There are many subjects, which if critical of lead to instant cries of anti-this, racist-that, phobic-the-other.
Israel and their worldwide lobbies are one of the leading cry babies in this regard… they don't handle criticism. They actively stop criticism. Little precious things they are
I am seriously thinking that in this day and age any such questions should be avoided, lest the authorities see it and place one on some watch list. Very seriously. The US asks for your personal political views when applying for visas now.
This should be frightening. We are already bowed in fear of saying things that are 'not approved'.
And we are already at war. All over the frikkin' place.
In the future, with hindsight, how will the period 2015-2020 be viewed? The same as we now view 1930's Europe???
From Francesca’s above link re Helsinki at #2. “We had to get rid of the night shelters and short-term hostels we still had back then. They had a very long history in Finland, and everyone could see they were not getting people out of homelessness. We decided to reverse the assumptions.”…
“We decided to make the housing unconditional,” says Kaakinen. “To say, look, you don’t need to solve your problems before you get a home. Instead, a home should be the secure foundation that makes it easier to solve your problems.”
(The George Constanza Gambit!)
…But Housing First is not just about housing. “Services have been crucial,” says Helsinki’s mayor, Jan Vapaavuori, who was housing minister when the original scheme was launched. “Many long-term homeless people have addictions, mental health issues, medical conditions that need ongoing care. The support has to be there.”…
Housing First costs money, of course: Finland has spent €250m creating new homes and hiring 300 extra support workers. But a recent study showed the savings in emergency healthcare, social services and the justice system totalled as much as €15,000 a year for every homeless person in properly supported housing…
And there, the Finnish capital is fortunate. Helsinki owns 60,000 social housing units; one in seven residents live in city-owned housing. It also owns 70% of the land within the city limits, runs its own construction company, and has a current target of building 7,000 more new homes – of all categories – a year.
In each new district, the city maintains a strict housing mix to limit social segregation: 25% social housing, 30% subsidised purchase, and 45% private sector. Helsinki also insists on no visible external differences between private and public housing stock, and sets no maximum income ceiling on its social housing tenants.
Very interesting. And to others who have dissed The Guardian because of its stand against Jeremy Corbyn I think it is a very worthwhile newspaper with a flaw. Perhaps you should present your arguments against the paper's stand in a numbered list, refined down from broad accusations down to well-founded argument that is sure to win their attention if not their agreement. Let's bring them into line with good thinking.
Also Salt Lake City Subsidised Housing http://www.hacsl.org/rental-assistance
The Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake is pleased to offer four different quality affordable housing programs to low-income and no-income individuals and families: Section 8, Low Income Public Housing, Affordable Housing, and Supportive Housing Programs.
When National were in Govt, at the height of their corrupt arrogance .. non-enforcement for non compliance of regulations became their uber style of rule,…. but only for the rich, corrupt and connected …
Northland is one of the most deprived and neglected areas of New Zealand …. it was being plundered … in a destructive and more often than not in an illegal way.
Documents obtained under the Official Information Act by the NEPS are claimed to show that in fact, mandatory information was missing from some 80 per cent of MPI intention-to-export notices processed in 2013. "
In either case we might wonder why, when Northland is suffering deprivation and economic stagnation, Maraetai Drive millionaires are allowed to strip the province of its natural resources, tear up its wild places and reap outrageous profits "
That one of the prominent speculators in this grey market in taonga happens to be David Wong-Tung, husband of National MP Judith Collins, should rightly raise eyebrows, along with suspicions that her involvement places the Government in an awkward spot – again. Wong-Tung is a director in Kauri Ruakaka Ltd, formerly Oravida Kauri, which has stockpiled an estimated 80,000 tonnes of logs.
Here's a google earth piture from 2015 of the dodgy Kauri stockpile that Judiths hubby and the Oravida octopus had ripped from Northlands wetlands …. one valuation in the Public address thread had the Kauri worth $ 400 Million
Then take a look at the latest google earth pic …. With export of these logs curtailed, due to belated enforcement of regulations …is the vastly grown robbers Kauri pile worth $1 Billion dollars now ?
c.hairman is a concerned little rwnj. Most people here treat him like the creep he is – and now his side eye has spotted our Prime Minister – this won't end well, for him.
For a supposed leftist you peddle a surprising number of right-wing talking points. I wonder why that is?
Also: unless you're their personal friends, it's Robertson and Ardern, not Grant and Jacinda. They're the Finance Minister and Prime Minister, not your mates.
lols the nats inventing something pointless to whinge about isn't a political cost. It's business as usual.
Next you'll be saying "told you so" when Hosking parrots the same talking point.
Here's how it works: something happens, you whinge about it, national make shit up about it, media punters wank about the nat invention, you talk about how you predicted the scandal.
But the thing is that it doesn't matter what the something that happened was. Ardern could walk across Cook Strait, you'd call it a major political problem, national will point out that she didn't use the ferry despite her professed support for NZ businesses, Hosks will turn it into a rant against cycleways, and you'd then ejaculate a "told you so".
This is like that time the Labour Party President bullshited about some dumb shit only the door is still wide open for Roberston to have the treasury secretary's resignation on his desk by tonight.
Who is hurting who exactly. Simon is taking the piss, he spent all his political capital on Jamie Lee Ross and getting a couple list places for a donor. That was me being sarcastic. Robertson has to begin acting like he is in charge of the treasury. For to long those wonks have been interfering in the affairs of the state and going against GCSB recommendations to call in police to investigate is a corrupt practice. The Secretary tried to cover his ass. He's meant to be the smartest guy in the room, not the dumbest. It's either the treasury secretary (forgot how to spell his name) or Robertson. If this budget had of been a wellbeing budget, Y'know? Things may have been different. But it's not.
Nah they'd be no different. Let it slowly burn out the time. Hell, by the time the investigation comes back, even if it fully says the nat version, the dude could well be gone by then anyway. From a purely political perspective, there's no need to waste effort on it. From an organisational perspective, the guy who apparently fucked up is gone.
And if they determine the search indexing security hole existed before the last nat budget, Bridges looks like even more of a dick than he already does.
nah not that treasury wonk. How hard is it really to give em a thorough clean out? Whaaaaaaat. What eh? Is Robertson on recruit difficulty is something.
Sam, can I suggest that you make the subjects of your sentences and comments a bit more clear?
At best guess, it seems you are indicating that the Treasury web development team should be fired? That depends entirely on whether they fulfilled the agreed terms of the development request. If they did, then the people who signed off on the request are in the gun. Unless it was a systemic issue that was not the result of any individual decision or omission, in which case the project managers are the ones to blame.
This is why there is an investigation, and the priority should be prevention of future errors rather than recrimination.
To be perfectly clear I'd make all them treasury wonks reapply for there jobs by writing essays. Any of them praise SOE sales, deregulation, welfare reform, what else? Asset speculation. Any of them praise neoliberalism wouldn't be offered work from me. Okay?
Y'know revolutionising religious financial philosophy is very difficult to do when bonuses are not the prime motivating factor, Y'know? These guys are no friend of left wing politics you know that don't you, don't you?
These guys literally believe there own bullshit. They are meant to be men of the world, all knowing. But they lied anyway and didn't have too. This is how they've always operated.
We have a well being budget architiure. The rules of the game has changed. The quicker Roberston begins clearing these mushrooms out the better because old habits die hard.
Y'know you're just not going to get any sympathy out of me for treasury, McFlock (it's still gets me).
"going against GCSB recommendations to call in police to investigate"
You are just lying there. The advice to Treasury from the national cybersecurity team was that the actions against the website did not fall within their remit, so to take it to the Police who could establish any illegality. That has been reported since the beginning.
Why do you even bother commenting. Try and follow the the piece of string all the way to the end. The cops chucked out the report as well. The was no click yes to say you've read the privacy agreement before accessing Google cache for fucks sake. Y'know?
Meh. Think I read somewhere on pundant that the state services commissions has responsibility for hiring and firing the Treasury Secretary and that it would be an employment issue of the Prime Minister or Finance minister demanded a resignation. Then it went on to say the Helen Clark would have had his resignation on her desk anyway.
If I was advising Roberston, the word on the street is stand the Secretary down pending the results of the investigation because tbh I just want utu for neoliberalism and I'd be willing to burn the whole thing to the ground, ya feel me ?
Yes. Which is why you shouldn't be allowed within a light year of giving policy, political, or economic advice to anyone in power. The breathtaking incompetence that resulted would put a search cache oversight to shame.
And you may remember McFlock. Next on my wellbeing policy perscription would be to give every one at WINZ and the rest of MSD a UBI so I could check how dedicated they all are to the pursuit of humanities studies.
Nope. That's why the unemployment benefit was introduced.
The only reasons to introduce a UBI are to eliminate cracks in who gets appropriate income support, and to reduce the administrative costs of income support.
Choosing to pay MSD employees a UBI isn't actually "universal", but if it were universally applied within MSD then that would involve a pay cut for highly specialised frontline staff as well as bureaucratic support staff. Or are you going to set the MSD "UBI" at a rate equivalent to the current salary for an experienced social worker? Or even negotiators for multimillion dollar facility contracts to be paid fuckall? Because that's a way to have almost all experienced staff in most aspects of the organisation go either overseas or into the private sector.
What rubbish, perhaps when they start delivering the outcomes on the inquiries they had underway more NZers might take them seriously again. They are desperately trying to maintain some momentum from being so "maligned" and that wore thin some time back.
So we've got he said/she said a torn condom with no one's DNA,some txt messages…unless these have been "lost" and no one left on earth who hasn't heard of "Assange The Rapist"
Just my opinion but the sex accusations are nothing more than the man-woman snafus that are inevitable in sex relations. They are frankly mad!!! I beginning to believe it's been a set up all along. How much has the CIA sent their way?
The rape allegation against Julian Assange, explained
The story of his asylum and arrest is about more than WikiLeaks.
More rape apologia. If you think doing things to women without their consent is just an "inevitable snafu," you're a threat and should take a good look at yourself.
Just give us the news about Julian Assange and what we can do to help him. Please listen to this – we have a treacle pit here about his sex life and You will achieve nothing good if you try and enter it. Those of us who are concerned about him would like good info. Let the protagonists get on with the cock fight on their own.
Can we rely on you to just stay on task and keep us informed of his wellbeing please. Three pleases – is that enough? Cheers. Thanks for info so far. Just to reiterate what is the best thing to do – write (whom to and how), donate – same, anything else?
Honestly, Grey, if he is as stressed and incapacitated as the UN torture guy says, he may not be up to replying, but gestures of goodwill would be gratefully accepted I imagine
Yes I made a note about the address but got stuck on the advice about sending paper and a UK stamped addressed envelope for reply. I think you are right and not to worry. He isn't going to feel like replying. But maybe a card, with something positive on it. I have got one of the WW2 ones that says about Keeping Calm and Carry On on or something. I don't think that's quite the thing either.
I don't know about a card though, now I think further, the info that JohnM put up said no postcards. I don't understand that, because I reckon the authorities would censor mail anyway.
By the way anyone else reading this and wondering, NZ Post have dropped the idea of providing a full postal service, which we all sort of know (someone this a.m. spoke about some government service being 'managed down'). So there isn't a way of sending a stamped self-addressed envelope, either by buying stamp coupons, or buying a stamped envelope – asked about both.
So Milt you are saying here that you actually really believe that the UK govt has spent seven years and millions of pounds on this over 2 alleged rape cases?
You really are quite delusional, or maybe as others have pointed out something worse..wilfully ignorant?…one would have thought that if the UK govt was so interested in bringing rapists to justice that they would have used that man power and money pursuing the thousands of unsolved rape cases that remain open in their own country…
…Thousands of rape cases remain unsolved
THOUSANDS of unsolved rapes have left victims traumatised across the North East. Over the past 10 years more than 2,380 rapes reported to Northumbria Police and Durham Constabulary remain classified as undetected. Across Tyneside, Northumbria Police dealt with 2,874 reported rape offences with 945 classified as detected, meaning someone was charged to appear in court.
But that leaves 1,929 victims, almost 70%, waiting to see justice.
so you can imagine the UK govt spending and wasting time and money on this?
Governments are shit, they do shit, they say shit and they shit on people innocent and guilty. That is the 101 starting position for any discussion not whether this or that particular govt is shittier than another – yes it is and so what.
Equally interesting to claim this is about a rape case in light of "Amnesty International Sweden has the highest incidence of reported rapes in Europe but the lowest conviction rate".
This compares to the 78 convictions for 1,504 reported rapes in Norway in 2016 (5 percent), 94 convictions for 890 reported rapes in Denmark (10 percent), and 209 convictions for 1,245 reported rapes in Finland (16 percent).
It would seem that 'normally' Sweden isn't that focused or determined to get convictions on rape cases anyway. Gee..I wonder what makes this case different?
(Unless of course you are 'foreign'…rape statistics in Sweden show that 58% of men convicted of rape and attempted rape over the past five years were born outside of the European Union: Southern Africans, Northern Africans, Arabs, Middle Easterns, and Afghans.)
The fact that it consists of a simple extradition request so an alleged rapist can be questioned. The subsequent expenditure of a lot of time and money (mostly by the UK) is down to Assange, not the Swedish prosecutor.
"The subsequent expenditure of a lot of time and money (mostly by the UK) is down to Assange"…this is exactly why I addressed the comment to Adrian T. and generally do not comment on TS when the topic is Assange…your argument is ridiculous, and, quite frankly, offensive.
The UK decided to spend vast amounts of money on this one accused rapist..meanwhile they choose to allow 1000's of UK rape accusations and rape prevention programs floundering.
That's their choice..it is not 'down' to Assange.
Unless, ofcourse, you are arguing that not spending money following up all those floundering UK rape cases is somehow 'down' to the choices and behaviour of those accused perpetrators. That somehow the accused is in control of the authorities decisions and priorities.
The above comment in response to PM who asserts the difference is an extradition request to question an alleged rapist . No extradition necessary after all it seems Milt!
Bit late now, isn't it? The cases were heard, the bail jumped, the seven years' worth of police monitoring of the embassy carried out and paid for, the 50 weeks' sentence for jumping bail passed and enacted. Unfortunately, the fact they've decided they don't need him extradited now doesn't change the past.
Seems to me it all comes down to the aftermath of the interview.
The prosecutors probably don't see how he can come up with anything that would prevent an arrest on the basis of evidence already in hand, so can't see a point to interviewing him if they can't arrest him and take him to trial ASAP, as is their process.
If that's the case, it seems the Swedish courts believe that he should still have the opportunity to pull the theoretically-possible but highly unrealistic exonerating evidence out of his arse before being extradited, rather than his during opportunity at the first interview, during the first extradition hearings, or any time in the last seven years.
They never needed to extradite him, thats the point.
McFlock, there is no new evidence, all parties have been interviewed, all physical evidence in hand
Why have they not moved on with charging him after the several interviews he’s already given them, the statements from SW, the texts, and whatever physical evidence there is.The torn condom sulpplied by AA has no DNA, and is not useful for the SW complaint.
No new allegations have been made, no other woman has stepped up to add her complaints
He doesn’t have to pull evidence out of his arse as you so coarsely put it, they have to prove whatever charge they come up with , when ,and if , after 9 years they do
Why have they not moved on with charging him after [etc]
Because in Sweden he still gets one more interview before charging. Swedish procedures were actually a key point in the appeals to the original extradition order. I'm therefore surprised you're not familiar with the differences between the UK and Swedish systems.
So Milt you are saying here that you actually really believe that the UK govt has spent seven years and millions of pounds on this over 2 alleged rape cases?
Nope, not saying that at all. Any incredulity about the amount of money spent on "2 alleged rape cases" has to do the book-keeping on how much of it was spent because Assange jumped bail and spent 7 years as a fugitive from justice in a known location the cops then had to monitor 24/7 so they could feel his collar if he left it.
…Thousands of rape cases remain unsolved
Your implied argument is that, because UK police have done so poorly at investigating rapes in the UK, it's unreasonable for them to have made efforts in this extradition and bail-jumping case. That's a non-sequitur.
No your position that this has little or nothing to do with Assange/Wikileaks exposing govt secrets is fucking inane beyond belief and quite bizarre.
But I suppose centrists are well known for their fanatical support of the status quo, and supporting without question whatever bullshit is shovelled down their throats, so I guess I am wasting my time on this one with you….quickly go back to the Guardian and get confirmation.
Except yours and your band of Assange haters make no logical sense, it is like you lot heard the word rape, lost all reason and have turned into a bunch of pitch fork, witch burners from some corny Hammer House of Horrors flick.
Lol, you know what pushes my buttons alright! Buttons duly locked.
I don't have any beliefs about Assange, other than that he has the same right to due process as anyone else and that letting the Americans get their mitts on him would be a bad idea from a human rights perspective. I just don't share your conspiracy theories about the allegations against him made by a couple of Swedish women, is all. And I definitely don't share the rape apologia views peddled by some of his fans on this blog's comments threads.
Careful, Adrian, next label he hauls out will be something equally fabulous—he’s quite likely to start calling people "anti-Semites", or Russian bots, or running dogs, or Trump supporters.
As we see with the persecution of Julian Assange, the smearing and the destruction of reputation is what counts, and anything—no matter how fantastical or obscene—is permitted against the prisoner designated for obliteration.
I do not think I have seen one comment that could even have been remotely considered to be ' rape apologia'
Seriously, wtf? You've missed all the comments explaining why the female complainants have been duped by conspirators, how their complaints don't really constitute rape, or (the ne plus ultra of the genre) how Sam doesn't see any reason why he shouldn't fuck a fertile, red-blooded woman without a condom? Maybe try actually reading threads occasionally?
I didn't see "2 starfuckers who compared notes and were…pissed off."as Milt had just pointed me to Sam's comments..of course I would never condone anything like that, and would have called out the person in no uncertain terms myself had I seen it.
The centre exist for a reason as it is proven best unless shown otherwise and change is often difficult because of , the extremes the domain of loonies with the odd insight, but 99pc just loons, conspiracy theorist and ideologoues
Back to talk radio for you, our incoherent friend. Over at Magic Talk or NewstalkZzzzzzzB nobody cares if you sound drunk and your sentences make little or no sense.
Interesting observation, bewildered. I've often noticed how those hanging on to the extreme edge of the fringe of outsider politics always have problems when their marginality is pointed out. Always it's the fault of others why their preferred policies are soundly rejected by the overwhelming majority of the voting public. It must seem like a bizarre world that you can't get what you want without a willing constituency behind you. That's probably why it's easier for those rim clingers to get aggressive and spout hatred towards those who won't have a bar of them.
Don't forget two prosecutors have already dropped the case and we're onto the third one now… But we must look at this as a straight forward rape case. Yeah right!
Former President of the Swedish Bar Association Bengt Ivarsson:
"I share the opinion that the District Court was correct in its decision not to detain Assange. The only reasonable thing to do would be to drop this investigation, once and for all."
Not speaking fluent Swedish, I had to rely on Google Translate. But it seems this might be difficult to mistranslate:
Forward late afternoon, the judge returned and read the decision. Assange should not be detained.
The decision brought some surprise, but was very reasonable. The prosecutor has tried to get him detained because of a flight danger.
As if Assange were able to escape the high security prison in London where he currently serves a 50-week penalty for violating the British bailiff rules.
It is difficult to get rid of the suspicion that the prosecutor has a completely different impetus. In order to compete with the United States, who also wants to get the founder of Wikileaks, a European arrest warrant must be issued. Which in turn requires arrest.
But Uppsala's district court did not go on fine. The decision states the obvious. Assange sits where he sits and it is possible to pursue the investigation without being deprived of liberty by Sweden.
To recap: the request for arrest was on the grounds he was a flight risk. Which he can't be, because he's in gaol. So no grounds for an EAW. So no way to get him extradited to Sweden instead of the USA.
No rape apology there, just an apparent situation where as long as he's locked up, the yanks are first in the queue.
As I keep saying on this forum, if someone actually believes that this travesty has anything whatsoever to do with those two girls in Sweden then one can only conclude that whomever believes that could only be extremely naive and/or extremely stupid.
I reckon Mozza got it right yesty in one of his dressing downs.
Round these parts, folk get into their tribes and akin to soccer fans, seem to revel in the repeating of taunts as opposed to engaging in a meeting of the minds. When the willy waving really gets going it is so off-putting.
I am sure a political junkie can sort people into their groups with acknowledged names eg authoritarian, liberal etc.
Adrian sums it up – agree with him or be considered 'extremely naive or stupid". That is the special place he comes from and he is not alone in his extreme fundamentalism.
No, drawing lines in the sand and saying enough and no further is what you do when you really believe in something..do you remember what that feels like?,actually I think you do, I see you doing just that all the time on TS.
Yes I am a ideologue, and am proud of it, the big joke with you centrists is that you really think that you aren't, like you have moved past ideology… that is just total bullshit, you are all just as entrenched as me, so why not stop pretending and just being honest with yourself and us. .
Don't call me a centralist you rude shit – I'm LEFT. Always have been and always will be. You just have stopped thinking and have started chucking insults all the time – you ain't as righteous as you think.
Agree with both – strongly agree with Adrian re "drawing lines in the sand" on issues you really believe in, particularly evidence-based matters of principle.
Nevertheless, re Marty’s “extreme fundamentalism” and “rigidity” concerns, on some contentious issues I might harbour private doubts.
I think it is more interesting to live not knowing answers than to have answers that might be wrong. I have approximate answers, possible beliefs, and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely certain of anything, and there's some things I know nothing about at all – like whether it means anything to ask,'Why are we here?' I might think about it for a little while, but if I can't figure it out then I'll go to something else. I'm not afraid of being lost in a mysterious universe with no purpose, which is the way it is, possibly. It doesn't frighten me. – Richard Feynman.
@ Drowsy M. Kram, I agree with the last half of Freynman's thoughts, but personally, as far as the first half goes, I like thinking that at least some of my beliefs slowly formed over the past fifty years through my life experiences, readings, debating and observations are pretty solid, I like knowing that I would get into the trenches and fight for some of them.
If that makes me a fundamentalist in the eyes of some, well then so be it.
I am sorry for calling that fundamentalism – that was not correct – I don't think that word applies to you – sorry.
For me – as I get old I see that the black and white is always gray. What I believe in is just that, my beliefs. And I believe and defend them with gusto.
In not so many years it will matter not a jot. This is good I think.
No worries, I have got a real thick hide, but thanks.
" In not so many years it will matter not a jot. This is good I think."
Well I hope not. What you believe and defend and promote in the ways that you can, do matter imo, and the people around you can see and feel that, and maybe some small seeds are planted, and maybe some of those ideas and beliefs are taken forward and grown by another generation, or even just one person, and who knows what that person might end up doing with those ideas we helped to plant?
As you well know our beliefs on the Left are the way of the future, well at least they are the one way that would be fairer and have more equal outcomes for all citizens, and lead to a healthier planet, so these ideas are very important, and are worth fighting for…and without constant compromise to the centre.
Adrian, admit to having some "pretty solid" beliefs myself – could part of what Feynman is saying be that it's important not to forget that they are 'beliefs', and that that's how they may be perceived by (some) others?
Maybe put this into the category of reflecting on our beliefs from other points of view, if only to understand ‘the opposition’?
And it doesn’t even have to be oppositional. I don’t believe there is a God, but respect the beliefs of believers and appreciate (to the extent that I can) the value and contribution of such belief.
Mordechai Vanunu was released from Ashkelon prison to open air captivity in east Jerusalem on April 21, 2004 after 18 years-most all in solitary.
In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu was clubbed, drugged, bound and kidnapped from Rome by the Mossad essentially because he told the truth and provided the photographic proof of their clandestine 7-story underground WMD facility in the Negev. In the case of Mordechai Vanunu, Americans need to know that the restrictions that have held him captive after 18 years behind bars come from the Emergency Defense Regulations, which were implemented by Britain against Palestinians and Jews after World War II.
The Jerusalem Post’s archive has one mention of a meeting between Corbyn and a member of Knesset in Israel, on April 19, 1998.
At that time, Corbyn was deeply involved in efforts to secure the early release of Vanunu, who was imprisoned in 1987 for revealing Israeli nuclear secrets to The Sunday Times of London.
Corbyn, who was a joint vice-chairman of the Human Rights Group of the British Parliament, met with then-Knesset State Control Committee chairman and Labor MK Yossi Katz.
In 2005, eileen fleming began a series of interviews with Mordechai Vanunu, Israel's Nuclear Whistle Blower, that culminated in her third book, "BEYOND NUCLEAR: Mordechai Vanunu's FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial and My Life as a Muckraker" http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.p…
This interview was taped in east Jerusalem, a few weeks after Vanunu's FREEDOM OF SPEECH Trial began in the 'democracy' of Israel. MY latest FAX to Obama @ http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?o…
Thanks for those links, I will do some more research on this tonight.
You are right the Jewish lobby has really done a job on Corbyn, they can now pretty much say up is down, white is black, and the MSM press will print their lies and slander verbatim.
Yes please note that Adrian, referring to the Jewish lobby is incorrect, and Israeli is close to the truth but is it the Zionists in particular? How many Israelis would regard themselves as Zionists?
Zionism is a broad church, to coin a phrase. Zionism to some people means the revival of Jewish culture, Jewish art, Jewish religion, and so on. Noam Chomsky calls himself a Zionist.
The violent, repressive state of Israel is an authoritarian, anti-democratic outlaw state with some Zionists in its ruling elite.
Ah. Helpful comment on this matter thanks. Matches with what I have read and seen. It can't be a good well-run people's state because I am sure Jewish people respect older people. When I see a young settler woman bad mouthing a group of old Palestinian women and possibly spitting at them, and young men harassing a humble street cart owner I know that is not the true Jewish culture and spirit.
The National Party through Simon Bridges, has announced to every New Zelander that they may grab any information or any material they want. At any time, anywhere.! Without any permission.
No wonder New Zealanders see National as "Grab for greed". No wonder National has enforced Poverty on massive numbers of New Zealand Citizens.
National does its dirty work outside Democracy. But abuses Democracy constantly.
As our Nation becomes more and more aware of the Anti- Democracy of Simon Bridges and Mrs Bennett, the more National will slither down its own dishonest Slum.
Has the election campaign started already or is Mike Hosking just stuck in a mid-term hysteria attack. I see the Herald headline today "Hosking: Red alert – this Govt's in danger of plunging into deficit." He seems to be in perpetual attack mode at the moment, a drama queen who unfortunately has a stage. Mind you there are desperate morons ready to fawn at his feet.
I hope the medical profession know about this. When someone gets into A&E after having a seizure and their partner explains that the patient has had an epiphany, they might be very puzzled.
Yes, A&E specialists know about this and they immediately give an intra-arterial infusion of Kool-Aid Blue. It won’t stop the seizures but deals with the epiphany and associated hallucinations.
No surprises. You could present Mike Hosking with a budget that cures cancer, feeds the Third World and reverses climate change, and he'd still find something to piss and moan about. He needs to bite the bullet and just become a National Party MP. He's three quarters of the way there already.
This would be interesting. The trouble with violence in males often comes from lower income families that have a basic attitude to education and would scorn as perhaps 'sissy' the ideas of understanding psychology and fitting their approaches to child raising within known psychological guidelines.
The reading I have encountered is that lower income families tend to an authoritarian approach. I saw an example of an older Maori man speaking angrily and sharply to get his son or nephew to come and get in a car. I had encountered the man before at an op shop and got an impression of his circumstances; he seemed an uptight person, I felt he might have been in the army at one time. The youngster, about twelve, came to him but head down and mouth set in an angry line. So if he complained about this attitude of the adult role model, and was told to Toughen up, I don't think that would have been a useful approach for friction in the future. The ability to deal with anger is an essential one for civilised behaviour, not to deny it, but very probably to place the source of it, which is usually quite different than the person who receives the outburst of it, verbally or physically.
Learning about handling yourself, your emotions, your self-respect and self-understanding, practising empathy in school workshops, regularly, should be part of education. It is more important than the general education received, being part of every aspect of life and actions personal, and in others; understanding guides the best way of say three possibilities to handle difficulties over personalities, tone etc.
I have mentioned transactional analysis – excellent kit of psychology tools to understand yourself and others and why you do what you do and vice versa.
NZs failed revolution of capitalist economics. What happens when we mass and protest? Depends. We must have achieved some good change. But so little compared to what we perceive as needed. What if we got serious as we did in 1981 for the South Africans? Do we only care about downtrodden people in other countries, other countries' anguish; don't we care about each other? Don't baby boomers care about the young, except their own nuclear family?
Chris Trotter identifies the need for affordable and secure housing at the base of all the problems. It's hard to get a job if you are couch-surfing, sleeping in a car with your kids!! If you have one, how do you manage to get to work looking neat, ready and clean, with all 'home' responsibilities attended to.
…the wish that our publicly-owned television network contained, within its administrative and creative ranks, broadcasters who burn with the same fiery passion to let the voters know what is really happening in their country that consumes Bryan Bruce.
Passion, however, is not enough – not when the game you are playing is politics. It is a perennial failing of the Left that they allow themselves to become consumed with outrage at WHAT is happening on the meanest streets of their nation; paying far too little (if any) heed to WHY it is happening. Challenged on this, they will glibly attach the ‘why’ of poverty, inequality, homelessness and environmental despoliation to “Neoliberalism”. In much the same way did the religious scholars of the Middle Ages explain the ills of the world by pointing triumphantly in the direction of the Devil….
The truth which emerged most clearly from the testimony put before the Otahuhu Town Hall meeting is that the unavailability and inordinate cost of decent housing lies at the very heart of the economic and social crises afflicting New Zealand’s poorest communities. An all-out effort on the housing front is, therefore, urgently required if even a tiny fraction of the Coalition’s “wellbeing” promises are to be fulfilled.
And yet, Robertson’s Wellbeing Budget is almost silent on the issue of housing. Almost, but…[a] line in the 2019 Budget predicts a 21 percent rise in house prices over the next four years.
Please don't forget to refer regularly to the How to get there post on Sundays. Interesting useful practical and philosophical things get put there, and it may be added to during the next week with other stuff.
Thoughts from UKs Nuffield Trust 2017 "…from the Nuffield Trust The Nuffield Trust is an independent health think tank. We aim to improve the quality of health care in the UK by providing evidence-based research and policy analysis and informing and generating debate.
2018? https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/perspective/impact-of-brexit-on-the-nhs.aspx The impact of Brexit on the NHS has been a source of debate and controversy since the figure of £350million appeared on the side of a bus during the EU referendum in 2016. As we get closer to 29th March 2019 – the official date the UK is due to leave the EU – what will the impact of Brexit really look like for the NHS, its staff and its patients?
(Also: Quantum Technologies Developing the use of sensors and clocks in innovative, ground-breaking technologies to change the future landscapes of healthcare, transport, defence, civil engineering and more.)
The European parliament this week opened an investigation into revelations made by Channel 4 that the insurance tycoon Arron Banks funded a lavish lifestyle for Farage in the year of the Brexit referendum. In 2016, Farage received expenses of about £450,000, including rent on a Chelsea home, furniture, security and promotional trips to the US, where he attended the Republican national convention.
The Cons' options appear to be a unceremonial hard brexit, a hard brexit with a deal with one of the greatest US president salesman ever, a new referendum, or a election, by end of October.
PM far too slow off the mark on Treasury with SSC having to step in before she did.
Weak.
If only this government would see it for what is: the only opportunity they will get to clear Treasury senior staff out and get fresh friendly bureaucrats in there.
God forbid the SSC actually look at personnel issues in the state services. /sarc
The pollies are doing their part by demanding answers to the leak. The SSC is doing its part by examining individual actions from an employment perspective. Dunno the exact terminology, but it's governance vs operations.
I very much doubt the Treasury Sec'y clearly fucked up or misled anyone (wouldn't be the dumbest thing to ever happen, though), but it's the SSC's role to find out.
Budgetgate was entirely manufactured by National. It was a set-up from the word go. It caused major confusion and perhaps even a slight panic when they were already under heavy pressure because of Budget Day. I’m sure mistakes were made but some allege a level of deliberation in these mistakes for political advantage. I think this shows National’s thinking and they’re protesting a wee bit too much IMO.
A mother has appeared in court for breaking a broom across the back of her seven-year-old son. The 34-year-old woman was sentenced to 12 months intensive supervision and 40 hours community work, at Pukekohe District Court on May 8 for a charge of assaulting a child with a weapon.
Is it better that she be shamed in front of her child and neighbourhood and receive intensive supervision plus 40 hours of community work. What does intensive supervision mean – be watched all the time. Is the 40 hours community work to spend learning a few things, like working out what to do when you feel very angry, what to do with the child when it won't do what it is asked to, ask sympathetically what she could do to relieve herself of some of the pressure she feels. The emphasis should be on habilitation, and breaking the cycle, as it may have been a punishment she received.
She may be bearing a large burden in the household with no-one to care for her and little co-operation from other adults.
Workshops on anger management, a free child care while she goes to night school to learn something she enjoys, outdoor camp weekends with her children to give change of scene and mood. All positive things more than the punitive finger-pointing would go far.
Along with the sentence of supervision and community work the mother was also ordered to undergo drug and alcohol treatment, along with any anger management courses ordered by the court.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – 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 show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
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 show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – 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. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
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, ...
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 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 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
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 ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
george Galloway sacked For anti-Semitic tweet
http://www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-politics-48498010
good start to the day
That's classic. How many times has Galloway got the fired before. It must be like Israel lobby: 3
Galloway: 2, with a quarter left on the clock.
Whatever floats your boat …
Criticising Israel is not anti-Semitic.
Really Professor Longhair?
There are many subjects, which if critical of lead to instant cries of anti-this, racist-that, phobic-the-other.
Israel and their worldwide lobbies are one of the leading cry babies in this regard… they don't handle criticism. They actively stop criticism. Little precious things they are
Vicious stompers on democracy and human rights they are.
Agree… operating the world's largest prison a.k.a. Gaza. How is this not a repeat of what they themselves suffered in 1930's Germany?
edit: is this criticism, or anti-semitism, this question?
I am seriously thinking that in this day and age any such questions should be avoided, lest the authorities see it and place one on some watch list. Very seriously. The US asks for your personal political views when applying for visas now.
This should be frightening. We are already bowed in fear of saying things that are 'not approved'.
And we are already at war. All over the frikkin' place.
In the future, with hindsight, how will the period 2015-2020 be viewed? The same as we now view 1930's Europe???
My guess is yes, without doubt.
What’s Jacinda doing about this?
True?
social media accounts required, yes
You mean they ask for your Twitter and Facebook accounts, etc? in the Land of the Free?
Are you sure we are not talking about China, Russia? /sarc
Here is a bit of classic Galloway…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcyfVLMWqFI&t=379s
The really annoying host is like the UK version of Kim Hill,
So it can be done
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle-helsinkis-radical-solution-to-homelessness
Good article. ISTR a US city (Salt Lake City?) implemented a similar plan, also with good results.
From Francesca’s above link re Helsinki at #2. “We had to get rid of the night shelters and short-term hostels we still had back then. They had a very long history in Finland, and everyone could see they were not getting people out of homelessness. We decided to reverse the assumptions.”…
“We decided to make the housing unconditional,” says Kaakinen. “To say, look, you don’t need to solve your problems before you get a home. Instead, a home should be the secure foundation that makes it easier to solve your problems.”
(The George Constanza Gambit!)
…But Housing First is not just about housing. “Services have been crucial,” says Helsinki’s mayor, Jan Vapaavuori, who was housing minister when the original scheme was launched. “Many long-term homeless people have addictions, mental health issues, medical conditions that need ongoing care. The support has to be there.”…
Housing First costs money, of course: Finland has spent €250m creating new homes and hiring 300 extra support workers. But a recent study showed the savings in emergency healthcare, social services and the justice system totalled as much as €15,000 a year for every homeless person in properly supported housing…
And there, the Finnish capital is fortunate. Helsinki owns 60,000 social housing units; one in seven residents live in city-owned housing. It also owns 70% of the land within the city limits, runs its own construction company, and has a current target of building 7,000 more new homes – of all categories – a year.
In each new district, the city maintains a strict housing mix to limit social segregation: 25% social housing, 30% subsidised purchase, and 45% private sector. Helsinki also insists on no visible external differences between private and public housing stock, and sets no maximum income ceiling on its social housing tenants.
Very interesting. And to others who have dissed The Guardian because of its stand against Jeremy Corbyn I think it is a very worthwhile newspaper with a flaw. Perhaps you should present your arguments against the paper's stand in a numbered list, refined down from broad accusations down to well-founded argument that is sure to win their attention if not their agreement. Let's bring them into line with good thinking.
Also Salt Lake City Subsidised Housing
http://www.hacsl.org/rental-assistance
The Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake is pleased to offer four different quality affordable housing programs to low-income and no-income individuals and families: Section 8, Low Income Public Housing, Affordable Housing, and Supportive Housing Programs.
The lazy greed and looting goes on …. https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/69497644/
When National were in Govt, at the height of their corrupt arrogance .. non-enforcement for non compliance of regulations became their uber style of rule,…. but only for the rich, corrupt and connected …
The Public address blog had a very good example of this https://publicaddress.net/envirologue/swamp-monsters-the-looting-of-northlands/
Northland is one of the most deprived and neglected areas of New Zealand …. it was being plundered … in a destructive and more often than not in an illegal way.
Here's a google earth piture from 2015 of the dodgy Kauri stockpile that Judiths hubby and the Oravida octopus had ripped from Northlands wetlands …. one valuation in the Public address thread had the Kauri worth $ 400 Million
https://d3nd7i493f0o21.cloudfront.net/assets/upload/342293/1260009865/swamp-kauri-stockpile-ruakaka_david-wong-tung.jpg
Then take a look at the latest google earth pic …. With export of these logs curtailed, due to belated enforcement of regulations …is the vastly grown robbers Kauri pile worth $1 Billion dollars now ?
https://www.google.com/maps/place/35%C2%B052'07.9%22S+174%C2%B027'52.5%22E/@-35.8688611,174.4623946,498m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d-35.8688611!4d174.4645833
If the google earth link does not work, enter the co-ordinates
35°52'07.9"S 174°27'52.5"E … into the search bar on the google-earth page.
https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/3518811/detail
https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/individual/search?roleType=ALL&q=BLACKWELL%2C++James+William&advancedPanel=true&mode=advanced&indDirStatus=ALL&indShrStatus=ALL
The political cost of backing Grant has now led to questions being sought on Jacinda's role.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/113202969/budget-inquiry-needs-to-go-further-says-national
Who gives a toss. Go find some other drivel to repeat.
The left, the right and some in between. I see there is a thread on it (snowflakes). It's Jacinda they are now gunning for.
Grant is looking arrogant at the least, reflecting badly on his leader.
No just silly shit stirring media, silly shit stirring politicians, and overly concerned bloggers care a toss.
To the rest of us, it's simply more tossing.
You are a total fraud. But I'm sure other readers have cottoned to that long ago.
c.hairman is a concerned little rwnj. Most people here treat him like the creep he is – and now his side eye has spotted our Prime Minister – this won't end well, for him.
For a supposed leftist you peddle a surprising number of right-wing talking points. I wonder why that is?
Also: unless you're their personal friends, it's Robertson and Ardern, not Grant and Jacinda. They're the Finance Minister and Prime Minister, not your mates.
lol so everyone cares, but the only "questions" you repeat come from the nats.
Repeat?
Get it right. As you well know, I was forewarning about the political cost (of Jacinda backing Grant) last week.
lols the nats inventing something pointless to whinge about isn't a political cost. It's business as usual.
Next you'll be saying "told you so" when Hosking parrots the same talking point.
Here's how it works: something happens, you whinge about it, national make shit up about it, media punters wank about the nat invention, you talk about how you predicted the scandal.
But the thing is that it doesn't matter what the something that happened was. Ardern could walk across Cook Strait, you'd call it a major political problem, national will point out that she didn't use the ferry despite her professed support for NZ businesses, Hosks will turn it into a rant against cycleways, and you'd then ejaculate a "told you so".
Find something real to whinge about.
This is like that time the Labour Party President bullshited about some dumb shit only the door is still wide open for Roberston to have the treasury secretary's resignation on his desk by tonight.
Except he already has it. Bring forward the date it takes effect is simply more ammo for the nats.
Who is hurting who exactly. Simon is taking the piss, he spent all his political capital on Jamie Lee Ross and getting a couple list places for a donor. That was me being sarcastic. Robertson has to begin acting like he is in charge of the treasury. For to long those wonks have been interfering in the affairs of the state and going against GCSB recommendations to call in police to investigate is a corrupt practice. The Secretary tried to cover his ass. He's meant to be the smartest guy in the room, not the dumbest. It's either the treasury secretary (forgot how to spell his name) or Robertson. If this budget had of been a wellbeing budget, Y'know? Things may have been different. But it's not.
"going against GCSB recommendations to call in police"
Naturally you have a link to back up that claim..
I meant to say that GCSB agents told treasury secretary it wasn't a hack. Anyone with half a brain could see treasury was using Google cache.
"Anyone with half a brain could see…"
Careful, Sam: look who you're talking to.
Nah they'd be no different. Let it slowly burn out the time. Hell, by the time the investigation comes back, even if it fully says the nat version, the dude could well be gone by then anyway. From a purely political perspective, there's no need to waste effort on it. From an organisational perspective, the guy who apparently fucked up is gone.
And if they determine the search indexing security hole existed before the last nat budget, Bridges looks like even more of a dick than he already does.
I meant to say that GCSB agents told treasury secretary it wasn't a hack.
Link needed for that one too.
nah not that treasury wonk. How hard is it really to give em a thorough clean out? Whaaaaaaat. What eh? Is Robertson on recruit difficulty is something.
Sam, can I suggest that you make the subjects of your sentences and comments a bit more clear?
At best guess, it seems you are indicating that the Treasury web development team should be fired? That depends entirely on whether they fulfilled the agreed terms of the development request. If they did, then the people who signed off on the request are in the gun. Unless it was a systemic issue that was not the result of any individual decision or omission, in which case the project managers are the ones to blame.
This is why there is an investigation, and the priority should be prevention of future errors rather than recrimination.
Suggest away muh boi, suggest a way.
To be perfectly clear I'd make all them treasury wonks reapply for there jobs by writing essays. Any of them praise SOE sales, deregulation, welfare reform, what else? Asset speculation. Any of them praise neoliberalism wouldn't be offered work from me. Okay?
And then the personal grievance expenditure goes through the roof. They might be Treasury wonks, but they're also workers. In a strong union lol
Y'know revolutionising religious financial philosophy is very difficult to do when bonuses are not the prime motivating factor, Y'know? These guys are no friend of left wing politics you know that don't you, don't you?
These guys literally believe there own bullshit. They are meant to be men of the world, all knowing. But they lied anyway and didn't have too. This is how they've always operated.
We have a well being budget architiure. The rules of the game has changed. The quicker Roberston begins clearing these mushrooms out the better because old habits die hard.
Y'know you're just not going to get any sympathy out of me for treasury, McFlock (it's still gets me).
"going against GCSB recommendations to call in police to investigate"
You are just lying there. The advice to Treasury from the national cybersecurity team was that the actions against the website did not fall within their remit, so to take it to the Police who could establish any illegality. That has been reported since the beginning.
What happens next is another matter.
Why do you even bother commenting. Try and follow the the piece of string all the way to the end. The cops chucked out the report as well. The was no click yes to say you've read the privacy agreement before accessing Google cache for fucks sake. Y'know?
Sympathy is one thing. I suspect the political outrage over a ballooning constructive dismissal bill would be worse than simply following due process.
Meh. Think I read somewhere on pundant that the state services commissions has responsibility for hiring and firing the Treasury Secretary and that it would be an employment issue of the Prime Minister or Finance minister demanded a resignation. Then it went on to say the Helen Clark would have had his resignation on her desk anyway.
If I was advising Roberston, the word on the street is stand the Secretary down pending the results of the investigation because tbh I just want utu for neoliberalism and I'd be willing to burn the whole thing to the ground, ya feel me ?
Yes. Which is why you shouldn't be allowed within a light year of giving policy, political, or economic advice to anyone in power. The breathtaking incompetence that resulted would put a search cache oversight to shame.
And you may remember McFlock. Next on my wellbeing policy perscription would be to give every one at WINZ and the rest of MSD a UBI so I could check how dedicated they all are to the pursuit of humanities studies.
You do realise that means cutting the pay of social workers?
Good luck with selling that policy.
The only reason the government would implement a UBI is if the economy couldn't produce enough payed employment. I get that, do you?
Nope. That's why the unemployment benefit was introduced.
The only reasons to introduce a UBI are to eliminate cracks in who gets appropriate income support, and to reduce the administrative costs of income support.
Choosing to pay MSD employees a UBI isn't actually "universal", but if it were universally applied within MSD then that would involve a pay cut for highly specialised frontline staff as well as bureaucratic support staff. Or are you going to set the MSD "UBI" at a rate equivalent to the current salary for an experienced social worker? Or even negotiators for multimillion dollar facility contracts to be paid fuckall? Because that's a way to have almost all experienced staff in most aspects of the organisation go either overseas or into the private sector.
I must say McFlock (😌) that is the first Iv ever come across a concept like minimum wage laws creating jobs. I may aswell put my dog into payed work.
Once again, the connection between your comment and the previous thread seems highly tangential.
How lucky Labour is to have someone so concerned about them.
What rubbish, perhaps when they start delivering the outcomes on the inquiries they had underway more NZers might take them seriously again. They are desperately trying to maintain some momentum from being so "maligned" and that wore thin some time back.
I’m sure you would have handled it differently but that really is a moot point, isn’t it?
Isn't James Shaw Deputy Finance Minister?
Associate
David Clark
David Parker
Shane Jones
James Shaw
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/ministers
James Shaw is not allowed to say or do anything unless Marama lets him.
And so can this
Apparently now the Swedes find no impediment to questioning Assange in the UK
What is it now? the 4th round of questioning ?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/julian-assange-extradition-sweden-detention-ruling-court-judge-a8942066.html
So we've got he said/she said a torn condom with no one's DNA,some txt messages…unless these have been "lost" and no one left on earth who hasn't heard of "Assange The Rapist"
Just my opinion but the sex accusations are nothing more than the man-woman snafus that are inevitable in sex relations. They are frankly mad!!! I beginning to believe it's been a set up all along. How much has the CIA sent their way?
The rape allegation against Julian Assange, explained
The story of his asylum and arrest is about more than WikiLeaks.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/4/12/18306901/julian-assange-arrest-wikileaks-rape-sweden-embassy
The whole affair is SICK!
More rape apologia. If you think doing things to women without their consent is just an "inevitable snafu," you're a threat and should take a good look at yourself.
Please JohnM
Just give us the news about Julian Assange and what we can do to help him. Please listen to this – we have a treacle pit here about his sex life and You will achieve nothing good if you try and enter it. Those of us who are concerned about him would like good info. Let the protagonists get on with the cock fight on their own.
Can we rely on you to just stay on task and keep us informed of his wellbeing please. Three pleases – is that enough? Cheers. Thanks for info so far. Just to reiterate what is the best thing to do – write (whom to and how), donate – same, anything else?
Julian Assange
Belmarsh prison address
https://writejulian.com/
Honestly, Grey, if he is as stressed and incapacitated as the UN torture guy says, he may not be up to replying, but gestures of goodwill would be gratefully accepted I imagine
Yes I made a note about the address but got stuck on the advice about sending paper and a UK stamped addressed envelope for reply. I think you are right and not to worry. He isn't going to feel like replying. But maybe a card, with something positive on it. I have got one of the WW2 ones that says about Keeping Calm and Carry On on or something. I don't think that's quite the thing either.
I don't know about a card though, now I think further, the info that JohnM put up said no postcards. I don't understand that, because I reckon the authorities would censor mail anyway.
By the way anyone else reading this and wondering, NZ Post have dropped the idea of providing a full postal service, which we all sort of know (someone this a.m. spoke about some government service being 'managed down'). So there isn't a way of sending a stamped self-addressed envelope, either by buying stamp coupons, or buying a stamped envelope – asked about both.
And thanks francesca for further link.
And the following site is useful for information and to donate
https://defend.wikileaks.org/
So Milt you are saying here that you actually really believe that the UK govt has spent seven years and millions of pounds on this over 2 alleged rape cases?
You really are quite delusional, or maybe as others have pointed out something worse..wilfully ignorant?…one would have thought that if the UK govt was so interested in bringing rapists to justice that they would have used that man power and money pursuing the thousands of unsolved rape cases that remain open in their own country…
…Thousands of rape cases remain unsolved
THOUSANDS of unsolved rapes have left victims traumatised across the North East. Over the past 10 years more than 2,380 rapes reported to Northumbria Police and Durham Constabulary remain classified as undetected. Across Tyneside, Northumbria Police dealt with 2,874 reported rape offences with 945 classified as detected, meaning someone was charged to appear in court.
But that leaves 1,929 victims, almost 70%, waiting to see justice.
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/thousands-rape-cases-remain-unsolved-1393253
you keep saying that line but it is silly – do you think the UK government is competent enough NOT to have done something fucked up like that?
The Swedish record is worse , in 2017 less than 6% of rape cases ended in prosecution
Not quite the upholder of women’s rights they pretend to be.
;
so you can imagine the UK govt spending and wasting time and money on this?
Governments are shit, they do shit, they say shit and they shit on people innocent and guilty. That is the 101 starting position for any discussion not whether this or that particular govt is shittier than another – yes it is and so what.
Equally interesting to claim this is about a rape case in light of "Amnesty International Sweden has the highest incidence of reported rapes in Europe but the lowest conviction rate".
It would seem that 'normally' Sweden isn't that focused or determined to get convictions on rape cases anyway. Gee..I wonder what makes this case different?
Gee..I wonder what makes this case different?
The fact that it consists of a simple extradition request so an alleged rapist can be questioned. The subsequent expenditure of a lot of time and money (mostly by the UK) is down to Assange, not the Swedish prosecutor.
"The subsequent expenditure of a lot of time and money (mostly by the UK) is down to Assange"…this is exactly why I addressed the comment to Adrian T. and generally do not comment on TS when the topic is Assange…your argument is ridiculous, and, quite frankly, offensive.
The UK decided to spend vast amounts of money on this one accused rapist..meanwhile they choose to allow 1000's of UK rape accusations and rape prevention programs floundering.
That's their choice..it is not 'down' to Assange.
Unless, ofcourse, you are arguing that not spending money following up all those floundering UK rape cases is somehow 'down' to the choices and behaviour of those accused perpetrators. That somehow the accused is in control of the authorities decisions and priorities.
No The Swedish court says different
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/julian-assange-extradition-sweden-detention-ruling-court-judge-a8942066.html
"The ruling by the Uppsala District Court does not mean a preliminary investigation in Sweden should be abandoned.
It states Assange would not be extradited and could be questioned in Britain, where he is currently in prison."
So it has been possible all along to question Assange in the UK .He was under house arrest for something like 18 months
It was Sweden dragging the chain after all
The above comment in response to PM who asserts the difference is an extradition request to question an alleged rapist . No extradition necessary after all it seems Milt!
Bit late now, isn't it? The cases were heard, the bail jumped, the seven years' worth of police monitoring of the embassy carried out and paid for, the 50 weeks' sentence for jumping bail passed and enacted. Unfortunately, the fact they've decided they don't need him extradited now doesn't change the past.
Seems to me it all comes down to the aftermath of the interview.
The prosecutors probably don't see how he can come up with anything that would prevent an arrest on the basis of evidence already in hand, so can't see a point to interviewing him if they can't arrest him and take him to trial ASAP, as is their process.
If that's the case, it seems the Swedish courts believe that he should still have the opportunity to pull the theoretically-possible but highly unrealistic exonerating evidence out of his arse before being extradited, rather than his during opportunity at the first interview, during the first extradition hearings, or any time in the last seven years.
They never needed to extradite him, thats the point.
McFlock, there is no new evidence, all parties have been interviewed, all physical evidence in hand
Why have they not moved on with charging him after the several interviews he’s already given them, the statements from SW, the texts, and whatever physical evidence there is.The torn condom sulpplied by AA has no DNA, and is not useful for the SW complaint.
No new allegations have been made, no other woman has stepped up to add her complaints
He doesn’t have to pull evidence out of his arse as you so coarsely put it, they have to prove whatever charge they come up with , when ,and if , after 9 years they do
Because in Sweden he still gets one more interview before charging. Swedish procedures were actually a key point in the appeals to the original extradition order. I'm therefore surprised you're not familiar with the differences between the UK and Swedish systems.
So Milt you are saying here that you actually really believe that the UK govt has spent seven years and millions of pounds on this over 2 alleged rape cases?
Nope, not saying that at all. Any incredulity about the amount of money spent on "2 alleged rape cases" has to do the book-keeping on how much of it was spent because Assange jumped bail and spent 7 years as a fugitive from justice in a known location the cops then had to monitor 24/7 so they could feel his collar if he left it.
…Thousands of rape cases remain unsolved
Your implied argument is that, because UK police have done so poorly at investigating rapes in the UK, it's unreasonable for them to have made efforts in this extradition and bail-jumping case. That's a non-sequitur.
No your position that this has little or nothing to do with Assange/Wikileaks exposing govt secrets is fucking inane beyond belief and quite bizarre.
But I suppose centrists are well known for their fanatical support of the status quo, and supporting without question whatever bullshit is shovelled down their throats, so I guess I am wasting my time on this one with you….quickly go back to the Guardian and get confirmation.
You're entitled to feel and express whatever you like about my failure to share your beliefs. Likewise, I'm entitled not to share them.
Except yours and your band of Assange haters make no logical sense, it is like you lot heard the word rape, lost all reason and have turned into a bunch of pitch fork, witch burners from some corny Hammer House of Horrors flick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLvGnro4Cgw
So arrogant that you cannot be wrong or adjust your view ever – you act like those you so rail against.
Except yours [beliefs]…make no logical sense…
Lol, you know what pushes my buttons alright! Buttons duly locked.
I don't have any beliefs about Assange, other than that he has the same right to due process as anyone else and that letting the Americans get their mitts on him would be a bad idea from a human rights perspective. I just don't share your conspiracy theories about the allegations against him made by a couple of Swedish women, is all. And I definitely don't share the rape apologia views peddled by some of his fans on this blog's comments threads.
I do not think I have seen one comment that could even have been remotely considered to be ' rape apologia' please refer me to those posts.
Careful, Adrian, next label he hauls out will be something equally fabulous—he’s quite likely to start calling people "anti-Semites", or Russian bots, or running dogs, or Trump supporters.
As we see with the persecution of Julian Assange, the smearing and the destruction of reputation is what counts, and anything—no matter how fantastical or obscene—is permitted against the prisoner designated for obliteration.
I do not think I have seen one comment that could even have been remotely considered to be ' rape apologia'
Seriously, wtf? You've missed all the comments explaining why the female complainants have been duped by conspirators, how their complaints don't really constitute rape, or (the ne plus ultra of the genre) how Sam doesn't see any reason why he shouldn't fuck a fertile, red-blooded woman without a condom? Maybe try actually reading threads occasionally?
As I asked, point me to a couple…maybe you are right, I must of missed them, I aren't on here as much as you.
Can't remember which thread Sam's comment was on, but the threads on Assange in these two Open Mike's are illustrative:
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24-05-2019/
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21-04-2019/
I think it is a bit unfair using Sam as your example, I can't follow most of his arguments at the best of time.
But I did follow the first link you put up, I still think using the term ' rape apologia ' for what was said is a bit over the top.
Really?
There's outright assertion that the facts stated in court are false (e.g. Moz's claim that it's "state lies").
Then there was minimisation, calling it a "no no but not rape", and Blazer calling them "2 starfuckers who compared notes and were…pissed off."
Those three seem to me to qualify as "rape apology" to me.
I didn't see "2 starfuckers who compared notes and were…pissed off."as Milt had just pointed me to Sam's comments..of course I would never condone anything like that, and would have called out the person in no uncertain terms myself had I seen it.
well, now you know.
Maybe take a bit more care reading threads when the topic next comes up.
Easy way of looking at it is "would Brock Turner's mates or daddy have said similar things"?
The centre exist for a reason as it is proven best unless shown otherwise and change is often difficult because of , the extremes the domain of loonies with the odd insight, but 99pc just loons, conspiracy theorist and ideologoues
Back to talk radio for you, our incoherent friend. Over at Magic Talk or NewstalkZzzzzzzB nobody cares if you sound drunk and your sentences make little or no sense.
Please go there, now.
Interesting observation, bewildered. I've often noticed how those hanging on to the extreme edge of the fringe of outsider politics always have problems when their marginality is pointed out. Always it's the fault of others why their preferred policies are soundly rejected by the overwhelming majority of the voting public. It must seem like a bizarre world that you can't get what you want without a willing constituency behind you. That's probably why it's easier for those rim clingers to get aggressive and spout hatred towards those who won't have a bar of them.
The centre is best… so strange of you to spend an inordinate amount of time here on loons and conspiracies theories then…
"….fugitive from justice"
That was a joke. Right?
Loon
You did not understand the Professor's point, bewildered. Possibly this forum is a little…. beyond your comfort zone.
edit – can’t be bothered
Hopeless.
sock puppet fail morrie – try another one you minor flea.
A very insightful Doco on the whole business.
Sex, Lies and Julian Assange
https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/sex-lies-and-julian-assange/4156420?fbclid=IwAR12S3UJnlELilxRkFP4JJVdjVMr_mf-TUT4tMLo6_fJs2BmtdtYCDZ1jN4
Don't forget two prosecutors have already dropped the case and we're onto the third one now… But we must look at this as a straight forward rape case. Yeah right!
As well
Former President of the Swedish Bar Association Bengt Ivarsson:
"I share the opinion that the District Court was correct in its decision not to detain Assange. The only reasonable thing to do would be to drop this investigation, once and for all."
https://twitter.com/BengtIvarsson/status/1135658231471251457
He's a rape enabler Brigid, at the very least, or an
Assange fanboy
Thanks for that , very interesting!
Ah yes. He must be. As I guess we all are who spurn the mainstream media dis-information.
We should whip ourselves as John Cleese did his car.
By the way, Jonathan Cook is worth reading.
https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/
Yes, thanks, I'm a great fan of Jonathan Cook after reading "intellectual cleansing" in Media lens
Not speaking fluent Swedish, I had to rely on Google Translate. But it seems this might be difficult to mistranslate:
To recap: the request for arrest was on the grounds he was a flight risk. Which he can't be, because he's in gaol. So no grounds for an EAW. So no way to get him extradited to Sweden instead of the USA.
No rape apology there, just an apparent situation where as long as he's locked up, the yanks are first in the queue.
Conspiracy theorist
As I keep saying on this forum, if someone actually believes that this travesty has anything whatsoever to do with those two girls in Sweden then one can only conclude that whomever believes that could only be extremely naive and/or extremely stupid.
Or wilfully ignorant?
I reckon Mozza got it right yesty in one of his dressing downs.
Round these parts, folk get into their tribes and akin to soccer fans, seem to revel in the repeating of taunts as opposed to engaging in a meeting of the minds. When the willy waving really gets going it is so off-putting.
I am sure a political junkie can sort people into their groups with acknowledged names eg authoritarian, liberal etc.
yes – glass houses eh
I am often bewildered by what drives all of us to coagulate around the issues that we do.
I don't get the agitation that arises for the 'other' either,
Adrian sums it up – agree with him or be considered 'extremely naive or stupid". That is the special place he comes from and he is not alone in his extreme fundamentalism.
Rigidity is the ruin of everything imo.
No, drawing lines in the sand and saying enough and no further is what you do when you really believe in something..do you remember what that feels like?,actually I think you do, I see you doing just that all the time on TS.
Yes I am a ideologue, and am proud of it, the big joke with you centrists is that you really think that you aren't, like you have moved past ideology… that is just total bullshit, you are all just as entrenched as me, so why not stop pretending and just being honest with yourself and us. .
Don't call me a centralist you rude shit – I'm LEFT. Always have been and always will be. You just have stopped thinking and have started chucking insults all the time – you ain't as righteous as you think.
So how does that square with your support for the Ngai Tahu leader and private prison enthusiast "Sir" Mark Solomon?
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/11/kai-tahu-should-demand-better-leaders.html
the day I have to justify anything to a dim like you is never – take your racist shit and piss off morrie longfears
Hey, calm down, I just assumed you were, judging by what I have read of yours…no offense intended…well not that kind anyway.
It's all good just don't call me the 'c' word lol – I am LEFT, yesterday, today and tomorrow – activist LEFT.
I get your passion and I'm a bit like that with some stuff too. Kia kaha.
Agree with both – strongly agree with Adrian re "drawing lines in the sand" on issues you really believe in, particularly evidence-based matters of principle.
Nevertheless, re Marty’s “extreme fundamentalism” and “rigidity” concerns, on some contentious issues I might harbour private doubts.
@ Drowsy M. Kram, I agree with the last half of Freynman's thoughts, but personally, as far as the first half goes, I like thinking that at least some of my beliefs slowly formed over the past fifty years through my life experiences, readings, debating and observations are pretty solid, I like knowing that I would get into the trenches and fight for some of them.
If that makes me a fundamentalist in the eyes of some, well then so be it.
I am sorry for calling that fundamentalism – that was not correct – I don't think that word applies to you – sorry.
For me – as I get old I see that the black and white is always gray. What I believe in is just that, my beliefs. And I believe and defend them with gusto.
In not so many years it will matter not a jot. This is good I think.
No worries, I have got a real thick hide, but thanks.
" In not so many years it will matter not a jot. This is good I think."
Well I hope not. What you believe and defend and promote in the ways that you can, do matter imo, and the people around you can see and feel that, and maybe some small seeds are planted, and maybe some of those ideas and beliefs are taken forward and grown by another generation, or even just one person, and who knows what that person might end up doing with those ideas we helped to plant?
As you well know our beliefs on the Left are the way of the future, well at least they are the one way that would be fairer and have more equal outcomes for all citizens, and lead to a healthier planet, so these ideas are very important, and are worth fighting for…and without constant compromise to the centre.
I'll meet you in the trenches.
Turn Labour Left!
Adrian, admit to having some "pretty solid" beliefs myself – could part of what Feynman is saying be that it's important not to forget that they are 'beliefs', and that that's how they may be perceived by (some) others?
Maybe put this into the category of reflecting on our beliefs from other points of view, if only to understand ‘the opposition’?
And it doesn’t even have to be oppositional. I don’t believe there is a God, but respect the beliefs of believers and appreciate (to the extent that I can) the value and contribution of such belief.
Loon
????
Could you justify that rather coarse imprecation for the rest of us, please?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QcG8_yzeM0
They want to silence Assange like they've silenced this Israeli dissident….
https://twitter.com/vanunumordechai/status/1135260140381384705
And just to mention Mordechai Vanunu.
https://thearabdailynews.com/2019/02/09/what-americans-need-to-know-about-mordechai-vanunu-updated/
In 2009, this American published “What Americans Need to Know about Mordechai Vanunu”, which follows because most Americans still do not know who Mordechai Vanunu is and it matters to USA taxpayers.
Mordechai Vanunu was released from Ashkelon prison to open air captivity in east Jerusalem on April 21, 2004 after 18 years-most all in solitary.
In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu was clubbed, drugged, bound and kidnapped from Rome by the Mossad essentially because he told the truth and provided the photographic proof of their clandestine 7-story underground WMD facility in the Negev.
In the case of Mordechai Vanunu, Americans need to know that the restrictions that have held him captive after 18 years behind bars come from the Emergency Defense Regulations, which were implemented by Britain against Palestinians and Jews after World War II.
And Jeremy Corbyn's efforts for Vanunu which may have angered Israel and been behind the slurs about him recently.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Jeremy-Corbyn-visited-Knesset-to-free-nuclear-secret-seller-Vanunu-565035
The Jerusalem Post’s archive has one mention of a meeting between Corbyn and a member of Knesset in Israel, on April 19, 1998.
At that time, Corbyn was deeply involved in efforts to secure the early release of Vanunu, who was imprisoned in 1987 for revealing Israeli nuclear secrets to The Sunday Times of London.
Corbyn, who was a joint vice-chairman of the Human Rights Group of the British Parliament, met with then-Knesset State Control Committee chairman and Labor MK Yossi Katz.
Mordechai Vanunu (whistleblower) video :
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32yPWfsWBKo
Mordechai Vanunu- Chain Reaction (film by Shmuel Kalderon)
30 Minutes with Vanunu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwdz6dLbfok&t=35s
In 2005, eileen fleming began a series of interviews with Mordechai Vanunu, Israel's Nuclear Whistle Blower, that culminated in her third book, "BEYOND NUCLEAR: Mordechai Vanunu's FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial and My Life as a Muckraker" http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.p…
This interview was taped in east Jerusalem, a few weeks after Vanunu's FREEDOM OF SPEECH Trial began in the 'democracy' of Israel. MY latest FAX to Obama @ http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?o…
Thanks for those links, I will do some more research on this tonight.
You are right the Jewish lobby has really done a job on Corbyn, they can now pretty much say up is down, white is black, and the MSM press will print their lies and slander verbatim.
It's the Israeli lobby, not the Jewish lobby.
Yes please note that Adrian, referring to the Jewish lobby is incorrect, and Israeli is close to the truth but is it the Zionists in particular? How many Israelis would regard themselves as Zionists?
Zionism is a broad church, to coin a phrase. Zionism to some people means the revival of Jewish culture, Jewish art, Jewish religion, and so on. Noam Chomsky calls himself a Zionist.
The violent, repressive state of Israel is an authoritarian, anti-democratic outlaw state with some Zionists in its ruling elite.
Ah. Helpful comment on this matter thanks. Matches with what I have read and seen. It can't be a good well-run people's state because I am sure Jewish people respect older people. When I see a young settler woman bad mouthing a group of old Palestinian women and possibly spitting at them, and young men harassing a humble street cart owner I know that is not the true Jewish culture and spirit.
The Bridges Way
The National Party through Simon Bridges, has announced to every New Zelander that they may grab any information or any material they want. At any time, anywhere.! Without any permission.
No wonder New Zealanders see National as "Grab for greed". No wonder National has enforced Poverty on massive numbers of New Zealand Citizens.
National does its dirty work outside Democracy. But abuses Democracy constantly.
As our Nation becomes more and more aware of the Anti- Democracy of Simon Bridges and Mrs Bennett, the more National will slither down its own dishonest Slum.
Has the election campaign started already or is Mike Hosking just stuck in a mid-term hysteria attack. I see the Herald headline today "Hosking: Red alert – this Govt's in danger of plunging into deficit." He seems to be in perpetual attack mode at the moment, a drama queen who unfortunately has a stage. Mind you there are desperate morons ready to fawn at his feet.
Mike had an epiphany when he heard that the Budget had been presented in and to Parliament last week. He’s still catching up.
I hope the medical profession know about this. When someone gets into A&E after having a seizure and their partner explains that the patient has had an epiphany, they might be very puzzled.
Yes, A&E specialists know about this and they immediately give an intra-arterial infusion of Kool-Aid Blue. It won’t stop the seizures but deals with the epiphany and associated hallucinations.
I've never been back to the Herald since the paywall. Brilliant move even their headlines were utter shite.
If only we all abandoned them, Hosking might have to trade in the maserati for a Lada.
That paywall will slowly ease off, just like last time. News from inside reports the fish wrap is struggling.
No surprises. You could present Mike Hosking with a budget that cures cancer, feeds the Third World and reverses climate change, and he'd still find something to piss and moan about. He needs to bite the bullet and just become a National Party MP. He's three quarters of the way there already.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018697429/dads-don-t-tell-your-sons-to-toughen-up
This would be interesting. The trouble with violence in males often comes from lower income families that have a basic attitude to education and would scorn as perhaps 'sissy' the ideas of understanding psychology and fitting their approaches to child raising within known psychological guidelines.
The reading I have encountered is that lower income families tend to an authoritarian approach. I saw an example of an older Maori man speaking angrily and sharply to get his son or nephew to come and get in a car. I had encountered the man before at an op shop and got an impression of his circumstances; he seemed an uptight person, I felt he might have been in the army at one time. The youngster, about twelve, came to him but head down and mouth set in an angry line. So if he complained about this attitude of the adult role model, and was told to Toughen up, I don't think that would have been a useful approach for friction in the future. The ability to deal with anger is an essential one for civilised behaviour, not to deny it, but very probably to place the source of it, which is usually quite different than the person who receives the outburst of it, verbally or physically.
Learning about handling yourself, your emotions, your self-respect and self-understanding, practising empathy in school workshops, regularly, should be part of education. It is more important than the general education received, being part of every aspect of life and actions personal, and in others; understanding guides the best way of say three possibilities to handle difficulties over personalities, tone etc.
I have mentioned transactional analysis – excellent kit of psychology tools to understand yourself and others and why you do what you do and vice versa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKNyFSLJy6o
NZs failed revolution of capitalist economics. What happens when we mass and protest? Depends. We must have achieved some good change. But so little compared to what we perceive as needed. What if we got serious as we did in 1981 for the South Africans? Do we only care about downtrodden people in other countries, other countries' anguish; don't we care about each other? Don't baby boomers care about the young, except their own nuclear family?
Chris Trotter identifies the need for affordable and secure housing at the base of all the problems. It's hard to get a job if you are couch-surfing, sleeping in a car with your kids!! If you have one, how do you manage to get to work looking neat, ready and clean, with all 'home' responsibilities attended to.
https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/100017/chris-trotter-says-left-can-detail-many-privations-too-many-our-citizens-they-cant Chris Trotter went to Bryan Bruce's town hall meeting at Otahuhu to talk about The Peoples Budget, and writes about his observations and feelings:
…the wish that our publicly-owned television network contained, within its administrative and creative ranks, broadcasters who burn with the same fiery passion to let the voters know what is really happening in their country that consumes Bryan Bruce.
Passion, however, is not enough – not when the game you are playing is politics. It is a perennial failing of the Left that they allow themselves to become consumed with outrage at WHAT is happening on the meanest streets of their nation; paying far too little (if any) heed to WHY it is happening. Challenged on this, they will glibly attach the ‘why’ of poverty, inequality, homelessness and environmental despoliation to “Neoliberalism”. In much the same way did the religious scholars of the Middle Ages explain the ills of the world by pointing triumphantly in the direction of the Devil….
The truth which emerged most clearly from the testimony put before the Otahuhu Town Hall meeting is that the unavailability and inordinate cost of decent housing lies at the very heart of the economic and social crises afflicting New Zealand’s poorest communities. An all-out effort on the housing front is, therefore, urgently required if even a tiny fraction of the Coalition’s “wellbeing” promises are to be fulfilled.
And yet, Robertson’s Wellbeing Budget is almost silent on the issue of housing. Almost, but…[a] line in the 2019 Budget predicts a 21 percent rise in house prices over the next four years.
Trotsker doesn't like being outglibbed.
Oh Glabby you will never do that.
Please don't forget to refer regularly to the How to get there post on Sundays. Interesting useful practical and philosophical things get put there, and it may be added to during the next week with other stuff.
Brexit backstop vid – short plus a few more.
It is dragging on but the issues there from the first are still there aren't they? So a few basic reminders of the ordure that Brits are in.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-45880401/brexit-basics-what-is-the-backstop
Brexit and NHS
2017
https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/preparing-for-the-unpredictable?gclid=Cj0KCQjwitPnBRCQARIsAA5n84ke2nbiWT88Jt7dG6iicRitpvuxwe_mlkq3oJ-TbDUlOvl_OUniH2oaAq29EALw_wcB
Thoughts from UKs Nuffield Trust 2017 "…from the Nuffield Trust
The Nuffield Trust is an independent health think tank. We aim to improve the quality of health care in the UK by providing evidence-based research and policy analysis and informing and generating debate.
2018?
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/perspective/impact-of-brexit-on-the-nhs.aspx
The impact of Brexit on the NHS has been a source of debate and controversy since the figure of £350million appeared on the side of a bus during the EU referendum in 2016. As we get closer to 29th March 2019 – the official date the UK is due to leave the EU – what will the impact of Brexit really look like for the NHS, its staff and its patients?
(Also: Quantum Technologies Developing the use of sensors and clocks in innovative, ground-breaking technologies to change the future landscapes of healthcare, transport, defence, civil engineering and more.)
October 2018
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/oct/13/brexit-doctors-and-nurses-nhs-will-get-worse 13/10/2018
The survey by YouGov also suggests that opposition to Brexit has grown among doctors and nurses, with 75% saying they would now vote to remain in the EU, up from 66% who said they voted that way in 2016.
2 June 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/02/us-wants-access-to-nhs-in-post-brexit-deal-ambassador-to-uk-says 2/6/2019
Asked if the NHS was likely to form part of trade negotiations, Johnson told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “I think the entire economy, in a trade deal, all things that are traded would be on the table.” Asked if that specifically meant healthcare, he said: “I would think so.”
Investigation into Farage – how far did he go?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/25/eu-watchdog-considering-nigel-farage-investigation-arron-banks
The European parliament this week opened an investigation into revelations made by Channel 4 that the insurance tycoon Arron Banks funded a lavish lifestyle for Farage in the year of the Brexit referendum. In 2016, Farage received expenses of about £450,000, including rent on a Chelsea home, furniture, security and promotional trips to the US, where he attended the Republican national convention.
The Cons' options appear to be a unceremonial hard brexit, a hard brexit with a deal with one of the greatest US president salesman ever, a new referendum, or a election, by end of October.
British democracy will decide…
Expert level trolling.
https://twitter.com/travisakers/status/1135560022342213632
This is a brilliant move. Someone in marketing needs to hire this teen.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/trump-uk-visit-penis-stansted-airport-protest-climate-change-real-essex-a8941271.html?amp&__twitter_impression=true
Wow Joe 90 Sound and light show? Would put the Don into the shade.
If you haven't already found it – SadandUseless has some brilliant protest signs
This is one of my favourites!
(With apologies to Pink Floyd.)
"All in all your just another Prick with no wall!"
https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/trump-protest1.jpg
Lots more here:
https://www.sadanduseless.com/donald-meets-england-funny/
The Glaswegian ones are of course exceptional:
Heh.
Surely the met police will demand that this stop (in the interests of public order and safety dewnchnew).
They are very busy at the moment with the zombie outbreak,(people wondering around looking at their hands).
https://twitter.com/MPSTowerHam/status/1135479864650338304
Lol
"A pickled intestine in a suit, with shitty feather egg hair"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7yRHQtMQnk
PM far too slow off the mark on Treasury with SSC having to step in before she did.
Weak.
If only this government would see it for what is: the only opportunity they will get to clear Treasury senior staff out and get fresh friendly bureaucrats in there.
Seriously. Treasury and the government came under a concerted attack led out of Chris Bishop's office.
The PM, the Finance Minister and the Secretary of Treasury have absolutely nothing to apologise for. Doing so would be weak.
God forbid the SSC actually look at personnel issues in the state services. /sarc
The pollies are doing their part by demanding answers to the leak. The SSC is doing its part by examining individual actions from an employment perspective. Dunno the exact terminology, but it's governance vs operations.
I very much doubt the Treasury Sec'y clearly fucked up or misled anyone (wouldn't be the dumbest thing to ever happen, though), but it's the SSC's role to find out.
Budgetgate was entirely manufactured by National. It was a set-up from the word go. It caused major confusion and perhaps even a slight panic when they were already under heavy pressure because of Budget Day. I’m sure mistakes were made but some allege a level of deliberation in these mistakes for political advantage. I think this shows National’s thinking and they’re protesting a wee bit too much IMO.
James Flynn exNZ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vpqilhW9uI
Why our IQ levels are higher than our grandparents' | James Flynn
Some details of a mother's violence to her son.
A mother has appeared in court for breaking a broom across the back of her seven-year-old son. The 34-year-old woman was sentenced to 12 months intensive supervision and 40 hours community work, at Pukekohe District Court on May 8 for a charge of assaulting a child with a weapon.
Is it better that she be shamed in front of her child and neighbourhood and receive intensive supervision plus 40 hours of community work. What does intensive supervision mean – be watched all the time. Is the 40 hours community work to spend learning a few things, like working out what to do when you feel very angry, what to do with the child when it won't do what it is asked to, ask sympathetically what she could do to relieve herself of some of the pressure she feels. The emphasis should be on habilitation, and breaking the cycle, as it may have been a punishment she received.
She may be bearing a large burden in the household with no-one to care for her and little co-operation from other adults.
Workshops on anger management, a free child care while she goes to night school to learn something she enjoys, outdoor camp weekends with her children to give change of scene and mood. All positive things more than the punitive finger-pointing would go far.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/113164245/mother-snaps-broom-across-sevenyearold-son-for-messing-up-his-bed
Intensive supervision.
Community work.
If the courts don't sentence her to classes and camping trips, who would?