While more state houses is the priority (greatest need) there are budget cost barriers to this being the sole emphasis.
Kiwi Build is limited by lack of demand – how many first home buyers are there and how many of them can afford new homes?
They can fix this by extending it to those whose first home is a flat or apartment and who intend to start a family – equity into a first family home. Also rent to buy and shared equity (debt is cheap and people are paying the money back – so the cost is an asset in the books) – which gets around people struggling to get a deposit together.
They should also consider
1. those unsold being used as emergency housing for those on state house waiting lists
2. the empty nesters looking to downsize before they retire (but these should be considered only if there is not sufficient uptake from first family home buyers – behind them the landlord class).
"KiwiBuild buyers of studio and one-bedroom homes will be able to sell or rent their property after one year instead of three.".
.so not really a Home..more a nice opportunity for investors, who may well be couples who then want to move on to a family home. However what is even the point of the government encouraging this sort of thing? How is this helping anyone struggling to find secure housing? How is this recalibration an out of control housing market.
This is simply stoking the fire of NZers obsession with making money via property….
There are two of us older folk who can't see how this is right, I haven't re-watched it having seen it last night but there seemed to be "reasons", rather than need, that means tax payer monies are off, eventually, to various people's pockets from housing.
While there will be cases that are genuinely deserving the principal and immediate aim looks to be retain a home and preserve as much capital in it to hand out in your will.
Specific steps look to have been taken to achieve eligibility for a housing benefit. How many of these "arrangements" either similar to this, or via trusts to retain property ownership, are there that keep tax payer funding away from the most vulnerable NZers?
Yes that was a curious item. Not enough information to make is possible to deduce exactly what other options were available to this person as his circumstances changed in the last few years. I suspect a range of options, which would not have needed housing assistance.
The principle of needing to be mortgage free at retirement, if at all possible, should still be the goal for all New Zealanders. This will not be impossible for a large cohort both today and into the future.
I agree after watching that item it was possible to concoct a number of ways to make that something some people would choose to do over what most only think of and that is to rid themsleves of the mortgage.
We live in Tauranga and have witnessed a number of ways that those in the building sector used their access to "land" that was more than the normal plot "size" to maximise gain, pre there being any curbs on that, and how a "family" situation was exercised to exploit it. In short a lot of "young" people have "built" and sold property since 2015-16 or have occupancy and/or ownership, pending possible sale.
This has probably given people ideas, and also trusts pre elders moving to rest homes is another way that the tax payer can be funding some people's "inheritances".
so..helen clark has confirmed (on rnz/m-report) that she was unable to move on reforming cannabis laws in 2002/05 gummints – 'cos they both had a coalition agreement insisting on no reform –
this at the insistance of peter (fucken) dunne..
let's not forget that fact..eh..?
and maybe the next time the media wheel him out as some elder-statesman/expert on cannabis – he could be asked about that..?
and of course clark is gilding the lily somewhat here..
Yep, Dunne is a repulsive creature. I well remember the time he even said there was no way whatsoever even medicinal use of cannabis would be considered, EVEN IF THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTED IT.
Classic stupidity from a classically stupid little man.
There were a couple of OK suggestions coming in on MR feedback this morning @ Mr Ure.
Things like standard pre-consented designs (which would have to have a variety of foundation types associated with them depending of terrain/geology etc.)
But also things like prefabrication, modular designs, council control-freakery over things like tiny homes, container homes, etc.
But you know ………. "Rome wasn't built in a day". It'll need an "emergency" rather than a "crisis" probably. On one of my regular jaunts north, I did notice how quickly new housing sprang up around Waiouru Army base not so long ago.
I think the critical thing was that mum and dad paid only 20 or 25 % of dads income for his State Advances loan for a new house in 1946 as limited by law. It was a quinea a week or 21 shillings and when they eventually paid it off 30 years later it was still only $2.20 cents a week.
It had only 3 power points, an attached but " öutside "toilet, with night cart collection for the first few years, it was 1954 before the street was tarsealed , 2 bedrooms and a "sunroom ", no insulation ( in the SI at that ) and only 62 sq metres, about the size of a double bedroom these days. OMG, how would a snowflake millenial cope with such appalling conditions now. They were just so proud and glad they had a house. Before the war it was almost impossible to get such a thing as a mortgage. The section cost 80 pounds, the house 450 pounds, and his pay was 5 pounds about the same as 80% of the population and the whole lot cost 106 weeks gross pay. Try doing that today, the equivilant would be about 600 weeks pay.
And more importantly the Govt of the day did not have to cope with every permanently aggravated dickhead who could climb on a social media soapbox berating everything they tried to do.
Ah yep ….. thems were the days eh? Me dear ole dad used to have to walk five miles to school everyday, and five miles home again. We were lucky to have shoes when I was a kid, and when we did, mum would have to put cardboard in them when the soles wore out.
Oh how things have improved with the advent of consumerism and the cheap imported multi-plug box. (as it happens, I'm just reconditioning one in between comments)
He lived in very easy times didn't he? My dad had to walk 10 miles uphill to school and another 10 miles uphill on the return trip. That was while he milked 90 cows both before and after school. He then did his homework by the light of a candle. They bred 'em tough in those days.
hmm reminds me of something my Gran used to say… 'when men were men and woman chopped the firewood' she was a tough nut bringing up a bunch of kids in the back of Apiti…
I think his point was something to do with how tough parents had to do it, and we don't know how lucky we are these days – probably as some sort of justification for our children having to be worse off than we were.
Not sure. Perhaps Adrian should answer for Himself.
I don’t suppose he’d be prepare to take any responsibility for the inevitable outcome of the consumerism and ideology that’s now in play.
(God, when I think back, and in the context of history, OH how I did it so bloody tuff! – We really DON’t know how lucky we are eh?).
Where’s Wayne when you need him to offer us all some sage advice
The point being that it was a lot easier for a government to get a roof ( and thats about all ) over a familys head and huge subdivisions could be commandeered into existance and fuck all nimbys in sight.
And as for the current generation as any real estate agent or builder will tell you a large proportion of them today want everything right now with flash as rat with a gold tooth kitchens and bathrooms or two. No wonder houses are bloody expensive.
Also as far as I can remember councils were really glad to have houses being built and families moving in so the council paid for all the services as well as roading and reserve contributions etc and not lump the full cost of such on to the price of a section inflating its price by astronomical amounts. Councils were content to get that stuff paid for over the following decades.
They might have been cold and small on barren sections but they were pretty bloody good for the day and bugger all people were whinging who got into one and most are still standing today.
And Phillip, there is no burgeoning small house movement, it is a tiny proportion of the housing market, its size inflated by dopey TV programmes. and BTW, try and get one through any mad controlling rapacious bloody council.
there are also a lot of the younger generation who are quite happy to live in apartments/studios – near city centres – rather than being in some blighted suburb..
what you say was true a cple of yrs ago – but change is happening fast in that area..
and tiny/pre-fab etc have a whole new appeal/audience..
Interesting that you mentioned pre-fab, thats as old as European settlement , a lot of the mid to late 1800s post offices, police stations, schools and even churches were prefabs cut and made near where the timber was milled and even shipped between islands. Apparently the kitsets for the Police station in Havelock and a church in Stoke got mixed up in transit from the middle of the North Island . Its obvious when you look at them.
I was under the impression that a lot of the very small apartments in Auckland in particular are inhabited by uni students and new young immigrants from Asia where apartment living in cities is the norm. I don't think people live in them for long when families start to grow.
You’re a bit behind the times. Something like just a third of all households have children and it is falling.
Increasingly young adults are intending to not have kids and this has been a trend for a very long time.
Census figures show that 15 per cent of women who were born in 1965 had not had children by the time they were 40.
Allowing for about 7 per cent of women who are biologically infertile, Statistics NZ experts Bill Boddington and Robert Didham estimated in 2007 that voluntary childlessness increased from less than 1 per cent of women born in 1936 to almost 10 per cent of women born 30 years later.
“For those born just 10 years later in 1975, indications are around one in four may remain childless,” they said.
“Studies suggest that few women consciously make the decision to remain childless early in life. On the contrary, deciding not to have children happens as a consequence of other life events, like education, career, mortgages, change in family and partners.
This is pretty much what I observe in my apartment block. Most of the people amongst the 61 apartments are singletons or couples. There is just one child that I’m aware of.
Obviously I don’t know everyone in there. But the turnover of renters and owners-occupiers is pretty low these days. But of the 30% of under 35s that I know in there, very few are planning on having kids. The people over 35, couples or singles (including me), simply haven’t had kids and aren’t planning to. They also decided that quite some time ago.
I was under the impression that a lot of the very small apartments in Auckland in particular are inhabited by uni students and new young immigrants…
The average age of people in my block would be late 40s. The apartments are about 51 square metres. This isn’t abnormal for single room apartments. Single bedroom small apartments from what I have seen tend to be owner-occupied by older people and couples – not younger people. It is a life style that allows you to spend a lot of time working and doing your own thing(s).
Most of the 2-3 bedroom small apartments are usually younger people flatting. You still do find younger couples in one bedroom apartments, but increasingly they’re being priced out.
Phillip Ure @ 4
They also commandeered existing homes (most built between the two wars) and gave some servicemen the chance to purchase them over time by way of a rent subsidy. My father was one of them. He secured a 4 bed-roomed bungalow in Mt Albert and it became the family home. It's still standing and looking better than ever.
So, the idea of a so-called rent to buy scheme is definitely not new.
Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days. Also many of the houses may have been commissioned by the Government but they were built by the private sector.
Insulation would be a fail, but most houses from that era were solidly built. Sure, there are materials differences and maybe some new structural or fire requirements, but they weren't slapped up cheaply. Before the days of nail guns and suchlike, too.
"Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days"
So why are people still living in them, buying and selling them? As McFlock says the only thing these houses would fail on is insulation, and that's easily remedied.
They will still be standing long after your modern chip board / custom wood abomination that was built yesterday has degraded into a pile of mush.
So what is they were built by the private sector? Are you claiming that's a bad thing?
They were built by the private sector – Keith Hays, Neil, et al and financed through state advances loans from the government.
Do you have a reason why this couldn't be done today?
Currently renovating a circa 1910 bungalow, including removing gib and retrofitting membrane and installing insulation. Desconstructing the house in this way allows you to see how very skilled the original builders were. Using the same wood for weatherboards, architraves, scotias and windowsills. Barge board and window design, allowed for window flashing to be a flat, easily installed piece of metal. Nothing overly complicated, but very professional simple design. With the installation of R3.4 insulation in the walls, ceiling batts installed in the roof, and underfloor installation, the use of floorlength thermal curtains and pelmets should do the job of making this a home warm enough to live in without excessive heating use.
Since we are trying to do this on a limited budget, are also buying materials from TradeMe. Recent purchase was wooden cabinets for the kitchen, purchased from a property in Epsom due for demolition. Built 16 years ago, and needed to be demolished, it was an impressive spectacle, but one where the bones were riddled with materials utilised badly and unable to be rectified at all.
The old houses that are still standing, are the ones that managed to do so for fifty to a hundred years.
@ Robert – do we have working examples in NZ of swale/small earthwork systems for drought and flood prevention? Work similar to the Mulloon Institutes Natural Sequence Farming
Or Jeff Lawton's Zaytuna Farm
Or the earthworks projects cropping up in arid/semi-arid regions all over, as illustrated by John D Liu.
Am finishing up on an article about water and hoped to find some localised examples if they are there…
If this is the quality of thinking (as expressed in the attached 'debate) then there is no wonder the world is as dysfunctional as it currently is….'heavyweight' my arse.
No!!! as the new Government are being ‘stymied by National planted stool pigeons inside our agencies.
Why? – firstly because National wanted to ruin every plan the Labour coalition had set up to benefit us all and look ‘winnable for the 2020 election’.
National had a dark plan as they have quietly ‘collectively been sabotaging’ and undermining the Labour/Coalition Government for the last 20 months with ‘every underhanded scheming’ to have those planted bureaucrats to wreck every plan labour/coalition had used that had even looked viable, that may have helped labour look good.
The obvious use of “bullying by Steven Joyce has been employed now, shows that Joyce has been the architect of this undermining of Government by acting against the citizens interests while also destroying the well being and health of the majority of the people.
It was only a matter of time before the rot had to show as coming out of the old rotting carcass of the old National Party as we all knew instinctively that putting Simon Bridges up as the “temporary leader was just a ploy when the big leader was lurking behind the curtains, that is Steven Joyce all over again.
Good example was the Cancer Agency release a few days ago . This was a policy in Labours manifesto at the 2017 election.
As a government they took until now to come up with a workable policy and funding.
National knew about the election promise and their mates in the public service would have passed on the outline earlier this year.
So the Nats play politics with cancer sufferers, try to steal the thunder – and this was after doing nothing for 9 years, indeed scrapping their own plan back in 2013
I see, from the Economist, that the development of infrastructure projects in the UK is nearly as stuffed up as are the ones the current New Zealand Government is proposing.
"HS2, a planned high-speed railway between London and Birmingham, faces delays of up to five years, Britain’s transport minister said. Britain’s biggest infrastructure project may now not move passengers until 2031. The expected cost has risen from £62bn ($75bn) to £81bn-88bn. A second phase, reaching Manchester and Leeds, has been delayed too; patient commuters can expect services in 2035-40."
Sounds about what we can expect from the hypothetical rail service being talked about from Auckland to Wellington, or the roads around Wellington that Twyford was gaily announcing the other day had been "approved" but that work couldn't possibly be started until at least 2028. Even the local Labour MPs were a bit shocked by that announcement apparently.
fake news – workers or executive? cos they ain't the same in my book
headline
Pay freeze for 6000 Fonterra workers
story
Embattled dairy co-operative Fonterra has slapped a pay freeze on its top-earning executives.
Chief executive Miles Hurrell has emailed staff that all salaried employees on individual contracts earning more than $100,000 will not be getting annual pay increases in the year ahead.
According to the 2018 financial report, more than 6000 of Fonterra's 22,000 staff were on salaries of $100,000 and over.
Perhaps you haven’t realised that engineering staff are in very short supply throughout the economy? Fonterra employs a shitload of engineers – probably about half of their staff are engineers of one form or another. It is all of that having to keep food carrying and processing equipment clean as well as dealing with high temperatures and a awful lot of equipment.
But no of course. You’re probably not really aware of anything at all about the working economy… Not something that I have ever noticed you having any understanding of.
I guess I should head off to work rather than commenting on that topic further.
He wanted the appeal heard before his death so the media wouldn't be posting headlines about "sex abuser Peter Ellis" having died. So, naturally Stuff posts a headline saying "sex abuser Peter Ellis" has died. Fuck you, Stuff.
EDIT: “I assume” that was the reason – didn’t hear him say so.
Not the least the parents who caused the hysteria in the first place. Be it on their heads that an innocent man's life was curtailed well before his time.
Interesting you never hear a squeak out of any of them now.
Did any of these people watch the original Terminator flick?
Two US military experts have proposed giving artificial intelligence control over the nuclear launch button. @mchorowitz weighs in on the risks: "…training an algorithm for early warning means that you’re relying entirely on simulated data.” https://t.co/szRrKG6N7Lpic.twitter.com/it62C27Y9q
Consecutive weeks of marches and protests and now they fold? The cynic in me says this is a sop and the PRC will carry on disappearing whoever they think is a trouble maker.
Hong Kong’s chief executive is to announce the formal withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill that sparked weeks of unrest, finally meeting a key demand of the protest movement.
Carrie Lam has called a meeting of pro-Beijing politicians for later on Wednesday afternoon, at which she will describe the full withdrawal of the bill as “a gesture… to cool down the atmosphere”, the South China Morning Post quoted a source as saying.
Ms. Warren’s new climate plan explicitly adopts ideas from Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, who focused his presidential campaign on combating climate change but dropped out last month after it became clear he was unlikely to qualify for the next primary debate.Ms. Warren met with Mr. Inslee last week in Seattle, according to two people familiar with their discussions.
“While his presidential campaign may be over, his ideas should remain at the center of the agenda,” Ms. Warren wrote in her new climate plan.
Mr. Inslee released six detailed climate plans, totaling over 200 pages, which were widely praised by environmental policy experts for their rigor. He said he hoped they would help “raise the ambition” of other candidates’ climate policies, and he has since had conversations with several candidates about how to incorporate his ideas into their plans, said his former campaign spokesman, Jared Leopold.
In her new proposal, Ms. Warren adopts Mr. Inslee’s plan to eliminate planet-warming emissions from power plants, vehicles and buildings over 10 years, and adds an additional $1 trillion in spending to subsidize that transition. The spending would be paid for, she says, by reversing the Trump administration’s tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations.
Currently Elizabeth Warren is running neck and neck with Bernie Sanders in Second place behind Joe Biden. She has been gaining in popularity across the board and on a favourability score she actually leads Biden and Sanders with a rating of around 55%. Head to head with Trump the polls show she would win the must win States as well. Certainly with the current Trade War Trump is shedding support from his base – particularly in the Farming States where farmers are now overall Billions in debt – despite his $12B handout (mostly unsurprisngly going to large corporate farmers and not the smaller farmers who are now in serious strife).
Elizabeth is on a par with Sanders wrt progressive policies and stands out as having a well developed policy package. This latest announcement simply underlines her determination to initiate positive change in America if given the chance,
Whilst I would tend to agree with you and I have used many examples of such in my statistics classes of yore there is growing realisation that Trump – despite an election war chest of around $24 Billions is steadily loosing favour across the country. Daily, GOP representatives are standing down, and will not seek reelection in 2020. That is not the behaviour of politicians who can see an easy run for the next hurdle.
Furthermore, there is polling being carried out almost every day by a variety of pollsters. For the past 2 years Trump's approval rating has remained fairly steady at a tad over 40% while his disapproval rating hovers at around 53 – 54%. That means his favourability rating is negative and at least -10% to -14%. That is not the rating of a successful politician, and in most circumstances does not auger well for reelection.
His Trade War with China is also not going well, and with rising prices on many commodities, that is not winning him any favours, There is also the fear of an imminent recession, and the majority of Americans think that should such occur it rests solely on the "policies" of Trump – at least 60% think he will be to blame. The average American has not had any substantial benefit from his tax cuts to the rich, so that has not curried favour either, and his inability to build even 1 mile of new Wall shows him to be incapable on that front as well. There is also growing resentment on the treatment of undocumented migrants, many who have been in the country for many years, raised families, and are productive law abiding members of society with natural born US children or partners. The breaking up of such families is seen now by many in the rural communities in which they live as highly unjust and is only cheered on by the ultra -right factions who are not representative of the majority of fair minded Americans who are appalled by the current ICE raids.
Sure he drags in his faithful followers at his incomprehensible rallies – but time and again crowd sizes are over reported and now he simply preaches to the faithful, He is not gaining support, and what support he had is slowly draining away as the reality of his bluster sinks in.
BTW I don't comment on here as frequently as I have in the past because, most of my on-line time now is spent following American politics.
When might the government reinstate funding for night classes & other adult community education programmes that the former National-led government canned ~10 years ago?
Ideally get this done before the 2020 election. Wouldn't cost too much; annual budget's likely less than the cost of the flag referenda.
"Reinstate funding for programmes – like night classes – that support adult learners to adapt to the changing world." https://www.labour.org.nz/education
One more Russian diplomat died, the eighth in the past three years. 68-year-old Sergei Kirpichenko, Russian Ambassador to Egypt, died today in a Cairo hospital. https://t.co/TqcLLT4uWN via @Vedomosti
TRANSCRIPT OF FINAL MINUTES OF CALL BETWEEN HERALD REPORTER MATT NIPPERT AND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER WINSTON PETERS:
MN: So, to the best of your knowledge, New Zealand First have not talked with Lang about him donating? Is that what you're saying?
WP: [Pause] Well, look, if a member of my party was at the racecourse one day, interpreted a conversation with him it's quite possible. But to the best of my knowledge the course on which you're going at the moment is fruitless: We have not received any money from the Wolf, as I know him as.
MN: I guess the outstanding question remains is: If this donation were offered by him, would you accept it?
WP: An outstanding question? Who do you think you're talking to? You're going to have a hypothetical, and put it to me as an outstanding question? Bulldust mate. Where do you get off? Where do you get off with that arrogant attitude? "The question remains". For you?
MN: He says he's considering donating to NZ First. Would you accept the donation? It's pretty simple.
WP: You're going to slide mate, from facts to bullshit. Right? You're not going to be able to slide from facts, with a modicum of detail, to flat-out bullshit and speculation.
MN: So you would take the money? Or you wouldn't?
WP: Get a brain mate. That's not the alternative answer, is it?
MN: It's a very straightforward question, Winston.
WP: It's not a straightforward question. It's some silly, smart-arse question by somebody who should know a whole lot better.
MN: I'm just trying to figure out where this is going.
WP: It's not going anywhere, because it started nowhere. It's built on the premise you're going to write an article, based on nothing. Because you've got a charade of details you're going to put out there. That's what it's based on.
MN: It's based on Mr Lang telling me he was planning to donate to you.
WP: Good god, what a flimsy peg you're trying to hang your story on. God.
MN: Well, I'll flick it to my editors and see if they agree with me.
WP: They probably will, the bloody morons.
MN: Winston, are you hanging up on me?
[CALL TERMINATED BY WP]
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Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. So how's that going? I was curious, so I asked for all advice about the proposal. ...
As the Brexit saga staggers on, the focus is naturally enough on the Prime Minister and his attempts to achieve Brexit “do or die”. But the role played by the Leader of the Opposition is of almost equal interest and complexity. The first problem for Jeremy Corbyn is that he ...
Last week, English Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that he would rather die be dead in a ditch than delay Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the UK parliament accepted the challenge, and promptly dug one for him. The "rebellion bill" requires him to ask for and secure yet another temporary ...
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...
by Daphna Whitmore Every Sunday for the past two months unionists from First Union, with supporters from other unions, have set out to the Ihumatao land protest, put up gazebos and gas barbeques, and cooked food for a few hundred locals and supporters who have come from across the country. ...
Newsroom today has an excellent, in-depth article on pine trees as carbon sinks. The TL;DR is that pine is really good at soaking up carbon, but people prefer far-less efficient native forests instead. Which is understandable, but there's two problems: firstly, we've pissed about so long on this problem that ...
Canan Kaftancioglu is a Turkish politician and member of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). Like most modern politicians, she tweets, and uses the platform to criticise the Turkish government. She has criticised them over the death of a 14-year-old boy who was hit by a tear gas grenade during ...
Hi there, just call me Tim.We face tough problems, and I’d like to help, because there are solutions.An Auckand District Health Board member has nominated me for as a candidate for the ADHB, because her MS-related pain and fatigue is reduced with hemp products from Rotorua. Nothing else helped her. If I ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security has published their report on whether the SIS and GCSB had any complicity in American torture. And its damning. The pull quote is this:The Inquiry found both agencies, but to a much greater degree, the NZSIS, received many intelligence reports obtained from detainees who, ...
Bewhiskered Cassandra? Professor Hugh White’s chilling suggestion, advanced to select collections of academic, military and diplomatic Kiwi experts over the course of the past week, is that the assumptions upon which Australia and New Zealand have built their foreign affairs and defence policies for practically their entire histories – are ...
For most of the time I was a British MP, my party was out of government – these were the Thatcher years, when it was hard for anyone else to get a look-in. As a front-bencher and shadow minister, I became familiar with the strategies required in a parliamentary democracy ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh On August 29th a video in which veteran FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) commander Iván Márquez announced that they had taken up arms again was released. There was no delay in the reaction to it, from longtime Liberal Party figure and former president Uribe, for ...
Air New Zealand couldn’t believe its luck that this seemingly ideal piece of real estate had so far gone entirely unnoticed. Air New Zealand’s search for a site to build a second Auckland Airport may have made a breakthrough this afternoon, after employees scanning Google satellite imagery spotted a huge, ...
No-one on the anti-capitalist left in this country today puts forward a case that Labour is on the side of the working class. There are certainly people who call themselves ‘socialist’ who do, but they are essentially liberals with vested interests in Labourism – often for career reasons. Nevertheless, there ...
When National was in government and fucking over the poor for the benefit of the rich, foodbanks were a growth industry. And now Labour is in charge, nothing has changed: A huge demand for emergency food parcels means the Auckland City Mission is struggling to prepare for the impending arrival ...
Gayford, pictured here on The Project, before things got wildly out of control. A bold public relations move by the Government to encourage parents to vaccinate their children has gone horribly wrong. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appeared on tonight’s episode of Three’s The Project, where the plan was for her ...
Mr. Whippy’s business model has driven it down a dark road of intimidation. Residents in major centres around the country are becoming disgruntled by the increasingly aggressive actions of purported ice cream company Mr. Whippy, who have taken to parking on people’s front lawns and doorsteps in a desperate attempt ...
Today the government released its Action Plan for Healthy Waterways, aimed at cleaning up our lakes and rivers. Its actually quite good. There will be protection for wetlands, better standards for swimming spots, a requirement for continuous improvement, and better standards for wastewater and stormwater. But most importantly, there's a ...
Today I appeared before the Environment Committee to give an oral submission on the Zero Carbon Bill. Over 1,500 people have asked to appear in person, so they've divided into subcommittees and are off touring the country, giving people a five minute slot each. The other submitters were a mixed ...
Anti-fluoride activists have some wealthy backers – they are erecting billboards misrepresenting the Canadian study on many New Zealand cities – and local authorities are ordering their removal because of their scaremongering. Many New Zealanders ...
So, those who “know best” have again done their worst. While constantly claiming to be the guardians of democracy and the constitution, and respecters of the 2016 referendum result, diehard Remainers (who have never brought themselves to believe that their advice could have been rejected) have striven might and main ...
Following publication of this article, the Ministry has requested it to be noted that this supplied image is not necessarily representative of what the final house will look like, and it “probably won’t be that nice.” As part of today’s long-anticipated reset of the Government’s flagship KiwiBuild policy, Housing Minister ...
Over the next week or two we will be running three synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Marx began Capital not with a sweeping historical ...
The State Services Commission and Ombudsman have released another batch of OIA statistics, covering the last six months. Request volumes are up, and the core public service is generally handling them within the legal timeframe, though this may be because they've learned to extend rather than just ignore things. And ...
In 1994, I was editing an ambitious street mag called Planet, from a fabled office at at 309 Karangahape Road. The thirteenth issue of the magazine was published in the winter of that year and its cover embodied a particularly ambitious goal: the end of cannabis prohibition.I wanted to do ...
KiwiBuild was one of the Ardern government's core policies. The government would end the housing crisis and make housing affordable again by building 100,000 new homes. Of course, it didn't work out like that: targets weren't met, the houses they did build were in the wrong place, and the whole ...
As the climate crisis escalates, it is now obvious that we need to radically decarbonise our economy. The good news is that its looking easy and profitable for the energy sector. Wind is already cheaper than fossil fuels, and now solar is too:The levellised cost of solar PV has fallen ...
NZUS Council executive director Jordan Small welcomes the news New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with US President Donald Trump in New York next week. ...
The recent NZIER report trivialises the significant role the dairy sector plays in New Zealand’s economy – and fails to look at the specifics of the Government’s freshwater package, according to DairyNZ. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said ...
This week, the New Zealand Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will jointly host a seminar on tackling the global spread of illicit weapons. ...
In a landmark judgment issued this morning, the Court of Appeal confirmed that the Southern Response Concealment Class Action will proceed issued on an "opt out” basis. ...
Mainstream media, as the purveyors of truth and source of balanced information, took another backward step today with the announcement by Stuff that most New Zealand organisations had joined 170 media outlets from around the world in the “Covering ...
The goal of one million Kiwis having basic conversations in te reo by 2040 is unrealistic if more is not done to get serious about reo acquisition says the Māori Party. “While small steps have been taken to bolster efforts to increase the numbers of speakers, ...
Changes announced today by the Immigration Minister to employer-assisted visas will help businesses, but more work is needed to boost economic growth says Business Central. ...
DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is welcoming today’s announcement that the Government will be streamlining the employer assisted work visa process to help businesses and farms fill skills shortages. ...
Lawrence Yule MP wrote to our Office with concerns about the Department of Corrections' approach to procuring design and build services for rapid deployment of prison accommodation. We have published our response to Mr Yule on our website . ...
That from the chair of the Wellington Region of the College of Midwives, Siobhan Connor, following the news that Hutt Valley District Health Board is targeting midwives from overseas to help fill gaps in maternity units. ...
70% of New Zealand’s surface water take is allocated to Meridian’s Manapouri Power Scheme. But when Environment Minister David Parker asked to exempt the Scheme from his Freshwater Action Plan, he didn’t tell Cabinet that. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that officers responded in a timely and appropriate manner as soon as they were aware that a fleeing driver had hit a pedestrian. ...
prevention and intervention. Following Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s post-Cabinet press conference we are encouraged to see the acknowledgement of the mistakes made and the need to address this. The five points outlined in the action plan, which ...
A surge in teen vaping rates and a series of deaths being linked to vaping has resulted in a number of bans on the sales of flavoured Vape juice products in the United States. Though it is widely acknowledged that vaping is far less harmful than smoking tobacco, ...
The governments’ new environmental proposals will further accentuate the move of good, productive farmland into forestry according to environmental lobby group 50 Shades of Green. ...
17 September 2019: New Zealanders are acutely aware of the impact food production processes have on our planet according to new research released today by the 5+ A Day Charitable Trust. ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL is awarding three New Zealand climate youth groups with its Ambassador of Conscience award, its highest recognition for human rights work, previously given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei and Malala Yousafzai. ...
On 14 September 2017, the pipeline that brings diesel, petrol, and jet fuel from Marsden Point Oil Refinery into Auckland ruptured. It leaked jet fuel into rural properties and stopped the transmission of fuels into Auckland for 10 days. The rupture ...
Victims Advocate Louise Nicholas - Labour should have brought in “specialist support” “When there is a complaint especially a serious complaint of sexual assault, the first thing that should have happened was specialist support brought in to ensure ...
Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods says New Zealand is ‘not close’ to bringing in oil reserves after the attack on Saudi fields. “We would have to see prices rise by about $20 per barrel in order for some of those strategic reserves ...
New Zealand's new fresh water regulation rules will have no major impacts on the national economy, according to an independent report just out. The report by independent economic consultancy New Zealand Institute of Economic Research shows that dairying ...
Fish & Game New Zealand has welcomed the findings of a New Zealand Institute of Economic Research report, which rejects claims the Government’s freshwater proposals will have a significant economic impact. ...
The Council of Licensed Firearms Owners (COLFO) says the Government should take its proposed firearms legislation to the people with a touring Select Committee, as it just has with the Zero Carbon bill. ...
Water reforms and the long term sustainability of water will be a key focus at the Water New Zealand conference and expo this week (18-20 September) in Hamilton. ...
“Kiwi ex-smokers are mobilising against the Government’s plans to drastically limit vaping flavours. Flavours have been key to them quitting tobacco and they now just want other smokers to have the same chance,” says Jonathan Devery, co-owner ...
Oil company Tamarind Resources has reportedly halted drilling at its Tui oil field off the Taranaki coast after the first of the three planned wells came up dry and bad weather caused delays. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the left-wing campaign group “ActionStation” to front up and be transparent about how much taxpayer funding it takes from the Government to underwrite its activism activities. Earlier in the month, the Taxpayers’ ...
The ‘ Unplanned ’ movie is here and Family First has secured one of the first screenings in New Zealand tonight. ‘Unplanned’ brings an eye-opening look inside the abortion industry from a woman who was once its most passionate advocate. All ...
James Renwick claim that NZ is failing on climate change is valid, and since James has been receiving widespread media coverage that we outline most of it again here now as we gear up for the ‘Global climate change conference’ beginning next week. ...
Protestors will be outside the venue of the fourth hearing for Operation Burnham Inquiry on Monday morning from 8.30am to give a message to former and current military officers as they arrive to speak about the ongoing coverup of the 2010 attack on ...
The long-running campaign against purported Chinese “interference” in New Zealand’s political system intensified in the past week following a five-day visit to Beijing by opposition National Party leader Simon Bridges. ...
National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett spent the week claiming a serious cover-up in the Prime Minister's office. She used parliamentary privilege to name three of the Prime Minister's closest advisors who, she says, knew about the sexual assault ...
Six months on from the worst terrorist attack in New Zealand history, Simon Shepherd asked Al Noor Mosque spokesperson Anthony Green how the Christchurch Muslim is community faring. ...
“The Game Animal Council is concerned that the Government’s second tranche of firearms legislation released today may contain unreasonable provisions that will unfairly impact hunters,” says Game Animal Council Chair Don Hammond. ...
Government policy work on the Carbon Zero bill highlights connections between climate change, carbon sequestration and agriculture. Water quality and allocation are also topical with the release of the Draft Policy Statement for Freshwater Management ...
DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is welcoming this afternoon’s announcement that consultation on Essential Freshwater has been extended by two weeks - but is calling on the Minister to go further. ...
DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle is calling on the Government to move swiftly to extend the six-week timeframe of the Essential Freshwater consultation. ...
Immigration New Zealand could really benefit from an large investment of money, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the immigration sector. “Instead of spending $25m ...
In recent times there has been no shortage of commentary regarding whistleblowers, with the proposed amendments to the Protected Disclosures Act 2000. These are aimed at strengthening the protection available to whistleblowers in New Zealand. That ...
Gun Control NZ strongly welcomes the comprehensive gun law reform bill and calls on all political parties to support it. Gun Control NZ encourages New Zealanders to let their MPs know they support this Bill, submit to the Select Committee, and ...
Federated Farmers agrees with most of the steps by government to protect people from illegal or irresponsible firearms use. But concerns about pest control and the effectiveness of a register remain. ...
Today at Parliament the NZ Drug Foundation released Taking control of cannabis: A model for responsible regulation, a new report that shows how we can take back control of cannabis from organised crime. ...
It was another wild week in our favourite island paradise, as our remaining celebrities continued their quest to win cash for charity. Tara Ward power ranks. The bells of change have rung on Celebrity Treasure Island, and we’re now knee deep in an individual game of trickery, ping-pongery, and Tim-Tammery. The two ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Arthur Sinodinos will soon leave the Senate, and early next year take up the position of Australian ambassador in Washington. A former staffer and one-time public servant as well as a former minister, in this ...
The fishing industry is fighting back against claims its ad campaign is 'spin', saying protecting the Māui dolphin shouldn’t come at the expense of commercial fishers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melanie Walters, PhD candidate in music, University of Adelaide Review: XXX Neon Sign, composed by Dan Thorpe, Rumpus Theatre More than perhaps any other instrument, the grand piano symbolises the classical music canon and its rigid traditions. Placing such an instrument centre-stage ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sebastian Leuzinger, Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Conway, Senior Lecturer – Games and Interactivity, Swinburne University of Technology Two of the biggest tech companies in the world, Apple and Google, are launching cloud-based gaming services this year. Apple Arcade, due for release in two days, will ultimately go ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andy Marks, Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Strategy and Policy, Western Sydney University “How good is Gladys Berejiklian?” Prime Minister Scott Morrison asked a jubilant crowd of Liberal supporters on the evening of her March 23 2019 state election win. Only as good as her ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona Charlson, Conjoint NHMRC Early Career Fellow, The University of Queensland This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) recently declared ...
Life insurance companies have been taken to task for being too slow to improve their culture and conduct by regulators, which appears set to lead to tougher regulation. ...
In this extract from a chapter called ‘Deep Time’ in Rebecca Priestley’s new memoir, Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica, Rebecca remembers her peculiar, legume-heavy, art-saturated childhood in Wellington. (And a note from the author: if anyone has a painting from Ruth Priestley’s Antarctic Dream series, Rebecca would love to hear from ...
The government is introducing a new employer-led work visa that it says will help plug shortages, reduce exploitation, and improve conditions for New Zealand workers. ...
The Spinoff’s cartoonist Toby Morris chats and draws with New Zealand’s doodlers in the webseries Two Sketches. In the fifth episode, Toby sits down with comic artist Ben Stenbeck. Two Sketches returns with another leisurely draw and a chat hosted by award-winning illustrator Toby Morris. In this episode, Toby chats with ...
The government's proposed clean up of waterways will not harm New Zealand's overall economy, a report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) has suggested. ...
New Netflix movie The Tall Girl was roundly mocked before it even came out. Josie Adams, a tall girl herself, reviews it.“You know that really, really, really tall girl you go to school with? The one that people call LeBron, Skyscraper, Patty long legs?”That’s Jodi, the 6-foot-1 protagonist of The ...
A spate of court cases around the world has highlighted a new kind of risk for carbon emitters, and the big investors that support them - expensive litigation. ...
The government's proposed clean up of waterways will not harm New Zealand's overall economy, a report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) has suggested. ...
The government's proposed clean up of waterways will not harm New Zealand's overall economy, a report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) has suggested. ...
Children, pregnant women and the elderly are the most at risk from extreme weather and heat – but the impact is already felt across every specialty of medicine. ...
Most KiwiSaver funds are managed by one of the big Australian banks, which create returns through investments in fossil fuels, human rights violations, tobacco and weaponry. With attitudes shifting towards sustainability, what can ordinary investors do?This month 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg completed a journey across the Atlantic in a ...
A swathe of gloomy global headlines appear to have further dampened consumers' outlook about the economy but they are feeling more upbeat about their own personal finances. ...
Covering Climate Now: From CFCs to nuclear weapons, history has shown that the first step to eliminating a threat is to ban it, argues Thomas Nash.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to the contributions of Spinoff Members. Join The Spinoff Members to help us do ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Labour Party sexual assault allegations Richard Harman (Politik): Goodbye Labour – Hello Brand Jacinda Barry ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has "called time" on opposing claims over sexual assault allegations against a Labour Party staffer being contested in public. ...
ByRNZ Pacific Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has said she “regrets and strongly condemns” the Solomon Islands’ decision to establish diplomatic relations with China. The Solomons cabinet made the decision yesterday after which Taiwan terminated its 36-year relationship with the Pacific country. Tsai said China’s promises of financial assistance ...
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Josie Adams assesses the bastion of progressive virtue that is Dunedin/Ōtepoti.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.Where?Dunedin, or Ōtepoti, is also known as “the ...
The Commerce Commission has been accused of miscalculating how much money the country's biggest fuel retailer Z Energy is making, in its initial report on competition in the sector. ...
A Canterbury startup is exposing medical equipment manufacturers’ deliberate one-use design tricks and proving that hospitals can reuse and recycle. There has been a lot of hype about the phasing out of plastic bags at supermarkets. But what about far more expensive items which only ever get used once and are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Wilkes, Senior Research Geophysicist, CSIRO At some point in recent weeks, a once-in-a-lifetime event happened for people at Greenwich in the United Kingdom. Magnetic compasses at the historic London area, known as the home of the Prime Meridian, were said to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison McEwen, Head of Discipline of Genetic Counselling, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.Why are some twins identical and some not? – Chloe, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marc Hudson, Researcher, University of Manchester Paddy Manning’s excellent account of the Australian Greens will not be the last word on Australia’s most successful third party, but will doubtless remain important and influential for many years to come. Manning’s exhaustive (but never ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abby Mellick Lopes, Senior Lecturer in Design, Western Sydney University This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. A recent report by the Greater Sydney Commission ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eve Vincent, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie University “This is a bit controversial, we know that,” deputy prime minister Michael McCormick told the National Party’s federal council, which on the weekend voted for a national roll-out of cashless debit cards for anyone younger than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pat Ranald, Research fellow, University of Sydney The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership has been touted as the best hope for keeping world trade flowing after the attacks on the World Trade Organisation. The WTO isn’t dead yet, but in a two-pronged attack, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University In 1955, an enormous photographic exhibition, The Family of Man, challenged the world as to what it meant to be human. The curator, Edward Steichen, assembled 503 photographs by 273 photographers from ...
Open mike 04/09/2019 
A short and incredibly powerful speech from a young lesbian woman. No one is born in the wrong body. ...5 hours ago
Back in June, the UK Court of Appeal ruled that that country's continued arms sales to Saudi Arabia were unlawful. So you'd expect that the UK government stopped approving them, right?Of course not:The government has apologised for breaching a court ruling against the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia that ...7 hours ago
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In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...14 hours ago
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Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...1 day ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...1 day ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...1 day ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...2 days ago
The Brexit issue has certainly brought with it a series of apparently difficult constitutional issues, many of them concerning the respective roles of the executive and parliament. Most of them arise because of the unwillingness of MPs, despite their professions to the contrary, to be bound by a constitutional rarity ...4 days ago
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...4 days ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...4 days ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...5 days ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...5 days ago
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...6 days ago
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...6 days ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 6 days ago
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...7 days ago
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...1 week ago
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...1 week ago
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...1 week ago
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...1 week ago
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...1 week ago
Hi there, just call me Tim.We face tough problems, and I’d like to help, because there are solutions.An Auckand District Health Board member has nominated me for as a candidate for the ADHB, because her MS-related pain and fatigue is reduced with hemp products from Rotorua. Nothing else helped her. If I ...1 week ago
Bewhiskered Cassandra? Professor Hugh White’s chilling suggestion, advanced to select collections of academic, military and diplomatic Kiwi experts over the course of the past week, is that the assumptions upon which Australia and New Zealand have built their foreign affairs and defence policies for practically their entire histories – are ...1 week ago
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All the best to the government today in their relaunch of Kiwibuild.
A very interesting test for the new Minister.
While more state houses is the priority (greatest need) there are budget cost barriers to this being the sole emphasis.
Kiwi Build is limited by lack of demand – how many first home buyers are there and how many of them can afford new homes?
They can fix this by extending it to those whose first home is a flat or apartment and who intend to start a family – equity into a first family home. Also rent to buy and shared equity (debt is cheap and people are paying the money back – so the cost is an asset in the books) – which gets around people struggling to get a deposit together.
They should also consider
1. those unsold being used as emergency housing for those on state house waiting lists
2. the empty nesters looking to downsize before they retire (but these should be considered only if there is not sufficient uptake from first family home buyers – behind them the landlord class).
Or they could say…
.so not really a Home..more a nice opportunity for investors, who may well be couples who then want to move on to a family home. However what is even the point of the government encouraging this sort of thing? How is this helping anyone struggling to find secure housing? How is this recalibration an out of control housing market.
This is simply stoking the fire of NZers obsession with making money via property….
There are two of us older folk who can't see how this is right, I haven't re-watched it having seen it last night but there seemed to be "reasons", rather than need, that means tax payer monies are off, eventually, to various people's pockets from housing.
While there will be cases that are genuinely deserving the principal and immediate aim looks to be retain a home and preserve as much capital in it to hand out in your will.
Specific steps look to have been taken to achieve eligibility for a housing benefit. How many of these "arrangements" either similar to this, or via trusts to retain property ownership, are there that keep tax payer funding away from the most vulnerable NZers?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/meet-papamoa-pensioner-rebelling-against-mortgage-free-mindset
Yes that was a curious item. Not enough information to make is possible to deduce exactly what other options were available to this person as his circumstances changed in the last few years. I suspect a range of options, which would not have needed housing assistance.
The principle of needing to be mortgage free at retirement, if at all possible, should still be the goal for all New Zealanders. This will not be impossible for a large cohort both today and into the future.
I agree after watching that item it was possible to concoct a number of ways to make that something some people would choose to do over what most only think of and that is to rid themsleves of the mortgage.
We live in Tauranga and have witnessed a number of ways that those in the building sector used their access to "land" that was more than the normal plot "size" to maximise gain, pre there being any curbs on that, and how a "family" situation was exercised to exploit it. In short a lot of "young" people have "built" and sold property since 2015-16 or have occupancy and/or ownership, pending possible sale.
This has probably given people ideas, and also trusts pre elders moving to rest homes is another way that the tax payer can be funding some people's "inheritances".
so..helen clark has confirmed (on rnz/m-report) that she was unable to move on reforming cannabis laws in 2002/05 gummints – 'cos they both had a coalition agreement insisting on no reform –
this at the insistance of peter (fucken) dunne..
let's not forget that fact..eh..?
and maybe the next time the media wheel him out as some elder-statesman/expert on cannabis – he could be asked about that..?
and of course clark is gilding the lily somewhat here..
as she didn't have to go with that toe-rag..
she shafted the greens – remember..?
'history' is such a moveable feast – isn't it..?
Why do these people keep coming out of the woodwork? Both Peter and Helen should disappear from the public eye. They both left politics.
Yep, Dunne is a repulsive creature. I well remember the time he even said there was no way whatsoever even medicinal use of cannabis would be considered, EVEN IF THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTED IT.
Classic stupidity from a classically stupid little man.
Old dunny had to clear the way for his sons synthetic drugs imports . Lest we forget.
yep..!..his cynicism is/was breathtaking…
and now he dares to come out and fucken pontificate on the subject..
and the media afford him gravitas..?
(i’m looking at you – radio new zealand – you of all people – should bloody well know better…eh..?
just-stop-it..!..)
Anderton was also a bit of a dick about drugs, as I recall.
yep..!..he sure was..a total reactionary..
I agree about the selective memory. She made her choice and it was known.
another interesting historical-fact that came out of morning report..during a discussion on kiwibuild..
is that post ww2 – facing a similar crisis from returning soldiers needing housing –
nz built 10,000 state houses a year..
the obvious question being – why the fck can't we do that now..?
and an obvious answer would have to be that curse of neoliberal incrementalism – which is the philosophical-under-pinning of this govt..
and why does every ‘fix’ from them have at least a year to wait before they happen..?
the latest example being the (so-called) crack down on the money-lenders…
the usury they practice will be curtailed a bit (but not until next yr..(!)
what the fuck is up with that..?
The illusion of change: Put a future time stamp on promises and hope they are forgotten as the news cycle changes multiple times before the dates hit.
there is some truth in what you say..
and of course the apogee of that delayed-gratification tactic from labour was their first announcement of free uni-study..
dunno if ppl remember – but that first iteration of this – the policy was to kick in in their second term of gummint..
we had to elect and re-elect them first..
at the time i remember falling on the floor – laughing at their cheek/nerve..
and wondering if they could top that..
There were a couple of OK suggestions coming in on MR feedback this morning @ Mr Ure.
Things like standard pre-consented designs (which would have to have a variety of foundation types associated with them depending of terrain/geology etc.)
But also things like prefabrication, modular designs, council control-freakery over things like tiny homes, container homes, etc.
But you know ………. "Rome wasn't built in a day". It'll need an "emergency" rather than a "crisis" probably. On one of my regular jaunts north, I did notice how quickly new housing sprang up around Waiouru Army base not so long ago.
yep..!..and it is all do-able..
all it takes is the political will to make it happen…
waiting….waiting…
It wouldn't surprise me if we import all our No8 wire these days. We've certainly imported a lot of the bureaucracy
I think the critical thing was that mum and dad paid only 20 or 25 % of dads income for his State Advances loan for a new house in 1946 as limited by law. It was a quinea a week or 21 shillings and when they eventually paid it off 30 years later it was still only $2.20 cents a week.
It had only 3 power points, an attached but " öutside "toilet, with night cart collection for the first few years, it was 1954 before the street was tarsealed , 2 bedrooms and a "sunroom ", no insulation ( in the SI at that ) and only 62 sq metres, about the size of a double bedroom these days. OMG, how would a snowflake millenial cope with such appalling conditions now. They were just so proud and glad they had a house. Before the war it was almost impossible to get such a thing as a mortgage. The section cost 80 pounds, the house 450 pounds, and his pay was 5 pounds about the same as 80% of the population and the whole lot cost 106 weeks gross pay. Try doing that today, the equivilant would be about 600 weeks pay.
And more importantly the Govt of the day did not have to cope with every permanently aggravated dickhead who could climb on a social media soapbox berating everything they tried to do.
Ah yep ….. thems were the days eh? Me dear ole dad used to have to walk five miles to school everyday, and five miles home again. We were lucky to have shoes when I was a kid, and when we did, mum would have to put cardboard in them when the soles wore out.
Oh how things have improved with the advent of consumerism and the cheap imported multi-plug box. (as it happens, I'm just reconditioning one in between comments)
But yep, I do take your point.
"Me dear ole dad used to have to walk ……".
He lived in very easy times didn't he? My dad had to walk 10 miles uphill to school and another 10 miles uphill on the return trip. That was while he milked 90 cows both before and after school. He then did his homework by the light of a candle. They bred 'em tough in those days.
hmm reminds me of something my Gran used to say… 'when men were men and woman chopped the firewood' she was a tough nut bringing up a bunch of kids in the back of Apiti…
"the cheap imported multi-plug box. (as it happens, I'm just reconditioning one in between comments) "
You should become one of TS authors ! I love that sort of stuff
@ adrian..
'only 62 sq metres, about the size of a double bedroom these days. OMG, how would a snowflake millenial cope with such appalling conditions now'..
um..!..how does the burgeoning tiny-house movement fit into yr 'snowflake' thesis..?
and no..in those days critics actually stood on soapboxes in public places..
which is where much of the political dialogue we have online now happened..
yr point was..?
I think his point was something to do with how tough parents had to do it, and we don't know how lucky we are these days – probably as some sort of justification for our children having to be worse off than we were.
Not sure. Perhaps Adrian should answer for Himself.
I don’t suppose he’d be prepare to take any responsibility for the inevitable outcome of the consumerism and ideology that’s now in play.
(God, when I think back, and in the context of history, OH how I did it so bloody tuff! – We really DON’t know how lucky we are eh?).
Where’s Wayne when you need him to offer us all some sage advice
The point being that it was a lot easier for a government to get a roof ( and thats about all ) over a familys head and huge subdivisions could be commandeered into existance and fuck all nimbys in sight.
And as for the current generation as any real estate agent or builder will tell you a large proportion of them today want everything right now with flash as rat with a gold tooth kitchens and bathrooms or two. No wonder houses are bloody expensive.
Also as far as I can remember councils were really glad to have houses being built and families moving in so the council paid for all the services as well as roading and reserve contributions etc and not lump the full cost of such on to the price of a section inflating its price by astronomical amounts. Councils were content to get that stuff paid for over the following decades.
They might have been cold and small on barren sections but they were pretty bloody good for the day and bugger all people were whinging who got into one and most are still standing today.
And Phillip, there is no burgeoning small house movement, it is a tiny proportion of the housing market, its size inflated by dopey TV programmes. and BTW, try and get one through any mad controlling rapacious bloody council.
there are also a lot of the younger generation who are quite happy to live in apartments/studios – near city centres – rather than being in some blighted suburb..
what you say was true a cple of yrs ago – but change is happening fast in that area..
and tiny/pre-fab etc have a whole new appeal/audience..
Interesting that you mentioned pre-fab, thats as old as European settlement , a lot of the mid to late 1800s post offices, police stations, schools and even churches were prefabs cut and made near where the timber was milled and even shipped between islands. Apparently the kitsets for the Police station in Havelock and a church in Stoke got mixed up in transit from the middle of the North Island . Its obvious when you look at them.
I was under the impression that a lot of the very small apartments in Auckland in particular are inhabited by uni students and new young immigrants from Asia where apartment living in cities is the norm. I don't think people live in them for long when families start to grow.
You’re a bit behind the times. Something like just a third of all households have children and it is falling.
Increasingly young adults are intending to not have kids and this has been a trend for a very long time.
This is pretty much what I observe in my apartment block. Most of the people amongst the 61 apartments are singletons or couples. There is just one child that I’m aware of.
Obviously I don’t know everyone in there. But the turnover of renters and owners-occupiers is pretty low these days. But of the 30% of under 35s that I know in there, very few are planning on having kids. The people over 35, couples or singles (including me), simply haven’t had kids and aren’t planning to. They also decided that quite some time ago.
The average age of people in my block would be late 40s. The apartments are about 51 square metres. This isn’t abnormal for single room apartments. Single bedroom small apartments from what I have seen tend to be owner-occupied by older people and couples – not younger people. It is a life style that allows you to spend a lot of time working and doing your own thing(s).
Most of the 2-3 bedroom small apartments are usually younger people flatting. You still do find younger couples in one bedroom apartments, but increasingly they’re being priced out.
Phillip Ure @ 4
They also commandeered existing homes (most built between the two wars) and gave some servicemen the chance to purchase them over time by way of a rent subsidy. My father was one of them. He secured a 4 bed-roomed bungalow in Mt Albert and it became the family home. It's still standing and looking better than ever.
So, the idea of a so-called rent to buy scheme is definitely not new.
cool..!..thanks for that historical background..
so of course we can do all those things here/now..
(dunno about you – but i am so tiring of the hand-wringing/meaningless-emoting..and s.f.a. actually happening..)
Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days. Also many of the houses may have been commissioned by the Government but they were built by the private sector.
Depends which requirements you're talking about.
Insulation would be a fail, but most houses from that era were solidly built. Sure, there are materials differences and maybe some new structural or fire requirements, but they weren't slapped up cheaply. Before the days of nail guns and suchlike, too.
"Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days"
So why are people still living in them, buying and selling them? As McFlock says the only thing these houses would fail on is insulation, and that's easily remedied.
They will still be standing long after your modern chip board / custom wood abomination that was built yesterday has degraded into a pile of mush.
So what is they were built by the private sector? Are you claiming that's a bad thing?
They were built by the private sector – Keith Hays, Neil, et al and financed through state advances loans from the government.
Do you have a reason why this couldn't be done today?
Currently renovating a circa 1910 bungalow, including removing gib and retrofitting membrane and installing insulation. Desconstructing the house in this way allows you to see how very skilled the original builders were. Using the same wood for weatherboards, architraves, scotias and windowsills. Barge board and window design, allowed for window flashing to be a flat, easily installed piece of metal. Nothing overly complicated, but very professional simple design. With the installation of R3.4 insulation in the walls, ceiling batts installed in the roof, and underfloor installation, the use of floorlength thermal curtains and pelmets should do the job of making this a home warm enough to live in without excessive heating use.
Since we are trying to do this on a limited budget, are also buying materials from TradeMe. Recent purchase was wooden cabinets for the kitchen, purchased from a property in Epsom due for demolition. Built 16 years ago, and needed to be demolished, it was an impressive spectacle, but one where the bones were riddled with materials utilised badly and unable to be rectified at all.
The old houses that are still standing, are the ones that managed to do so for fifty to a hundred years.
@ Robert – do we have working examples in NZ of swale/small earthwork systems for drought and flood prevention? Work similar to the Mulloon Institutes Natural Sequence Farming
Or Jeff Lawton's Zaytuna Farm
Or the earthworks projects cropping up in arid/semi-arid regions all over, as illustrated by John D Liu.
Am finishing up on an article about water and hoped to find some localised examples if they are there…
Great to see Shane Jones going for a much stronger government response to the DIRA legislation and the Fonterra mess.
Titirangi the vesicle of anti vaxxers
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/114994080/in-an-affluent-corner-of-auckland-a-gp-struggles-against-vaccination-disinformation
Yep. For a small suburb we've got waaaaaay more than our fair share of kooks, cranks, nutters and other weirdos.
Strange pets too.
raglan is another hot-spot for anti-vaxxers..
i am walking around looking sideways at ppl…wondering..
asking myself..
'is this one of those feckin' idjits..?'
took me ages to not read 'the testicle of anti-vaxxers' for some reason…
If this is the quality of thinking (as expressed in the attached 'debate) then there is no wonder the world is as dysfunctional as it currently is….'heavyweight' my arse.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/09/02/785708/the-economic-heavyweight-bout-of-the-year
We can ignore physics because of an ever hopeful 'innovation'
Does National deserve to win 2020 Election?
No!!! as the new Government are being ‘stymied by National planted stool pigeons inside our agencies.
Why? – firstly because National wanted to ruin every plan the Labour coalition had set up to benefit us all and look ‘winnable for the 2020 election’.
National had a dark plan as they have quietly ‘collectively been sabotaging’ and undermining the Labour/Coalition Government for the last 20 months with ‘every underhanded scheming’ to have those planted bureaucrats to wreck every plan labour/coalition had used that had even looked viable, that may have helped labour look good.
The obvious use of “bullying by Steven Joyce has been employed now, shows that Joyce has been the architect of this undermining of Government by acting against the citizens interests while also destroying the well being and health of the majority of the people.
It was only a matter of time before the rot had to show as coming out of the old rotting carcass of the old National Party as we all knew instinctively that putting Simon Bridges up as the “temporary leader was just a ploy when the big leader was lurking behind the curtains, that is Steven Joyce all over again.
the new Government are being ‘stymied by National planted stool pigeons inside our agencies.
Wreckers everywhere. Time for a purge.
Good example was the Cancer Agency release a few days ago . This was a policy in Labours manifesto at the 2017 election.
As a government they took until now to come up with a workable policy and funding.
National knew about the election promise and their mates in the public service would have passed on the outline earlier this year.
So the Nats play politics with cancer sufferers, try to steal the thunder – and this was after doing nothing for 9 years, indeed scrapping their own plan back in 2013
Yes, the swamp needs to be drained….wait, have I heard that somewhere before…..
https://conversation.education.govt.nz/conversations/tomorrows-schools-review/
28 June 2019 Taskforce reports back to minister – 2 months ago and nothing has been released into the public domain that I can find
I see, from the Economist, that the development of infrastructure projects in the UK is nearly as stuffed up as are the ones the current New Zealand Government is proposing.
"HS2, a planned high-speed railway between London and Birmingham, faces delays of up to five years, Britain’s transport minister said. Britain’s biggest infrastructure project may now not move passengers until 2031. The expected cost has risen from £62bn ($75bn) to £81bn-88bn. A second phase, reaching Manchester and Leeds, has been delayed too; patient commuters can expect services in 2035-40."
Sounds about what we can expect from the hypothetical rail service being talked about from Auckland to Wellington, or the roads around Wellington that Twyford was gaily announcing the other day had been "approved" but that work couldn't possibly be started until at least 2028. Even the local Labour MPs were a bit shocked by that announcement apparently.
https://m.newsie.co.nz/news/153707-hutt-council-jumps-on-nztas-delayed-melling-interchange-project.html
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/114989445/chris-hipkins-pushes-for-melling-planning-and-consenting
fake news – workers or executive? cos they ain't the same in my book
headline
story
'more than 6000 of Fonterra's 22,000 staff were on salaries of $100,000 and over.'
bloody hell..!
what am i missing here..?
fonterra is a company that collects milk – turns it into milk powder..
and sells that in bulk to the world..
so how the fuck do they justify having 6,000 top-feeders earning a hundred grand + a yr..?
(tempted to go and force-march them all to some milking sheds – to work for minimum wage – as so many workers these top-feeders leech off do..)
Perhaps you haven’t realised that engineering staff are in very short supply throughout the economy? Fonterra employs a shitload of engineers – probably about half of their staff are engineers of one form or another. It is all of that having to keep food carrying and processing equipment clean as well as dealing with high temperatures and a awful lot of equipment.
But no of course. You’re probably not really aware of anything at all about the working economy… Not something that I have ever noticed you having any understanding of.
I guess I should head off to work rather than commenting on that topic further.
Peter Ellis dies before appeal can be heard.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/115536931/convicted-civic-creche-sex-abuser-peter-ellis-dies-while-appealing-convicted
shit.
He wanted the appeal heard before his death so the media wouldn't be posting headlines about "sex abuser Peter Ellis" having died. So, naturally Stuff posts a headline saying "sex abuser Peter Ellis" has died. Fuck you, Stuff.
EDIT: “I assume” that was the reason – didn’t hear him say so.
A fair assumption, I think.
A life destroyed.
Theres more than a few people that need to have a good, long look in the mirror over this but probably won't
Not the least the parents who caused the hysteria in the first place. Be it on their heads that an innocent man's life was curtailed well before his time.
Interesting you never hear a squeak out of any of them now.
Pretty well his entire adult life was ruined before it was curtailed. Barbaric, to my mind.
@ anne..
agreed..
no they wont…and theres still a few convinced he was guilty and all the evidence in the world wont change that belief
RIP Peter Ellis.
I firmly believe he was an innocent man.
Absolutely @uncooked…
Lianne Dalziel's doing just fine, thought you'd like to know that.
Well that's a relief. I hope Goff is OK as well.
Did any of these people watch the original Terminator flick?
Two US military fucknuts more like.
Consecutive weeks of marches and protests and now they fold? The cynic in me says this is a sop and the PRC will carry on disappearing whoever they think is a trouble maker.
Hong Kong’s chief executive is to announce the formal withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill that sparked weeks of unrest, finally meeting a key demand of the protest movement.
Carrie Lam has called a meeting of pro-Beijing politicians for later on Wednesday afternoon, at which she will describe the full withdrawal of the bill as “a gesture… to cool down the atmosphere”, the South China Morning Post quoted a source as saying.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/hong-kong-extradition-bill-china-carrie-lam-protests-latest-a9090966.html
A ray of hope on the Climate Action front in the US:
Elizabeth Warren Unveils $3 Trillion Climate Plan, Embracing Inslee’s Goals
Currently Elizabeth Warren is running neck and neck with Bernie Sanders in Second place behind Joe Biden. She has been gaining in popularity across the board and on a favourability score she actually leads Biden and Sanders with a rating of around 55%. Head to head with Trump the polls show she would win the must win States as well. Certainly with the current Trade War Trump is shedding support from his base – particularly in the Farming States where farmers are now overall Billions in debt – despite his $12B handout (mostly unsurprisngly going to large corporate farmers and not the smaller farmers who are now in serious strife).
Elizabeth is on a par with Sanders wrt progressive policies and stands out as having a well developed policy package. This latest announcement simply underlines her determination to initiate positive change in America if given the chance,
I wouldn't put too much faith in the polls.
There have been lots of good examples of them being useless.
Whilst I would tend to agree with you and I have used many examples of such in my statistics classes of yore there is growing realisation that Trump – despite an election war chest of around $24 Billions is steadily loosing favour across the country. Daily, GOP representatives are standing down, and will not seek reelection in 2020. That is not the behaviour of politicians who can see an easy run for the next hurdle.
Furthermore, there is polling being carried out almost every day by a variety of pollsters. For the past 2 years Trump's approval rating has remained fairly steady at a tad over 40% while his disapproval rating hovers at around 53 – 54%. That means his favourability rating is negative and at least -10% to -14%. That is not the rating of a successful politician, and in most circumstances does not auger well for reelection.
His Trade War with China is also not going well, and with rising prices on many commodities, that is not winning him any favours, There is also the fear of an imminent recession, and the majority of Americans think that should such occur it rests solely on the "policies" of Trump – at least 60% think he will be to blame. The average American has not had any substantial benefit from his tax cuts to the rich, so that has not curried favour either, and his inability to build even 1 mile of new Wall shows him to be incapable on that front as well. There is also growing resentment on the treatment of undocumented migrants, many who have been in the country for many years, raised families, and are productive law abiding members of society with natural born US children or partners. The breaking up of such families is seen now by many in the rural communities in which they live as highly unjust and is only cheered on by the ultra -right factions who are not representative of the majority of fair minded Americans who are appalled by the current ICE raids.
Sure he drags in his faithful followers at his incomprehensible rallies – but time and again crowd sizes are over reported and now he simply preaches to the faithful, He is not gaining support, and what support he had is slowly draining away as the reality of his bluster sinks in.
BTW I don't comment on here as frequently as I have in the past because, most of my on-line time now is spent following American politics.
Cheers for your analysis, Macro clearly more thought than I have given it.
Part of Trumps success first time round wasn't so much folk voting for him, but against his opponent.
When might the government reinstate funding for night classes & other adult community education programmes that the former National-led government canned ~10 years ago?
Ideally get this done before the 2020 election. Wouldn't cost too much; annual budget's likely less than the cost of the flag referenda.
This diplomating business is as dangerous AF.
Oh dear. Sometimes, Winston, a simple 'yes' or 'no' would suffice.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12264368
TRANSCRIPT OF FINAL MINUTES OF CALL BETWEEN HERALD REPORTER MATT NIPPERT AND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER WINSTON PETERS:
MN: So, to the best of your knowledge, New Zealand First have not talked with Lang about him donating? Is that what you're saying?
WP: [Pause] Well, look, if a member of my party was at the racecourse one day, interpreted a conversation with him it's quite possible. But to the best of my knowledge the course on which you're going at the moment is fruitless: We have not received any money from the Wolf, as I know him as.
MN: I guess the outstanding question remains is: If this donation were offered by him, would you accept it?
WP: An outstanding question? Who do you think you're talking to? You're going to have a hypothetical, and put it to me as an outstanding question? Bulldust mate. Where do you get off? Where do you get off with that arrogant attitude? "The question remains". For you?
MN: He says he's considering donating to NZ First. Would you accept the donation? It's pretty simple.
WP: You're going to slide mate, from facts to bullshit. Right? You're not going to be able to slide from facts, with a modicum of detail, to flat-out bullshit and speculation.
MN: So you would take the money? Or you wouldn't?
WP: Get a brain mate. That's not the alternative answer, is it?
MN: It's a very straightforward question, Winston.
WP: It's not a straightforward question. It's some silly, smart-arse question by somebody who should know a whole lot better.
MN: I'm just trying to figure out where this is going.
WP: It's not going anywhere, because it started nowhere. It's built on the premise you're going to write an article, based on nothing. Because you've got a charade of details you're going to put out there. That's what it's based on.
MN: It's based on Mr Lang telling me he was planning to donate to you.
WP: Good god, what a flimsy peg you're trying to hang your story on. God.
MN: Well, I'll flick it to my editors and see if they agree with me.
WP: They probably will, the bloody morons.
MN: Winston, are you hanging up on me?
[CALL TERMINATED BY WP]
I wonder if Neve is up to date with her shots.
Miaow.