phillip ure
I saw your piece mentioning Rick Bryant and he is in a replay of an interview with Kim Hill on radionz this a.m. What a guy. He is interesting and admirable, lots of interests and wise.
Myself, I’m more interested in the quaity and content of blogs. The whole rankings thing just buys into the whole competitive, dick waving culture of our capitalist system.
Too much of it is built into online social media – communities are about engagement and exchanges of ideas, not competitions that mirror commerical markets.
Well, it’s useful to have a pretty wide following, in order to make some impact, and connections. But, I think people can get overly obssessed with being numero 1…. or 2….or 20.
Phil, I used to find your blog incomprehensible. Perhaps I’ve just become accustomed to your sense of humour or your meds are working but I find myself visiting from time to time as it becomes more readable to me.
..heh..!..the only ‘meds’ i use/am ever ‘on’..is pot..
..legalisation now..!
..eh..?
..and as it happened..on new years eve i walked..with three other ‘sober’-friends.. into the post-midnite detritus of a mutual-friends’ (old-persons’) alcohol party in whangamata..(it’s a long story..)
..and whoar..!
..it’s been a long time since that appealed to me..
..and that peek just confirmed that stance..
..what do people see in it..?
..and glad that you are enjoying whoar..
..don’t forget to tell yr friends about it..eh..?
..i haven’t been able to monetise it yet..
..so i can’t afford to advertise..
..and i have been facebook-averse ever since finding out the cia gave zuckerberg the money to start the bloody thing..
Pope Francis has told Catholic priests to leave their comfort zone and get out among people on the margins of society or else risk becoming “abstract ideologists”.
Isn’t it the case that priests and nuns who abstain from sexual intercourse with the other sex, (but who advise their community to not withhold from intercourse, not to restrain from having children) are truly abstract ideologists?
And also that applies to all single sex participants, who cannot regard themselves as knowing about the human ability of creating life and living through their own personal experience, unless they engage in sexual intercourse with the other sex. (Turkey basters are only part of the process.)
Country Calendar repeat today on John and Bunny Mortimer, tree huggers of the most practical, experienced, informative and likable kind was so interesting. They are examples of great NZs, now in their 90’s. They are interested in trees from all views also bio-mass. http://www.taituabooks.co.nz/webapps/site/76334/136645/shopping/shopping-plus.html
Also Ken Vincent poultry breeder still at 78, who used to have 32 breeds now only 16. He says that his duck and hen breeds are becoming rare, and not much is being done in NZ to conserve them. You can see him if you click on show notes from the schedule listing of CC.
White leghorn hens are big layers – may lay 300 eggs a year. And this in a happy hen house, no battery stuff here. Ducks are particularly nice to have, the males never become aggressive as the roosters do. Possibly not as noisy also. He sends eggs for hatching, sells birds to start own henhouse. Worth considering. The major hen type used is called Shavers I think, the other breeds much less.
Pope Francis follows the principles of St Francis (poverty, charity and service might be a good description). I am not religious but came to Franciscan thought in my 40s, after having been imbued at Uni with rationalism, in particular Marxism. My take is that rationalism is Johnny Come Lately that has very conveniently pretended that two thousand years of faith and tradition can be quickly laid aside. Godless Marxism is (as are alternate market based faiths), which in turn means it lacks the spiritual dimension needed to make it truly “human”. Dont expect the RC church to use rationalist constructs, they have done well enough without them. With regard to chaste abstract ideologists you might want to consider that medieval orders usually took in people who had “completed” their lives in the community. They had intimate knowledge of the ways of the flesh. Is that so different today? I dont know. Not going to judge.
Tree huggers and poultry….this year I my form of civic responsibility and unblessed (by authorities) behavior will be to plant more things where they should be (guerrilla plantings, the revolution will come quietly and greenly). My chickens will likely approve, as only rare breeds can.
I got interviewed by Roy Morgan Research yesterday, for the first time ever.
The most interesting thing is that they called me on my cell phone. I asked them how they got the number and they said they do random dialing, and that’s why they asked me my postcode at the start of the interview, for screening purposes to ensure they got good coverage across the country.
Anyway, they asked a big range of questions, including the standard political polling. Here are some of the questions and my answers:
1. Electorate / party vote if election held today: Labour / Labour
2. Who do I want to win the next election: Labour
3. Is the country heading in the right direction or wrong direction: I said wrong. Only because I know this is (ridiculously) used as a ‘government confidence rating’ proxy.
4. Biggest problem facing the world at the moment: climate change. Why: because government’s aren’t doing anything about it.
5. Biggest problem facing NZ at the moment: child poverty. Why: because the government isn’t doing anything about it.
6. Should smoking marijuana be legal or illegal: legal.
7. Should religion be taught at least once a week in state schools: no.
There were also questions about the economy, eg expected inflation over the next two years, expected housing price increases over the next two years, whether my family is in a better financial situation than 1 year ago and whether we expect to be in better condition next year, those sorts of things.
2.5% inflation per year, 8% house price rises per year, better than last year, expect to be better next year.
There was also another one about how I expected the economy to go over the next 5 years, initially I was presented with “continually improving” and “continually worsening”, but when I said I couldn’t choose either of those he read out the full scale, whereupon I picked “some good, some bad”.
Are they still asking about tobacco-smoking Lanth?
Last time they caught me was just after the first big cost increase. I think they might have wondered whether there were any votes lost or gained.
I answered “legal” to whether it should be legal or illegal.
I’d prefer to see it decriminalised rather than completely legalised: allow cultivation for personal use, don’t bother cracking down on local/small-scale distribution, just go after the kingpins.
Ideally I think it should be regulated and sold like alcohol is, but that’s too big a jump for NZ I think.
Under my decriminalization policy, you can grow your own small supply at home or get it from friends, but it’s still not legal (ie, not sold in shops) because I don’t think the NZ public is really ready for that yet. So you go after the kingpins, eg gangs, to stop them from profiting.
Once it’s fully legalised and regulated, the bottom would drop out of the private market anyway, at which point there’d be no need to go after anyone. In the meantime though, police would still go after the gangs.
My reason for going with decriminalization, rather than full legalisation, is that I don’t think the NZ public is ready for full legalisation, and as such decriminalisation is a sensible stepping stone that is achievable by any government that is to be elected within the next 10 years.
Pining for the fjords doesn’t seem like a realistic policy to me.
If you really want to read something that will start a conversation Rebecca Camm’s latest article in the Herald takes some beating. The trouble is I do not know if she is being satirical or not …
Most definitely being satirical but it’s like she just grabbed a handful of random crap and fired it from a shotgun. Some of it hits the mark but so much of it is poorly held together drivel.
It didn’t work for me – not very clever really. I was kind of into it to start with, but then it just laboured a not very subtle point, and I was wondering whether she was attacking feminsm or sending up anti-feminism.
For anyone who might be interested and who hasn’t come across this yet, PJ Harvey was guest editor on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme – equivalent of ‘Morning Report’ (Could be a nice ‘touchstone’ for the next time anyone bangs on about supposed ‘left wing bias’ in the msm?)
Anyway, it’s three hours worth and I’ve only just begun to listen so can’t offer any opinion… (first 10 min is UK news and weather) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03mhyzh
heh – Anyway, I liked this from a telegraph article
Another Twitter user added: “Anyone who thinks the BBC is run by lefties needs to hear today’s #r4Today prog. This is what being run by lefties would be like. I like it.”
And I see ‘Stuff’ has a headline proclaiming “PJ Harvey radio show sparks complaints.”….and the second to last line of the article informs us that the BBC received….wait for it…a grand total of 37 complaints.
Anyway…the news and weather slots aside (which I could skip through, but it’s just sitting in the background anyway), the reports are bloody good so far.
This doesn’t surprise me. It’s what we thought was happening at the time. Too many people blame Scargill for the miners’ defeat – but Thatcher was dead set of destroying them and the UK left along with it:
If you think destroying some of Britain’s most cohesive communities was a great achievement, then these jottings are a token of genius. They reveal Mrs Thatcher engaged in battle micro-management worthy of a Monty or Wellington.
The documents show the Conservative government was, in the middle of the miners’ strike, facing defeat.
[…]
The miners strike is today depicted as one of those “inevitable” events that history is littered with: a doomed workforce staging a last ditch battle in the face of progress.
If you were there – I was – it was more complicated.
[…]
The miners at the time claimed the policing was politicised. The records show it was.
Arthur Scargill, the miners’ leader, was criticised afterwards for beginning a conflict he could never win. So the revelation that he was on the point of winning – or at least achieving a messy compromise – in July 1984 is an important addition to the record.
[….]
The use of troops to move essential goods was seriously considered, as was the declaration of a state of emergency – and changing the law to enable this. That would have seriously escalated the conflict.
[…]
Paul Symonds, a miner at Frickley Colliery during the strike, says:
“One lesson is this: they were much better organised than we were. Don’t trust them is the lesson. Don’t trust anything that they say.”
It’s an attitude towards government that is common now, but was not common then.
This is why I now say that we should never underestimate the ruthless determination of the corprorate elites to smash any successes of the left.
And why I say the left needs a multi-pronged strategy – grass roots collective energy from below + strategies for resisting, and challenging the power of the elites – and every kind of initiative in between.
The other lesson is, that the left clearly came close to resisting Thatcher. And that included mobilising all the networks within the left in support – fund raising, donations of food etc. Feminist, gay, anti-racist networks all joining in. Not an easy rleationship to start with – but lessons were being learned along the way.
And that’s why we need to network across diverse groups, even though we differ on priorities, and on how we approach some problems.
Correct, Zorr, Grumpy’s just getting desperate. The PSI organisation are righty climate change denialists who claim to be supporters of scientific principles while simultaneously publishing articles claiming Mossad and Bush engineered 9/11.
Let’s take the first sentence of that link at face value:
that “two naturally occurring climate cycles will combine to lower global temperatures during the next century.”
Assume this prediction is indeed true. In the meantime let’s also assume we keep adding CO2, ‘business as usual’ to the atmosphere and that by the time this naturally occurring cycle ends levels have doubled again – to say 800ppm.
So when this ‘cooling period’ ends – what do you imagine will happen?
A warm sea may mean a colder atmosphere, as cooling processes kit up a notch and expel more heat into space. The problem surely is that this will happen over the Northern Hemisphere continents, aka glaciers down to the med. How else did this happen in the past but for more energy being available to transport more moisture from a warmer sea to a colder continent.
Its been pointed out that when the seas are warmer and interior of the continents colder, humans migrated along the coast lines from Asia into the Americas.
What is the chance of a housing bubble pop in New Zealand. This interactive graph would suggest that the possibility is quite high, at some stage in the next 2 to 5 years (if you cant get NZ to show up on the interactive, our line is just below Britain)
Of course Treasury have identified this risk and implemented the LVR policy, which had the impact of reducing supply of newly built homes = bad. The right policy to implement is a CGT, but there is no way in hell that National will implement this because a huge % of their supporters have gained their wealth from capital gains (mainly investment houses and farms).
The scary thing for Labour is as house price inflation continues to build into an even bigger bubble then the chances that the CGT will create a POP of the bubble are getting higher, this could actually be catastrophic for our economy for a period. I don’t know what the answer is but I do know that the sooner a CGT (and perhaps other initiatives/policies to reduce the demand from investment housing) is implemented then the better our economy will be long term. Farrar et al can complain all they want about the legitimacy of the “living wage” but one thing is for sure, rising house prices only makes our poverty situation worse, it is the number one driver of poverty and inequality.
Capitals gain tax, exception own living space or residential address – only one allowed. Declaration of overseas trust funds keeping moneys earned in NZ and properties by residents and citizens. Cash business to be closer monitored and audited as these are the ones not paying tax at all. This is known in the community up and down the country. I think this would go a long way.
How and when do you believe a CGT will solve this issue?
You have made a comment that this (cgt) is the right policy yet no reason given. Everyone appears to be an expert in the property market, most are have minimal understanding of how it works let alone how to effect charge.
Get off the ban wagon and promote real solutions, not being a part of the scratch record of commenting re a CGT so often that it will become accepted as fact then in 5 years time wondering why there is no radical change in the property market that was promised, and that property ownership within Auckland is as unachievable as when the nats were previously in govt 🙁
When it will not become the main tool – it will in about 10 years time become one part of the tool box, and the tax will not change behaviour. I am sure property investors will still gladly accept tax advantages and on realising a gain on disposal accept paying a mere 15% tax.
Hi Herodotus
I do belief hat a CGT will curb the amount of properties being sold to investors. The increase in “market worth” also impacts on people who actually use a house as a home. The council rates are measured by this perceived value and a lot of people start to struggle to pay these taxes. And yet, the investment property is being traded as a non taxed commodity. This encourages overseas buying and because of the raising value an increase in apartment buildings as these are less costly. So those who make a business out of a vital necessity (roof over the head) it’s a win win situation all the way to the bank. I really don’t care whether some ideology is being trampled on with this issue, what i do see is that more and more young people have no hope to get into a home and build a family. Its a loss for NZ, certainly not for overseas investors.
Councils need rates anyway. They keep raising rates to pay for the massive debt they have – all of the councils in the country are effectively bankrupt on paper, it’s just a ponzi debt game that makes them look solvent.
So even if you had a CGT to reduce property prices, the council still need to get their rates money, so it ultimately won’t change that aspect – except to possibly become more regressive as the general house prices will flatten out, so rates will have to rise across the board, penalising those with low incomes / house values more-so than they otherwise would.
I doubt that this will happen as the council is also aware that you cannot get blood out of a stone. I do realize that authorities have the tendency to create new “needs” in order to disguise the “deeds” that have gone beforehand. But a remedy has to be started somewhere. This is a good a place as any. Poor families will not be able to afford increasing rates either way as the amount in untenable. What is and will increasingly happen in the current scenario is that people who have worked all their lives are now unable to stay in their home. Where are they suppose to be housed? There are not many council houses available, retirement homes will soon be out of space and it is not always the best way to put more people into overcrowded housing with relatives. There are consequences to everything.
I think it is the right policy because at the moment investment in housing/property provides a huge tax advantage over other forms of investments (equities etc). Personally I don’t think it is the only solution, I believe that polices need to put in place to disincentive investment housing, I would support limiting the use of Loss Attributing Qualifying Companies, and also a more aggressive CGT than the Aussie model (something that I heard Steve Keen mention on Radio NZ support, http://www.radionz.co.nz/radionz/programmes/featured-audio/audio/2520012/steve-keen-economic-crisis.) I agree with you that on its own it wont change behaviour but it will be one of the main tools to correct Kiwi’s obsession in property.
I will address a few issues
Council rates
When a property value increases we do not collect more rates overall. Each year, the council determines, through the annual plan process, how much money needs to be collected through rates to fund its activities and services for the year. This rates requirement is then divided between all the properties in the region based on council’s rating policies. http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ratesbuildingproperty/ratesvaluations/aboutrates/Pages/faqs.aspx
There is an issue of increasing debt so as to keep increases to a minimum. No this just delays to the next council a major “unpalatable” increase. Really making in aucklands case “most liveable” pity most will not be able to afford to reside here.
So are all here saying that if a cgt was put into operation that property prices would decrease., as stated before when coy tax rate is 28% the top personnel tax rate is 30% that a 15% tax will change behaviour ? Haha
Investing in property should have no advantages over other investments and I would promote that this form of investment should have disincentives above and beyond other forms attached to it. Eg interest costs are non deductible. Why should a commercial activity incur mortgages at the same rate as a family home and with the same debt profile. Enter any other business and try to obtain debt funding beyond 50% and still be charged at the same rate as a mortgage ? Even those in property development have their values of land developed heavily discounted for bank valuation purposes and then be charged 3%+ above current mortgage rates, that is if you can find a current bank open to fund.
Limit debt funding by placing greater controls on bank loaning ratios.
As we will have a cgt, all property has its use recorded e.g. Residential owner/beneficiary of trust residing, holiday home, rented property etc.
non nz residents incur not a cgt but pay corporate tax rate and can only purchase a newly built property.
There are others but at least these points are wider reaching at solving this IMO important issues
And neglected to include, a cgt is on all property, but for those that the owner resides in at a minimal rate of say 5% so all property transactions are recorded within Linz and the ird and that all sales can be traced. To sell such a policy, labour will need to sell/inform us as where this added tax revenue will be allocated to, in 2011 at least we the voter knew that this added revenue from a cgt was to fund the $5k tax free zone policy and gst off F&V http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5284832/Labour-confirms-capital-gains-tax-new-rate
Now it appears any revenue will just be absorbed into paying for the auctioning/ buying for our votes.
Hi Herodotus
I am sorry to say, I don’t belief that many of the city Councillors have the rate payer in mind when they come up with their plans. If I remember correctly not so long ago the city council from Mangawhai was taken to court because they unilaterally decided to take on more debt and have the residents pay for it. The Auckland City council has approved a living wage that is now being paid for by exactly the low wage earning people you have mentioned. May I remind on Hamiltons V8?
As all property is listed with Linz (NZ wide) it would be possible to have residential households and their owners registered. I belief this to be not a big issue as the voting papers seem to find the owners. Any additional registration against the same owner will attract the tax. The owner of a property has to be of an age that allows Tax to be collected (excluding i.e. 2 days old sons or daughters to enter the market). Just an idea, but I belief that if the council can come up with pet projects they are able to come up with a solution.
Grumpy.
Principia scientific.
An political organization spreading spuriest made up science.
Crap dressed up for socold intelligent well educated Right Wing Deniers
That’s my peer review of you Gumpy.
Show me some peer reviews of this fantasy gumpy.
It just proves how gullible the right are.
Gumpy
They haven’t even got the cycles of the earths eliptical orbit and oscillations around the sun.
Just more evidence on how the Creed of short term greed is willing to sacrifice humanity
So the rich can have a few or a lot more baubles than everyone else.
Gump
I read this morning an article about the Cambodian textile workers protesting and being shot at. The government has sent the troops as they are firmly in the camp of the main shareholders of these factories that facilitate the export that is quite a high % of Cambodia’s income. Naturally this goes hand in hand with the political power. I got curious asking myself – who are the actual owners of these factories and one would think denier of higher wages? NZ’s news do no reveal anything, further research says that the nationality of the main shareholders are Taiwan, China, USA – no names. As any “open” information is just not obtainable in the Anglo Saxen world I went out into the Euro zone – Eureka, a local Newspaper (mentioned as right/liberal !) gave me quite decisive and frank information. See below.
Excerpt from the Newspaper article.
“400.000 Arbeiter nähen für internationale Modehäuser wie GAP, Nike und H&M.” Number of workers and named Distributes, not mentioned – Walmart.
This link gives you the breakdown of the price of a T-Shirt,in graphics.
Why is it that all those self professed reporters, commentators etc cannot provide information that is so freely shared overseas by the right/liberal press? Are they scared they will be sacked and if so are there any true reporters (not story tellers) out there?
It is feasible that any such company is registered only in Bangladesh and supplies the clothing companies here in NZ. It would not be so far fetched to see this in the manufacturing of uniforms. I am not saying that this is a fact but thinking aloud.
Ennui guerilla plantings I have been doing it since I was a kid.
If everyone did it wouldn’t take long to get a real change.
Living legends was a very good initiative getting famous rugby players to help plant native trees.
“Stripped naked, fed to 120 dogs as officials watched”
Another factoid for Te Reo and QoT to repeat ad nauseam
It’s as rigorous and has as much credibility as the fantastical case cooked up by the Swedish Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny, AKA the “Totalitarian Tolkien”…..
Kim Jong-un’s executed uncle Jang Song Thaek ‘stripped naked, fed to 120 dogs as officials watched’
‘First and foremost, let’s consider the source. The story originated in a Hong Kong newspaper called Wen Wei Po, which oddly makes the claim without citing a source. With a couple of high-quality exceptions, Hong Kong media have a reputation for sensationalist and tabloidy stories that do not always turn out to be true. But, even by Hong Kong standards, Wen Wei Po is considered an unusually unreliable outlet.’
I would be interested in peoples thoughts about the idea of
Not talking about Climate Change
Why?
I have a feeling that we all have an inbuilt mechanism that wants us to win the argument and loose the war.
In other words is the goal is to change behaviour or change belief?
I think we should focus on behaviour change not belief change. Behaviours are so much easier to change than beliefs
So focus on the desired outcome, and on the behaviours we need to change to get to that outcome rather than on the binary ‘do you believe’ stuff we have now that seems to serve little or no purpose and does not bring people along.
There are billions of habitual worlds in our galaxy, say some.
Well simple, its because the behaviors that break convention, that break ecological niches that hold a species in place, also break the worlds that species would need to get into space and come and meet us. The history of the rise of the west is the history of exploitation, disregard and disunity.
Behaviors resulting from pantheist and non-theist religions of the east were much more balance, better fitted, yet weren’t better fitted when it comes to Earth eating.
So the behaviors that balance with nature, turn off turn out of consumerism and individualism pushed by media in their great socialization efforts, are clearly the way forward.
How do we switch people onto them?
Well explain to them the hurt they are leaving their grand kids.
..so..really..anyone claiming to be ‘green’/’caring for the planet’/’caring for their childrens’ future’.. who is still eating animal-flesh/bye-products..
‘8 April. The morning spent paying bills: British Gas (and electricity), Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, Camden Council, Craven District Council and Mr Redhead the coal merchant in Ingleton. Many of the bills are overdue, about which I am unrepentant. The only one I pay promptly and with no feeling of resentment is Mr Redhead’s.
It wasn’t always so. Before the public utilities were privatised one paid bills more readily, not just because they were considerably cheaper, which of course they were, but because one had little sense of being exploited. Now as I pay my water bills for instance, I think of their overpaid executives and the shareholders to whom the profits go and I know, despite the assurances of all such companies, that they are charging what they know they can get away with. Competition has not meant better service nor has it brought down prices, with some corporate behaviour close to sharp practice. British Gas, for instance, regularly omits to send me a first bill but only a reminder, which has no details about consumption. When challenged they say this may be because bills have been sent online. But how can this be when we have no computer? If one telephones and manages eventually to get through one is dealt with by someone always charming and even-tempered (and often Scots) who promises to look into it. But when in due course the bill comes again it is still with no details and coupled with threats of court action. So whereas once upon a time I paid my bills as Auden said a gentleman should, as soon as they were submitted, these days I put them off, paying sometimes only at the third or fourth time of asking or when I am assured (rhetorically, I know) that the bailiffs are about to call. I am no crusader but I wish there was a consumers’ organisation which could co-ordinate individual resistance to these companies, setting up non or late payment on such a scale that it would put a dent in the dividends of the shareholders and the salaries of the executives concerned.
This was written a few hours before I learned of Lady Thatcher’s death and it’s an appropriate epitaph.’
is there really anything of that list that a left-wing party shouldn’t be doing? yes, it would be good if they talked about a living wage, given they recognise that ethnic minority communities are over-represented in terms of low wage jobs. but does that negate any of the other issues they have raised? should they stop advocating for these things and should we just ignore them because they are focusing on what we have in common?
i personally think it would be foolish for any political party to ignore this list of policies. it should be part of the range of things that need to be implemented to improve nz society.
You are not wrong and I was particularly pleased to see the recognition of the need for domestic assaults assistance. And I’ve have to say good luck with getting diversity througth the workforce and I hope the default position is “for both sexes”. FFS we have had many years of women born within the country and educated alongside males and we still don’t have even workplace gender diversity based on these groups.
Thatnks, stargazer. Yes they indicate a pay gap. Also under-representation of various ethnic groups in poltics and the public services.
It would also be good if the living wage, and/or poverty could be discussed more in connection with other aspects of diversity – gender, sexuality etc.
Government needs more representation of people from, and committed to others on low income background from diverse groups.
While use of debt pooling in the eurozone can reduce the need for restructuring or defaults, it comes at the cost of higher burdens for northern taxpayers. This could drag the EMU core states into a recession and aggravate their own debt and ageing crises. The clear implication of the IMF paper is that Germany and the creditor core would do better to bite the bullet on big write-offs immediately rather than buying time with creeping debt mutualisation.
I listened to some people talking about media overkill when mandela died. I was in europe when thatcher died. For 48 hoyes sky cnn and bbc beatified her. I began to wonder if different thatcher died.
perhaps mandela pricked their consciousness while thatcher pricked wallets
Ralph Nader: ‘The Country You Destroyed’: A Letter to George W. Bush
Today, Iraq remains a country (roughly the size and population of Texas) you destroyed, a country where over a million Iraqis, including many children and infants (remember Fallujah?) lost their lives, millions more were sickened or injured, and millions more were forced to become refugees, including most of the Iraqi Christians. Iraq is a country rife with sectarian strife that your prolonged invasion provoked into what is now open warfare. Iraq is a country where al-Qaeda is spreading with explosions taking 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 lives per day. Just this week, it was reported that the U.S. has sent Hellfire air-to-ground missiles to Iraq’s air force to be used against encampments of “the country’s branch of al-Qaeda.” There was no al-Qaeda in Iraq before your invasion. Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein were mortal enemies.
For thse who smugly tell themselves that those on benefits are lazy and that todays youth are lazy and just dont want to work, please reconcile that view with this
I think its far more complicated than that, In my previous position I used to hire through the local winz as the company liked to try and employ from within the local community wherever possible. All we hired were keen and enjoyed to varying degrees the job which although relatively physical was outdoors and paid better than minimum by @$2 ph.
The startling thing was the peer pressure that went on these guys from there so called mates once they had a job to provide booze etc. I had one damn near assaulted in the street because he wasn’t replying to his mates txt msgs which went something along the lines of “you think you’re to good to talk to me now you’ve got a job c**t” the fact he was working made no difference…not long after his so called mates robbed his house while he was at work. Fortunately he stuck it out but there were others prior who didn’t due to this kind of crap. Generally it was mates getting upset if they didnt head out to party on a work night or as we worked in the public space they would spend the day driving by giving them shit.
Really hard for a 18-22 yr old to cope with and frankly I’m at a loss as how to solve what is effectively bullying. Certainly those that caved to a degree and partied during the week struggled big time on the job despite there best intentions…
That is interesting. I have looked at those late booze hours and wondered who was drinking, who was partying, and whether they could do a job the next day, and if not working where the money was coming from.
It is my opinion that the leaders and lawmakers have by allowing even encouraging long alcohol serving hours, that they have been deliberately trying to get money from these young people and not caring that it is leading them into unsupportable addiction and have degraded their lives. Temptation to keep drinking is not easily resisted when you are already half-way drunk and ‘relaxed’. Then while unemployed the bad habits have developed of using drink to fill in the day – because this shameless government has not organised work for the dole to keep the young ones out of the pubs.
Tbh most drink at home or at a house party before heading into a pub around 1 am for an hour or so…. its just two pricey otherwise. The opening hours wouldn’t really change much.
That said I would often wander down to my local 4 square early on a Sunday morning to find a queue waiting for alcohol to continue on from the sat. Im generalizing but as it was Taita/Pomare most could i’ll afford it.
I honestly believe these small neighbour shops are a big problem as like you say once tipsy its hard to stop. At least the supermarkets are further away and in my experience far more stringent. Certainly it’s a bigger step to drive 10 min to town than wander down the local booze store at 6 30 am….
cricklewood
Your points insightful I think. I have noticed that it seems immigrants, such as Indian, are running small suburban booze shops in suburban areas and it is not a healthy look to be trying to make profit from this alcohol drug. The small shop I went into was stacked to the ceiling with booze of all sorts.
This would be in a small shopping centre where in my day you might go down to have a milk shake at the milk bar. Alcohol was still there but was saved for parties, and organisation was needed to buy a dozen beer or so for teenagers. Now as I say it is waved in the face of people of all ages, and it seems like lemonade with some alcohol, but just the other way round. It’s spirits being drunk from vodka, bourbon bottles, very high alcohol count. If it is allowed it must be okay is the thought.
Some neighbourhoods have followed through with the thinking and come to the idea that it is wrong and that there is a powerful group that acts against their young people, willing to encourage them so they spend the money which as you say they can ill afford. And probably start a lifetime weakness. It is said that the government is the first party to be addicted though, to the excise taxes.
I have just found Dr David Nutt who is a psychiatrist, was a UK head in the control of drugs official organisation, before he was sacked because he started doing some whistleblowing. Sacked summarily actually. And I don’t think he got any golden parachutes.
(He just said ‘the thing about alcohol is it changes your judgment’. My point about the way Stat – falling off horses with brain damage for the rider has ratio 1:350 and similar damage for ecstasy ratio 1:10,000 (think) – interesting comparison.)
and if not working wondering? where the money was coming from.
Well, if some of the things I’ve heard are anything to go by – their parents.
It is my opinion that the leaders and lawmakers have by allowing even encouraging long alcohol serving hours, that they have been deliberately trying to get money from these young people and not caring that it is leading them into unsupportable addiction and have degraded their lives.
That’s exactly what’s been happening. It was the, IMO, main reason why the drinking age was lowered. Our whole social system is all about producing profits for the rich and the only way to do that is to have as many people as possible purchasing the product/service.
because this shameless government has not organised work for the dole to keep the young ones out of the pubs.
Work for the dole isn’t the answer and never has been. Get these people out doing something challenging and of value to society, i.e, running out telecommunications, upgrading power grids, building wind generators, electrifying the entire rail network.
There is no reason for there to be any unemployment except ideology: National’s, Labour’s and the business sectors desire to keep wages down.
Right now, we are in the midst of what’s been dubbed the “Sixth Great Extinction.” The fifth extinction was the one that killed off the dinosaurs and things are moving much, much faster now.
Depending on whose calculations you trust, we’re losing somewhere between 30,000 and 140,000 species a year. And we—meaning us humans—will not survive this loss.
So, still think we should cut back on the environmental protections in the RMA, drill up more oil and coal and build more roads?
As a recent arrival in N.Z, I am still trying to get my head around various aspects of NZ politics……I spent the best part of a decade in UK as an activist to the lbgt council. However that is low priority in these desperate times and we need to unite, as far as possible, to the concerns of the many,compared to the hobby horses of a few.
In the U.K one of the hot topics being discussed is the idea of a,living wage.There is a minimum wage set which as absolutely useless in the U.K.
What will Labour do towards providing a living wage?What is the minimum wage here and how much does it need to be to benefit people in this country?
as I recall the minimum wage is about $5ph under what would be a living wage. Some local bodies and companies have chosen to adopt it already, not sure of individual party policies but I’d expect it to be an issue in the election from ladgrnmana, if policies have not already been announced.
To ecossemaid – the current NZ minimum wage is $13.50 an hour and the “living wage” has been suggested as at least $18 an hour. Labour has said it would extend the living wage to all Parliamentary workers as a starting point. Wellington City has said something similar. Auckland City Mayor had it as a campaign policy but he hasn’t managed to get it passed in the council yet. Not sure about other local govtsin NZ.
Something new – an email inviting me to subscribe to The Standard to get email of coments on Jose Pagani thread to which I have posted. Normally I would just tick the box on the page. Is this a new feature lprent?
Actually I can’t cope with getting every email on a busy post. I find it better to make a personal check of what has gone down, or search my archive and work my way down the headings and click on each one to see if someone has commented to me.
In the immediate wake of Mandela’s death, I commented here on the way he, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other leaders of the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa have argued that Israel’s Occupation of Palestinian territory represents the New Apartheid.
Despite a good deal of upset and gnashing of teeth from the Israel Lobby and its supporters, there’s really nothing controversial about the claim anymore. Hell, even a number of leading mainstream Israelis seem to accept it as apt.
Here’s an in-depth comparative analysis of South African and Israeli Apartheid from The Guardian’s Middle East (and former South African) correspondent, Chris McGreal.
Meanwhile, leading South African International Law Expert, long-time anti-apartheid activist and UN Special Rapporteur for the Middle East, Professor John Dugard. also sees striking similarities
I’ve just taken some time out.
Because I am really pissed off and finding it hard to remain objective., Also to decide if what I thought happened really did happen, to listen and think about what everyone said.
I was going to reply to Weka as promised, who seemed to be, finally, starting to do what she was asking me to do, Listen! I havn’t cooled down enough yet, however.
We all bring baggage, including different life experiences and points of view to the discussion.
At primary school I was a small geeky, bookworm who suffered a lot from the attentions of the school bullies.
The experience left me with a strongly developed sense of fairness, an instinct to fight for the underdog and and a contempt for those who hide behind their “Authority” abuse their power or position and “the rules”, (often of their own making).
I’ve found that the only way to deal with these people is to stand up to them. And , if you are different, be yourself. Most people will respect you for it.
Most of my life I have been getting into strife, standing up to authoritarian bullying types. (Most of them have been white males, by the way). Usually to help someone who hasn’t the power to stand up for themselves.
If you have been listening to me, you would know I am pretty pissed with the mess the current people in power (Also I agree, mostly white males, but not all), have been making.
I don’t think simply replacing authoritarian bullying white males with authoritarian bullying women, or authoritarian bullying RWNJ’s with authoritarian bullying lefties. is the answer however.
I, mostly stayed away from the conversation about rape.
That subject was hurtful enough. It was just a year since my daughters school friend had been murdered by her ex partner.
I didn’t need a discussion where I knew, unless I kept to every dotted I and crossed T of the QOT approved script I would be in the firing line.
This time I thought, “what gives QOT the right to dictate the terms of the conversation, and then bully people into submission with powerful accusations, which were neither fair, nor justified.. Moving into the house and walking around with hobnailed boots covered in dogshit from other conversations and then complaining that the males leave the toilet seat up.
I get it that some who are involved with the Labour party are angry with being marginalised and told to STFU. By “white dudes”. (Also I seem to remember by at least one brown dude and some white women). Taking it out on people here that are on your side though, is both unnecessarily divisive and counterproductive.
Respectful disagreement is healthy. I don;’t want to silence QOT or anyone else.
The point is we seem to be concentrating on one issue at a time, letting the right frame the debate and only getting the odd hard fought win.
I look around me and despair that, despite some wins, life for most of the people around me is getting shittier and shittier.
I see people in miserably paid dead end precarious jobs, if they have one. Women trying to bring up kids, in horrific circumstances, being pissed about by the gestapo at WINZ, and vilified by unthinking and judgmental people who have no clue about what they have to face. I talk kids out of committing suicide after yet another round between dodgy employers and WINZ. I saw the light go out in a gay kids eyes when he was bullied, and it came back at a gay wedding when he realised that he was not alone.
Like fuck, I don’t care about women’s rights, LBGT rights, the rights of people with disabilities. I have a mentally disabled son FFS. We are still hurting from fighting the system of mainstreaming, cost cutting and peoples attitude to the mentally ill.
When I suggest solutions like a UBI, Empowering those people is high in my thoughts.
The we have all the other important a necessary issues such as AGW and resource depletion. Making sure our kids still have a world to live in.
How do we use our energies on all the things that need doing?
The crazy thing here, is, that if QOT was really being told to STFU, on here, I would have backed her, for the same reasons I backed CV.
I would be surprised if CV regarded himself as a victim. He holds no punches when he disagrees with anyone and can be very forthright which, as a new poster some time ago, can be quite offputting. However, that’s the nature of a forum.
For what it is worth I dont want authoritarian women to replace authoritarian men. I am not sure I have read QOT s saying she would like that either.
Thanks KJT. I’m feeling much better. Not saying anything about anyone or anything. Just that I’m feeling much better. Haven’t particularly followed the CV and QOT thing anyway. Engagement seemed way too much like jumping into a serious blue between people both of whom touch me positively.
by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...
Session thirty-three was highly abbreviated, via having to move house in a short space of time. Oh well. The party decided to ignore the tree-monster and continue the attack on the Giant Troll. Tarsin – flying on a giant summoned bat – dumped some high-grade oil over the ...
Last night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...
Watching today’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States’ 46th president, there’s not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...
Dan FalkBritons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
Sara LutermanGrowing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Our approach so far in trying to end what Dr Collin Tukuitonga describes as a 'racist' disease - rheumatic fever - has not worked. It's time we try something new, he writes. Acute rheumatic fever and the rheumatic heart disease it causes, long-known as a disease of poverty, is a blight on ...
New Zealand triple-code star, Anna Harrison, can't stop returning to the courts - whether it's netball or beach volleyball. She tells Ashley Stanley what keeps drawing her back. The day before Anna Harrison leaps back into netball, she will have one more hit-out at another of her favourite old sports ...
The lights are burning into the night at the New York Yacht Club's America's Cup base as they race to fix their damaged boat. And Suzanne McFadden discovers something surprising may emerge. Out of American Magic’s calamity may come opportunity - for even more speed. While the lights burn bright ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve BrauniasFICTION 1 Tell Me Lies by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $29.99) Every January, there's a new best-selling crime thriller by the New Zealand-born author who lives in Melbourne. Pomare is ...
New to sailing? With the Prada Cup resuming this weekend, here’s how to bluff your way into sounding like a pro. When I was 10, my mum made my brother and I join the local sailing club. It was a favourite pastime of families in Kerikeri, and my brother was actually ...
A formal complaint to the UN, signed by a NZ Muslim group, says France’s Islamophobic laws and policies are entrenching discrimination and breaching human rights laws. The Khadija Leadership Network has joined a global coalition of Muslim organisations to formally complain about the French government’s systemic entrenchment of Islamophobia and discrimination against ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and a lineup of incredibly successful New Zealand women as they confront their imposter syndrome once and for all. First published 20 October, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members ...
With criticism from National piling on over the property market, the prime minister has detailed when the government will make housing announcements. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marco Rizzi, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Western Australia Some Australians could be receiving a COVID-19 vaccine within weeks. Amid the continued spread of the virus and emergence of highly contagious variants, the federal government has accelerated the start of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Australia’s Threatened Species Strategy — a five-year plan for protecting our imperilled species and ecosystems — fizzled to an end last year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Lecturer, General Dentist & PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Baby teeth, or milk teeth, act like lighthouses to guide the adult ones to their correct destination. A baby tooth will become wobbly and fall out because the adult tooth ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he’s joined by Simon Coley, co-founder of All Good and Karma Drinks.Bananas are one of the ...
Tackling topics such as rugby and body image, Stuff’s latest podcast shines a much-needed light on Aotearoa’s complex relationship with masculinity, writes Trevor McKewen, author of the book Real Men Wear Black.I wasn’t sure what to think when two episodes of the new local podcast He’ll Be Right landed in ...
The Rainforest Alliance reveals that 68%* of Kiwis say the COVID-19 pandemic has made them more conscious about environmental and social sustainability issues. Seventy two percent* state that they have been trying to make more sustainable purchasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies, Curtin University The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has raised concerns that Australia’s proposed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code could fundamentally break the internet as we know it. His concerns ...
ANALYSIS:By Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path Two weeks after the storming of the US Capitol by the followers of his predecessor, in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Cantrell, Lecturer, Creative Writing & English Literature, University of Southern Queensland Described as “the world’s greatest storyteller”, Roald Dahl is frequently ranked as the best children’s author of all time by teachers, authors and librarians. However, the new film adaptation of ...
Peak housing body, Community Housing Aotearoa (CHA) welcomes the updated Public Housing Plan announced today by Minister Woods, and the commitment by this Government to fix New Zealand’s housing crisis. The 8,000 additional homes are a significant ...
Having recently walked much of the South Island stretch of Te Araroa, Kirsten O’Regan reflects on the magnificent landscapes and interesting characters she encountered along the way.On our 36th day of walking, we climb through the fire-blackened hills above Ohau, stopping to examine heat-disfigured trail markers. Fresh green shoots have ...
Miss Torta in central Auckland is putting the spotlight on a snack that’s commonplace in Mexico, but until now relatively unknown in New Zealand.You’ve heard of a torta, but what is it, exactly? Well, depending on the cuisine it can mean a flatbread, cake, tart, sweet pie, savoury pie or ...
Two of three ministerial statements from the Beehive have been released in the name of the PM over the past two days. The more important, insofar as it involves political action that will affect the wellbeing of significant numbers of Kiwis, was the release of the government’s Public Housing Plan ...
Jacinda Ardern has reminded Labour MPs "ongoing vigilance" will be required in 2021 to avoid another Covid outbreak, admitting she held her breath over the summer break. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zareh Ghazarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Monash University Despite many young Australians having a deep interest in political issues, most teenagers have a limited understanding about their nation’s democratic system. Results from the 2019 National Assessment Program – Civics and ...
Pinged $65 for overstaying 10 minutes in a parking block? Put away your hard-earned cash and read this first.Hopefully, by now, I’ve already established myself at The Spinoff as the resident tightarse, determined to avoid all unfair and unnecessary punishments (see: oversize baggage charges). Today, I’m focusing my attention on ...
Nuclear weapons states and their allies risk reputational ruin if they flout a new UN Treaty, Carolina Panico argues The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will come into force this month, on January 22, 2021, turning nuclear weapons into illegal objects. It is an achievement that ...
How does one turn into a rabid extremist over the description of a children’s bike? Emily Writes looks at Facebook comments so you don’t have to.You’ve been there, I know it. You’re scrolling along, trying to avoid QAnon conspiracy theories and Trump apocalypse memes when a story catches your eye. ...
Joe Biden is now the President of the United States and many people across America and throughout the world will consequently be breathing more easily. But while the erratic, unpredictable and irresponsible years of the Trump Presidency may be over, ...
Tough border testing for New Zealand honey imports to Japan is re-igniting the conversation about the use of the weed killer glypohsate in New Zealand. ...
The Taxpayers Union should be aware of the law and of the history of ACC. The ACC is a legal system introduced in 1974 to replace the common law right of accident victims to sue for damages for personal injury sustained as a result of negligence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne Terrorism, political extremism, Donald Trump, social media and the phenomenon of “cancel culture” are confronting journalists with a range of agonising free-speech dilemmas to which there are no easy answers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nial Wheate, Associate Professor of the Sydney Pharmacy School, University of Sydney You’ve just come from your monthly GP appointment with a new script for your ongoing medical condition. But your local pharmacy is out of stock of your usual medicine. Your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna D’Alessandro, Professor & ARC Future Fellow, University of Sydney On Wednesday this week, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was measured at at 415 parts per million (ppm). The level is the highest in human history, and is growing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (climate science), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington It might be summer in New Zealand but we’re in for some wild weather this week with forecasts of heavy wind and rain, and a plunge in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zareh Ghazarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Monash University Despite many young Australians having a deep interest in political issues, most teenagers have a limited understanding about their nation’s democratic system. Results from the 2019 National Assessment Program – Civics and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle O’Shea, Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Western Sydney University Last week, the McIver’s Ladies Baths in Sydney came under fire for their (since removed) policy stating “only transgender women who’ve undergone a gender reassignment surgery are allowed entry”. The policy was ...
There are good grounds for optimism after the guardrails of American democracy held firm through to Joe Biden's inauguration today as President, writes Stephen Hoadley Pessimism abounds about the perilous condition of American democracy. Commentators and headline writers proffer memes such as ‘broken and divided nation’, ‘the threat from within’. ...
*This article was originally appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Donald Trump will forever be remembered as the president who was impeached twice - and for his rhetoric that struck a chord so deep in America that it will take years to dissipate. Donald Trump leaves Washington with the lowest approval ...
A new plan shows how and where the Government will build 8,000 new state housing places it funded in Budget 2020, Marc Daalder reports Jacinda Ardern has kicked off the political year with a major announcement, promising hundreds of new state housing places in regional centres across the country. With ...
This is the full transcript of President Joe Biden's speech after being sworn in at his inauguration this morning in Washington DC Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, and my distinguished guests, my fellow Americans, this is America's day. This ...
Analysis: President Donald Trump has left the White House, and his deputy chief of staff confirms he is withdrawing his candidacy to lead the OECD. New Zealander Christopher Liddell withdrew his nomination to be Secretary-General of the powerful 37-member OECD and was one of the last members of the Trump Administration to depart ...
Some costs associated with meetings speak for themselves, others are less conspicuous. Victoria University of Wellington's Val Hooper lays those costs out, making suggestions on where we can rein them in. Meetings – when last did we count the costs? And so it’s back to work and one of the ...
Andrew Paul Wood assesses the best-selling picture book by Grahame Sydney It's no great secret the commercially very successful Grahame Sydney has a long-standing beef that his work doesn’t receive more critical and institutional approval. I sympathise about the lack of critical attention, but I can understand why. The Discourse™ ...
This story was produced in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity and Columbia Journalism Investigations. It was originally published by Public Integrity, Mother Jones, The Arizona Republic and Orlando Sentinel. It is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the ...
Kate Wills is facing stage four cancer with the same fierce approach she takes into her ocean swimming - never say can't. Even on the mornings Kate Wills feels wretched from her fortnightly chemotherapy treatment, she drags herself up at 5am and goes swimming. “I have to. It’s my job – to ...
Analysis: It has been easy to ignore anyone daring to criticise or even question any aspect of the government’s Covid-19 response. Their voices have rarely been heard, and when they have been raised they have been quickly and decisively howled down by the favoured coterie of academics. ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s US presidential inauguration live blog: inauguration news, analysis and reaction, updated through Wednesday and Thursday. The inauguration ceremony begins at 5.15am Thursday, NZ time, and Joe Biden takes the oath of office around 6am. 7.25am: And what about Trump?In the early hours of this morning, NZ ...
In 10 x 100, we survey a group of 100 people via Stickybeak and ask them 10 questions. Last month we quizzed Wellingtonians. Today, we ask NZ drivers how they’ve found a holiday period without international tourists, and what they get up to while they’re on the road.Across Aotearoa roads ...
Emmanuel Macron's anti-separatist policies have garnered backlash from the international Muslim community. Now, a global coalition has complained to the UN. ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as they go on an odyssey of women’s rage, and find out how we can channel our anger into good. First published September 15, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by ...
By Lorraine Ecarma in Cebu City The University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) will continue to stand against any threats to human rights, chancellor Clement Camposano has declared in response to the termination of a long-standing accord preventing military incursion on campus. In a Facebook post, Camposano said the academic ...
ANALYSIS:By Jennifer S. Hunt, Australian National University Every four years on January 20, the US exercises a key tenant of democratic government: the peaceful transfer of power. This year, the scene looks a bit different. If the last US presidential inauguration in 2017 debuted the phrase “alternative facts”, the ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby In spite of Papua New Guinea’s mandatory mask-wearing requirement under the National Pandemic Act 2020, many public servants attending a dedication service in Port Moresby have failed to wear one. They were issued masks before entering the Sir John Guise Indoor Complex but took ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Moro, Associate Professor of Science & Medicine, Bond University How do scabs form? — Talila, aged 8 Great question, Talila! Our skin has many different jobs. One is to act as a barrier, protecting us from harmful things in the ...
US President Donald Trump is pardoning former White House adviser Steve Bannon, who is accused of fraud in a case involving funds for the border wall. ...
Joel Little with Lorde, Dera Meelan with Church & AP, Josh Fountain with Maala and Randa and Benee – producers make good songs great. Now a new fund from NZ on Air is putting the focus on them.Six months ago it looked like the music industry was on the brink ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denise Buiten, Senior Lecturer in Social Justice and Sociology, University of Notre Dame Australia On average, one child is killed by a parent almost every fortnight in Australia. Last week, three children — Claire, 7, Anna, 5, and Matthew, 3 — were ...
This commendable and realistic decision again underlines that it is the police, not government, who are largely responsible for the reduction in cannabis prosecutions over the past 15 years, writes Russell Brown.The news that New Zealand police have discontinued the annual Helicopter Recovery Operation, which has, each summer for more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ilan Noy, Professor and Chair in the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington We will not be able to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us until the world’s population is mostly immune through vaccination ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s US inauguration live blog: inauguration news, analysis and reaction, updated throughout Wednesday and Thursday, NZ time. Reach me at catherine@thespinoff.co.nz.4.00pm: What will Trump be doing tomorrow?It’s pretty well known by now that outgoing president Donald Trump intends to throw out the rulebook when it comes to ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling out Mayor Phil Goff for his undignified comment that the claim made by Councillor Greg Sayers asking why Auckland Council is funding yoga classes is “bullshit.” Yesterday, Councillor Greg Sayers penned ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne At 4am Thursday AEDT, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be inaugurated as president and vice president of the United States, replacing Donald Trump and Mike Pence. What follows is ...
*This article was originally published on RNZ and is republished with permission. New Zealanders flocked to beaches and lakes this summer, but it wasn't enough to fill the gap left by international tourists in other regions. The tourism industry is struggling to fill a $6 billion hole left by international tourists ...
Summer reissue: Chef Monique Fiso joins us for a chat about Hiakai – her acclaimed Wellington restaurant, and the title of her stunning new book.First published November 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here to learn ...
A new trough was brought to our attention this morning, although ethnicity will limit the numbers of eligible applicants. If you are non-Maori, it looks like you shouldn’t bother getting into the queue – but who knows?We learned of the trough from the Scoop website, where the Kapiti ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Britta Denise Hardesty, Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, CSIRO Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing costs economies up to US$50 billion globally each year, and makes up to one-fifth of the global catch. It’s a huge problem not only for the ...
Police stopping major cannabis eradication operations has given the green light to drug dealers and gangs to expand operations, make more profit, and continue to wreak havoc on the most vulnerable in our society, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. ...
Varieties of merino wool footwear are emerging faster than Netflix series about British aristocracy. Michael Andrew takes a look at the rise of the shoe that almost everyone – including his 95-year-old grandma – is wearing.Some might say it all started with Allbirds. After all, to the average consumer, it ...
A new report from New Zealand’s Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM) highlights the realities and challenges disabled people faced during the COVID-19 emergency. The report, Making Disability Rights Real in a Pandemic, Te Whakatinana i ngā Tika ...
gig-alert for auckland-readers..
if you remember the great local bands of the late 70’s..at all..you probably remember the band ‘rough justice’…
..they are doing a gig 2nite..at the kings’ arms..
(their first since then..and part of a tour winding its’ way down the country..)
..the original members are back together..
..(rick bryant/tony backhouse et. al..)
..and it promises to go off..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
phillip ure
I saw your piece mentioning Rick Bryant and he is in a replay of an interview with Kim Hill on radionz this a.m. What a guy. He is interesting and admirable, lots of interests and wise.
indeed greywarbler..indeed…
..he has a big brain…that rick bryant..
..and has problems ‘suffering fools’..(heh..!..)
(and as an aside..is quite withering about ‘vegans’..and their ilk..but nobodys’ perfect..eh..?..)
..i heard that replay too..cool..eh..?
..(it is available online @ rnz..)
..i must link to it later..
phillip ure
the daily blog has the december blog-rankings posted..
..and what a pile of steaming horse-shit they are..
..@whoar a website audit by the internet company zeald told me i have 22,000+ subscribers..in 96 different countries..
..taking everything i do/post..
..and i post 40-50 stories a day..every day..
..(how many ‘page-views’ is that..?..eh..?..)
..yet whoar is nowhere on this list..
..nowhere to be seen..
‘shine on..you crazy blog-rankings..!’..eh..?
..heh..!
..phillip ure..
“never mind the width, feel the quality.”
i have both..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
Myself, I’m more interested in the quaity and content of blogs. The whole rankings thing just buys into the whole competitive, dick waving culture of our capitalist system.
Too much of it is built into online social media – communities are about engagement and exchanges of ideas, not competitions that mirror commerical markets.
with whoar you can admire both the quality of the width..
..and the width of the quality..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
Well, it’s useful to have a pretty wide following, in order to make some impact, and connections. But, I think people can get overly obssessed with being numero 1…. or 2….or 20.
ouch..!..i’ve got passive-aggression bruises coming up on my body..
..why would that be..?
phillip ure..
You have to have told Ken at open parachute your public sitemeter / stat counter /whatever URL.
@lprent..
chrs 4 that..
i know it is one of those things you have to sign up to/for..install site-meters..boil water..
..which just really emphasises how sketchy/incomplete a picture it actually is..
..i’ll just plug on..it seems to be working..
..and i don’t like signing up for things..
..phillip ure..
Phil, I used to find your blog incomprehensible. Perhaps I’ve just become accustomed to your sense of humour or your meds are working but I find myself visiting from time to time as it becomes more readable to me.
@ grumpy..
..heh..!..the only ‘meds’ i use/am ever ‘on’..is pot..
..legalisation now..!
..eh..?
..and as it happened..on new years eve i walked..with three other ‘sober’-friends.. into the post-midnite detritus of a mutual-friends’ (old-persons’) alcohol party in whangamata..(it’s a long story..)
..and whoar..!
..it’s been a long time since that appealed to me..
..and that peek just confirmed that stance..
..what do people see in it..?
..and glad that you are enjoying whoar..
..don’t forget to tell yr friends about it..eh..?
..i haven’t been able to monetise it yet..
..so i can’t afford to advertise..
..and i have been facebook-averse ever since finding out the cia gave zuckerberg the money to start the bloody thing..
..so..
..phillip ure..
News I noticed on Radionz
Pope Francis has told Catholic priests to leave their comfort zone and get out among people on the margins of society or else risk becoming “abstract ideologists”.
Isn’t it the case that priests and nuns who abstain from sexual intercourse with the other sex, (but who advise their community to not withhold from intercourse, not to restrain from having children) are truly abstract ideologists?
And also that applies to all single sex participants, who cannot regard themselves as knowing about the human ability of creating life and living through their own personal experience, unless they engage in sexual intercourse with the other sex. (Turkey basters are only part of the process.)
Country Calendar repeat today on John and Bunny Mortimer, tree huggers of the most practical, experienced, informative and likable kind was so interesting. They are examples of great NZs, now in their 90’s. They are interested in trees from all views also bio-mass.
http://www.taituabooks.co.nz/webapps/site/76334/136645/shopping/shopping-plus.html
Also Ken Vincent poultry breeder still at 78, who used to have 32 breeds now only 16. He says that his duck and hen breeds are becoming rare, and not much is being done in NZ to conserve them. You can see him if you click on show notes from the schedule listing of CC.
White leghorn hens are big layers – may lay 300 eggs a year. And this in a happy hen house, no battery stuff here. Ducks are particularly nice to have, the males never become aggressive as the roosters do. Possibly not as noisy also. He sends eggs for hatching, sells birds to start own henhouse. Worth considering. The major hen type used is called Shavers I think, the other breeds much less.
Two comments Grey….
Pope Francis follows the principles of St Francis (poverty, charity and service might be a good description). I am not religious but came to Franciscan thought in my 40s, after having been imbued at Uni with rationalism, in particular Marxism. My take is that rationalism is Johnny Come Lately that has very conveniently pretended that two thousand years of faith and tradition can be quickly laid aside. Godless Marxism is (as are alternate market based faiths), which in turn means it lacks the spiritual dimension needed to make it truly “human”. Dont expect the RC church to use rationalist constructs, they have done well enough without them. With regard to chaste abstract ideologists you might want to consider that medieval orders usually took in people who had “completed” their lives in the community. They had intimate knowledge of the ways of the flesh. Is that so different today? I dont know. Not going to judge.
Tree huggers and poultry….this year I my form of civic responsibility and unblessed (by authorities) behavior will be to plant more things where they should be (guerrilla plantings, the revolution will come quietly and greenly). My chickens will likely approve, as only rare breeds can.
I got interviewed by Roy Morgan Research yesterday, for the first time ever.
The most interesting thing is that they called me on my cell phone. I asked them how they got the number and they said they do random dialing, and that’s why they asked me my postcode at the start of the interview, for screening purposes to ensure they got good coverage across the country.
Anyway, they asked a big range of questions, including the standard political polling. Here are some of the questions and my answers:
1. Electorate / party vote if election held today: Labour / Labour
2. Who do I want to win the next election: Labour
3. Is the country heading in the right direction or wrong direction: I said wrong. Only because I know this is (ridiculously) used as a ‘government confidence rating’ proxy.
4. Biggest problem facing the world at the moment: climate change. Why: because government’s aren’t doing anything about it.
5. Biggest problem facing NZ at the moment: child poverty. Why: because the government isn’t doing anything about it.
6. Should smoking marijuana be legal or illegal: legal.
7. Should religion be taught at least once a week in state schools: no.
There were also questions about the economy, eg expected inflation over the next two years, expected housing price increases over the next two years, whether my family is in a better financial situation than 1 year ago and whether we expect to be in better condition next year, those sorts of things.
it’ll be an interesting barometer-reading/snapshot to see the results from the pot-question..
phillip ure..
Interesting..
Just wondering about your answers to the latter questions……?
2.5% inflation per year, 8% house price rises per year, better than last year, expect to be better next year.
There was also another one about how I expected the economy to go over the next 5 years, initially I was presented with “continually improving” and “continually worsening”, but when I said I couldn’t choose either of those he read out the full scale, whereupon I picked “some good, some bad”.
You did better With the second half than the first 🙂
Are they still asking about tobacco-smoking Lanth?
Last time they caught me was just after the first big cost increase. I think they might have wondered whether there were any votes lost or gained.
Yes. They asked whether I smoked cigarettes, roll-your-owns, cigars and something else in the last month, which I don’t.
@ lanth..but do you support legalisation/regulation/taxation of cannabis..?
phillip ure
I answered “legal” to whether it should be legal or illegal.
I’d prefer to see it decriminalised rather than completely legalised: allow cultivation for personal use, don’t bother cracking down on local/small-scale distribution, just go after the kingpins.
Ideally I think it should be regulated and sold like alcohol is, but that’s too big a jump for NZ I think.
@ lanth..why do you think it is ‘too big a jump’..?
..especially with the now working-model..in colorado..(and many more soon to come..)
..to be able to point at..?
..plus there is the serious amount of revenue to be garnered from legalisation/regulation/taxation..
..plus there is the serious savings from stopping playing cops ‘n robbers with it..
..plus..the pot would be tested to ensure there are no contaminants ..from pest-sprays/w.h.y..
..which a blackmarket makes impossible..
..the reasons to take that ‘big-jump’ are multiple..eh..?
..and i can’t see any reasons not to..(can you..?..aside from the public-disquiet you herald..?)
..why make do with the halfway-house/way-station of partial decriminalisation..?
..with the revenue-losses/cost-implications/safety-issues that come with it..?
..a uneasy ‘solution’ that would suit nobody..
..but the gangs currently running the biz..
..and those cops who love flying around in helicopters/and crashing thru the bush in 4wd’s..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
Colorado already had medical marijuana since 2000.
“..plus there is the serious savings from stopping playing cops ‘n robbers with it..”
You get that from decriminalization.
@ lanth..
sorry..i am missing the point you are trying to make..?
..and forfeiting all that tax-revenue..?..why..?
..and those health-implications..?
..and of course..one of the major forces against legalisation/regulation/taxation…is the booze-pushers….
..’cos they know that legalisation will see a major drop off in consumption of their product..
..especially amongst the young..
..and isn’t that a good thing..?
..and maybe if you had been with me in my car slowly weaving my way thru the swarms of drunken teenagers in whanga..post midnite..
..i’m sure you would agree it would have been better for them to have smoked a little bit of bud..?..instead..?
..(and..btw..that healthier switch-process will be hurried by legalisation ..
…accompanied by a serious hike in the tax-component of that booze..)
phillip ure..
More contagion!.
http://www.abqjournal.com/330203/news/legislator-wants-nm-constitutional-amendment-to-legalize-pot.html
Legislate all you like but until there’s a base level set there doesn’t appear to a way around employer mandates.
http://www.denverpost.com/marijuana/ci_24799683/employers-can-still-fire-pot-smokers-legal-use
Portugal seems to be doing ok but I’ll be interested to see how it goes in Denver
Portugal seems to be doing ok but I’ll be interested to see how it goes in Denver
“don’t bother cracking down on local/small-scale distribution, just go after the kingpins.”
I don’t understand. Why go after “kingpins”?
Under my decriminalization policy, you can grow your own small supply at home or get it from friends, but it’s still not legal (ie, not sold in shops) because I don’t think the NZ public is really ready for that yet. So you go after the kingpins, eg gangs, to stop them from profiting.
Once it’s fully legalised and regulated, the bottom would drop out of the private market anyway, at which point there’d be no need to go after anyone. In the meantime though, police would still go after the gangs.
@ lanth..
you didn’t answer the question from felix:..’why..?’..
and actually..quite an enlightening exercise is to try to compile a list of reasons why pot should languish in prohibition..
..and then a list of the positive outcomes from legalising/regulating/taxing..
..i invite those favouring prohibition..to do/try this..
..you may find you will struggle to find even one reason..
..(save for fun for those helicoptering/4wd-ing pot-chasing cops..)
..strip out those (now disproved) traditional lies..
..and there is nothing left standing..
..phillip ure..
Actually, I did. Right here:
“So you go after the kingpins, eg gangs, to stop them from profiting.“
@ lanth..ok..
..but legalising/regulating/taxing will put them out of business..
..so will achieve that (desired) result..without having to fund ‘chasing’ them..
..(‘chasing’ being a tactic which has worked really well up until now..eh..?..)
..see what i mean..?
..so is that..and yr warning of public disquiet..
..is that the extent of yr ‘reasons to retain’ prohibition’-list..?
..how about the other list..?
..you could put ‘putting ‘drug-kingpins’ out of business..overnight..
..at the top of that list..eh..?
..see what i mean..?
..phillip ure..
My reason for going with decriminalization, rather than full legalisation, is that I don’t think the NZ public is ready for full legalisation, and as such decriminalisation is a sensible stepping stone that is achievable by any government that is to be elected within the next 10 years.
Pining for the fjords doesn’t seem like a realistic policy to me.
If you really want to read something that will start a conversation Rebecca Camm’s latest article in the Herald takes some beating. The trouble is I do not know if she is being satirical or not …
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11180931
Most definitely being satirical but it’s like she just grabbed a handful of random crap and fired it from a shotgun. Some of it hits the mark but so much of it is poorly held together drivel.
+1
Kamm, MS.
It’s rubbish, btw. I imagine it’s intended to be satire, but, sheesh, what a waste of space.
It’s actually very funny but maybe you have to be a feminist woman to understand it 🙂
It didn’t work for me – not very clever really. I was kind of into it to start with, but then it just laboured a not very subtle point, and I was wondering whether she was attacking feminsm or sending up anti-feminism.
For anyone who might be interested and who hasn’t come across this yet, PJ Harvey was guest editor on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme – equivalent of ‘Morning Report’ (Could be a nice ‘touchstone’ for the next time anyone bangs on about supposed ‘left wing bias’ in the msm?)
Anyway, it’s three hours worth and I’ve only just begun to listen so can’t offer any opinion… (first 10 min is UK news and weather) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03mhyzh
Here’s what Tom Chivers of the telegraph thought:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100252541/please-bbc-radio-4-can-we-drop-the-today-programme-guest-editors-thing/
heh – Anyway, I liked this from a telegraph article
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10546604/BBC-Radio-4-Today-criticised-for-left-wing-tosh-chosen-by-guest-editor-PJ-Harvey.html
And I see ‘Stuff’ has a headline proclaiming “PJ Harvey radio show sparks complaints.”….and the second to last line of the article informs us that the BBC received….wait for it…a grand total of 37 complaints.
Anyway…the news and weather slots aside (which I could skip through, but it’s just sitting in the background anyway), the reports are bloody good so far.
@ bill..
i’ve been collecting/reading reviews over the last couple of days..
(..and going on what i have read…that stuff report is utter corporate-media-shite..(and the sooner they go behind a fucken paywall..the better..)
..here are two more reasoned/literate takes/reviews..
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/julian-assange-rails-against-surveillance-on-today-programme/
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/five-things-we-learned-from-pj-harveys-today-show/
phillip ure..
this one is actually about ‘stuff’..and its’ ilk…
http://www.utne.com/media/the-myth-of-journalisms-golden-age.aspx#comments
“..The crisis in journalism today shouldn’t obscure mainstream media’s long history of masking the truth –
– and acquiescing to power.
From the Vietnam War – to credit default swaps – to climate change –
– in many ways American journalism brought crisis on itself..”
(cont..)
phillip ure..
Here’s a transcript of John Pilger’s contribution to the programme…
http://www.mediareform.org.uk/blog/media-now-just-another-word-control-john-pilgers-today-programme-statement
De-classified 1984 cabinet papers reveal Thatchers deceit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25549596
BBC 4 radio.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03mj8lz/UK_Confidential_1984/
The series.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ukconfidential
And this, from Channel 4.
This doesn’t surprise me. It’s what we thought was happening at the time. Too many people blame Scargill for the miners’ defeat – but Thatcher was dead set of destroying them and the UK left along with it:
This is why I now say that we should never underestimate the ruthless determination of the corprorate elites to smash any successes of the left.
And why I say the left needs a multi-pronged strategy – grass roots collective energy from below + strategies for resisting, and challenging the power of the elites – and every kind of initiative in between.
The other lesson is, that the left clearly came close to resisting Thatcher. And that included mobilising all the networks within the left in support – fund raising, donations of food etc. Feminist, gay, anti-racist networks all joining in. Not an easy rleationship to start with – but lessons were being learned along the way.
And that’s why we need to network across diverse groups, even though we differ on priorities, and on how we approach some problems.
Good news!…….or, maybe not…….
http://www.principia-scientific.org/german-scientists-predict-a-century-of-global-cooling.html
So where is the peer-reviewed paper detailing their findings?
Or, can I assume, this is just more of the same… more climate science denialism with no basis in demonstrable fact
Correct, Zorr, Grumpy’s just getting desperate. The PSI organisation are righty climate change denialists who claim to be supporters of scientific principles while simultaneously publishing articles claiming Mossad and Bush engineered 9/11.
ps, 2013 Oz’s hottest year on record: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/2013-confirmed-as-australias-hottest-year-on-record-20140103-308ek.html
Grumpy.
Let’s take the first sentence of that link at face value:
that “two naturally occurring climate cycles will combine to lower global temperatures during the next century.”
Assume this prediction is indeed true. In the meantime let’s also assume we keep adding CO2, ‘business as usual’ to the atmosphere and that by the time this naturally occurring cycle ends levels have doubled again – to say 800ppm.
So when this ‘cooling period’ ends – what do you imagine will happen?
A warm sea may mean a colder atmosphere, as cooling processes kit up a notch and expel more heat into space. The problem surely is that this will happen over the Northern Hemisphere continents, aka glaciers down to the med. How else did this happen in the past but for more energy being available to transport more moisture from a warmer sea to a colder continent.
Its been pointed out that when the seas are warmer and interior of the continents colder, humans migrated along the coast lines from Asia into the Americas.
What is the chance of a housing bubble pop in New Zealand. This interactive graph would suggest that the possibility is quite high, at some stage in the next 2 to 5 years (if you cant get NZ to show up on the interactive, our line is just below Britain)
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/11/global-house-prices?fsrc=scn/tw/te/dc/locationlocationlocation
Of course Treasury have identified this risk and implemented the LVR policy, which had the impact of reducing supply of newly built homes = bad. The right policy to implement is a CGT, but there is no way in hell that National will implement this because a huge % of their supporters have gained their wealth from capital gains (mainly investment houses and farms).
The scary thing for Labour is as house price inflation continues to build into an even bigger bubble then the chances that the CGT will create a POP of the bubble are getting higher, this could actually be catastrophic for our economy for a period. I don’t know what the answer is but I do know that the sooner a CGT (and perhaps other initiatives/policies to reduce the demand from investment housing) is implemented then the better our economy will be long term. Farrar et al can complain all they want about the legitimacy of the “living wage” but one thing is for sure, rising house prices only makes our poverty situation worse, it is the number one driver of poverty and inequality.
Capitals gain tax, exception own living space or residential address – only one allowed. Declaration of overseas trust funds keeping moneys earned in NZ and properties by residents and citizens. Cash business to be closer monitored and audited as these are the ones not paying tax at all. This is known in the community up and down the country. I think this would go a long way.
How and when do you believe a CGT will solve this issue?
You have made a comment that this (cgt) is the right policy yet no reason given. Everyone appears to be an expert in the property market, most are have minimal understanding of how it works let alone how to effect charge.
Get off the ban wagon and promote real solutions, not being a part of the scratch record of commenting re a CGT so often that it will become accepted as fact then in 5 years time wondering why there is no radical change in the property market that was promised, and that property ownership within Auckland is as unachievable as when the nats were previously in govt 🙁
When it will not become the main tool – it will in about 10 years time become one part of the tool box, and the tax will not change behaviour. I am sure property investors will still gladly accept tax advantages and on realising a gain on disposal accept paying a mere 15% tax.
Hi Herodotus
I do belief hat a CGT will curb the amount of properties being sold to investors. The increase in “market worth” also impacts on people who actually use a house as a home. The council rates are measured by this perceived value and a lot of people start to struggle to pay these taxes. And yet, the investment property is being traded as a non taxed commodity. This encourages overseas buying and because of the raising value an increase in apartment buildings as these are less costly. So those who make a business out of a vital necessity (roof over the head) it’s a win win situation all the way to the bank. I really don’t care whether some ideology is being trampled on with this issue, what i do see is that more and more young people have no hope to get into a home and build a family. Its a loss for NZ, certainly not for overseas investors.
+1000…exactly FW.
Councils need rates anyway. They keep raising rates to pay for the massive debt they have – all of the councils in the country are effectively bankrupt on paper, it’s just a ponzi debt game that makes them look solvent.
So even if you had a CGT to reduce property prices, the council still need to get their rates money, so it ultimately won’t change that aspect – except to possibly become more regressive as the general house prices will flatten out, so rates will have to rise across the board, penalising those with low incomes / house values more-so than they otherwise would.
I doubt that this will happen as the council is also aware that you cannot get blood out of a stone. I do realize that authorities have the tendency to create new “needs” in order to disguise the “deeds” that have gone beforehand. But a remedy has to be started somewhere. This is a good a place as any. Poor families will not be able to afford increasing rates either way as the amount in untenable. What is and will increasingly happen in the current scenario is that people who have worked all their lives are now unable to stay in their home. Where are they suppose to be housed? There are not many council houses available, retirement homes will soon be out of space and it is not always the best way to put more people into overcrowded housing with relatives. There are consequences to everything.
@Herodotus
I think it is the right policy because at the moment investment in housing/property provides a huge tax advantage over other forms of investments (equities etc). Personally I don’t think it is the only solution, I believe that polices need to put in place to disincentive investment housing, I would support limiting the use of Loss Attributing Qualifying Companies, and also a more aggressive CGT than the Aussie model (something that I heard Steve Keen mention on Radio NZ support, http://www.radionz.co.nz/radionz/programmes/featured-audio/audio/2520012/steve-keen-economic-crisis.) I agree with you that on its own it wont change behaviour but it will be one of the main tools to correct Kiwi’s obsession in property.
I will address a few issues
Council rates
When a property value increases we do not collect more rates overall. Each year, the council determines, through the annual plan process, how much money needs to be collected through rates to fund its activities and services for the year. This rates requirement is then divided between all the properties in the region based on council’s rating policies.
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ratesbuildingproperty/ratesvaluations/aboutrates/Pages/faqs.aspx
There is an issue of increasing debt so as to keep increases to a minimum. No this just delays to the next council a major “unpalatable” increase. Really making in aucklands case “most liveable” pity most will not be able to afford to reside here.
So are all here saying that if a cgt was put into operation that property prices would decrease., as stated before when coy tax rate is 28% the top personnel tax rate is 30% that a 15% tax will change behaviour ? Haha
Investing in property should have no advantages over other investments and I would promote that this form of investment should have disincentives above and beyond other forms attached to it. Eg interest costs are non deductible. Why should a commercial activity incur mortgages at the same rate as a family home and with the same debt profile. Enter any other business and try to obtain debt funding beyond 50% and still be charged at the same rate as a mortgage ? Even those in property development have their values of land developed heavily discounted for bank valuation purposes and then be charged 3%+ above current mortgage rates, that is if you can find a current bank open to fund.
Limit debt funding by placing greater controls on bank loaning ratios.
As we will have a cgt, all property has its use recorded e.g. Residential owner/beneficiary of trust residing, holiday home, rented property etc.
non nz residents incur not a cgt but pay corporate tax rate and can only purchase a newly built property.
There are others but at least these points are wider reaching at solving this IMO important issues
And neglected to include, a cgt is on all property, but for those that the owner resides in at a minimal rate of say 5% so all property transactions are recorded within Linz and the ird and that all sales can be traced. To sell such a policy, labour will need to sell/inform us as where this added tax revenue will be allocated to, in 2011 at least we the voter knew that this added revenue from a cgt was to fund the $5k tax free zone policy and gst off F&V
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5284832/Labour-confirms-capital-gains-tax-new-rate
Now it appears any revenue will just be absorbed into paying for the auctioning/ buying for our votes.
Hi Herodotus
I am sorry to say, I don’t belief that many of the city Councillors have the rate payer in mind when they come up with their plans. If I remember correctly not so long ago the city council from Mangawhai was taken to court because they unilaterally decided to take on more debt and have the residents pay for it. The Auckland City council has approved a living wage that is now being paid for by exactly the low wage earning people you have mentioned. May I remind on Hamiltons V8?
As all property is listed with Linz (NZ wide) it would be possible to have residential households and their owners registered. I belief this to be not a big issue as the voting papers seem to find the owners. Any additional registration against the same owner will attract the tax. The owner of a property has to be of an age that allows Tax to be collected (excluding i.e. 2 days old sons or daughters to enter the market). Just an idea, but I belief that if the council can come up with pet projects they are able to come up with a solution.
Grumpy.
Principia scientific.
An political organization spreading spuriest made up science.
Crap dressed up for socold intelligent well educated Right Wing Deniers
That’s my peer review of you Gumpy.
Show me some peer reviews of this fantasy gumpy.
It just proves how gullible the right are.
Gumpy
They haven’t even got the cycles of the earths eliptical orbit and oscillations around the sun.
Just more evidence on how the Creed of short term greed is willing to sacrifice humanity
So the rich can have a few or a lot more baubles than everyone else.
Gump
I read this morning an article about the Cambodian textile workers protesting and being shot at. The government has sent the troops as they are firmly in the camp of the main shareholders of these factories that facilitate the export that is quite a high % of Cambodia’s income. Naturally this goes hand in hand with the political power. I got curious asking myself – who are the actual owners of these factories and one would think denier of higher wages? NZ’s news do no reveal anything, further research says that the nationality of the main shareholders are Taiwan, China, USA – no names. As any “open” information is just not obtainable in the Anglo Saxen world I went out into the Euro zone – Eureka, a local Newspaper (mentioned as right/liberal !) gave me quite decisive and frank information. See below.
Excerpt from the Newspaper article.
“400.000 Arbeiter nähen für internationale Modehäuser wie GAP, Nike und H&M.” Number of workers and named Distributes, not mentioned – Walmart.
This link gives you the breakdown of the price of a T-Shirt,in graphics.
http://images02.kurier.at/46-59345073.jpg/43.974.977
Why is it that all those self professed reporters, commentators etc cannot provide information that is so freely shared overseas by the right/liberal press? Are they scared they will be sacked and if so are there any true reporters (not story tellers) out there?
And here a link to a french newspaper that really goes a bit more into the details and provides a list of companies.
Sadly, there is also a NZ company mentioned.
http://www.humanite.fr/monde/bangladesh-des-groupes-francais-laxistes-avec-leur-sous-traitant-textile-509527
http://www.humanite.fr/sites/default/files/vignettes/2012-11-26sous-traitant-bangladesh.gif
What is this Tex Bangla NZ company that is listed? Anyone?
Perhaps?
Finding under this page the company as below
http://www.nzgroupbd.com/nzBusinessAreas.html
http://www.nzgroupbd.com/nzHome.html
It is feasible that any such company is registered only in Bangladesh and supplies the clothing companies here in NZ. It would not be so far fetched to see this in the manufacturing of uniforms. I am not saying that this is a fact but thinking aloud.
Ennui guerilla plantings I have been doing it since I was a kid.
If everyone did it wouldn’t take long to get a real change.
Living legends was a very good initiative getting famous rugby players to help plant native trees.
“Stripped naked, fed to 120 dogs as officials watched”
Another factoid for Te Reo and QoT to repeat ad nauseam
It’s as rigorous and has as much credibility as the fantastical case cooked up by the Swedish Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny, AKA the “Totalitarian Tolkien”…..
Kim Jong-un’s executed uncle Jang Song Thaek ‘stripped naked, fed to 120 dogs as officials watched’
Wasn’t that Django Unchained?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/kim-jonguns-executed-uncle-jang-song-thaek-stripped-naked-fed-to-120-dogs-as-officials-watched-9037109.html
Phoney baloney:
‘First and foremost, let’s consider the source. The story originated in a Hong Kong newspaper called Wen Wei Po, which oddly makes the claim without citing a source. With a couple of high-quality exceptions, Hong Kong media have a reputation for sensationalist and tabloidy stories that do not always turn out to be true. But, even by Hong Kong standards, Wen Wei Po is considered an unusually unreliable outlet.’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/01/03/no-kim-jong-un-probably-didnt-feed-his-uncle-to-120-hungry-dogs/
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1388773533.html
Boy, that chip on your shoulder about Julian Assange’s rapeyness sure hasn’t shrunk with time.
I would be interested in peoples thoughts about the idea of
Not talking about Climate Change
Why?
I have a feeling that we all have an inbuilt mechanism that wants us to win the argument and loose the war.
In other words is the goal is to change behaviour or change belief?
I think we should focus on behaviour change not belief change. Behaviours are so much easier to change than beliefs
So focus on the desired outcome, and on the behaviours we need to change to get to that outcome rather than on the binary ‘do you believe’ stuff we have now that seems to serve little or no purpose and does not bring people along.
Why haven’t we met aliens?
There are billions of habitual worlds in our galaxy, say some.
Well simple, its because the behaviors that break convention, that break ecological niches that hold a species in place, also break the worlds that species would need to get into space and come and meet us. The history of the rise of the west is the history of exploitation, disregard and disunity.
Behaviors resulting from pantheist and non-theist religions of the east were much more balance, better fitted, yet weren’t better fitted when it comes to Earth eating.
So the behaviors that balance with nature, turn off turn out of consumerism and individualism pushed by media in their great socialization efforts, are clearly the way forward.
How do we switch people onto them?
Well explain to them the hurt they are leaving their grand kids.
Do you love your grand kids?
“..I think we should focus on behaviour change..”
yeah..!..go vegan/plant-based..
..that’s a large part of our problem solved..
..and just buying a couple of solar-panels..
..and driving a prius..
..really does diddly-squat..
..eh..?
..so..really..anyone claiming to be ‘green’/’caring for the planet’/’caring for their childrens’ future’.. who is still eating animal-flesh/bye-products..
..is just engaging in auto-eroticism..
..eh..?
(greenpeace/green party-bbq..?..anyone..?..)
phillip ure..
These thoughts from Alan Bennett’s diary for 2013 say it all for me.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n01/alan-bennett/diary
‘8 April. The morning spent paying bills: British Gas (and electricity), Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, Camden Council, Craven District Council and Mr Redhead the coal merchant in Ingleton. Many of the bills are overdue, about which I am unrepentant. The only one I pay promptly and with no feeling of resentment is Mr Redhead’s.
It wasn’t always so. Before the public utilities were privatised one paid bills more readily, not just because they were considerably cheaper, which of course they were, but because one had little sense of being exploited. Now as I pay my water bills for instance, I think of their overpaid executives and the shareholders to whom the profits go and I know, despite the assurances of all such companies, that they are charging what they know they can get away with. Competition has not meant better service nor has it brought down prices, with some corporate behaviour close to sharp practice. British Gas, for instance, regularly omits to send me a first bill but only a reminder, which has no details about consumption. When challenged they say this may be because bills have been sent online. But how can this be when we have no computer? If one telephones and manages eventually to get through one is dealt with by someone always charming and even-tempered (and often Scots) who promises to look into it. But when in due course the bill comes again it is still with no details and coupled with threats of court action. So whereas once upon a time I paid my bills as Auden said a gentleman should, as soon as they were submitted, these days I put them off, paying sometimes only at the third or fourth time of asking or when I am assured (rhetorically, I know) that the bailiffs are about to call. I am no crusader but I wish there was a consumers’ organisation which could co-ordinate individual resistance to these companies, setting up non or late payment on such a scale that it would put a dent in the dividends of the shareholders and the salaries of the executives concerned.
This was written a few hours before I learned of Lady Thatcher’s death and it’s an appropriate epitaph.’
heh
Mrs Thatcher was a mirthless bully and should have been buried, as once upon a time monarchs used to be, in the depths of the night.
So now we are overwhelmingly, okay, a majority non-religious society, do we get to hang heretics too?
Oh no fair.
Its the economy stupid.
Christchurch Earthquake will add 1% to GDP. Key did not cause the Earthquakes.
Child demand for Milk. Key did not create Fonterra.
China-NZ trade growth, due to Labour freetrade agreement is attracting Australian companies to NZ.
Caveats.
Globally milk producers increasing their supply to China.
Slowdown in China.
Collapse in house prices.
Key did little to help and a lot of harm to the NZ economy.
multicultural nz (formerly the federation of ethnic councils) have put out this list of draft election policies: https://www.facebook.com/notes/multicultural-new-zealand-federation-of-multicultural-councils/multicultural-new-zealand-draft-election-policies-on-ethnic-affairs/665181876865340
is there really anything of that list that a left-wing party shouldn’t be doing? yes, it would be good if they talked about a living wage, given they recognise that ethnic minority communities are over-represented in terms of low wage jobs. but does that negate any of the other issues they have raised? should they stop advocating for these things and should we just ignore them because they are focusing on what we have in common?
i personally think it would be foolish for any political party to ignore this list of policies. it should be part of the range of things that need to be implemented to improve nz society.
You are not wrong and I was particularly pleased to see the recognition of the need for domestic assaults assistance. And I’ve have to say good luck with getting diversity througth the workforce and I hope the default position is “for both sexes”. FFS we have had many years of women born within the country and educated alongside males and we still don’t have even workplace gender diversity based on these groups.
Thatnks, stargazer. Yes they indicate a pay gap. Also under-representation of various ethnic groups in poltics and the public services.
It would also be good if the living wage, and/or poverty could be discussed more in connection with other aspects of diversity – gender, sexuality etc.
Government needs more representation of people from, and committed to others on low income background from diverse groups.
More multi-lingual focus – yes.
LEST WE FORGET:
Why they want to destroy Julian Assange
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”—George Orwell
IMF paper warns of ‘savings tax’ and mass write-offs as West’s debt hits 200-year high
TLDR: Austerity ain’t working.
Colour me surprised.
JO
plus 100
I listened to some people talking about media overkill when mandela died. I was in europe when thatcher died. For 48 hoyes sky cnn and bbc beatified her. I began to wonder if different thatcher died.
perhaps mandela pricked their consciousness while thatcher pricked wallets
Ralph Nader: ‘The Country You Destroyed’: A Letter to George W. Bush
Today, Iraq remains a country (roughly the size and population of Texas) you destroyed, a country where over a million Iraqis, including many children and infants (remember Fallujah?) lost their lives, millions more were sickened or injured, and millions more were forced to become refugees, including most of the Iraqi Christians. Iraq is a country rife with sectarian strife that your prolonged invasion provoked into what is now open warfare. Iraq is a country where al-Qaeda is spreading with explosions taking 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 lives per day. Just this week, it was reported that the U.S. has sent Hellfire air-to-ground missiles to Iraq’s air force to be used against encampments of “the country’s branch of al-Qaeda.” There was no al-Qaeda in Iraq before your invasion. Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein were mortal enemies.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/01/03
For thse who smugly tell themselves that those on benefits are lazy and that todays youth are lazy and just dont want to work, please reconcile that view with this
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jan/02/one-in-10-jobless-yougov-poll
I think its far more complicated than that, In my previous position I used to hire through the local winz as the company liked to try and employ from within the local community wherever possible. All we hired were keen and enjoyed to varying degrees the job which although relatively physical was outdoors and paid better than minimum by @$2 ph.
The startling thing was the peer pressure that went on these guys from there so called mates once they had a job to provide booze etc. I had one damn near assaulted in the street because he wasn’t replying to his mates txt msgs which went something along the lines of “you think you’re to good to talk to me now you’ve got a job c**t” the fact he was working made no difference…not long after his so called mates robbed his house while he was at work. Fortunately he stuck it out but there were others prior who didn’t due to this kind of crap. Generally it was mates getting upset if they didnt head out to party on a work night or as we worked in the public space they would spend the day driving by giving them shit.
Really hard for a 18-22 yr old to cope with and frankly I’m at a loss as how to solve what is effectively bullying. Certainly those that caved to a degree and partied during the week struggled big time on the job despite there best intentions…
That is interesting. I have looked at those late booze hours and wondered who was drinking, who was partying, and whether they could do a job the next day, and if not working where the money was coming from.
It is my opinion that the leaders and lawmakers have by allowing even encouraging long alcohol serving hours, that they have been deliberately trying to get money from these young people and not caring that it is leading them into unsupportable addiction and have degraded their lives. Temptation to keep drinking is not easily resisted when you are already half-way drunk and ‘relaxed’. Then while unemployed the bad habits have developed of using drink to fill in the day – because this shameless government has not organised work for the dole to keep the young ones out of the pubs.
Tbh most drink at home or at a house party before heading into a pub around 1 am for an hour or so…. its just two pricey otherwise. The opening hours wouldn’t really change much.
That said I would often wander down to my local 4 square early on a Sunday morning to find a queue waiting for alcohol to continue on from the sat. Im generalizing but as it was Taita/Pomare most could i’ll afford it.
I honestly believe these small neighbour shops are a big problem as like you say once tipsy its hard to stop. At least the supermarkets are further away and in my experience far more stringent. Certainly it’s a bigger step to drive 10 min to town than wander down the local booze store at 6 30 am….
cricklewood
Your points insightful I think. I have noticed that it seems immigrants, such as Indian, are running small suburban booze shops in suburban areas and it is not a healthy look to be trying to make profit from this alcohol drug. The small shop I went into was stacked to the ceiling with booze of all sorts.
This would be in a small shopping centre where in my day you might go down to have a milk shake at the milk bar. Alcohol was still there but was saved for parties, and organisation was needed to buy a dozen beer or so for teenagers. Now as I say it is waved in the face of people of all ages, and it seems like lemonade with some alcohol, but just the other way round. It’s spirits being drunk from vodka, bourbon bottles, very high alcohol count. If it is allowed it must be okay is the thought.
Some neighbourhoods have followed through with the thinking and come to the idea that it is wrong and that there is a powerful group that acts against their young people, willing to encourage them so they spend the money which as you say they can ill afford. And probably start a lifetime weakness. It is said that the government is the first party to be addicted though, to the excise taxes.
I have just found Dr David Nutt who is a psychiatrist, was a UK head in the control of drugs official organisation, before he was sacked because he started doing some whistleblowing. Sacked summarily actually. And I don’t think he got any golden parachutes.
(He just said ‘the thing about alcohol is it changes your judgment’. My point about the way Stat – falling off horses with brain damage for the rider has ratio 1:350 and similar damage for ecstasy ratio 1:10,000 (think) – interesting comparison.)
Link for Dr Nutt – this is 11.28m version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cVEAxaLq-M
and
this is 58 m version downloaded by Uni of Otago NZ
and
http://addiction-dirkh.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/dr-david-nutt-on-alcohol.html
and
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-nutt-alcohol-more-dangerous-than-crack/
Well, if some of the things I’ve heard are anything to go by – their parents.
That’s exactly what’s been happening. It was the, IMO, main reason why the drinking age was lowered. Our whole social system is all about producing profits for the rich and the only way to do that is to have as many people as possible purchasing the product/service.
Work for the dole isn’t the answer and never has been. Get these people out doing something challenging and of value to society, i.e, running out telecommunications, upgrading power grids, building wind generators, electrifying the entire rail network.
There is no reason for there to be any unemployment except ideology: National’s, Labour’s and the business sectors desire to keep wages down.
The Biodiversity Bubble: How What We Don’t Know Could Get Us Killed
So, still think we should cut back on the environmental protections in the RMA, drill up more oil and coal and build more roads?
National’s re-writing of history continues with the YoungNats claiming the success of the marriage equality bill as their own.
I actually think it’s pretty embarassing for them that only 27 voted.
urg – I should never have looked
Now I am arguing with idiots on the internet again… >_<
As a recent arrival in N.Z, I am still trying to get my head around various aspects of NZ politics……I spent the best part of a decade in UK as an activist to the lbgt council. However that is low priority in these desperate times and we need to unite, as far as possible, to the concerns of the many,compared to the hobby horses of a few.
In the U.K one of the hot topics being discussed is the idea of a,living wage.There is a minimum wage set which as absolutely useless in the U.K.
What will Labour do towards providing a living wage?What is the minimum wage here and how much does it need to be to benefit people in this country?
as I recall the minimum wage is about $5ph under what would be a living wage. Some local bodies and companies have chosen to adopt it already, not sure of individual party policies but I’d expect it to be an issue in the election from ladgrnmana, if policies have not already been announced.
To ecossemaid – the current NZ minimum wage is $13.50 an hour and the “living wage” has been suggested as at least $18 an hour. Labour has said it would extend the living wage to all Parliamentary workers as a starting point. Wellington City has said something similar. Auckland City Mayor had it as a campaign policy but he hasn’t managed to get it passed in the council yet. Not sure about other local govtsin NZ.
Something new – an email inviting me to subscribe to The Standard to get email of coments on Jose Pagani thread to which I have posted. Normally I would just tick the box on the page. Is this a new feature lprent?
Actually I can’t cope with getting every email on a busy post. I find it better to make a personal check of what has gone down, or search my archive and work my way down the headings and click on each one to see if someone has commented to me.
gw, that feature has been around for a while. Sometimes it seems to come and go. I also tend to try to switch it off when I can.
Well glad there are some out there working towards it.Thanks for you replies
In the immediate wake of Mandela’s death, I commented here on the way he, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other leaders of the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa have argued that Israel’s Occupation of Palestinian territory represents the New Apartheid.
Despite a good deal of upset and gnashing of teeth from the Israel Lobby and its supporters, there’s really nothing controversial about the claim anymore. Hell, even a number of leading mainstream Israelis seem to accept it as apt.
Here’s an in-depth comparative analysis of South African and Israeli Apartheid from The Guardian’s Middle East (and former South African) correspondent, Chris McGreal.
Part One – here…… http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/06/southafrica.israel
and Part Two – here…… http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/07/southafrica.israel
Meanwhile, leading South African International Law Expert, long-time anti-apartheid activist and UN Special Rapporteur for the Middle East, Professor John Dugard. also sees striking similarities
Here ……http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/23/israelandthepalestinians.unitednations , here…….. http://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/the-law-and-practice-of-apartheid-in-south-africa-and-palestine.html and here……. http://epalestine.blogspot.co.nz/2009/08/epalestine-john-dugard-two-states-or.html
Sasha Polakow-Suransky on Israel’s very close alliance with Apartheid South Africa during the 70s and 80s here…….http://mideastafrica.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/05/10/gold_stones_glass_houses
Norman Finkelstein on the fact that the SA Apartheid analogy is by no means controversial among sectors of the Israeli elite, here………http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/12/28/the-ludicrous-attacks-on-jimmy-carter-s-book/ and here…….http://www.democracynow.org/2007/1/8/norman_finkelstein_vs_gil_troy_on
I’ve just taken some time out.
Because I am really pissed off and finding it hard to remain objective., Also to decide if what I thought happened really did happen, to listen and think about what everyone said.
I was going to reply to Weka as promised, who seemed to be, finally, starting to do what she was asking me to do, Listen! I havn’t cooled down enough yet, however.
We all bring baggage, including different life experiences and points of view to the discussion.
At primary school I was a small geeky, bookworm who suffered a lot from the attentions of the school bullies.
The experience left me with a strongly developed sense of fairness, an instinct to fight for the underdog and and a contempt for those who hide behind their “Authority” abuse their power or position and “the rules”, (often of their own making).
I’ve found that the only way to deal with these people is to stand up to them. And , if you are different, be yourself. Most people will respect you for it.
Most of my life I have been getting into strife, standing up to authoritarian bullying types. (Most of them have been white males, by the way). Usually to help someone who hasn’t the power to stand up for themselves.
If you have been listening to me, you would know I am pretty pissed with the mess the current people in power (Also I agree, mostly white males, but not all), have been making.
I don’t think simply replacing authoritarian bullying white males with authoritarian bullying women, or authoritarian bullying RWNJ’s with authoritarian bullying lefties. is the answer however.
I, mostly stayed away from the conversation about rape.
That subject was hurtful enough. It was just a year since my daughters school friend had been murdered by her ex partner.
I didn’t need a discussion where I knew, unless I kept to every dotted I and crossed T of the QOT approved script I would be in the firing line.
This time I thought, “what gives QOT the right to dictate the terms of the conversation, and then bully people into submission with powerful accusations, which were neither fair, nor justified.. Moving into the house and walking around with hobnailed boots covered in dogshit from other conversations and then complaining that the males leave the toilet seat up.
I get it that some who are involved with the Labour party are angry with being marginalised and told to STFU. By “white dudes”. (Also I seem to remember by at least one brown dude and some white women). Taking it out on people here that are on your side though, is both unnecessarily divisive and counterproductive.
Respectful disagreement is healthy. I don;’t want to silence QOT or anyone else.
The point is we seem to be concentrating on one issue at a time, letting the right frame the debate and only getting the odd hard fought win.
I look around me and despair that, despite some wins, life for most of the people around me is getting shittier and shittier.
I see people in miserably paid dead end precarious jobs, if they have one. Women trying to bring up kids, in horrific circumstances, being pissed about by the gestapo at WINZ, and vilified by unthinking and judgmental people who have no clue about what they have to face. I talk kids out of committing suicide after yet another round between dodgy employers and WINZ. I saw the light go out in a gay kids eyes when he was bullied, and it came back at a gay wedding when he realised that he was not alone.
Like fuck, I don’t care about women’s rights, LBGT rights, the rights of people with disabilities. I have a mentally disabled son FFS. We are still hurting from fighting the system of mainstreaming, cost cutting and peoples attitude to the mentally ill.
When I suggest solutions like a UBI, Empowering those people is high in my thoughts.
The we have all the other important a necessary issues such as AGW and resource depletion. Making sure our kids still have a world to live in.
How do we use our energies on all the things that need doing?
The crazy thing here, is, that if QOT was really being told to STFU, on here, I would have backed her, for the same reasons I backed CV.
I would be surprised if CV regarded himself as a victim. He holds no punches when he disagrees with anyone and can be very forthright which, as a new poster some time ago, can be quite offputting. However, that’s the nature of a forum.
For what it is worth I dont want authoritarian women to replace authoritarian men. I am not sure I have read QOT s saying she would like that either.
Thanks KJT. I’m feeling much better. Not saying anything about anyone or anything. Just that I’m feeling much better. Haven’t particularly followed the CV and QOT thing anyway. Engagement seemed way too much like jumping into a serious blue between people both of whom touch me positively.