
"The ACT Party is pushing back on calls for new online literacy and numeracy exams to be scaled back….
…..ACT's education spokesperson Laura McClure said the principals were wanting to get rid of tests that exposed what the problem was.
"What kind of leadership are kids getting when the message from their principals is, 'this is too hard for you and we need to make the test easier?'," she said in a statement.
"As a country we cannot afford to lower expectations and create a workforce defined by mediocrity. We must aim higher and empower every student to reach their potential."
She said NCEA exists to offer real knowledge and skills, and set real standards – not to give qualifications to everyone….
"We need to lift our aspirations and ensure school leavers have basic competencies – such as being able to understand the employment contracts they're signing."
McClure said as a parent she was "really disappointed to hear principals discussing our children's education in this way".
"When you're a kid ……from your principals you really need that strong leadership…..".
She said the principals' worries were real, "but what I would say to that is if we have low pass rates with a specific demographic then we should actually be thinking what can we do to get them to where they need to be? …
"I do think there is merit in having the old pencil and paper, however an online test is not that uncommon, and in fact a lot of employers will be asking you to fill in applications online with basic literacy skills, , so I think it's really relevant for today's world.
I don't think we should ever be lowering the bar in order for more people to pass … it sets ourselves up to the next working class coming through with potentially not the skills to thrive."….
The principals are not suggesting "lowering the bar"; they are advising of other options to online NCEA tests.
McClure's comment "the next working class" is condescending, generalising and reflects her stereotypical expectations for students from low-income schools.
The problem is that their other methods don't work to ensure that NCEA graduates have minimum levels of literacy and numeracy (which is why the mandatory exam was put in place to begin with).
Suggest that those schools need to review their teaching, if their Y13 students are (repeatedly, over several years) unable to meet a test designed to be passed with Y10 knowledge.
Yes, there is a problem (that they're dealing with now) with kids leaving primary/intermediate unable to read, write or do basic arithmetic. How have they re-adjusted their teaching practice to do intensive basic skills tuition for those teens? The article is remarkably silent on this.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/543511/new-ncea-tests-failing-students-in-low-income-schools-principals
The suggestions they make:
Where are the statements that they are instituting practice exams (to get kids used to the exam environment and producing results under 'pressure' (Really, a 60 minute test is too much for them?). Practicing online tests – again to get students used to the format/environment. Intensive teaching/coaching of students who either have or are likely to fail the tests?
All of which have been put in place in many other schools (personal knowledge).
The quoted schools seem to be more concerned over the 'reduction' in their NCEA pass rate, than they are concerned over graduating functionally illiterate teens.
Funny how hungry kids that have to shift schools every few months because their parents lose a tenancy, or jobs, who have both parents working to keep rent paid, or are single parents because they lose help if they find a partner, or cannot afford food because rents are too high, or didn't get reading recovery at seven because of lack of funding, don't leave school with good grades!
More tests, to quantify the problem, AFTER the damage has occurred doesn't solve anything!
Currently most of the children at my Grandkids primary who require help are not getting it. Those who need medical or remedial help are on year long waitlists. It has become notably much worse since the Coalition of cockups cut funding for"non-frontline staff".
Teachers know which children need more help, long before they reach NCEA level.
The will to provide solutions to the real causes. Underlaying poverty and lack of funding for those falling behind at early primary, is in the too hard basket for this bunch of ideological clowns.
BTW. Summative testing too often tests the “how to pass the tests” skills. Not underlying problem solving skills and general competence in a subject.
None of which was addressed by the teachers in the above articles.
If kids are functionally illiterate and innumerate when they leave secondary school, do you think that pretending the problem doesn't exist, by giving them NCEA qualifications solves the problem?
In this case, teaching to 'pass the test' seems like an entirely valid approach. If (and, I'd say it's a big if), the teachers are entirely convinced that their students have the basic literacy and numeracy knowledge, but are struggling to express it in a formal testing environment (which is what they claimed in the article) – then teaching to the test is *exactly* the way to go.
Of course, it seems much more likely that this is not the case (as you've outlined above – for a whole variety of reasons) and these teens are functionally illiterate and innumerate when they reach secondary school, and do not substantially improve over the NCEA years.
What actions are the teachers in the article taking to address this issue? It would surely be better to address the problem, rather than try to camouflage it.
How to deliberately mis-understand, eh?
Teachers know there are problems.
We know how they need to be addressed.
And. It is not by tests after the fact.
The COC'up has no interest or plans to address them. They are happy with poverty, underfunding and the resulting lack of achievement of a long tail.
A tail which evidence shows is caused by the sort of policies the COC'up is putting in place.
Perhaps you can point to evidence in the linked articles that teachers have any other plan to deal with the problem, apart from finding some way to pretend it doesn't exist.
Please note, this NCEA numeracy and literacy test was put in place by the previous government – rather than the current coalition.
Hoe about responding to what I actually say.
Teachers know what the problems are. Hardly "denying it".
The COC'up is the one ignoring the real causes.
How about you respond to what I actually said, as well as what was in the article.
The teachers didn't outline *any* strategy in the article, to address either of the potential issues (unfamiliarity with online testing; or illiteracy/innumeracy). Their 'solution' was to move to paper-based testing (without addressing any of the issues that paper-based testing has), or to stop testing altogether (without addressing the fact that the kids couldn't read, write, do basic mathematics).
If you think that anything in the linked articles indicates that they have a plan to deal with the issues – you should feel free to quote that.
Teachers have been highlighting the issues of underfunding and poverty.
What the hell are Teachers expected to do about issues, that only the Government can fix.
At present, child poverty worse than 2018.
https://www.cpag.org.nz/media-releases/for-the-second-year-in-a-row-more-children-are-growing-up-in-poverty-new-zealanders-call-for-action-while-leaders-talk-economic-growth
What you are talking about is just ineffectual bandaids. Typical of National pretending to "fix" something while doing everything else in their power to make it worse.
Like the, no food, for schools.
In these articles, teachers had nothing to say about the causes of the inability of their students to pass exams. Their only solution was to pretend the problem doesn't exist, and waive the literacy/numeracy requirements for them.
If you can find any solutions in the articles – as I said above, please highlight them.
The cause of our big tail of illiteracy and numeracy in schools is poverty and underfunding.
NOT something schools can change.
The COC’up are currently engaged in actively destroying one of the “fixes” that is proven to work. https://www.cpag.org.nz/media-releases/cpag-urges-government-to-reverse-school-lunches-cuts-as-an-achievable-way-to-alleviate-rising-child-poverty-levels
There will be an even bigger tail after this bunch of inumerate and illiterate crooks are voted out.
Unfortunately the cost of repair will reverbarate for decades. Just like the costs of the unfortunate experiments of Richardson and Douglas.
The issue is illiterate and inumerate kids due to lack of funding and the effects of poverty.
Not! tests.
Well, if it's not something that schools can change, what is the purpose of sending kids to school? You might as well warehouse them in daycare, with no need for teacher qualified staff.
What a remarkably silly attitude.
We pay teachers *to* teach kids.
If they need to go back to basics in Year 9 – and teach kids how to read, write and do maths, rather than the details of WW2 in social studies – then that would be a much better outcome. If they then need those kids to repeat Year 9, so they can do the actual course content – then that would be an even better outcome. Sadly, none of this appears to fit their agenda.
Certainly much better than the proposed one in the articles – of pretending these kids are functionally literate – which seems the approach that you and the teachers prefer.
Please note that we've just had 6 years of centre-left government, which did funnel money to feeding kids in schools, and into education in general. Only to have yet another tranche of illiterate, innumerate kids graduate to secondary school.
Perhaps it's time to change the teaching model….
My next door neighbour says her (white 8yo) granddaughter has started to hate school after the new testing system.
UK Professor Frances Maratos in 2020: 'Too often in the UK education system we create environments that can lead to feelings of shame, criticism, guilt and threat; factors that contribute to poor mental health and increase vulnerability to psychological disorders.
'Too little in the UK education system do we create the opposite. That is, environments that are safe, secure and allow children to learn from failure without negative repercussions. This is secure competition.'
The Tory 'test, test, test' system we have imported wholesale from the UK has been proven to have a negative effect on schooling, particularly at primary school age.
Link to quote, not to Prof
Having lots of kids leaving school without any formal qualification might be quite a good way of suppressing wages.
Probably not, you need that basic NCEA qualification for just about any entry level job. Employers need to know that you can read safety signs, for example. Kids who are functionally illiterate may luck out and find an employment niche – but more likely to be permanently unemployed (and at high risk of being involved in criminal activity).
But they wouldn't be functionally illiterate, or unable to do any job, or be beyond training into a job, or be functionally hopeless in any way, they just won't have an NCEA qualification – which would become a nice justification for paying a perfectly useful human being next to nothing.
The giving, and especially the witholding, of credentials can be used to drive and justify a system of stratification – if that is what you want to do.
What evidence to you have that they can read, write and do basic maths, but can't pass the NCEA test?
The only people who can't be helped to do basic arithmetic, reading and writing are those with congenital (or acquired) intellectual disabilities or neurological disorders. That's provided the right environment is created around them from birth by society as a whole. I see no evidence that all the kids now at risk of having no NCEA qualifications fall into these categories.
If one regards blunt instruments like NCEA tests as anything other than broadly indicative (rather than definitive) then it shows a naive faith in systems of measurement outside the physical sciences.
This is a pincer movement: cut government spending to shrink the economy and turn the labour market into a hyper-competitive hell-hole, then into that environment pump out kids who have no formal credentials but are actually employable with a bit of time and effort.
However, waving a magic wand, and pretending that kids who are currently functionally illiterate (for whatever reason), can pass these tests – is pointless.
The last Labour government introduced these tests because kids who were unable to read, write or do basic mathematics were gaining NCEA qualifications – but were unemployable.
That problem hasn't gone away.
Also, if these kids are “actually employable with a bit of time and effort.” – what the heck have the teachers been doing over their years in school? Perhaps they should be the ones putting in the time and effort, during their schooling. After all – that’s what teachers are paid to do, teach.
If they can learn to read, write, do maths – how come their entire education has been a failure?
While Luxon waits for his request for Seymour to focus his attention on sorting out the centralisation of food in schools programme, he provides advice on how families can cope.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360600922/luxon-school-lunches-make-marmite-sandwich
"Make Marmite sandwiches" So CLuxon suggests a Tax Dodging Food Manufacturer for his attack on school lunches. What a ****.
I'm looking for the obvious cartoon with Luxon dressed up as Marie Antoinette whining "let them eat marmie sannies"
Oh yes exactly, his face photoshopped onto Marie Antoinette's body.
Already on Facebook. LOL.
Luxon is right – parents could give them a rendered down bones (w/colouring and flavouring) sandwich, except that marmite is actually not a very good food product being extremely high in sodium.
The point is that National promised they would continue the school lunch scheme, albeit with alterations. The CoC promised that halving the cost of the scheme would result in better quality – which they knew they couldn't achieve thus was a lie, the lie has played out and all the red herrings like Luxon's latest cynical sneer won't change that.
My guess is that they will ditch it entirely before the end of the year and buy out the contracts. It is much too much like hard work for the CoC and we have seen that they don't like hard work – they like the easy jobs like filling potholes and putting up speed limits and sacking civil servants with the stroke of a digital ID.
Luxon is right, but far too nice. Let's stop the whiny culture of 'no' and say 'yes' to cannibalism. If that skinny year 9 boy is the first to keel over with hunger, then onto the barbie with him. It would be a perfectly apt mirroring of how our economy works.
No far better just tp mount a weekly raid on the government subsidized private school up the rd , grab a porky little toff more feeds per carcass, the right will love as survival of the fittest is their belief system.
Ah, Jonathan Swift, where are you when we need you?
Making jokes about killing people isn't particularly funny, and IIRC is specifically against site policy.
That's true. I apologise.
Perfect food for "bottom feeders" : )
Luxon is playing this wrong: he's protecting the political rival of his party and his own leadership. Political mumpty, like Putin with Trump, Seymour's got Luxon fighting his battles for him.
If Luxon had any political nous, he'd let Seymour hang himself on this issue.
Yip because act will not lose votes on this there voters will mostly hate poor people, whereas national could definitely leak a few more voters
"he just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich"
That marmite vs vegemite was a thing in the 1970s when we were swapping lunches at primary school, in those halcyon days where even the poorest families could afford food, and that the nasty commenters think is still reality out there. You couldn't pay me enough to eat vegemite, and plenty of other kids wouldn't go near my marmite.
Wasn't there also a religious marmite/Vegemite schism..?
Didn't Catholics eat Vegemite..?
..and Protestant's eat marmite..?
The vegemite/marmite schism is like the proddy/catholic shism.
(jar of each in our household)
The only time I touch the stuff is after I have recovered from flu or the like and my tastebuds are all shot, its the only thing I can taste.
"Keeps you feeling healthy and strong…."
Spread the good word….
I remember this TV ad from the 70s.
Of course you do get the Marmite/Vegemite…and Avocado cult : ).
toasted vogels, of course..
Natch : )
I'm a signed up life member of the vegemite/avo cult…
I have had both pretty much every day..for decades..
(I have a seven avos a week habit..it can get quite expensive in the off-season..)
This whole school lunch debacle is getting worse. Personally I’m appalled that the country I grew up in, is now in a position where we need to feed children in schools. we now need to provide lunch. As such we shouldn’t be so niggardly about the cost.
Seymour, as “Catering Minister”, certainly needs to up his game. My suggestion is to put him in charge of the army’s catering for the mid winter live fire exercises, he can then explain to cold, hungry and fully armed SAS troopers why they should eat his crappy food…
Luxon could do with going back to Sunday school, preferably with the Wellington city mission and learn some humility.
There were kids going hungry when you & I were at school back in the day (70s/80s for me), I remember sharing my lunch many times with other kids. Great comment David.
If you dont want to give extra income to parents to feed kids because you think "useless parents' will spend it on 'ciggys and booze' then school lunches are a good way of ensuring the hungry get a decent meal each day. If Seymour was so concerned with the costs then simple – freeze funding for 3 years but leave it intact. Instead he has ripped apart of functioning school lunch system and replaced it with a dogs breakfast
And as it often happens …… the words I've been singing to Men at Work 'Land Down Under' for the last 40 or so years are not actually the real words.
OK…. I've got to ask… what was your version?
How much more mean spirited can Luxon get with his marmite sandwich/apple rant? This from the man who was "entitled" to a $56,000 tax payer payment to live in his own mortgage free apartment. Each week this government without fail does or says something ever more ghastly.
I recently had a brief discussion with an ardent Nat supporter. Was nicely able to rebut that person by quoting some of the horrible things Luxon has said.
You mean it's even possible to hold a discussion with a Nat supporter? My attempts were so traumatic I avoid them like the plague!
They probably have the same reaction to you.
And, that right there in a nutshell, is why social/political divides grow in our society.
I would love to sit down with any RW supporter and be able to have a civilised conversation. Find out where their views stem from, why they have their particular views. And I'd be more than happy to answer any questions they have about my beliefs. I'd like for both parties to be able to politely challenge each others beliefs, and most likely find that there are ideas we have in common.
Occasionaly I've read RW opinion pieces that contain some things I agree with, or am at least prepared to give some consideration to. But when all the other party can do is spout talking points and is convinced their way of thinking is the only correct one, what's the point of even engaging? It's very sad we've come to this.
I'm sure I heard him blaspheme on the radio snippet too.
Getting frustrated…
I think all nz children should be 'entitled' to not suffer from food poverty ..
Over to you…luxon…
Cracking story from Te Ao with Moana about the waka emerging from the Chatham Island sand.
Until now, the archaeological dig and key personalities involved have been kept under wraps. Much remains unknown about the true provenance of the waka – who built it, when and where it came from.
What began as a routine search for wood by a Rēkohu (Chatham Island) father and son has led to one of New Zealand’s most significant discoveries, possibly even in Polynesian archaeological history.
Vincent Dix and his son Nikau, said they had no idea the ‘strange-looking stick’ they found on their local beach last August would uncover an ocean-voyaging waka.
Nikau, who first spotted the ‘fence baton-like’ wood, said he initially thought little of the timber protruding from the sand.
https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2025/03/03/ocean-waka-most-important-discovery-in-new-zealand-archaeology/
A really great read. I'm looking forward to the rush of scholarly papers this will generate, and the increased knowledge about early seafaring/migration. Absolutely fascinating.
superb watch, thanks. What a great story.
I'm curious how many ratepayers (that aren't lawyers) are keen to fund court action over the neo-liberal clusterf#@k that is Wellington Water.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/call-for-wellington-water-chairman-nick-leggett-to-resign-a-capital-letter/3PJ55TLSAFBUTMYFCBMQPW4UGY/
Same old names, same old spun talking points and same old neo-liberal 'efficiences'.
A group of councils form a body to oversee another body that (apparently) doesn't oversee sub-contractors.
All involved have no accountability.
Such a long way from how the councils used to be when they paid the wages of those that maintained and cared for our water.
No surprise that chairman Nick Leggat is a National Party stalwart. He would have been given the heave ho if Labour's 3 waters programme had gone ahead.
A great excuse to privatise it, but perhaps that was the intention of this government all along since they have failed to come up with any substantial alternatives to three waters, despite the promises.
I can recall the Nick Legget name..from that Transport Industry lobby group. Interestingly he used to be a species of Labour.
True colours and all though…now being revealed.
Like Winston Peters – always moves with the prevailing wind.
They're a worry !
I'd be a bit careful about that '3x the cost of other local body contracters' figure. I personally think that the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake greatly exacerbated the leakage problem in Wellington meaning that what is a simple repair for other councils may need more work and resource to fix.
The Dodgy Duopoly. Cam surveillance, Facial recognition, now with added fascism? Answer the questions !!
After the full pak n save grilling (not sure if interrogation lights were used?) she walked out . Awesome. Stand Up !
Previous….wonderful super market over reach.
First I've heard of retailers having to get customer details for sales over $1000 for tax purposes. We've been in retail for 40 years with sales at that level quite common and never come across that.
More likely explanation is looking out for trade buying at P & S rather than Foodie's wholesale / providore arm. P &S is often considerably cheaper, but domestic pack sizes rather than commercial sizes. They'd have a $1000 flag in the POS which would have rarely been triggered by domestic buyers, until inflation rated it's head, now might be common especially in rural areas.
PS Up until a couple of years ago most fuel cards had $150 limit on them, worked fine when fuel was under $2.00 / litre, fuel went up to $3.00 and everyone's fuel card declined.
Oh thanks for input. I'm sure there will be more to come. (well hopefully not more grilling ! )
Seymour showing National who the boss really is.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360601185/erica-stanford-calls-david-seymour-school-lunches-explanation
”Associate Education Minister David Seymour did not show up for a meeting with Education Minister Erica Stanford, after she called for reassurance and an explanation about his changes to the free school lunches programme.”
Even the language used is so despicably tory.
Free lunch in schools.
As opposed to Food in schools.
Yes.
And the real , no, the ONLY purpose of literacy is to read your employer's contracts and instructions.
…And the only point of education is to churn out pliant workers, rather than educate and empower fledgling citizens.
So they reckon $300M is enough to cover the port and ferry building break fees.
If the financial maestero Willis is involved, I'm sure that figure will be 'revisited'.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/543699/government-s-irex-ferry-cancellation-costed-at-300-million
"Willis, as recently as Tuesday morning, insisted the new cost – including the break-fee and the two new ships – would be less than what the previous government negotiated."
It would be funny if it weren't key infrastructure.
BHN thrash out the Trump-Zelenskyy conversation; the reason for posting it is the discussion from 16 min on over Luxon's response.
Meanwhile, not content with making life more miserable for millions world wide by cutting Aid, cutting support for the vulnerable, the demented occupant of the oval office ..
I might be reading chicken entrails here, but is Erica Stanford being hung out to dry?
“That leaves schools some mixed messages about the future of school lunches. Seymour says it’s all going well, Luxon says he’s trusts Seymour, and Stanford – who appeared to show some concern – has been left on her own.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360601709/prime-minister-sides-david-seymour-while-erica-stanford-shows-concern-over-school-lunches
It's still early at this stage, but it's pretty clear that there's some careful distancing from Seymour going on. When National replace Luxon the message to the swing voters will be "new management, not beholden to Seymour, centre-right, nice Nats, you can trust us now".
Bishop-Stanford ticket in place by election year. The conservative Nat caucus won't love them but they love losing after one term even less.