Sniggering at a logo will have as much cut-through as the Russia fantasy. Instead of these "witty" social media warriors patting each other on the back over their H.P. Lovecraft allusions—they'll be congratulating themselves that those dumb Trump supporters have never HEARD of H.P. Lovecraft—-do you not think it would be more useful to focus on the actual crimes and outrages perpetrated every day by Trump and his cronies?
And, no, saying mean things about the New York Times is not a crime.
Hilarious. So it was, as we should all have suspected, those dastardly Russian masterminds that manipulated the "bots" to made Gabbard look good and Harris look nasty and foolish.
At least ace reporter Emily Stewart got one thing right, when she admitted:
[Is there something you want or have to say about an Author of this site? Spit it out in your own words instead of hiding behind old comments by others archived on your own blog site like John Key’s bottom drawer. To me, it looks like the actions of a prejudiced coward but you may have something of interest to say so here is your opportunity; don’t blow it – Incognito 😉 ]
I believe they do, Tim. I'll recommend you to the producer if you like. You couldn't be worse than I was when I appeared on the program back in 2013…
CHRISTINE RANKIN: Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Um.
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! It’s time to find out what our Panelists have been thinking about. Christine Rankin, what’s been on YOUR mind lately?
CHRISTINE RANKIN: Well, Jim, look, I’ve been so busy working for the reintroduction of corporal punishment for the under-fives that I haven’t had TIME to do any thinking at all for several years now. I really can’t think of one thing to talk about.
JIM MORA:[long, irritated silence] Mmmmm-kay. Morrissey, have YOU got something on your mind?
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ummm, ahhhh, I’m going to abandon my, uh, carefully prepared speech about foreign policy, and comment on Christine’s failure to ummm, errr, honour her, ummmm, commitments to your show.
CHRISTINE RANKIN: [indignant] I’ve been BUSY.
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ummmm, ahhhh, yeah. Ummm…to paraphrase Dr. Johnson, I will say this about Christine: “This woman’s thinking is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.”
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! That’s very funny! I think he’s talking about you Christine!
MORRISSEY BREEN: And that’s all I have to say, Jim. Um.
JIM MORA: Short and sweet. That’s the way we like them on the Panel! Okay, next up, Lanthanide will tell us why he thinks a nuclear reactor in the middle of Christchurch would be a good idea. First, though, what do the Panelists think of this?
RANKIN:[fervently] That’s a SPLENDID idea. At last, somebody talking some sense….
I was half hoping I might hear you go head to head with someone like Joe Bennett sometime.
(I like a healthy dose of cynicism with an ounce of ridicule, just as long as one can be equally cynical and questioning of themselves. Otherwise it's so holier-than-thou. And as you will know, I'm the most perfectist specimen ever to grace the place that I could rival Sir John or Soimun. I just can't seem to find a decent interpreter at the moment).
Ew! It sounds a bit icky. Besides, it's commercial and if I keep having to boycott places and products based on the advertising that offends my superior intellect, I'll be forced to go back somewhere like the lower regions of the Himalyas to live an honest and natural life.
Now I think about it, I suppose that is an option – I could always get someone like Bryce Edwards to be my spiritual guide if he was prepared to grace me with his presence
Thanks for giving me the opportunity, Incognito. My relationship with our good friend and colleague weka goes back a long way. It reached a bit of a nadir a few times when she banned me, but we usually kissed and made up.
I thought she'd gone for good when, during another ban late last year, I penned the following for D.P. Farrar's dodgy site….
I must say that, in spite of our rather chequered history, I'm glad to see weka back with us.
[I warned you not to blow it yet you lit the fuse and guess what happened?
KABOOM!!
Just a few weeks ago (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-07-2019/) you were in the midst of a pile up and putting the boot into the same Author and (former) Moderator of this site. I left several Moderator warnings, which you would have seen despite they were not directed at you specifically.
Today, again, you couldn’t help yourself and you linked to a contemptable piece of narcissistic ‘writing’ destined for KiwiBlog attacking not one but several Authors and Moderators of TS. Indeed, that is where it belongs and where it ended up, I see. Good for you.
Yet today you claim “I’m glad to see weka back with us”!?
I counted 11 links today from and to your bottom drawer of which you seem to be immensely proud and of the fact that share this questionable habit with infamous historical figures such as Muldoon, Joe McCarthy, and Joe Stalin. If you read this site’s policy https://thestandard.org.nz/policy/#banning you’ll see that link-spamming is a self-martyrdom offense. But you already knew that, didn’t you?
I’ll save the moderators here, i.e., moi, a lot of time by sending you back to KiwiBlog, where you belong IMHO.
The extreme right wing are at it again. White supremacists get a pretty easy ride on forums like Kiwiblog, with various commenters suggesting they are just 'standing up for their culture'.
But there is an inherent violence and hatred festering inside them, and the right wing in general, and it is this violence against ordinary innocents which manifests itself with increasing regularity…
Sadly, it seems we have forgotten who those social workers really are, what they do and, most importantly, why they must do it.
Darroch Ball says Oranga Tamariki social workers are hard-working, dedicated and right-minded people.
While the protesters were chanting "not one more child to be taken", I am incredulous that even though a child is admitted to hospital with non-accidental injuries every two days, we don't hear any protesters chanting "not one more child to be beaten".
It seems incredible that people somehow truly believe social workers can just decide one day to knock on a door and uplift a child. There are many steps social workers must take before the process of uplifting a child takes place, including the fact that a court must make that decision – not the social worker.
indeed. In my line of work I frequently deal with social workers – DHB as well as Oranga Tamariki. I have yet to meet one who does not care passionately about their work and the people they work with. Without exception, the situations in which they find themselves cause much soul searching, stress and distress. Most are heartbroken that they can only do so much for the children and families they work with.
The problem is that too little is being done to help the people who are struggling at the bottom and resorting to drugs and showing the distress caused by an uncaring nation. And some of those social workers are Maori. Things don't improve because a constipated government system that can't eliminate austerity and prejudicial thinking and get on to creating work schemes and bring young people back into school to get training for work, and advice on how to cope with the demands of a very young child on the immature parent.
We know about the children taken from their aborigine parents in Australia. And the cases here of the state swooping in like vultures rather than on angelic wings. It is a bad business that Oranga Tamirki has been set up to carry out, and the workers trying to cope in a humane way have a hard job.
But it is the system that has failed the parents, all their sorrows have not been forgotten and they have grown up unready to find their own secure and happy maturity and just cannot plan for the future they would choose, it given the support and training that they need.
It is just that the turbulence suggests unrest, and unrest must mean that the Government is somehow responsible. Look at Government failure to solve land use problems or failure to Kiwibuild. Shout it through the media and those who don't look at the detail can be swayed and therefore Opposition benefits.
there are real problems that real people have identified and are trying to change – it would be very sad if the heartfelt feelings of those affected were not respected.
A call for "not one baby more, not one acre more, not one whānau more" led speeches as about 400 rallied on Parliament's lawn on Tuesday to hand an open letter signed by 17,000 thousand people to Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson.
Organising group Hands off our Tamariki Network is calling for a halt to children being removed from their families and iwi by Oranga Tamariki, in a debate spurred by a Newsroom video showing the trauma of an attempted uplift in Hastings this year.
"It's time for us to take control, as whānau, of our own wellbeing. It's time for us to take control as hapu, as iwi, as Māori for the wellbeing of our Tamariki and mokopuna," organiser Leonie Pihama told the crowd to cheers.
In 2012 Boris Johnson wrote about the dreadful fate awaiting Greece.
Every day we read of fresh horrors: of once proud bourgeois families queuing for bread, of people in agony because the government has run out of money to pay for cancer drugs. Pensions are being cut, living standards are falling, unemployment is rising, and the suicide rate is now the highest in the EU – having been one of the lowest.
By any standards we are seeing a whole nation undergo a protracted economic and political humiliation; and whatever the result of yesterday’s election, we seem determined to make matters worse. There is no plan for Greece to leave the euro, or none that I can discover. No European leader dares suggest that this might be possible, since that would be to profane the religion of Ever Closer Union. Instead we are all meant to be conniving in a plan to create a fiscal union which (if it were to mean anything) would mean undermining the fundamentals of Western democracy.
Schools may have to close, exams could be disrupted and fresh food for pupils’ meals could run short because of panic buying with prices soaring by up to 20%, according to a secret Department for Education analysis of the risks of a no-deal Brexit obtained by the Observer.
The five-page document – marked “Official Sensitive” and with the instruction “Do Not Circulate” – also raises the possibility of teacher absences caused by travel disruption, citing schools in Kent as particularly at risk.
On the dangers of food shortages to schools, it suggests that informing the public of the risks could make matters even worse.
In a section entitled School Food, it talks of the “risk that communications in this area could spark undue alarm or panic food buying among the general public”.
Pollies set us up to be pigeons encouraged to push buttons to get stories of how bad things are elsewhere and not notice that our own walls are shrinking inwards.
I would suggest don't listen to Boorish echoing being a comedian, watch the real ones. You will get the same feeling of happy confusion, but from professionals on Black Books.
…. and over many, many other issues. Te Reo's actually a really nice bloke, deep down, even forgiving me after I cast him, back in 2013, as one of the nastier characters from Animal Farm….
6 link whore linking to that second rate blog in this thread alone.
I appreciate you may be trying to brighten our days by giving us something to laugh at (and it IS funny). But if we wanted to look at shit like that we would.
James, please clarify, is there any evidence (in that RNZ news link) for a "Green MP thinking they won’t make 5% next election.", or is that wishful speculation on your part?
no evidence – just a reasonable guess given that they are on 6%.
[Making up shit is very naughty, James, even when you think it is reasonable shit. Naughty commenters have to sit on the naughty step so give me a good reason why you should escape this treatment. After all, you were quite rude to Robert when he challenged you. Perhaps you didn’t know that the person you had in mind is not a Green MP? – Incognito]
Yeah, he jumped to the wrong conclusion. I've had several conversations with Jack (at our conferences) and I'm really impressed – enough to rate him as #2 after James for the party list last time.
However, I suspect he is misreading the situation. Intelligence isn't the problem: he's right up there. Impatience due to youth. I had that too, still often gets me.
I believe the more consensus-building he engages in, the more he will learn that impatient radicals don't achieve much. For some reason, he's not acquiring the gnosis from James as role model. I have faith he'll suss it out eventually.
Given that Gareth is the only self-declared leftist in the leadership group (to the media/public, I mean, and with the caveat that as far as I've seen), and he was the one who did stand against James & didn't leave when defeated, I'm taking it as not a leftist plot!
As always, I could be wrong, but reading Gareth's demeanour & body language as much as what he actually said makes me confident I'm not. Other than Jack, I've seen no sign that the group has lost confidence in James's leadership. If the left was clearly polling well, there would be.
The left isn't polling very well in other western countries either. I believe the perception that they need to build common ground with centrists has been spreading. Only residual leftist ideology is preventing consensus from firming up decisively throughout the west, and marginalising the right.
"However, Mr McDonald said he would be staying on as a party member, as he believed the Green Party were still the best hope for radical change in Parliament."
James, you wrote: "Green MP thinking they won’t make 5% next election."
Laugh all you like, James, but it is about addressing an unmet need. A bumbling toddler learning to walk can be funny to watch and they have to learn to crawl before they can learn to walk, but one day they’ll walk …
Such limited defeatist thinking, James. Heard of the Paralympics? Seen what amazing things some people can do with just their arms? Ever seen the famous documentary Child of Our Time and the disabled solo mother Alison Lapperhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Lapper? You may want to adjust your thinking about people and their appearances; they can be deceiving …
Greens are the only party to have consistently promoted policies for renters rather than owners or speculators. Fingers crossed something useful gets past the resisters.
True, good for differentiation in 2020 and may drag Winston's bunch and Labour's righties further to the left – but not much consolation for renters in the meantime.
I'm all in favour of new radiation machines, but what we were promised by Labour at the last election was a comprehensive cancer-fighting strategy, and Clarke himself was in favour of a standalone cancer-fighting agency.
The commitment to spreading machines around regions rather than further centralising specialist services is significant. Something the last govt could easily have done.
Clark has said his views on the value of a separate cancer agency have shifted now that he has access to internal information as a Minister. Also clear in recent interviews that an overall cancer strategy is coming in a few weeks.
"A cancer plan that works has to be comprehensive and must include radiation treatment as well as pharmaceuticals and preventative measures," Ardern told media in a press conference at Wellington Regional Hospital.
"Radiation is an effective form of cancer treatment, and one-in-two people with cancer would benefit from its use. But in New Zealand only one-in-three are currently accessing these services.
"That's why we are making the single largest Government capital investment in it."
I hope they will have an effective strategy to ensure sufficient staffing levels and a resilient workforce otherwise these expensive machines could be sitting idle for much of the time. I think that is a much harder issue to deal with than buying expensive kit.
This Government is promising the Earth but no spades and no extra pairs of hands to do the digging. The billion trees to be planted, KiwiBuild, mental health, et cetera. In education, they at least made an effort to increase the much-needed capacity but it did not go down well with the people that already existed on the ground. If they keep this up, they’ll erode (political) goodwill and credit and even JA won’t be able to save them.
NZ Māori Council calls for Simon Bridges to apologise for Tokelau comments
“What this man said about a whole section of New Zealand citizens is an absolute disgrace, but also highlights his performance on all issues related to Iwi Māori," he said in a statement.
"Let me be really clear here: Bridges was a member of a nine-year-old Government whereby our people resembled more of a third-world population. It was under his Government's watch that gave rise [to] record numbers of Māori committing suicide.
"It was under his Government's watch that homeless numbers rose, the health system began to falter under the weight of financial mismanagement, that Pharmac became a laughing joke, that more of our children than ever were taken by the state.”
– Matthew Tutaki
Matthew Tutaki another unimpressed with Simon Bridges.
No he won't – there is another shooting in the US, people must be becoming mindful of the part heavy handed, reckless, dirty politicking is having on people's lives. NZers need to recognise what is leadership and how and why it must be made to work for the country and put their full support behind that and be active in engaging with each other.
You've got a nice feature about your area. I want to start a business using it and it will mean that you have to share it with us, we will need the major part say 80/20, but there are a few jobs in it, and investment in luxury homes so there will be growth for you.
But these Waiheke Islanders aren't your ordinary sheeple.
About the same time i guess as Peter Ellis was being granted leave to appeal to the supreme court the crown was busy opposing it .The several reasons they gave to oppose it were fairly threadbare i thought but one really stands out !!they said that they doubted that the science of the time had changed very much in the interim wtf !!!i had to laugh albeit darkly according to Lynley Hood who has done exhaustive work on ellis's case and of the professional therapists of the time it was common to measure a little girls hymen and finding it to be more than four mil provided conclusive proof of sexual abuse .Well unsurprisingly [since the experts of the time were not very expert ]the science went on to find eventually that hymens come in all shapes an sizes quite naturally.The chief witness for the prosecution at ellis's trial was one of these above mentioned practitioners she practiced this sort of what can only be described imo as quackery for a living yet was held up by the crown as the last word in the study of sexual abuse .Seems the only thing that REALLY hasnt changed in the last twenty years is Crown Bias
'Crown bias' and general ignorance continues probably because of an unwillingness of 'experts' to examine their learnings to see if they are up to date, and then accept they have been at fault in the part.
Because of a lack of willingness by authorities to accept that mistakes may happen in medical proceedings, those involved are understandably reluctant to admit that their methods might be faulty. This is a problem for medical people believing they are following best practice, or who have made a rare error. Medical people should be able to report themselves or also if others do so, and be investigated and cautioned and would probably be placed under supervision of the general medical authorities from designated peers, rather than have to go through the usual rigid judgments that the public face.
An example is Semmelweiss and the extra and preventable deaths of mothers who were denied the hygienic care that he trialled and proved was effective. It appears that his mistreatment by the medical establishment is still not fully owned by history. One report says he was placed in an asylum due to possible alzheimers disease and there was beaten by staff, and died of a diseased wound. Another was that he was enticed into an asylum and then imprisoned on the basis he 'had lost his mind.'
The poor man had so many detractors who refused to accept the facts, and preferred to 'denigrate the man' that he became depressed, and lost his way in life I think. However, to some extent, he was the author of his own misfortune in that he delayed publishing his treatment and providing the information needed to prevent false stories and opinions to circulate.
His successor – János Diescher was appointed Semmelweis's successor at the Pest University maternity clinic. Immediately, mortality rates jumped sixfold to 6%, but the physicians of Budapest said nothing; there were no inquiries and no protests. Almost no one — either in Vienna or in Budapest — seems to have been willing to acknowledge Semmelweis's life and work.
His remains were transferred to Budapest in 1891. On 11 October 1964, they were transferred once more to the house in which he was born. The house is now a historical museum and library, honoring Ignaz Semmelweis.
A white man drove 700 kilometres to murder and maim brown people.
The next race war will come not from racist whites, but from racist blacks and Hispanics who feel empowered to act on their racism by an administration that excuses all minority misbehavior.
I agree Sam dept can be a trap tangata lending money on credit card just to survive .I see people using money stupidly all the time one should live like they are broke all the time to save money.
I think that the government should build minny housing smart small whare add that to the lower house perches prices for first house buyers prices. Im quite lucky I can build a whare in Hawksbay and Te Waiapu Valley to I will build them from recycled materials and make them carbon neutral to.
Keep those POLICE UNDER control Jacinda the Ihumatao issue is a international story now.
The Coalition Government has invested more in Aotearoa Healthcare systems in 2 years than national did in 9 so point your criticism to them.
Duncan you are being rude talking over the top of Jacinda that tells me a story.
Artificial intelligence will take JOBS off the common people don't bullshit its is going to hand more power to the 00.1% unless good laws are made to counteract that phenomenon Artificial Intelligence and robotics automation Will Be A Major Game Changer so a universal WAGE is needed to counteract that phenomenon The major effects of Artificial intelligence won't happen overnight but it will happen in the near future Ma te wa.
That business man with the bruising on his head is actually a national puppet whanau don't listen to his and duncans rhetoric about Our business economy its is going great the government has increased investment in the economy through higher wages and investment in Infrastructure this will flow through the economy and back to the government in tax take they increase investment in the MANY the 99.0% who pay most of the tax take .Not like national who invested heavily in the Wealth 00.1% who have accountants who hide their new money they got from national tax cuts ECT under their pillow .Consequence less tax take for the government LESS money to spend on the Tangata.
Have the Police got any video footage to back up there allegations of bad behavior by the protesters at Ihumatao did you see that they put a Wahine up to make their statement.????????.
That would be good for the Wahine who are getting treatment for breast cancer a trial of a new drug that will stop the side effects of hot flushes ka pai.
Eco Maori has no power bill now cost me $1800 to build quite easy to so long as the sandflys stop stuffing with it I went to cut wood again and my system had been turned on the battery were run down lucky I got a second battery from the Stihl shop in Naiper he has got a great product and a great price. My new battery was in the system
That's funny the drug lord trying to break out of jail impersonating his daughter
Sir Ngata was treated very badly by the crown if he was White he would have not even been charged.
I,,,,Whanau the police love using there intimidation practices and propaganda to try and upset people Whanau be cool like ME. They have heaps of police following Me around they use the public to try and intimidate me to but the fools are just giving Eco Maori more MANA thanks.
I think sitting on your hands and not changing the way trade training whanaga is stupid especially if some are failing in their business plans and failing to give te tangata the correct skills that are lacking in Aotearoa. I think it's stupid having to import people with the skills when we just have to train our OWN.
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’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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 ...
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, ...
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. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
The Repugs get self-aware with their 2020 convention logo.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-convention-logo-cthulhu_n_5d43ba9ce4b0acb57fca1492
Sniggering at a logo will have as much cut-through as the Russia fantasy. Instead of these "witty" social media warriors patting each other on the back over their H.P. Lovecraft allusions—they'll be congratulating themselves that those dumb Trump supporters have never HEARD of H.P. Lovecraft—-do you not think it would be more useful to focus on the actual crimes and outrages perpetrated every day by Trump and his cronies?
And, no, saying mean things about the New York Times is not a crime.
I do apologise for failing to post a mozzie-approved droning whine about the awfulness of the media, Dems in general, Obama, and especially Clinton.
To make up for it, here's an "awww, that's so sweeeeet" piece just for you.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/donald-trumps-america/114665278/meet-the-guitarstrumming-kiwi-surfer-dude-whos-become-us-presidential-candidate-tulsi-gabbards-secret-weapon
Feel better now, Comrade Morrisski?
Thanks, Andre. Like anyone who sees a truly decent, as well as pulchritudinous, politician such as the Honorable Tulsi, I do indeed feel better.
Great work, Comrade.
https://i.imgflip.com/1cx5fe.jpg
Another piece you may enjoy about Tulsi and how social media manipulation works and what the objective might be.
https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/8/2/20751789/kamala-harris-destroyed-tulsi-gabbard-bots-google
Hilarious. So it was, as we should all have suspected, those dastardly Russian masterminds that manipulated the "bots" to made Gabbard look good and Harris look nasty and foolish.
At least ace reporter Emily Stewart got one thing right, when she admitted:
Never ending….'Be Good With Money'
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/114664770/bnz-knew-it-was-charging-too-much-for-kiwisaver-but-didnt-cut-fees-for-nearly-a-year
I am so happy Weka one of my favourite authors is back. She makes me want to look at the standard more often.
weka?
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/weka-has-go-at-john-pilger-aug-22-2015.html
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/12/standardistas-debate-merits-or.html
[Is there something you want or have to say about an Author of this site? Spit it out in your own words instead of hiding behind old comments by others archived on your own blog site like John Key’s bottom drawer. To me, it looks like the actions of a prejudiced coward but you may have something of interest to say so here is your opportunity; don’t blow it – Incognito 😉 ]
This pathetic "look at moi" need you have to link back to your own site – is that what's known as linkwhoring?
'Like John Key's bottom drawer' – amusing incognito, and perfectly framed.
Muldoon had a list as well. And Joe McCarthy. And Joe Stalin.
I am an inveterate collector of choice insults, esp. those directed at moi….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/12/masters-of-abuse-no1-rick-boyd-jan-27.html
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/12/a-tribute-to-redbaiter-rip-oct-16-2011.html
See my Moderation note @ 11:25 AM.
Do you know if RNZ's 'The Panel' hold auditions? and What's the difference between a "prejudiced coward" and an embittered old curmudgeon?
Or maybe it's all an act
I don’t know. All I care about here is behaviour here; what people do in their own sandpits is up to them.
I believe they do, Tim. I'll recommend you to the producer if you like. You couldn't be worse than I was when I appeared on the program back in 2013…
I was half hoping I might hear you go head to head with someone like Joe Bennett sometime.
(I like a healthy dose of cynicism with an ounce of ridicule, just as long as one can be equally cynical and questioning of themselves. Otherwise it's so holier-than-thou. And as you will know, I'm the most perfectist specimen ever to grace the place that I could rival Sir John or Soimun. I just can't seem to find a decent interpreter at the moment).
You're too perfect for The Panel, Tim. You need to go on…. The Huddle.
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/01/wimp-walloping-williams-and-ralston-vs.html
Ew! It sounds a bit icky. Besides, it's commercial and if I keep having to boycott places and products based on the advertising that offends my superior intellect, I'll be forced to go back somewhere like the lower regions of the Himalyas to live an honest and natural life.
Now I think about it, I suppose that is an option – I could always get someone like Bryce Edwards to be my spiritual guide if he was prepared to grace me with his presence
Lol OwT
Thanks for giving me the opportunity, Incognito. My relationship with our good friend and colleague weka goes back a long way. It reached a bit of a nadir a few times when she banned me, but we usually kissed and made up.
I thought she'd gone for good when, during another ban late last year, I penned the following for D.P. Farrar's dodgy site….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-clobbering-machine-strikes-again.html
I must say that, in spite of our rather chequered history, I'm glad to see weka back with us.
[I warned you not to blow it yet you lit the fuse and guess what happened?
KABOOM!!
Just a few weeks ago (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-07-2019/) you were in the midst of a pile up and putting the boot into the same Author and (former) Moderator of this site. I left several Moderator warnings, which you would have seen despite they were not directed at you specifically.
Today, again, you couldn’t help yourself and you linked to a contemptable piece of narcissistic ‘writing’ destined for KiwiBlog attacking not one but several Authors and Moderators of TS. Indeed, that is where it belongs and where it ended up, I see. Good for you.
Yet today you claim “I’m glad to see weka back with us”!?
I counted 11 links today from and to your bottom drawer of which you seem to be immensely proud and of the fact that share this questionable habit with infamous historical figures such as Muldoon, Joe McCarthy, and Joe Stalin. If you read this site’s policy https://thestandard.org.nz/policy/#banning you’ll see that link-spamming is a self-martyrdom offense. But you already knew that, didn’t you?
I’ll save the moderators here, i.e., moi, a lot of time by sending you back to KiwiBlog, where you belong IMHO.
Banned for six months – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 3:01 PM.
Also chuffed to see weka writing here again!
Good to see you too PM! So sorry you got dragged into that mess.
+1
Thank-you TFG
+1
Second that 🙂
Yes I'm glad to see her too – she often lifts the standard of conversation.
The extreme right wing are at it again. White supremacists get a pretty easy ride on forums like Kiwiblog, with various commenters suggesting they are just 'standing up for their culture'.
But there is an inherent violence and hatred festering inside them, and the right wing in general, and it is this violence against ordinary innocents which manifests itself with increasing regularity…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/114736833/us-police-warn-of-an-active-shooter-at-mall-in-el-paso-texas
I agree with this defence of Oranga Tamariki
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/114678991/stop-blaming-oranga-tamariki-for-child-uplifts
indeed. In my line of work I frequently deal with social workers – DHB as well as Oranga Tamariki. I have yet to meet one who does not care passionately about their work and the people they work with. Without exception, the situations in which they find themselves cause much soul searching, stress and distress. Most are heartbroken that they can only do so much for the children and families they work with.
The problem is that too little is being done to help the people who are struggling at the bottom and resorting to drugs and showing the distress caused by an uncaring nation. And some of those social workers are Maori. Things don't improve because a constipated government system that can't eliminate austerity and prejudicial thinking and get on to creating work schemes and bring young people back into school to get training for work, and advice on how to cope with the demands of a very young child on the immature parent.
We know about the children taken from their aborigine parents in Australia. And the cases here of the state swooping in like vultures rather than on angelic wings. It is a bad business that Oranga Tamirki has been set up to carry out, and the workers trying to cope in a humane way have a hard job.
But it is the system that has failed the parents, all their sorrows have not been forgotten and they have grown up unready to find their own secure and happy maturity and just cannot plan for the future they would choose, it given the support and training that they need.
My significant other comes into contact daily with situations of children living with neglect, deprivation and poverty.
Some of the stories are heartbreaking.
In trying to understand where the nay-sayers are coming from, I think it has to do more with the system. Perhaps making it a little less Pakeha.
My suspicious mind wonders if there is a bit of stirring out of sight from a political party?
Which party are you referring to Ian?
I am scratching my head to think which one benefits.
It is just that the turbulence suggests unrest, and unrest must mean that the Government is somehow responsible. Look at Government failure to solve land use problems or failure to Kiwibuild. Shout it through the media and those who don't look at the detail can be swayed and therefore Opposition benefits.
How's that for Convoluted Gsays?
there are real problems that real people have identified and are trying to change – it would be very sad if the heartfelt feelings of those affected were not respected.
Yes, good piece. We need to get past the blame games and get to the core of the problem:
I see Oranga Tamariki as the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.
As my SO says, not a sausage about the three children who've died since the uplift story aired.
Thanks for linking to this Ian.
In 2012 Boris Johnson wrote about the dreadful fate awaiting Greece.
Every day we read of fresh horrors: of once proud bourgeois families queuing for bread, of people in agony because the government has run out of money to pay for cancer drugs. Pensions are being cut, living standards are falling, unemployment is rising, and the suicide rate is now the highest in the EU – having been one of the lowest.
By any standards we are seeing a whole nation undergo a protracted economic and political humiliation; and whatever the result of yesterday’s election, we seem determined to make matters worse. There is no plan for Greece to leave the euro, or none that I can discover. No European leader dares suggest that this might be possible, since that would be to profane the religion of Ever Closer Union. Instead we are all meant to be conniving in a plan to create a fiscal union which (if it were to mean anything) would mean undermining the fundamentals of Western democracy.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9337911/Dithering-Europe-is-heading-for-the-democratic-dark-ages.html
Schools may have to close, exams could be disrupted and fresh food for pupils’ meals could run short because of panic buying with prices soaring by up to 20%, according to a secret Department for Education analysis of the risks of a no-deal Brexit obtained by the Observer.
The five-page document – marked “Official Sensitive” and with the instruction “Do Not Circulate” – also raises the possibility of teacher absences caused by travel disruption, citing schools in Kent as particularly at risk.
On the dangers of food shortages to schools, it suggests that informing the public of the risks could make matters even worse.
In a section entitled School Food, it talks of the “risk that communications in this area could spark undue alarm or panic food buying among the general public”.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/03/secret-education-report-no-deal-brexit-school-chaos
Pollies set us up to be pigeons encouraged to push buttons to get stories of how bad things are elsewhere and not notice that our own walls are shrinking inwards.
I would suggest don't listen to Boorish echoing being a comedian, watch the real ones. You will get the same feeling of happy confusion, but from professionals on Black Books.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbT53BwNsQA
What happened toTRP? Is he still about here?
I miss his insight and take on things.
TRP?
I miss the guy, big time. We had our run-ins over the years, re the Greens….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/01/breen-vs-te-reo-putake-round-94-dec-9.html
re Iain Lees-Galloway and his cronies bullying a couple of women at Waitangi….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/11/labour-puts-up-cordon-of-black-suited.html
…. and over many, many other issues. Te Reo's actually a really nice bloke, deep down, even forgiving me after I cast him, back in 2013, as one of the nastier characters from Animal Farm….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-clobbering-machine-aug-4-2013.html
6 link whore linking to that second rate blog in this thread alone.
I appreciate you may be trying to brighten our days by giving us something to laugh at (and it IS funny). But if we wanted to look at shit like that we would.
Thanks for the advice, James. I'll try to keep the linkwhoring to a minimum, in future.
and for that we thank you.
Green MP thinking they won’t make 5% next election.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/395936/high-ranking-greens-member-pulls-pin-before-election
James, please clarify, is there any evidence (in that RNZ news link) for a "Green MP thinking they won’t make 5% next election.", or is that wishful speculation on your part?
no evidence – just a reasonable guess given that they are on 6%.
[Making up shit is very naughty, James, even when you think it is reasonable shit. Naughty commenters have to sit on the naughty step so give me a good reason why you should escape this treatment. After all, you were quite rude to Robert when he challenged you. Perhaps you didn’t know that the person you had in mind is not a Green MP? – Incognito]
Thanks for clarifying; just an evidence-free guess, and reasonable in your opinion.
Yeah, he jumped to the wrong conclusion. I've had several conversations with Jack (at our conferences) and I'm really impressed – enough to rate him as #2 after James for the party list last time.
However, I suspect he is misreading the situation. Intelligence isn't the problem: he's right up there. Impatience due to youth. I had that too, still often gets me.
I believe the more consensus-building he engages in, the more he will learn that impatient radicals don't achieve much. For some reason, he's not acquiring the gnosis from James as role model. I have faith he'll suss it out eventually.
Or Jack is sounding out whether there's the will for a change of male co-leader – given he's not leaving the party.
Did you see the reports from One News & 3News? The former was better. Had a clip of a bearded Gareth Hughes notably refraining from either endorsing Jack or criticising James. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/green-party-candidate-resigns-over-dissatisfaction-co-leader-james-shaw?auto=6067823611001
Given that Gareth is the only self-declared leftist in the leadership group (to the media/public, I mean, and with the caveat that as far as I've seen), and he was the one who did stand against James & didn't leave when defeated, I'm taking it as not a leftist plot!
As always, I could be wrong, but reading Gareth's demeanour & body language as much as what he actually said makes me confident I'm not. Other than Jack, I've seen no sign that the group has lost confidence in James's leadership. If the left was clearly polling well, there would be.
The left isn't polling very well in other western countries either. I believe the perception that they need to build common ground with centrists has been spreading. Only residual leftist ideology is preventing consensus from firming up decisively throughout the west, and marginalising the right.
"Mr Shaw does not seem phased" looks cool, but I suspect she meant fazed. Google's meaning: disturb or disconcert (someone).
Illiteracy in the media is inevitable in the digital age, when online emoting displaces language. Roll with them changes.
"… is the only self-declared leftist in the leadership group"
wake up dennis
https://twitter.com/isaac_davison/status/1154531117573132288
So what? No evidence of anyone in the Greens leadership group declaring themselves leftist. Plenty of centrists support Maoris.
"No-Evidence James"
Fits like a glove!
The fact that you have not held others here to the same level when they make comments on national members leaving – just shows your hypocrisy.
"However, Mr McDonald said he would be staying on as a party member, as he believed the Green Party were still the best hope for radical change in Parliament."
James, you wrote: "Green MP thinking they won’t make 5% next election."
What "Green MP" are you meaning?
I can't follow your thinking at all!
if you can’t work it out – have someone read it to you.
Would you be so kind, James? As I am, invariably, for you?
James sometimes falls back on this feeble type of response when his 'rush of blood' position is untenable (far more often than not!)
Jack's not an MP.
Yes, weka; we know, but did James know?
That's what I was seeking to learn.
See my Moderation note @ 4:13 PM.
Wot twaddle from Troll-James @ 3:53!
You should fire your Headline Editor, James; he's hopeless.
I feel for Jack, the centrist drift is a concern… This is not the party for the radical left.
Feel free to start one.
Ed and I have discussed it before…
Paywalled so I can't read much, but it looks like scumbag Nottingham is denied an appeal against his limp sentence: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12235806
Not much pickup yet, but Marama Davidson's speech to the Greens conference includes a rent-to-own housing policy proposal.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1908/S00043/speech-marama-davidson-green-party-agm.htm
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1908/S00042/greens-to-focus-on-supporting-new-zealanders-who-rent.htm
This phrase is hardly reassuring:
Guess that means Labour and Winston First get to veto or dilute it..
”We are ready to negotiate our Rent-to-own policy as part of the Kiwibuild reset”
Lol hard to believe kiwibuild could be more of a mess – but now the greens are negotiating policy in there. It’s the gift that keeps delivering.
Laugh all you like, James, but it is about addressing an unmet need. A bumbling toddler learning to walk can be funny to watch and they have to learn to crawl before they can learn to walk, but one day they’ll walk …
sadly however incognito- to use your analogy kiwibuild was born with legs that don’t work.
Such limited defeatist thinking, James. Heard of the Paralympics? Seen what amazing things some people can do with just their arms? Ever seen the famous documentary Child of Our Time and the disabled solo mother Alison Lapper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Lapper? You may want to adjust your thinking about people and their appearances; they can be deceiving …
Greens are the only party to have consistently promoted policies for renters rather than owners or speculators. Fingers crossed something useful gets past the resisters.
"We are ready to negotiate our Rent-to-own policy as part of the Kiwibuild reset"
Is this the Greens putting it out there so it's more obvious what will get removed by Labour or NZF? (I haven't listened to the speech yet).
True, good for differentiation in 2020 and may drag Winston's bunch and Labour's righties further to the left – but not much consolation for renters in the meantime.
No free markets on a dead planet.
https://twitter.com/jswatz/status/1157331249834467328
http://archive.li/naaEl
This is exactly why the Nat's are furious with Shaw's speech and appearance on The Nation.
They realise Shaw has drawn a line and the Nats are on the wrong side of it.
I'm all in favour of new radiation machines, but what we were promised by Labour at the last election was a comprehensive cancer-fighting strategy, and Clarke himself was in favour of a standalone cancer-fighting agency.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12255486
This announcement just looks like ordinary plant asset management.
No connection to a broader anything, and otherwise looks like a little tv news capture on a slow Sunday news cycle.
Labour promised a lot of things.
I look forward to others bringing more up.
What a technicolour yawn. Don't be gross.
Don't get me wrong.
They had no choice and it worked.
This doesn't absolve them of not keeping hardly any.
The commitment to spreading machines around regions rather than further centralising specialist services is significant. Something the last govt could easily have done.
Clark has said his views on the value of a separate cancer agency have shifted now that he has access to internal information as a Minister. Also clear in recent interviews that an overall cancer strategy is coming in a few weeks.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/114741570/government-announces-package-to-aid-cancer-treatment-in-the-regions
I also like to note that the PM was working on Sunday 😉
Any time she wants to show us all that plan would be great.
Meantime, it's a set of machines. MMM shiny.
wow so insulting from you – seems like you really hate the PM – lol sad wee fella
lol
I hope they will have an effective strategy to ensure sufficient staffing levels and a resilient workforce otherwise these expensive machines could be sitting idle for much of the time. I think that is a much harder issue to deal with than buying expensive kit.
+100
A billion or so into mental health, no one trained to do the extra work.
No improvement to people.
This Government is promising the Earth but no spades and no extra pairs of hands to do the digging. The billion trees to be planted, KiwiBuild, mental health, et cetera. In education, they at least made an effort to increase the much-needed capacity but it did not go down well with the people that already existed on the ground. If they keep this up, they’ll erode (political) goodwill and credit and even JA won’t be able to save them.
NZ Māori Council calls for Simon Bridges to apologise for Tokelau comments
– Matthew Tutaki
Matthew Tutaki another unimpressed with Simon Bridges.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/08/nz-m-ori-council-calls-for-simon-bridges-to-apologise-for-tokelau-comments.html
Do you think Bridges will apologise?
No he won't – there is another shooting in the US, people must be becoming mindful of the part heavy handed, reckless, dirty politicking is having on people's lives. NZers need to recognise what is leadership and how and why it must be made to work for the country and put their full support behind that and be active in engaging with each other.
Make America Safe Again.
😢
You've got a nice feature about your area. I want to start a business using it and it will mean that you have to share it with us, we will need the major part say 80/20, but there are a few jobs in it, and investment in luxury homes so there will be growth for you.
But these Waiheke Islanders aren't your ordinary sheeple.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/395950/sheep-heading-to-parliament-for-waiheke-petition
About the same time i guess as Peter Ellis was being granted leave to appeal to the supreme court the crown was busy opposing it .The several reasons they gave to oppose it were fairly threadbare i thought but one really stands out !!they said that they doubted that the science of the time had changed very much in the interim wtf !!!i had to laugh albeit darkly according to Lynley Hood who has done exhaustive work on ellis's case and of the professional therapists of the time it was common to measure a little girls hymen and finding it to be more than four mil provided conclusive proof of sexual abuse .Well unsurprisingly [since the experts of the time were not very expert ]the science went on to find eventually that hymens come in all shapes an sizes quite naturally.The chief witness for the prosecution at ellis's trial was one of these above mentioned practitioners she practiced this sort of what can only be described imo as quackery for a living yet was held up by the crown as the last word in the study of sexual abuse .Seems the only thing that REALLY hasnt changed in the last twenty years is Crown Bias
'Crown bias' and general ignorance continues probably because of an unwillingness of 'experts' to examine their learnings to see if they are up to date, and then accept they have been at fault in the part.
Because of a lack of willingness by authorities to accept that mistakes may happen in medical proceedings, those involved are understandably reluctant to admit that their methods might be faulty. This is a problem for medical people believing they are following best practice, or who have made a rare error. Medical people should be able to report themselves or also if others do so, and be investigated and cautioned and would probably be placed under supervision of the general medical authorities from designated peers, rather than have to go through the usual rigid judgments that the public face.
An example is Semmelweiss and the extra and preventable deaths of mothers who were denied the hygienic care that he trialled and proved was effective. It appears that his mistreatment by the medical establishment is still not fully owned by history. One report says he was placed in an asylum due to possible alzheimers disease and there was beaten by staff, and died of a diseased wound. Another was that he was enticed into an asylum and then imprisoned on the basis he 'had lost his mind.'
The poor man had so many detractors who refused to accept the facts, and preferred to 'denigrate the man' that he became depressed, and lost his way in life I think. However, to some extent, he was the author of his own misfortune in that he delayed publishing his treatment and providing the information needed to prevent false stories and opinions to circulate.
His successor – János Diescher was appointed Semmelweis's successor at the Pest University maternity clinic. Immediately, mortality rates jumped sixfold to 6%, but the physicians of Budapest said nothing; there were no inquiries and no protests. Almost no one — either in Vienna or in Budapest — seems to have been willing to acknowledge Semmelweis's life and work.
His remains were transferred to Budapest in 1891. On 11 October 1964, they were transferred once more to the house in which he was born. The house is now a historical museum and library, honoring Ignaz Semmelweis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
Oooh! Shot of the day by Pania Newton.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/395944/police-remove-guns-from-ihumatao-protesters-worried
yep fucken true that – the lines are hardening – bad stupid police move – ffs how about put the guitar AND the weapons down police.
ffs
As usual, old men light the fuse.
https://twitter.com/feministabulous/status/1157789629816410113
https://twitter.com/feministabulous/status/1157796277712818177
Of course Bernie runs with the NRA line.
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1157815349120765954
A white man drove 700 kilometres to murder and maim brown people.
The next race war will come not from racist whites, but from racist blacks and Hispanics who feel empowered to act on their racism by an administration that excuses all minority misbehavior.
https://www.creators.com/read/ben-shapiro/07/10/obamas-race-war
Kia Ora The Am Show.
I agree Sam dept can be a trap tangata lending money on credit card just to survive .I see people using money stupidly all the time one should live like they are broke all the time to save money.
I think that the government should build minny housing smart small whare add that to the lower house perches prices for first house buyers prices. Im quite lucky I can build a whare in Hawksbay and Te Waiapu Valley to I will build them from recycled materials and make them carbon neutral to.
Keep those POLICE UNDER control Jacinda the Ihumatao issue is a international story now.
The Coalition Government has invested more in Aotearoa Healthcare systems in 2 years than national did in 9 so point your criticism to them.
Duncan you are being rude talking over the top of Jacinda that tells me a story.
Artificial intelligence will take JOBS off the common people don't bullshit its is going to hand more power to the 00.1% unless good laws are made to counteract that phenomenon Artificial Intelligence and robotics automation Will Be A Major Game Changer so a universal WAGE is needed to counteract that phenomenon The major effects of Artificial intelligence won't happen overnight but it will happen in the near future Ma te wa.
That business man with the bruising on his head is actually a national puppet whanau don't listen to his and duncans rhetoric about Our business economy its is going great the government has increased investment in the economy through higher wages and investment in Infrastructure this will flow through the economy and back to the government in tax take they increase investment in the MANY the 99.0% who pay most of the tax take .Not like national who invested heavily in the Wealth 00.1% who have accountants who hide their new money they got from national tax cuts ECT under their pillow .Consequence less tax take for the government LESS money to spend on the Tangata.
Ka kite ano
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
https://youtu.be/PWoDSGfSu6o
People across the lower North Island have reported feeling an early morning 4.1-magnitude earthquake, centred 20 kilometres south of Wellington.
The quake struck at 3.38am on Tuesday and was centred at a depth of 38km, GeoNet said. Ka kite ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/114775129/41magnitude-quake-felt-across-lower-north-island
Some Eco Maori music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/mOFvJVroAJE
Kia Ora Newshub.
Have the Police got any video footage to back up there allegations of bad behavior by the protesters at Ihumatao did you see that they put a Wahine up to make their statement.????????.
That would be good for the Wahine who are getting treatment for breast cancer a trial of a new drug that will stop the side effects of hot flushes ka pai.
Eco Maori has no power bill now cost me $1800 to build quite easy to so long as the sandflys stop stuffing with it I went to cut wood again and my system had been turned on the battery were run down lucky I got a second battery from the Stihl shop in Naiper he has got a great product and a great price. My new battery was in the system
That's funny the drug lord trying to break out of jail impersonating his daughter
Sir Ngata was treated very badly by the crown if he was White he would have not even been charged.
Ka kite ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I,,,,Whanau the police love using there intimidation practices and propaganda to try and upset people Whanau be cool like ME. They have heaps of police following Me around they use the public to try and intimidate me to but the fools are just giving Eco Maori more MANA thanks.
I think sitting on your hands and not changing the way trade training whanaga is stupid especially if some are failing in their business plans and failing to give te tangata the correct skills that are lacking in Aotearoa. I think it's stupid having to import people with the skills when we just have to train our OWN.
Ka kite ano
Kia Ora The Crowd Goes Wild.
Ka pai Annan for running that Waka Ama story ka kite ano